We Are Poisoning Our First Nations: Charlie Angus

 

They Are Killing Our People CHARLIE ANGUS / THE RESISTANCE APR 20   READ IN APP   This past week, the Mikisew Cree First Nation of Alberta released a report on the massive cancer rates in their community. The Alberta government withheld key medical statistics, and the federal government dragged their feet. The Feds promised to fund a study that would take 10 years to complete. And so, the community paid for their own research. “We will all be dead in ten years,” said Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro. The study revealed staggering rates of cancer in the community. No one can claim to be surprised. The community lives downstream from the massive tar sands operations in northern Alberta. The people are being poisoned — from the staggering levels of emissions whose real rates of toxicity are continually under-reported. And they are being impacted by the toxins in the Athabasca River, where people fish for sustenance. In 2006, Dr. John O’Connor went public with the frightening number of cancer victims in Fort Chipewyan.  Industry and government did everything to shut him down because the source of the cancers was obvious. The Federal Health Canada launched four complaints against him, tying Dr. O’Connor up in litigation in an attempt to strip him of his credentials. “I was simply doing my job,” he said. Further investigation found that everything he said was true. Cancer rates were at least 30% higher than in other communities. And yet nothing was done. And now, 20 years after Dr. O’Connor raised the alarm bell, the Mikisew Cree were in Ottawa with more evidence. In that time, the toxic water in the massive tailings ponds at Fort Mac has grown immensely. It takes upwards of 5 barrels of water to produce 1 barrel of bitumen in Fort Mac. The toxic water is stored in the massive tailings ponds which are almost three times the size of the city of Vancouver. There are now over 1.4 trillion litres of toxic water in the tailings ponds. The oil industry is seeking federal permission to begin dumping toxic water into the badly stressed Athabasca River system. No one in the federal government or the mainstream media are asking what will be the impacts on the people and the stressed waterways if Danielle Smith moves forward with her plan to double oil production. I want to share with you the Meidas Canada Network interview I did with journalist Brandi Morin. She is a truth teller. Please take the time to watch. Included in the video is the trailer to her powerful new film on the toxic waters of the Athabasca. If any photos or images on this site are under copyright please let us know and we will give appropriate credit. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting. Charlie Angus / The Resistance is a reader-supported publication — please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid This post is public — feel free to share it. Share Thank you for reading Charlie Angus / The Resistance. If you’d like to upgrade to a paid subscription your support will help keep this project independent and sustainable. I’m grateful to have you here - thank you for your support. Upgrade to paid   LIKE COMMENT RESTACK   © 2026 Charlie Angus PO Box 74173, Ottawa RPO Beechwood, Ontario K1M 2H9  Unsubscribe

2026 Purdy Poetry Prize goes to Tom Wayman: Jean Baird

 

April 22, 2026 TOM WAYMAN AWARDED  THE 2026 AL AND EURITHE PURDY POETRY PRIZE TOM WAYMAN AWARDED THE 2026 AL AND EURITHE PURDY POETRY PRIZE Eurithe Purdy and the Al Purdy A-frame Association (APAFA) are pleased  to announce that Tom Wayman has been awarded the 2026 Al and Eurithe  Purdy Poetry Prize for his collection Out of the Ordinary (Harbour Publishing).  The $10,000 prize recognizes the most outstanding new book of poetry  published in Canada in 2025 by an established poet with five or more  published poetry collections. Speaking from his home in the West Kootenays, Tom Wayman was thrilled  to learn his book had been selected for the 2026 award. “I’m especially  honoured,” said Wayman, “to be awarded the Al and Eurithe Purdy Poetry  Prize since, in my study where I write each day, a framed photo of Al  glowers down at me-keeping my writing honest, I like to think. Purdy was  helpful to me as a beginning writer in two ways. First, when I was still a  grad student, he named an anthology he edited after the title of a poem  of mine, “Fifteen Winds,” which gave me a huge boost in confidence.  And he included me in his 1971 collection of Canadian poets under 30,  Storm Warning, a kindness that led to my first book being accepted.  Second, the conversational tone of many of Purdy’s poems-a  compositional technique that looks easy to craft, but isn’t-has always  been a model for me: nobody else in the history of English-language  literature beats Purdy at this means to create a poetry anyone can enjoy.” There are two spots left in the April 25 zoom workshop with Stuart Ross, details below. THE GREAT POETRY HEIST Saturday April 25, 2026 at 1 - 3 p.m. ET, via zoom Stuart Ross offers a fun and productive workshop for poets at all levels of experience. We will explore strategies for mining the works of contemporary poets to create our own poems, employing a range of strategies involving ethical thievery, faux translation, ruthless erasure, unconscious collaboration, and affectionate imitation. Arrive with an open mind and leave with a heap of new poems unlike any you’ve written before. Stuart Ross is the author of 23 full-length books, most recently the poetry collection The Sky Is a Sky in the Sky, the Trillium Book Award–winning memoir The Book of Grief and Hamburgers, and the short story collection I Am Claude François and You Are a Bathtub. He has received the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry and the ReLit Award for Short Fiction, as well as the Harbourfront Festival Prize for his contributions to Canadian literature. Stuart has led scores of workshops in Canada, Chile, and the U.S., and has taught at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for a decade. He was writer in residence at Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa and has mentored at the Banff Centre. Stuart lives in Cobourg, Ontario, just down the highway from Ameliasburgh. To register for the class send an e-transfer for $20 to info@alpurdy.ca Enrollment is limited.   https://www.alpurdy.ca/donate/ Thank you for your consideration, and your support!

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The Snowbird Resistance to MAGA: Charlie Angus

 

If Canada Is Safe, America Could be Too CHARLIE ANGUS / THE RESISTANCE APR 19   READ IN APP   The latest numbers are in, and it is clear the battle over the “snowbirds” is over. There was widespread speculation that Canadian snowbirds (seniors who spend the winter months in the sunshine belt) would abandon the boycott to return to their favourite haunts in Texas, Florida, South Carolina and Nevada. It didn’t happen. The Canadian boycott of the United States is showing no signs of weakening. In fact, it’s growing. The numbers for March, a month that typically sees storm-tired Canadians heading off to sunny states, were dramatic. Road travel has dropped 35% compared to 2024. It reflected a pattern of double digit drops in travel for every single month since Trump began his threats against our nation. At the start of the winter, many were speculating that Canadians would slink back to their favourite sunbelt destinations. Tourist destinations offered perks like Canadian money at par and free drinks at the bar. Heck, they even renamed streets after Canada. But Canadians didn’t bend. Forbes magazine says the determination of Canadians to stand up against the MAGA threat has created “a massive sustained economic blow to the American economy that shows no signs of reversing in 2026.” We have come through the hardest winter in memory, and our refusal to break the boycott has resulted in economic impacts that are being counted in the billions. The blow is being felt not just at the national level but by small businesses, family economies and individual workers. And yet every day I receive emails from Americans in affected states asking Canadians to continue to hold the line. This past week I received a powerful message from a Florida business owner who rents vacation properties. He is dependent on the snowbirds: “I am in pain from this boycott, but I want to tell you something: keep going! Help us: an American family who wants to be freed of a pint-sized dictator, a pedo with a saviour complex.” He then added: “The decision of Canadians to stay home has affected my family directly, but it’s a small price to pay for our neighbours’ well-being. If Canada is safe, America is too. We beg you to understand that we [American democracy] will be back soon. We hope that a century and a half of peace and amicability will not have been forfeited, in the end. We love you, Canada!” This letter reminded me of the deep connections that exist at a personal level between our two nations. I was also struck by the notion that if Canada is able to stand up to the threat against our democracy, Americans might their way back as well. Prior to Trump, Canadians were the single largest source of travel to the U.S., spending over $20 billion annually. Canadians accounted for 44 percent of all air travellers into Las Vegas. They spent $3.6 billion every single year. Canadian tourist dollars supported 43,000 jobs in Nevada. That is more than the entire Nevada manufacturing sector. That money is gone. Despite the Las Vegas mayor pleading with Canadians to come back, the boycott has remained firm. Vegas has scrambled to fill the losses through promotion in the regional and national markets, but the loss of Canadian dollars has been devastating. Not only job losses and closures, but for a waitress or dealer, still working it has meant a 50% loss in tips. In Florida, Ron DeSantis has tried to demonize Canadian snowbirds by raising taxes on them and on Airbnb. He brags that he will make snowbirds pay for Florida’s infrastructure. Good luck with that, Ron. People in Florida want to welcome back the tourist dollars. Meanwhile, DeSantis seems determined to make sure they never come back. But here’s a detail about the battle of the snowbirds you may not know. Last month, the number of tourists visiting Canada from the United States was up by 4%. Yes, in the longest and most miserable March in memory, we saw our American friends willing to cross the border to spend money in a democratic nation. Maybe we can thank Trump for creating reverse snowbirds. The connections between our people are strong — we just might get through this.  If any photos or images on this site are under copyright please let us know and we will give appropriate credit. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting. Charlie Angus / The Resistance is a reader-supported publication — please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid This post is public — feel free to share it. Share Thank you for reading Charlie Angus / The Resistance. If you’d like to upgrade to a paid subscription your support will help keep this project independent and sustainable. I’m grateful to have you here - thank you for your support. Upgrade to paid   LIKE COMMENT RESTACK   © 2026 Charlie Angus PO Box 74173, Ottawa RPO Beechwood, Ontario K1M 2H9  Unsubscribe