Rally This Wednesday

9am, Wednesday October 17th
Hamilton City Hall (Main st, between Bay and McNab)
Join us for a half-hour rally before your workday starts

On Wednesday October 17, the General Issues Committee (GIC) of the Hamilton city council will be receiving a report from their staff about Enbridge’s reversal of their Line 9 pipeline. Line 9 runs through Hamilton and is being reversed to move Tar Sands oil to eastern Canada, ports on the Atlantic, and the United States. After the Conservative federal government cancelled the envrionmental assessment of this plan (along with thousands of other EAs), Hamilton city council decided to commission their own study of the issue.

We are optimistic about the council’s decision to study the Line 9 reversal, and we are gathering on the 17th at 9am to ask council to do everything in their power to oppose the Line 9 reversal and any attempt to move Tar Sands oil through the Hamilton area. We will rally until about 9:30, then attend the meeting of the GIC to support the speakers calling on council to oppose the Line 9 reversal. A representative from Enbridge had been scheduled to address council as well, but after twice changing the date, they have now backed out all together. This is a continuation of
Enbridge’s plan of secrecy and dishonesty, as they refuse to reveal their full plan for Line 9.

The Tar Sands produces the dirtiest oil in the world – its extraction has devastated the Athabaska river, and accidents in transporting the toxic gloop have lead to more than a dozen deaths in Michigan, following a
pipeline burst into Michigan’s Kalamazoo river. All pipelines spill. If Tar Sands oil travels down Line 9, this thirty-five year-old pipeline will experience more frequent leaks of more toxic oil directly into the Beverly
Swamp in the headwaters of the Spencer Creek, Hamilton’s largest watershed.

This dirty, inefficient oil also drives the catastrophic climate change, of which Hamilton got a taste this past summer with the record-breaking heat and drought. We also call for the Federal government to respect the sovereignty and treaty rights of Indigenous nations, both in Alberta and locally. Line 9 crosses the territory of the Haudenosaunee, and in the spirit of the Two Row wampum treaty, we call on the municipal government to help see these treaties upheld.

We organize in Hamilton as part of a broader movement to stop the flows of Tar Sands oil, of the natural gas that fuels its extraction, and the money that props the industry up. This movement did not begin with Hamilton’s council and it will not end with it. But this is a chance for Hamilton’s government to be on the right side of this issue and to lend their support to the grassroots struggles that will keep stopping the Line 9 reversal and the Tar Sands – with or without them.

Please Pass Along

Ride to the Westover Terminal

On Sunday October 21st, in association with Hamilton350 we’re hosting a bike ride to the nearest Line 9 landmark, the Westover Terminal. Starting at 10:00am in front of My Dog Joe in Westdale (King and Paisley), we’ll ride out through Dundas and Flamborough to rally in front of the Enbridge facility. Maps and a support vehicle will be provided for riders, and don’t worry, there will be frequent rest stops.

For those not up for cycling, we’re encouraging people to rally at Westover Park (Google Map Link in front of the Terminal just west of Westover on 6th Concession, starting at 12:00 Noon. Email us at hamiltonline9@ecologyfund.ne if you need a ride or have free spaces in your car.

Join Us at City Hall

At 9am on Wednesday, October 17th, the General Issues Committee of City Council will be receiving a report on the Line 9 Pipeline reversal, with a growing number of community members already slated to speak. A petition will also be presented against the pipeline. It appears Enbridge has (again) cancelled their appearance, but that’s no reason to let this valuable chance to speak to Council pass us by. We’re encouraging everyone to come out to the meeting – to sign up and speak, fill the gallery or rally with us outside City Hall to oppose this pipeline.

Sign the Petition
A Call-out for Support

She Speaks: Indigenous Women Speak Out Against the Tar Sands

When: Friday, Oct. 5, 2012
Where: 50 Market St., Brantford Ontario

Indigenous communities are taking the lead to stop the largest industrial project on Earth and 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 health of Indigenous communities including those in the Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake regions of Alberta 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, Enbridge Line 9 reversal, and the Keystone XL pipeline threaten Indigenous communities across Turtle Island particularly Aamjiwnaang First Nation and the Haudenausaunee Confederacy here in Southern Ontario.

To build ties of solidarity and resistance, and to create a broad base on informed support, a speakers’ series is being organized in Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) and in Ontario.

Speakers:
Crystal Lameman is a Beaver Lake Cree First Nation activist and the Peace River tar sands campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network in Alberta. Crystal is committed to restoring Native treaty rights and stopping the exploitation of the tar sands.

Melissa Elliott is co-founder of Young Onkwehonwe United, and a youth activist from the Haudenosaunee Territory of Six Nations. Known to most as Missy, she has organized to defend Kanonhstaton (the former Douglas Creek Estates), and to stop development projects on Six Nations territory being pushed through without their consent such as the Line 9 reversal project.

Vanessa Gray is a youth organizer from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, a community that has been named the most polluted place in North America by the National Geographic Society. She founded Green Teens, a environmental justice organization of Native youth to resist the impact of the 63 petrochemical refineries in her hometown and is an active campaigner for the rights of Indigenous people across these lands.

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.

Moderated by Heather Milton-Lightning from the Pasqua First Nation, Ruckus Society and the Indigenous Environmental Network.

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.

It’s endorsed by the F-word collective, Live Free Collective and others.

For more information, to and endorse or to support, please write to firstnationswomenspeakingtour@gmail.com
Facebook Event Page

For ride-sharing from Hamilton, contact hamiltonline9@ecologyfund.net