Michel Thusky - Our Land, Our Identity: Algonquins of Barriere Lake Fight for Survival
Channel: IPSMO
Date: 2012-10-22

October 10. 2012 at the Odawa Native Friendship Centre.

"I am a survivor of a residential school. I don't want that kind of life experience for my children. I want my grandchildren to have a face and a mouth that they will be proud of, not an empty face. I want them to have an identity. This is what we are fighting for."
- Michel Thusky (from CounterPunch: Sustainable Colonialism® in the Boreal Forest)

Just a few hours up the Gatineau River from Ottawa is the Algonquin Community of Barriere Lake. Access to the forests lakes and rivers of their territory is a vital to this Algonquin community's identity and for generations they have fought to protect it from destructive resource projects, while also finding ways to co-exist with Quebec and Canadian society. Though there have been many challenges, the language and traditions in Barriere Lake remain strong.

In 1991 the community signed a landmark and historic agreement with Canada and Quebec that should have created a process for co-management of their territory and modest revenue sharing with the community. As with many other agreements made with Indigenous peoples in Canada, Barriere Lake's tri-lateral agreement has not been respected.

This summer, Resolute Forest Products, a logging company based in Montreal, has been clear cutting in an environmentally and culturally important area of the Barriere Lake's territory without consultation and consent of the community. After 3 weeks of protest against the clear-cutting the community is going to court to assert their rights and jurisdiction to protect their land. They are asking for your moral and financial support! It is a difficult situation for the community since they have few financial resources.


Event hosted by Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), MiningWatch Canada, the Friends Service Committee of Ottawa, and Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO) http://ipsmo.org

More info: http://barrierelakesolidarity.org