Apartheid invented in Canada (?)

 Here's another reply to my Toronto Star letter-to-the-editor published in my previous blog posting:

 

Good letter.

Yeah, it's the same old shit.   And actually, as I understand it, there was a delegation from South Africa's National Party that visited Canada in the 1940's to study Canada's reserve system and used it as a "model" for the apartheid system.

Basically, apartheid was invented in Canada.

We got out to a couple of the rail blockades in Toronto before the "great plague".   The cops don't really do anything if settler supporters and the media are around.

The RCMP has been arresting journalists (mostly indy journalists) in B.C. because they don't want any cameras around when they do their dirty work.

People might these days take videos with cellphone cameras, but they usually only make it on to Twitter and Facebook.   The Dudley-Do-Wrongs seem to be able to live with limited coverage like that.

The RCMP though are the worst cops by far in this country.

Keep up the fight!

Cheers,

Bob

Canada's Indigenous history eqiuvalent to U.S. Jim Crow and South Africa's former apartheid

(sent as letter to Toronto Star)

published as lead letter-to-the-editor Saturday Toronto Star. Nov. 27/21

 page IN8 under heading Jim Crow? Apartheid? Let's look closer to home

 Dear Editors,

I was pleased to see The Star give the Wet'suwet'en blockade arrests by the RCMP front page coverage Tuesday. The headline did read "Journalists Released ...", but front page news stories like this are starting to show we're waking up as a nation to the incredible ongoing brutal treatment of our First Nations Peoples. With the recent discovery of the hundreds (so far) of children's graves scattered on the sites of residential schools, the reality of this genocidal horror has shocked many of us wide awake. I'm starting to understand that our national shame is a much larger elephant in the room than previously thought. Our national problem is truly and sadly on a scale with the ongoing Jim Crow brutality in the U.S. and the former apartheid system of South Africa.  

Sincerely,

Chris Faiers
(signed)

FYI here's my blog post about visiting the Mohawk rail blockade in Tyendinaga  Feb./ 20:

http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/2020/02/

 

                                                                    ~    ~    ~

 Thanks, Patrick  :  )-

 In the final days of CLM (Canadian Liberation Movement)  in the mid 1970s we were coming around to understanding that the colonial treatment of First Nations should be an important issue for us. The Marxist-Leninist groups in Canada generally spent time debating/fighting issues like Amerikan neo-colonialism of Canada, Quebec independence, and international problems like apartheid, etc. . A major issue was right under our noses, and we started featuring articles in our newspaper, New Canada. I remember doing a long interview with Tapwe Chretien, one of the founders of the Dene Nation, which became a several page feature.

Sadly we also did a series on the mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows. That was in the early to mid-1970s, and things haven't improved there after almost half a century! The initial tie-in for CLM was our opposition to the toxic lead poisoning being carried on by Canada Metal down on Eastern Avenue. I also did an interview and article with Vern Harper, leader of The Toronto Warriors. I vaguely remember reading an obit for Vern not as long ago as expected. 

peace & poetry power!
Chris/cricket

                                        

Upgrades to Callaghan's Conservation parking lot Oct. 25/21

 
I met with Marc this aft to double check major plans are still on schedule, which they are. I know a lot of members of our group have been feeling disheartened because we haven't been meeting, and many members aren't aware of what has been going on 'behind the scenes' with Marc's coordination. However, a lot of very major upgrades are either in progress or are about to happen very soon, which should lift everyone's spirits!

A major upgrade to the parking lot is about to take place during the week of October 25. Callaghan's will be closed to the public so a local contractor can enlarge, upgrade and fortify the parking lot from entry to the conservation area by illegal motorized vehicles. The $7K needed to do this major construction work has been arranged. The contractor has facilities very close to Callaghan's at Tiffin Road and Highway #7, so the transportation cost of moving heavy equipment has been lessened.   

Marc has also been meeting with members of Marmora & Lake Council, EOTA (Eastern Ontario Trails Assoc.), of course Tim Pidduck with CVCA (Crowe Valley Conservation Area), and several other related groups. We're anticipating that once the expensive parking lot upgrade has been completed it will encourage EOTA to do their share of protecting Callaghan's from illegal ATV riders entering from the trans-Canada rail bed by fencing off access to the area next spring.

A CVCA staffer has been assigned to work under Marc's supervision on the ongoing mudding trail project. The brush barriers have been successful in keeping ATVers out of the 100 metre mud road they illegally built paralleling the river. Most of the summer Marc and CVCA staffer Liam have been hauling loads of soil and sphagnum for the arduous job of filling in the deep ruts. Several members of our group recently transplanted pine saplings at the northern entrance to the mudding trail. Restoring the natural habitat of the mudding trail is an ongoing process, and I suggest members take a look at what has already been accomplished there.

The protection and restoration of our favourite conservation area is definitely alive, well and thriving thanks to the support of our large membership group!


thanks & best wishes to everyone,

Chris (Faiers)

 

first newsletter of environmental defence : connecting citizens groups across Ontario

 Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter!

Click here to view in your browser

 
    

   
Dear Chris,

Welcome to the first edition of our Ontario: Yours to Protect newsletter, a monthly round-up of a few of the latest issues and threats facing this province's environment, and how you can help protect it.

Yours to Protect is an initiative bringing together local citizen groups and environmental organisations from across Ontario to support clean water, farmland, biodiversity and healthy communities.

Thank you for being part of the movement.

In solidarity,

The Yours to Protect Team

 

ORBIT DEVELOPMENT: INNISFIL MEGA-PROJECT THREATENS LAKE SIMCOE
The Orbit is a giant proposed “new city in a cornfield” development near the shores of Lake Simcoe. This mega-project is slated to pave over farmland and radically change how Innisfil will grow, placing an impossible pollution burden on nearby Lake Simcoe. Last month, the Ontario government issued a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) to override local planning rules - including requirements for affordable housing - and permit the destruction to go ahead. Visit the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition webpage to learn more and take action.

SAVE THE CLEARVIEW WETLANDS
Amidst the scenic hills of the Niagara Escarpment in Simcoe County, a municipality is attempting to destroy an area of rare wetlands and old growth forests by paving and widening a seasonal dirt road to benefit a private quarry. Read this blog by local activist Wendy and take action.

 

5000-ACRE YORK REGION LAND-GRAB DELAYED BY PEOPLE-POWER
York Region’s plan to pave over 5,000 acres of its remaining farmland hit a roadblock - but it’s not over yet. Last week the council met to approve its sprawl agenda in a surprise special meeting, but thanks to a strong response from residents pushed the decision back to October 21. Read more and take action.

 

WE WENT TO THE HIGHWAY 413 COMMUNITY WEBINAR SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO
The Ontario government’s Highway 413 project team is holding their second community engagement webinar next week. Environmental Defence’s Programs Director Keith Brooks attended the first meeting and found minimal public interaction, and a series of misleading statements about the proposed megahighway. Learn more in this blog.

 

LEARN MORE
CAMPAIGNS WE'RE WORKING ON
Ontario doesn't need another megahighway. #Stopthe413
 

TAKE ACTION
Stop the Big Sprawl - build livable, walkable communities.
TAKE ACTION
Learn more about the Yours to Protect initiative at YourstoProtect.ca
 

LEARN MORE
YOURS TO PROTECT IS AN INITIATIVE

OF ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING CLEAN WATER,

FARMLAND, BIODIVERSITY, AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.   
  

Environmental Defence Canada
33 Cecil St, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1N1

You are subscribed to this list as zenriver@sympatico.ca. You received this email because you made a donation, opted-in to receive updates when you signed a petition, or signed up directly.
 

                                                                   ~   ~   ~

Hello Yours to Protect Team,

Congrats on this first informative newsletter. It's a great idea to have a forum so the many citizens groups forming across Ontario can keep each other updated on our various campaigns and projects.

Our local conservation area, Callaghan's Rapids, has been under attack from ATV vandals driving up and down the river bed for several years now. Although motorized vehicles are prohibited, they have become so emboldened they've created their own "mudding road" through over a hundred metres of forest.

Our group formed just over a year ago, and we've already had some minimal success with stopping the ATV destruction and are starting some restoration projects and improved parking lot access.

best wishes,
Chris Faiers

Marmora, Ontario

zenriver@sympatico.ca


Here's a post from my blog last year about our group:
 

New Book on 1960s Thames Valley Music Scene (quotes Eel Pie Island Dharma)

 
Hi there



You are receiving this email because at some point in the last couple of years you and I have met, spoken by phone or exchanged emails (actually, it may have been more than a couple of years ago). I would have been interviewing you for a book I was writing about the music scene in and around Richmond, Twickenham and the Thames Valley area in the 1960s. Well, I'm now done with the writing and the book has been edited and provided with the terrific cover above by local graphic artist Jem Panufnik.



Just in case you've forgotten, here's what it's about:



From 1963 to 1971, the riverside suburbs to the southwest of London were the setting for a music-led youth revolution. While Liverpool launched the Beatles and Merseybeat, the Richmond upon Thames area unleashed the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and R&B. Richmond's annual jazz and blues festival kick-started modern festival culture. Jazzman Ken Colyer called the hotel on Eel Pie Island the closest thing in England to New Orleans – where as well as the music, the jiving and other teenage kicks, the Eelpiland club doubled as a social working outreach centre. As the Sixties progressed, Richmond became the ultimate place to drop out and tune in, and the hotel on the Island became one of Europe's largest experiments in communal living. This is where the Stones met the Beatles, Clapton became Slowhand, Bowie admired Rod Stewart's knickers, Elvis Costello gave his first public performance and Tony Blair dabbled as a rock promoter. Orchestrating events were three maverick characters: Prince of Pan Arthur Chisnall, book-keeping jazz fanatic Harold Pendleton and the indefatigable Giorgio Gomelsky. Because of them, what happened in this area changed the course of Britain's musical history. It's a forgotten tale of Sixties London and one that this book aims to put back under the stage lights.



The book is currently in layout and we are chasing the last few images. It should be going off to print in a few weeks time. We expect to have copies in the shops before Christmas. Before then it should be exclusively available from the publisher's website. I will let you know more as soon as we have confirmed dates.



For now, best wishes,

Andrew