Indigenous Rights
Halifax Banner Train Event
June 19, 2011
For my first out of province event for KAIROS, I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Eastern banner train send-off event in Halifax. However, I could never have imagined the wonderful support and solidarity of the approximately 50 attendees…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Last stop: Capreol!
June 18, 2011
Capreol ON, 1:00AM Saturday Our last stop! Capreol is about 25 minutes west of Sudbury, for those not acquainted with this historic stopping point. We were met on the platform by Dave, Pat, Faye, Laura, Brandy and Cameron (who had…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Halifax Banner Train – one more sleep!
June 18, 2011
Friday Afternoon. Sitting in Toronto’s City Centre Airport this morning, I finally realized that this momentous campaign is actually underway. With Julie halfway home from Vancouver, billets being organized by volunteers in Ottawa, and towns and cities west of Ontario…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Warm reunions in Sioux Lookout
June 17, 2011
Sioux Lookout, ON. 7:00AM Friday We went to sleep to a full moon shining on water and trees and woke early to misty lakes reflecting a perfect pink and blue sky. The long gravel landing platform and unfortunately derelict, lovely…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Taking over the station in Winnipeg
June 17, 2011
Winnipeg MB, 9:00PM, Thursday The station in Winnipeg is, fittingly, very close the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. This is an historic gathering ground whose history stretches back millennia. Here trade and friendship between Aboriginal and European peoples…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Honouring Treaty 4 in Melville
June 17, 2011
Melville SK, 1:00PM Thursday We rolled through increasingly flat and open land, with Bert proclaiming that the absence of mountains was making this Shuswap feel just a little too out in the open. Ten people from Fort Qu’Appelle and Melville…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
One big banner in Saskatoon
June 17, 2011
Saskatoon SK, 9:00AM Thursday We stepped off the train in Saskatoon to bright skies and clear Prairie winds. Down the platform, taking up most of its width, came ten banners strung together and carried by 15 waving people. We added…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Early morning rain in Edmonton with a hardy band
June 17, 2011
Edmonton AB, 1:30AM Thursday From Jasper we rode through the folded granite slopes of the Rockies and onto the rolling countryside west of Edmonton that is the western border of the enormous territories of the Cree. Signal problems and freight…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Early morning energy in Kamloops
June 16, 2011
Kamloops, 6:30AM, June 15. I counted 25 people of all ages on the platform this cool morning, laughing and cheering as Shuswap elders Minnie Kenoras and Bert Deneault posed by a sleeper car, standing next to an eagle staff and…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Vancouver Banner Train send off
June 16, 2011
Late evening, June 14. The rain held off almost long enough as 15 of us gathered outside the Pacific Central station in Vancouver on Coast Salish territory. An eagle chased by an energetic crow soared past as we corralled the…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
A remembrance from the Blanket Train, June 2001
June 14, 2011
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…” Old hymns kept us company as we waited for the train of fellow travellers and their solidarity baggage to come in from Western Canada. The staff at Toronto’s Union Station looked with curiosity, but…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Taking the train from Vancouver
June 14, 2011
On Tuesday night the first banner train gets underway, heading across thousands of kilometres and nine banner drop offs (and counting) to Toronto. Local readers, please note: There will be a send off at the park across from Pacific Station…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Vancouver KAIROS banner bee
June 13, 2011
KAIROS Vancouver members decided to add to their already busy lives and hold a final banner-making this Sunday. Susan and Bill Draper from KAIROS Victoria came over to the mainland with all the Vancouver Island and Gulf Island banners and…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Joint Statement on Free, Prior & Informed Consent (FPIC)
May 25, 2011
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Tenth session New York, 16-27 May 2011 Agenda Item 3(c): Free, prior and informed consent Joint Statement of: Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), First Nations Summit,…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
May 25, 2011
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Adopted by the UN General Assembly 13 September 2007 “The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday September 13, by a majority of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
The Rights of the Lubicon Must be Protected
April 6, 2011
“My grandmother and mother have a trap line of their own on which they go hunting and snaring but it is rare that they will bring any rabbits, moose, deer, prairie chickens, or even bears back home…With all these roads,…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
Cross Canada KAIROS Groups Drum for Justice on Indigenous Rights
March 15, 2011
MEDIA ADVISORY | 30.11.10 Photo Opportunity Toronto/For Immediate Release Tuesday, November 30, 2010 WHO: KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives local groups and local churches. WHAT: Events in communities across Canada where people will drum together in solidarity with Indigenous peoples…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
The Canadian government must publicly commit to supporting the Sisters In Spirit Initiative
January 24, 2011
For the last five years, we have stood alongside the Native Women’s Association of Canada to promote vigils across Canada to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. In these five years, the Sisters in Spirit…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Frequently Asked Questions
January 16, 2011
(Revised December 2010)
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Drumming for the future
January 6, 2011
The Lethbridge Herald covers KAIROS ‘Beat the Drum’ Day of Action http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/local-news/drumming-for-the-future-12610.html
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Drawing a Line in the Sand
December 15, 2010
Why Canada needs to limit tar sands expansion and invest in a green economy
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
KAIROS Statement in Support of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake/Mitchikanibikok Inik Opposition to Federal Government Imposition of Section 74 of the Indian Act
December 13, 2010
ndigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs. – Article 4: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples KAIROS fully supports the…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
A KAIROS Partner’s Views on the Climate Talks
December 7, 2010
Today I sat down with Javier Balderas, a KAIROS partner from the Tepeyac Human Rights Centre in Oaxaca, Mexico to learn about how climate change is being experienced in one of Mexico’s poorest states. Javier described how the campesinos and…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Drumming for Indigenous Rights
November 29, 2010
On November 12 the Government of Canada finally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, just over 3 years after it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007. While the government’s decisions to…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
December 5th “Beat the Drum” Action Update
November 17, 2010
A victory! On November 12 the federal government announced that Canada will endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This reverses its previous position, and means that Canada is no longer one of only two countries…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Joint Statement in Response to Canada’s Endorsement of the ‘UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’
November 17, 2010
November 16, 2010 On November 12th the Canadian government endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We urge the government to move ahead with the implementation of its provisions in a principled manner that fully respects their spirit…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
KAIROS Welcomes the Government of Canada’s Endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
November 12, 2010
KAIROS joins with Indigenous peoples in Canada and their supporters in welcoming Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, announced in a press release today. The Declaration was adopted by the United Nations on 13 September 2007…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
UNDRIP Factsheet on Canada’s commitment to endorse the Declaration
November 3, 2010
Download the Factsheet (PDF) “The time is now for Canada to join the overwhelming majority of states that have endorsed the UN Declaration and who are establishing a practice of implementing this Declaration as an important international legal instrument.” This factsheet on Canada and…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates