Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

She Speaks: Indigenous Women Speak Out Against Tar Sands

5:30pm
- 8:30pm
Friday September 21 2012

She Speaks:
Indigenous Women Speak Out Against Tar Sands

When: Friday September 21
Doors at 5:30 pm. Program ends at 8:30 pM
Where: Aboriginal Friendship Center
1607 East Hastings St (corner Commercial)
Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

Childcare & Feast (sponsored by the International Woman's Climate Caucus). This is a free event.

Indigenous communities are taking the lead to stop the largest industrial project, the Tar Sands Gigaproject. Northern Alberta is ground zero with over 20 corporations operating in the tar sands sacrifice zone, with expanded developments being planned.

The cultural heritage, land, ecosystems and human health of Indigenous communities including the Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McMurray First Nation, Fort McKay Cree Nation, Beaver Lake Cree First Nation Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, and the Metis, are being sacrificed for oil money in what has been termed a “slow industrial genocide”.

Infrastructure projects linked to the tar sands expansion such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, Kinder Morgan pipeline, Ontario Line 9 reversal, and the Keystone XL pipeline threaten Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.

Join us to hear from Indigenous women at the front line of defending the land and communities from tar sands development and expansion.

* Ta'Kaiya Blaney is a Sliammon Nation youth who made headlines when she wrote a song to speak up against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. Since then, she has been a strong Indigenous youth voice locally and internationally advocating to protect the coast and the land against big oil.

* Eriel Tchekwie Deranger is a Dene from the Athbasca Chipewyan First Nation of Northern Alberta, Canada. She is currently the Communications Coordinator for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, who have recently filed a suit against oil giant Shell Oil Canada for their open-pit mining projects.

* Suzanne Dhaliwal is the co-founder of the UK Tar Sands Network, which works in solidarity with the Indigenous Environmental network to campaign against UK corporations and financial institutions invested in the Alberta Tar Sands.

* Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She has been working as an advocate for Indigenous rights for the past 10 years. She has worked with organizations like Redwire Native Media Society and Indigenous Media Arts Society. She has joined Greenpeace as a tar sands climate & energy campaigner.

This event is organized by the Indigenous Environmental Network. IEN is an alliance of grassroots Indigenous Peoples whose mission is to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening, maintaining, and respecting traditional teachings and natural laws.

This event is supported by Aboriginal Front Door, Alliance for Peoples Health, Council of Canadians, Indigenous Action Movement, Mining Justice Alliance, No One Is Illegal - Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories, Occupy Vancouver Environmental Justice Working Group, Pipe Up Network, Purple Thistle Center, Streams of Justice, Tanker Free BC, Western Wilderness Committee and the International Woman's Climate Caucus.

For more information:
Clayton Thomas Muller: monsterredlight@gmail.com
Sheila Muxlow: sheila.muxlow@gmail.com
Harsha Walia: hwalia8@gmail.com or 778 885 0040
Maryam Adrangi: madrangi@canadians.org