Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 2, 2013

Elsipogtog Reclaim Traditional Lands: November 2, 2013


Elsipogtog Reclaim Traditional Lands: November 2, 2013



Shared by Jarrett Martineau

On November 2, 2013, members of Elsipogtog First Nation began staking claims to unoccupied Crown lands, as part of Reclamation Day campaign to reclaim "all unoccupied reserved native lands" to be put it in the trust of the Mi'kmaq Nation.

Members of Elsipogtog First Nation began staking claims to unoccupied Crown lands, on Saturday, as part of a campaign to reclaim "all unoccupied reserved native lands" in their traditional territories that they intended to put back in the trust of the Mi'kmaq Nation. The action comes as part of Elsipogtog's ongoing resistance to fracking in their homelands and following an October 17th confrontation with RCMP over a blockade opposing hydro-fracturing development by SWN Resources.

SWN plans to resume its operations on Monday.

Photos by CBC
More: http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/new-brunswick/story/1.2335697

Dine' question why Navajo Times is hiding truth about roundups for slaughter


Navajo President played with words and deceived national media into believing that horse roundups for slaughter were halted on the Navajo Nation. Those continue.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013

Navajo President Ben Shelly played with words and deceived the national media into believing that horse roundups for slaughter were halted on the Navajo Nation. The horse roundups continue. The Navajo Nation isn't revealing how many horses are still being sent to the slaughter houses from the current roundups.
President Shelly now says that halting the horse roundups was only an idea. Shelly admits it has not happened and the horse roundups continue.
Dine' on the Navajo Nation question why this article below appeared in the print edition of Navajo Times, but not in the online edition of Navajo Times. 
Dine' also question why the photos of the horses that are still being rounded up do not appear in the Navajo Times. The previous article in Navajo Times online said President Shelly had halted the roundups, but that is not the truth. The following print article in Navajo Times this week reveals that when President Shelly said he was halting horse roundups, that it was only an idea. Shelly now says the horse roundups will continue.




Below: Photos by Leland Grass, Dine' for Wild Horses, Oct. 25, 2013 horse roundups in Chilchinbeto and Kayenta, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. These photos do not appear with the Navajo Times article.





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Indigenous Elders: No time left to defend the Earth

Indigenous Elders 'Mankind has gone too far'

By Brenda Norrell

Indigenous Elders and Medicine People said there is no time left to defend the Earth, while Amnesty International said Canada is to blame for a police attack on Mi'kmaq defending their land from from fracking.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota, with a Council of Indigenous Elders and Medicine Peoples, issued a statement saying mankind can no longer ignore the teachings to protect the Earth. The Indigenous Council described the destruction that has been created by man and is now out of control, including Fukushima and fracking in North America.
In a second statement, Amnesty International said Canada is to blame for the violations of international laws and human rights which resulted in a police attack on Mi’kmaq in a peaceful anti-fracking camp where Mi'kmaqs were defending their land.
In the first statement, the Indigenous Council said, “We, the Original Caretakers of Mother Earth, have no choice but to follow and uphold the Original Instructions, which sustains the continuity of Life. We recognize our umbilical connection to Mother Earth and understand that she is the source of life, not a resource to be exploited. We speak on behalf of all Creation today, to communicate an urgent message that man has gone too far, placing us in the state of survival.”
“We warned that one day you would not be able to control what you have created. That day is here. Not heeding warnings from both Nature and the People of the Earth keeps us on the path of self destruction. This self destructive path has led to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Gulf oil spill, tar sands devastation, pipeline failures, impacts of carbon dioxide emissions and the destruction of ground water through hydraulic fracking, just to name a few. In addition, these activities and development continue to cause the deterioration and destruction of sacred places and sacred waters that are vital for Life."
In the second statement, Amnesty International Canada said the RCMP attack on the Mi’kmaq anti-fracking camp on Oct. 17 in Elsipogtog would not have happened if Canada had adhered to international laws and human rights standards, including the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canada’s own laws and Treaties.
Amnesty released the statement with the Canadian Friends Service Committee and Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, which said, “ .. this clash could have been avoided had the province acted in a manner consistent with its obligations to respect the human rights of Indigenous peoples under Canadian and international law.”
Canadian police, RCMP, accompanied by police dogs and snipers, attacked the camp and abused and pepper sprayed women and elderly.
Nineteen-year-old David Mazerolle of the Mi'kmaq Warrior Society describes how Mi'kmaqs were denied all their rights in jail and placed in solitary confinement after police brutally attacked the camp.
A second Mi'kmaq Warrior, Mi'kmaq Warrior Chief Jason Augustine, said he was repeatedly kicked in the head by police while down and diagnosed with a concussion.
“I was kicked in the head three times when I was taken down,” Augustine told APTN. “I wasn’t resisting arrest, I had my hands behind my back, and this one RCMP started bashing my head in.”
David Mazerolle released a video statement after his release from jail. David describes the treatment in the Moncton jail. "I was one of the six that got left in there."
"They left us in there with no blanket, no bed," the nineteen-year-old said.
"After we got split up and put in solitary confinement, my buddy Aaron, as he was being transferred, got beat up while he was in handcuffs."
Southwestern Energy, SWN, of Houston, has targeted the land of the Mi’kmaq with hydraulic fracking in New Brunswick, Canada. Southwestern Energy has already been sued in Pennsylvania and Arkansas for releasing carcinogens into the water during fracking and causing cancer.

Mi'kmaq in Elsipogtog said a Sacred Fire blockade will begin at noon on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, to blockade SWN fracking.

"The Elsipogtog community and the people of the Mi'kmaq nation are responding to SWN's stated intention to resume shale gas exploration in New Brunswick. Community members and traditional people will come together to light a Sacred Fire to stop SWN from passing, in order to ensure that the company cannot resume work to extract shale gas via fracking. The Sacred Fire will last a minimum of four days and is supported by the Mi'kmaq people and the community of Elsipogtog. This comes as part of a larger campaign that reunites Indigenous, Acadian and Anglo people," Mi'kmaq said in a statement late Sunday.
The Indigenous Council said future life on Earth is threatened.
“The Fukushima nuclear crisis alone is a threat to the future of humanity. Yet, our concern goes far beyond this single threat. Our concern is with the cumulative and compounding devastation that is being wrought by the actions of human beings around the world. It is the combination of resource extraction, genetically modified organisms, moral failures, pollution, introduction of invasive species and much much more that are threatening the future of life on Earth.”
Read Indigenous Council’s statement
Read Amnesty International’s statement
Read more about abuse of Mi’kmaq Warriors in custody

Indigenous Elders and Medicine Peoples Council Statement on Fukushima

Indigenous Elders and Medicine Peoples Council Statement on Fukushima


Shared by Indigenous Action Media in Arizona
View the original statement with signatures here (PDF): COUNCIL_FUKUSHIMA_STATEMENT_OCT_2013.
Council Statement

This statement reflects the wisdom of the Spiritual People of the Earth, of North and South America, working in unity to restore peace, harmony and balance for our collective future and for all living beings. This statement is written in black and white with a foreign language that is not our own and does not convey the full depth of our concerns.



Council Statement

This statement reflects the wisdom of the Spiritual People of the Earth, of North and South America, working in unity to restore peace, harmony and balance for our collective future and for all living beings. This statement is written in black and white with a foreign language that is not our own and does not convey the full depth of our concerns.

The Creator created the People of the Earth into the Land at the beginning of
Creation and gave us a way of life. This way of life has been passed down
generation-to-generation since the beginning. We have not honored this way of
life through our own actions and we must live these original instructions in order
to restore universal balance and harmony. We are a part of Creation;
thus, if we break the Laws of Creation, we destroy ourselves.
We, the Original Caretakers of Mother Earth, have no choice but to follow and uphold
the Original Instructions, which sustains the continuity of Life. We recognize our
umbilical connection to Mother Earth and understand that she is the source of life, not a
resource to be exploited. We speak on behalf of all Creation today, to communicate an
urgent message that man has gone too far, placing us in the state of survival. We warned
that one day you would not be able to control what you have created. That day is here.
Not heeding warnings from both Nature and the People of the Earth keeps us on the path
of self destruction. This self destructive path has led to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Gulf
oil spill, tar sands devastation, pipeline failures, impacts of carbon dioxide emissions and
the destruction of ground water through hydraulic fracking, just to name a few. In
addition, these activities and development continue to cause the deterioration and
destruction of sacred places and sacred waters that are vital for Life.
Powerful technologies are out of control and are threatening the future of all life
The Fukushima nuclear crisis alone is a threat to the future of humanity. Yet, our concern
goes far beyond this single threat. Our concern is with the cumulative and
compounding devastation that is being wrought by the actions of human beings around
the world. It is the combination of resource extraction, genetically modified organisms,
moral failures, pollution, introduction of invasive species and much much more that are
threatening the future of life on Earth. The compounding of bad decisions and their
corresponding actions are extremely short-sighted. They do not consider the future
generations and they do not respect or honor the Creator’s Natural Law. We strongly
urge for the governmental authorities to respond with an open invitation to work and
consult with us to solve the world’s problems, without war. We must stop waging war
against Mother Earth, and ourselves.
We acknowledge that all of these devastating actions originated in human beings who are
living without regard for the Earth as the source of life. They have strayed from the
Original Instructions by casting aside the Creator’s Natural Law. It is now critical for
humanity to acknowledge that we have created a path to self destruction. We must restore
the Original Instructions in our lives to halt this devastation.
The sanctity of the Original Instructions has been violated. As a result, the Spiritual
People of the Earth were called ceremonially to come together at the home of the Sacred
White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle. These Spiritual Leaders and those that carry great
responsibility for their people from both North and South America came together with the
sacred fire for four days at the end of September 2013 to fulfill their sacred
responsibilities. During this time it was revealed that the spirit of destruction gained its’
strength by our spiritually disconnected actions. We are all responsible in varying
degrees for calling forth this spirit of destruction, thus we are all bound to begin
restoring what we have damaged by helping one another recover our sacred
responsibility to the Earth. We, the Original Caretakers of Mother Earth, offer our
spiritual insight, wisdom and vision to the global community to help guide the actions
needed to overcome the current threats to all life.
We only have to look at our own bodies to recognize the sacred purpose
of water on Mother Earth. We respect and honor our spiritual relationship
with the lifeblood of Mother Earth. One does not sell or contaminate their
mother’s blood. These capitalistic actions must stop and we must recover
our sacred relationship with the Spirit of Water
The People of the Earth understand that the Fukushima nuclear crisis continues to
threaten the future of all life. We understand the full implications of this crisis even with
the suppression of information and the filtering of truth by the corporate owned media
and Nation States. We strongly urge the media, corporations and Nation States to
acknowledge and convey the true facts that threaten us, so that the international
community may work together to resolve this crisis, based on the foundation of Truth.
We urge the international community, government of Japan and TEPCO to unify efforts
to stabilize and re-mediate the nuclear threat posed at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
power plant. To ensure that the Japanese government and TEPCO are supported with
qualified personnel and information, we urge the inclusion of today’s nuclear experts
from around the world to collaborate, advise and provide technical assistance to prevent
further radioactive contamination or worse, a nuclear explosion that may have
apocalyptic consequences.
The foundation for peace will be strengthened by restoring the Original Instructions in ourselves
Prophecies have been shared and sacred instructions were given. We, the People of the
Earth, were instructed that the original wisdom must be shared again when imbalance
and disharmony are upon Mother Earth. In 1994 the sacred white buffalo, the giver of
the sacred pipe, returned to the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people bringing forth the
sacred message that the winds of change are here. Since that time many more
messengers in the form of white animals have come, telling us to wake up my children. It
is time. So listen for the sacred instruction.
All Life is sacred. We come into Life as sacred beings. When we abuse the
sacredness of Life we affect all Creation
We urge all Nations and human beings around the world to work with us, the Original
Caretakers of Mother Earth, to restore the Original Instructions and uphold the
Creator’s Natural Law as a foundation for all decision making, from this point forward.
Our collective future as human beings is in our hands, we must address the Fukushima
nuclear crisis and all actions that may violate the Creator’s Natural Law. We have
reached the crossroads of life and the end of our existence. We will avert this potentially
catastrophic nuclear disaster by coming together with good minds and prayer as a global
community of all faiths.
We are the People of the Earth united under the Creator’s Law with a sacred covenant to
protect and a responsibility to extend Life for all future generations. We are expressing
deep concern for our shared future and urge everyone to awaken spiritually. We must
work in unity to help Mother Earth heal so that she can bring back balance and harmony
for all her children.
Representatives of the Council
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
Spiritual Leader
The Great Sioux Nation
Bobby C. Billie
Clan Leader and Spiritual Leader
Council of the Original Miccosukee
Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples
Faith Spotted Eagle, Tunkan Inajin Win
Brave Heart Society Grandmother/Headswoman & Ihanktonwan Treaty Council
Ihanktonwan Dakota from the Oceti Sakowin
7 Council Fires
- ADDITIONAL SIGNATURES TO FOLLOW -