Solidarity with Canada's First Nations - Photos

[Derek Leahy]

Hello Team Denmark!

I emailed Carlos about this but I thought I would throw it out to the
entire group as well. We are encouraging ISTSDay organizers around the
world to create a message for the Yinka Dene (Canadian indigenous
peoples) Alliance Freedom Train which began yesterday.

Quick explanation of the Freedom Train - members of the Yinka Dene
Alliance are traveling from Vancouver to Toronto from Apr. 30th - May
9th (stopping in all major cities along the way) to speak out against
the construction of Enbridge's Northern Gateway which if built would
give the tar sands industry better access to their next big customer -
Asia. The pipeline would go right through Yinka Dene territory.

The Freedom Train ends in Toronto on May 9th with a big march on
Enbridge AGM. I have written more details about the Freedom Train and
what we plan on doing to show support and how Europeans supported a
similar freedom train in 1981 here:

http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/blog/derek-leahy/support-freedom-train

Given the fact Enbridge, the tar sands industry and the Canadian
government are hell bent on building Northern Gateway I think the
Yinka Dene need all the support they can get. In fact, they were
extremely excited when I even suggested we do some sort of act of
solidarity with them on May 5th. Furthermore, stopping Northern
Gateway is as important as stopping Keystone XL was last/earlier this
year.

What would we like you to do? Nothing too complicated. Simply make up
a banner or a placard with words of encouragement or support such as
"We Stand With the Freedom Train", "Thank You Yinka Dene", "Save the
Fraser" (the Fraser River and watershed are threatened by the
construction of Northern Gateway). Take a picture of yourselves
holding your message and send it in to us. Ideally, we will get a
Flickr account set up for this, but that has not been confirmed. When
in doubt, send the photos to me.

The photos will then be passed on to the Yinka Dene for their own use
with media, website, etc.

I am sorry to spring this on you at the last minute, and I realize you
have more than enough to do at the moment. If you do manage to pull
this one off you are going to make quite a few First Nations people in
Canada and Canadians happy (myself included!).

Congrats on getting the tar sands on Danish radio! Your efforts are
already paying off and it is not even May 5th yet.

Derek

For more info on the Freedom Train here is there website

www.freedomtrain2012.com

The Save the Fraser Declaration was signed by over 130 First Nations
who have vowed not to allow any tar sands project or pipeline
(particularly Northern Gateway) to be built on their lands. The
declaration is a short yet inspiring read:

http://savethefraser.ca/

[anders lorenzen]

Hi Derek,

Thanks for sharing this. What an important message that is. I'm sure we will manage to include that.

Thanks for all the positive vibes....

Anders


Environmental Writer and Filmmaker
http://agreenerlifeagreenerworld.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/anders-lorenzen
Mobile: +44 77 8900 8393 Twitter 

> Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 01:09:23 -0700
> Subject: Solidarity with Canada's First Nations - Photos
> From: derek.o...@googlemail.com
> To: danish-stop-tar-sa...@googlegroups.com

> --
> You are subscribed to the "Danish Stop Tar Sands Interest Group" Google Group.
> Post to group: danish-stop-tar-sa...@googlegroups.com
> Unsubscribe:
> danish-stop-tar-sands-in...@googlegroups.com
> More options:
> http://groups.google.com/group/danish-stop-tar-sands-interest-group?hl=en?hl=en