ABL solidarity

July 17, 2012

ABL solidarity

Above, Tillis Wawatie, 18, an Algonquin student, cuts out red squares for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake who have set up a camp to protect their land against forestry exploitation.

"It's the same government which created Law 78 to silence the movement against tuition fee increases and austerity measures that has granted companies the right to exploit the ancestral land of Indigenous people," wrote a member of Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO) on Facebook when they posted this photo.

IPSMO and Barriere Lake Solidarity are two non-Indigenous groups that have been rallying support for Barriere Lake in its fight. The solidarity groups are encouraging people to send letters to government officials, and are organizing a casserole solidarity demonstration in Montreal today, Wednesday, July 18, at 11:30am in front of Resolute's offices in downtown Montreal.

"It's just like when they sent us to residential schools. We lost so many things," said Severe Ratt. "Again, now, they're destroying, trying to take our language, our beliefs...now it's our way of life too. They're still going at it, you know. It's so sad to see what's happening. Sometimes at night we're crying just to see, because we're not going to see this anymore, the beauty. They say they are going to restore the bush, but it's not going to be the same. It's all going to be plantation. They're only planting one species.

"I hope people will try to support us."