Friday, March 06, 2020
Advocacy groups, First Nations to weigh in on Alberta environmental review case
The Canadian Press March 4, 2020
CALGARY — Alberta's top court is allowing a dozen submissions to be heard from advocacy groups and First Nations in the province's constitutional challenge to Ottawa's revamped environmental assessment rules
Alberta's United Conservative government has argued no new pipelines would be built under the Impact Assessment Act, part of the contentious Bill C-69.
It filed its challenge to the Alberta Court of Appeal last fall asking whether Ottawa was within its authority in imposing the new regulations.
Justice Patricia Rowbotham said submissions from six interveners would be allowed on Alberta's side, along with another five in support of the federal government.
She also granted intervener status to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which says it does not support either party.
Ottawa challenged the taxpayer group's application, as well as a joint application on the Alberta side from the Independent Contractors and Business Association and Alberta Enterprise Group. Rowbotham decided both should be heard.
The other interveners on Alberta's side are: Woodland Cree First Nation; Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers; Canadian Energy Pipeline Association; Explorers and Producers of Canada; and Indian Resource Council
Interveners for Ottawa are: The Canadian Environmental Law Association, Environmental Defence Canada and Mining Watch Canada jointly; Nature Canada; Ecojustice; Mikisew Cree First Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
The governments of Ontario and Saskatchewan are also intervening.
In a news release, Ecojustice called the Impact Assessment Act a "balanced, hard fought" piece of legislation that was the product of much collaboration.
"We're arguing that the Impact Assessment Act and its regulations are constitutional and that they're a proper exercise of federal jurisdiction over their part of the environment," Ecojustice lawyer Joshua Ginsberg said in an interview.
No hearing date has been set for the case, but Ginsberg anticipates it will be some time in the fall.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 4, 2020.
OPINION | If you're going to evoke the legacy of Peter Lougheed, get it right
This column is an opinion from Sara Hastings-Simon, a research fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.
Last week, the Government of Alberta announced a new policy in the Throne Speech that was not detailed in the budget.
Evoking the legacy of Peter Lougheed, there was a promise that "Alberta is prepared to invest directly and support companies and Indigenous groups, when necessary, to assure the future of responsible resource development."
But, if we truly want to be "like the government of the late premier Lougheed," we can't simply invest public money to grow production of oil from the oilsands as he did.
Context matters, and much has changed in the decades since.
Instead, we should apply the same thinking to the different situation we face today.
In doing so, the history of Lougheed's approach can guide us in making public investments that open up access to more of Alberta's natural resources, from hydrogen to lithium to agri-food and more, just as his investments in the oilsands was critical in unlocking that industry.
The Alberta context
The global context in both periods is complex, with the oil embargoes and restructuring of the international industry in the 1970s, and the energy transition today, but there is a clear difference in the Alberta context.
While today the oil industry in Alberta is dominated by oilsands production, when Lougheed came to power in 1971, the oil industry in the province was one of conventional oil. So much so that there were limits in place to oilsands production to protect the conventional industry.
The Conservation Board, the government entity responsible for approving new oilsands facilities, had even rejected new oilsands projects on the grounds that they threatened the existing conventional industry.
A shift in government policy to allow for more oilsands production was possible in part because of the decline in conventional reserves that became clear in the early 1970s, as production outpaced the finding of new reserves.
Lougheed acknowledged this threat to the incumbent industry head on. He spoke of the need to make good use of the remaining revenues in light of what he called an eight-to-12 year horizon for conventional industry growth. He even raised royalty rates to increase the government's ability to do so.
Moreover, he did not heed the call of many in the conventional industry at the time who wanted a primary focus on enhanced oil recovery to increase production from this existing industry.
Growing something new
Instead, his investment in the future of resource development was primarily directed toward growing something new in the oilsands, through direct investment in both technology development and construction of the industry.
In doing so, he acknowledged the critical role of the incumbent industry in the economy, both historically and in funding future economic growth, while simultaneously acknowledging the larger opportunity beyond.
While the factors underpinning the threat are different, the oilsands industry today more closely resembles that of the conventional industry in Lougheed's time. Therefore, following the lessons from Lougheed's actions requires more than simply repeating the same investments he made.
Lougheed's public investment in the oilsands was far from support for an existing industry. Rather, it was a strategy that used the public wealth generated by the existing industry to unlock new and different resources in the province.
In doing so, he walked a difficult line in industrial policy, working with existing strengths and competencies within the province but applying them to new challenges that were adjacent to the core activities of the incumbents of the day.
Alberta's natural resource wealth provides an opportunity to make similar investments in today's context. For example, unlocking production of the hydrogen that is abundant in the oilsands resource, or the critical metals and minerals found within the province like the lithium required for batteries, are both new ways to use our natural resources to power the world.
Building on the province's core competencies, including engineering and technical skills, we can responsibly develop these resources. The same is true for the natural resources that support our agricultural system and the potential for significant growth in the agri-food industry.
PETER LOUGHEED WAS A PROGRESSIVE (CONSERVATIVE) AKA A LIBERAL
1984 NEP AND PETROCAN CREATED JOINTLY BY ALBERTA AND OTTAWA
Well respected across the political spectrum in Alberta, Lougheed's government provides important lessons we can use today about the need for direct government investment in developing our resources, but we must get the lessons right.
Lougheed did not shy away from the difficult truth of the future that Alberta faced at the time. He spoke of his despair of short-term thinking, and the need to ensure long-term prosperity for Alberta.
And he understood that investing the wealth that came from the public's ownership in the existing resource industry was critical in realizing this prosperity in new ways.
I believe we would indeed be wise to follow his legacy today in our investments in Alberta's resources.
---30---
SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LOUGHEED
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PETROCAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=NEP
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=OILSANDS
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LOUGHEED
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PETROCAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=NEP
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=OILSANDS
Supreme Court of Canada will not hear B.C. groups' challenges against Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
CBC March 5, 2020
The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear five B.C.-based challenges against the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Groups determined to overturn the project — two First Nations, environmental organizations and teenage activists — had argued a previous judicial review of the pipeline's re-approval by the federal government was unfairly denied by a single judge from the Federal Court of Appeal in September.
The Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, B.C. Nature and several youth climate activists applied to the country's highest court for leave to appeal the dismissal last fall.
The Supreme Court declined to grant the leave in a decision posted Thursday. As is custom, the court did not provide reasons for its decision.
For one of the groups, the ruling marks the end of its six-year legal fight against the pipeline.
5 groups were originally among 12
Twelve groups originally filed challenges against the project with the Federal Court of Appeal last year.
On Sept. 4, the court only agreed to take up six of those appeals. It chose just to hear challenges based on the issue of whether the federal government consulted Indigenous peoples adequately before approving the project for a second time in June.
The federal court declined to hear the second part of the overall dispute: arguments centred on environmental concerns and claims of government bias. Several of the applicants argued the National Energy Board didn't do enough to address environmental and marine concerns when it green-lit the project, while the two First Nations said the federal cabinet couldn't objectively approve or deny the project because they own it.
The four teenaged activists had said Ottawa did not fully consider the pipeline's potential impact on climate change before approving the project.
View photos
Maggie MacPherson/CBCMore
The Squamish Nation and the Tsleil-Wautuh Nation were among the groups who succeeded at the federal court in September, but pressed ahead to the Supreme Court of Canada because they thought concerns around bias and the environment should be heard.
"Obviously, this pipeline has become a political issue as much as a legal or economic issue," said lawyer Eugene Kung, who was not named in the application to the Supreme Court but has previously worked to stop the expansion project.
"What the applicants are looking for is just that the laws of Canada be applied when this project is approved. They've said that it hasn't, and that has very real consequences."
CBC March 5, 2020
The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear five B.C.-based challenges against the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Groups determined to overturn the project — two First Nations, environmental organizations and teenage activists — had argued a previous judicial review of the pipeline's re-approval by the federal government was unfairly denied by a single judge from the Federal Court of Appeal in September.
The Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, B.C. Nature and several youth climate activists applied to the country's highest court for leave to appeal the dismissal last fall.
The Supreme Court declined to grant the leave in a decision posted Thursday. As is custom, the court did not provide reasons for its decision.
For one of the groups, the ruling marks the end of its six-year legal fight against the pipeline.
5 groups were originally among 12
Twelve groups originally filed challenges against the project with the Federal Court of Appeal last year.
On Sept. 4, the court only agreed to take up six of those appeals. It chose just to hear challenges based on the issue of whether the federal government consulted Indigenous peoples adequately before approving the project for a second time in June.
The federal court declined to hear the second part of the overall dispute: arguments centred on environmental concerns and claims of government bias. Several of the applicants argued the National Energy Board didn't do enough to address environmental and marine concerns when it green-lit the project, while the two First Nations said the federal cabinet couldn't objectively approve or deny the project because they own it.
The four teenaged activists had said Ottawa did not fully consider the pipeline's potential impact on climate change before approving the project.
View photos
Maggie MacPherson/CBCMore
The Squamish Nation and the Tsleil-Wautuh Nation were among the groups who succeeded at the federal court in September, but pressed ahead to the Supreme Court of Canada because they thought concerns around bias and the environment should be heard.
"Obviously, this pipeline has become a political issue as much as a legal or economic issue," said lawyer Eugene Kung, who was not named in the application to the Supreme Court but has previously worked to stop the expansion project.
"What the applicants are looking for is just that the laws of Canada be applied when this project is approved. They've said that it hasn't, and that has very real consequences."
View photos Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press
The Raincoast Conservation Foundation, one of the groups which lost its bid Thursday, has long been fighting the pipeline on the basis that the project would further threaten B.C.'s southern resident killer whales.
The foundation cannot pursue its legal challenge further, as there's no court higher than the Supreme Court of Canada.
"This scenario should serve as a wake-up call," Margot Venton said in a statement Thursday. "If the government is allowed to shirk its responsibilities [to at-risk species], then there is something fundamentally wrong with how Canadian species protection works in practice."
Rebecca Wold Gage, 13, said she and the other activists were "devastated" they will not have their day in court.
"I feel like I have failed the generations of the future by not being able to stop this pipeline," Wolf Gage said in a statement.
The sixth group whose challenges were dismissed in federal court in September did not join the other five in pursuing leave to appeal with the Supreme Court.
The proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would carry nearly a million barrels of refined oil products and crude oils from Alberta to the B.C. coast every day. The Crown corporation that now owns the line has previously said the expansion will be finished by mid-2022.
A statement from Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said Thursday's decision "clears the way" for the project to be finished, though she said recent blockades at pipeline and rail sites elsewhere in Canada "continue to be a concern" for the national economy.
The Raincoast Conservation Foundation, one of the groups which lost its bid Thursday, has long been fighting the pipeline on the basis that the project would further threaten B.C.'s southern resident killer whales.
The foundation cannot pursue its legal challenge further, as there's no court higher than the Supreme Court of Canada.
"This scenario should serve as a wake-up call," Margot Venton said in a statement Thursday. "If the government is allowed to shirk its responsibilities [to at-risk species], then there is something fundamentally wrong with how Canadian species protection works in practice."
Rebecca Wold Gage, 13, said she and the other activists were "devastated" they will not have their day in court.
"I feel like I have failed the generations of the future by not being able to stop this pipeline," Wolf Gage said in a statement.
The sixth group whose challenges were dismissed in federal court in September did not join the other five in pursuing leave to appeal with the Supreme Court.
The proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would carry nearly a million barrels of refined oil products and crude oils from Alberta to the B.C. coast every day. The Crown corporation that now owns the line has previously said the expansion will be finished by mid-2022.
A statement from Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said Thursday's decision "clears the way" for the project to be finished, though she said recent blockades at pipeline and rail sites elsewhere in Canada "continue to be a concern" for the national economy.
It's up to all Wet'suwet'en people to work through agreement: Bellegarde
The Canadian Press March 5, 2020
VANCOUVER — Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says it's up to all Wet'suwet'en people to work through the draft agreement struck on Sunday between their hereditary chiefs and senior Canadian officials.
The agreement is the result of four days of negotiations, held in response to the hereditary chiefs' opposition to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern British Columbia that sparked solidarity protests and blockades across the country.
A joint statement by representatives of Wet'suwet'en Nation, the province and the federal government acknowledged they had not come to an agreement on the pipeline, and the company was expected to resume its work this week.
But they say the focus of the draft agreement is Wet'suwet'en rights and land title.
Bellegarde says it's an opportunity to resolve unsettled issues dating back to a 1997 Supreme Court of Canada decision that recognized the hereditary chiefs' authority and the exclusive right of Wet'suwet'en peoples to the land, but fell short of recognizing the territorial boundaries.
He says it's up to Wet'suwet'en people themselves to find the balance between hereditary chiefs and elected chiefs, which will take time, and those talks should include all those in the community.
"They haven't had this formalized since 1997 (with) the Delgamuukw-Gisday'way decision," Bellegarde told The Canadian Press on Wednesday after delivering a keynote address during a seminar on the repatriation of Indigenous cultural objects and ancestral remains at the University of British Columbia.
"It's important for them to have that time and space to bear fruit from this agreement and that's the dialogue I've had with the prime minister."
Aboriginal rights and title are already recognized and affirmed through many Supreme Court decisions, Bellegarde added.
"Let's get the executive and legislative branches of government, start to keep up with judicial branch is saying."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2020.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelt Wet'suwet'en in the headline and in the story.
The Canadian Press March 5, 2020
VANCOUVER — Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says it's up to all Wet'suwet'en people to work through the draft agreement struck on Sunday between their hereditary chiefs and senior Canadian officials.
The agreement is the result of four days of negotiations, held in response to the hereditary chiefs' opposition to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern British Columbia that sparked solidarity protests and blockades across the country.
A joint statement by representatives of Wet'suwet'en Nation, the province and the federal government acknowledged they had not come to an agreement on the pipeline, and the company was expected to resume its work this week.
But they say the focus of the draft agreement is Wet'suwet'en rights and land title.
Bellegarde says it's an opportunity to resolve unsettled issues dating back to a 1997 Supreme Court of Canada decision that recognized the hereditary chiefs' authority and the exclusive right of Wet'suwet'en peoples to the land, but fell short of recognizing the territorial boundaries.
He says it's up to Wet'suwet'en people themselves to find the balance between hereditary chiefs and elected chiefs, which will take time, and those talks should include all those in the community.
"They haven't had this formalized since 1997 (with) the Delgamuukw-Gisday'way decision," Bellegarde told The Canadian Press on Wednesday after delivering a keynote address during a seminar on the repatriation of Indigenous cultural objects and ancestral remains at the University of British Columbia.
"It's important for them to have that time and space to bear fruit from this agreement and that's the dialogue I've had with the prime minister."
Aboriginal rights and title are already recognized and affirmed through many Supreme Court decisions, Bellegarde added.
"Let's get the executive and legislative branches of government, start to keep up with judicial branch is saying."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2020.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelt Wet'suwet'en in the headline and in the story.
Turkey is Learning Why NATO Membership Matters
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Since the botched coup attempt of July 2016, a widespread skepticism of the U.S. has pushed Turkish policy makers to conceptualize a world order where Ankara would carve out a sizeable degree of strategic autonomy from the West—despite Turkey’s membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This line of thinking has led to a burgeoning relationship with Russia, crowned by the purchase of the S-400 missile-defense system.
But the escalating conflict over Idlib, where Turkey is seeking to protect its zone of influence against the advance of the Russian-backed Syrian army, has put the feasibility of this vision to the severest of tests.
The hard clash with reality came with the shocking loss of 34 Turkish soldiers to a joint attack by a Syrian and Russian squadron. Ankara’s reaction has been to seek the political solidarity of its NATO allies. A few hours after this incident, Turkey called for consultations under the Article 4 of the treaty. Timely Western support was important for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of his meeting today with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to discuss the fate of Idlib.
But even beyond the political context, the struggle for Idlib has demonstrated in many other ways the benefits to Turkey’s NATO membership. The success of the counteroffensive carried out by Turkish forces after the air strikes against its troops is closely related to a NATO-enabled military posture and Ankara’s participation in the Euro-Atlantic defense ecosystem.
One key example is the way the Turkish army has capitalized on network-centric warfare assets against standalone Syrian army units. A single Turkish F-16 was able to down two Syrian Su-24 jets, not in a dogfight but beyond visual range. An airborne early-warning and control (AWAC) aircraft acquired the targets, relayed the location and other critical information in real time to the F-16 through the NATO standard Datalink. This information was then relayed to the F-16’s air-to-air AMRAAM missiles as they headed toward their targets.
This level of interoperability, coupled with the ability to take full advantage of the network-centric features of strike assets, has given the Turkish army a clear advantage over rival forces in northwest Syria. Turkey’s battlefield advantage even extended against Syria’s modern Pantsir air-defense systems, supplied by Russia. Turkish armed drones have been able to take out these assets with the help of advanced electronic warfare systems.
The next phase of the conflict over Idlib will be shaped by the sustainability of any ceasefire emerging from the Erdogan-Putin meeting in Moscow today. But in reality, there is little likelihood that a ceasefire will turn into a permanent peace. Turkish and Russian goals in Idlib are irreconcilable. Moscow wants to hand over the control of the territory to the Syrian regime; Ankara wants maintain its presence there, to prevent the aggravation of a humanitarian disaster, but also as a leverage for the eventual negotiations over a political settlement in Syria.
Complicating the equation is the issue of Turkey’s proxy groups, some of them linked to jihadi entities, which are considered by Russia and Syrian regime as terrorists. Idlib’s future will be shaped by these ongoing disagreements, and the Turkey-Russia dispute will remain prone to new conflicts.
As a result, Turkish policy makers may be forced to review their position on Turkey’s fast expanding military cooperation with Russia. Of key importance will be the fate of the S-400. It is difficult to imagine that Ankara would fully operationalize this system, triggering U.S. sanctions, at a time when the relationship with Russia has entered a conflictual phase, at least over Syria.
But whether Turkey will take the next step and mothball this strategic weapons system to totally eliminate the threat of sanctions is still unclear. More certain is the emerging appreciation in Ankara of the risks of half-baked attempts at strategic autonomy in a region where the threat environment militates for Turkey’s stronger attachment to the institutions of transatlantic security.
Majority of Canadians unhappy with Trudeau's handling of blockade crisis: poll
OTTAWA — A new poll suggests Canadians weren't happy with Justin Trudeau's handling of the natural-gas pipeline dispute in British Columbia that led to nationwide rail and road blockades mounted in solidarity with Indigenous leaders who oppose the project.
According to the Leger Marketing survey, 61 per cent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the way the prime minister has handled the blockade file.
The numbers also suggest most Canadians blame the federal government for the crisis that erupted after supporters of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs were arrested in B.C. while trying to block the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in early February — even though the project was approved by the province.
A majority of respondents — 57 per cent — said they believe Indigenous land claims are valid and there was overwhelming support for the federal government to actively resolve them and to consult with Indigenous groups on development projects.
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says this represents a major shift in public support for Indigenous rights issues compared to previous decades.
But when it comes to whether Indigenous Peoples should have a veto on major developments on their lands, the Leger survey suggests opinion is more divided, with 42 per cent of respondents saying Yes while 41 per cent said No.
"I think Canadians have moved forward in aiming for reconciliation, but probably not to the degree that Indigenous leaders would like," Bourque said.
"When (respondents) say they're dissatisfied with the prime minister's handling of the whole rail blockade issue, some of them would want to actually move faster and get the blockade out of the way quicker, but a lot of it is basically people saying, 'Wait a minute here, maybe we did something wrong leading into this.'"
Regional results suggest respondents from oil-and gas-producing provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan registered higher levels of dissatisfaction, while those on the East Coast, Ontario and Quebec were more measured in their response, Bourque noted.
When asked whether the Coastal GasLink pipeline should be stopped permanently or paused temporarily to negotiate further with Indigenous leaders, respondents appeared divided, with a tie of 37 per cent favouring each option.
However, taking Prairie provinces out of the mix suggests a majority of Canadians elsewhere would support a more measured, negotiated approach, Bourque said.
The numbers also suggest those who identified as Conservative voters were less favourable toward Indigenous land claims, he said, noting that the majority of Conservative supporters are in the oil and gas producing provinces.
"That sort of creates a spiral around this issue," Bourque said.
"It has a potential to be divisive: on the one hand, if you're the Liberal government, if you don't go far enough in terms of aiming towards reconciliation, then you might alienate Green party supporters, NDP supporters out there and potentially some Bloc supporters as well. But if you go too heavy-handed into this to try and appease Conservative supporters, then you're losing your left-of-centre support that you desperately need."
When it comes to Canada's efforts at reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, the data suggests the pipeline dispute and resulting rail blockades and protests might have caused damage.
Forty-four per cent of respondents said they believe the recent crisis has been a step back on reconciliation, compared with 19 per cent who said they believed it had a positive impact and another 19 per cent who indicated it had none.
Trudeau said Wednesday he believes Canadians want all citizens to have opportunities and a fair chance to succeed and that his government has been focused on trying to find long-lasting solutions to the LNG pipeline dispute.
"You can't just put short-term band-aids on many of these challenges that people are facing," he told reporters in St-Jerome, Que.
"We do not want to see these problems continuing to jump up every few months in the coming years. We need to make sure we're creating, through dialogue, through peaceful resolution, the kinds of lasting resolutions that we need. And that's why we're continuing to engage, continuing to negotiation, continuing to push towards that peaceful, lasting solution."
It may not be all bad news for Trudeau's minority government, however.The Liberal party's overall polling numbers have remained relatively stable since the October federal election, dropping just two percentage points to 32 per cent since the last Leger survey was conducted in early February.Bourque said he believes this means even though the public may be unhappy with how Trudeau has handled the B.C. pipeline and blockade issue, overall the issue is only cementing the partisan lines that already exist."Responses to the other questions are telling us (the Liberals) adopted the best strategy, which was to take (their) time and try to aim for a peaceful resolution and a getting back to the negotiating table," Bourque said."But it also looks, from a partisan and political perspective, it's becoming tougher and tougher for the Liberal party in Western Canada."
The online survey of 1,540 Canadians was conducted Feb. 28 to March 2 for The Canadian Press and cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not random samples.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2020.
Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs were arrested in early February.
For Australia's Muslims, Indonesian seafaring history gives a sense of belonging
GOVE PENINSULA, Australia (Reuters) - Centuries before Captain James Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770, Muslim Makassan sailors from Indonesia regularly traveled thousands of kilometers across open sea to trade with Aboriginal people in Australia’s far north.
GOVE PENINSULA, Australia (Reuters) - Centuries before Captain James Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770, Muslim Makassan sailors from Indonesia regularly traveled thousands of kilometers across open sea to trade with Aboriginal people in Australia’s far north.
An undated aerial handout photo of a traditional Indonesian 'Prau' vessel going through waters, from the Anu Hanifa Institute. Anu Hanifa Institure/Handout via REUTERS
Now, a voyage in a specially constructed replica boat has rekindled ties between the Makassans from Sulawesi island and the Yolngu clan in northeast Arnhem Land, providing a powerful message about belonging for young Australian Muslims.
The project is the brainchild of the Abu Hanifa Institute, an organization promoting education, identity and inclusiveness for Muslims in Sydney.
“We ran a workshop with young people and we asked them what it meant to be an Australian and many people really could not identify with that concept,” Abu Hanifa’s Sheikh Wesam Charkawi told Reuters.
“They felt that the discourse that they hear on a daily basis - ‘Go back to where you came from’, ‘You don’t belong here’, ‘Love it or leave it’ - that it alienated them.”
Muslims make up less than 3% of Australia’s population and many report experiencing prejudice or hostility regarding their faith.
The story of the Australia’s “First Nations’” 60,000 year-plus history on the land and their long and deep relationship with the Makassans resonated with many Muslim youth. The two peoples traded sea cucumbers, exchanged ideas and language, inter-married and lived among each other from the 1500s or possibly earlier, according to historians.
The story helped young Muslims “understand that your religious ancestors had a connection with the First Nations people in Australia from well before 1770,” Charkawi said.
The 15 meter (50 foot) vessel was built by Makassan craftsmen on a beach in Sulawesi using traditional methods and local timber.
Launching the boat was just one of many challenges the project had to overcome.
“On the day, we didn’t realize how we were going to get it (into the sea) then all of a sudden, hundreds of people turned up and they began pushing this thing, digging the sand with their own hands - not with shovels, but their own hands - to try and push this vessel into the sea,” Charkawi said. “Eventually, they made it happen.”
With no engine to rely on, the vessel and its 12 Makassan crew sailed for 25 days to make the near-2,000km (1,200 mile) journey to Darwin.
From there, it sailed to the Gove Peninsula, in northeast Arnhem Land, where it was met by hundreds of Yolngu and other Indigenous people from around the area, performing songs and ceremonies of welcome.
Muslim and Aboriginal leaders both wanted to share the history more widely, including getting the story of the Yolngu and Makassan relationship into school curriculums.
“This is a unique and very important thing,” said Timmy ‘Djawa’ Burarrwanga, an Aboriginal leader who shared the Makassan story with visiting young Muslims and helped spark the project.
“They are family, they are people that gave something to us. A special gift,” he said at the welcome ceremony.
Now, a voyage in a specially constructed replica boat has rekindled ties between the Makassans from Sulawesi island and the Yolngu clan in northeast Arnhem Land, providing a powerful message about belonging for young Australian Muslims.
The project is the brainchild of the Abu Hanifa Institute, an organization promoting education, identity and inclusiveness for Muslims in Sydney.
“We ran a workshop with young people and we asked them what it meant to be an Australian and many people really could not identify with that concept,” Abu Hanifa’s Sheikh Wesam Charkawi told Reuters.
“They felt that the discourse that they hear on a daily basis - ‘Go back to where you came from’, ‘You don’t belong here’, ‘Love it or leave it’ - that it alienated them.”
Muslims make up less than 3% of Australia’s population and many report experiencing prejudice or hostility regarding their faith.
The story of the Australia’s “First Nations’” 60,000 year-plus history on the land and their long and deep relationship with the Makassans resonated with many Muslim youth. The two peoples traded sea cucumbers, exchanged ideas and language, inter-married and lived among each other from the 1500s or possibly earlier, according to historians.
The story helped young Muslims “understand that your religious ancestors had a connection with the First Nations people in Australia from well before 1770,” Charkawi said.
The 15 meter (50 foot) vessel was built by Makassan craftsmen on a beach in Sulawesi using traditional methods and local timber.
Launching the boat was just one of many challenges the project had to overcome.
“On the day, we didn’t realize how we were going to get it (into the sea) then all of a sudden, hundreds of people turned up and they began pushing this thing, digging the sand with their own hands - not with shovels, but their own hands - to try and push this vessel into the sea,” Charkawi said. “Eventually, they made it happen.”
With no engine to rely on, the vessel and its 12 Makassan crew sailed for 25 days to make the near-2,000km (1,200 mile) journey to Darwin.
From there, it sailed to the Gove Peninsula, in northeast Arnhem Land, where it was met by hundreds of Yolngu and other Indigenous people from around the area, performing songs and ceremonies of welcome.
Muslim and Aboriginal leaders both wanted to share the history more widely, including getting the story of the Yolngu and Makassan relationship into school curriculums.
“This is a unique and very important thing,” said Timmy ‘Djawa’ Burarrwanga, an Aboriginal leader who shared the Makassan story with visiting young Muslims and helped spark the project.
“They are family, they are people that gave something to us. A special gift,” he said at the welcome ceremony.
Charkawi, whose institute is producing a documentary about the project to air later this year, said the arrival was an emotional experience.
“The atmosphere was amazing, it was breathtaking,” he said. “They’d come out with their children, they’d come out with their elderly, with people who couldn’t walk, who were in wheelchairs, so the whole community had rallied behind this event.”
“The atmosphere was amazing, it was breathtaking,” he said. “They’d come out with their children, they’d come out with their elderly, with people who couldn’t walk, who were in wheelchairs, so the whole community had rallied behind this event.”
HERSTORY
Meet the female squad who clear out Vietnam's unexploded bombs
Meet the female squad who clear out Vietnam's unexploded bombs
THOSE ARE AMERICAN ORDINANCE WHERE ARE THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS TO HELP
Minh Nguyen
QUANG TRI, Vietnam (Reuters) - Two petite women in protective gear walk slowly down an empty field in Vietnam, carrying a large metal detector that clicks and whirrs, searching for unexploded ordnance.
Members of all-female landmines clearance team listen to their captain before their morning work at a bombs and landmines exhibition in Quang Tri province, Vietnam March 4, 2020. Picture taken March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Kham
Medic and safety officer Nguyen Thi Ha Lan supervises her teammates, the “landmine girls” as they are known, preparing to detonate a cluster bomb left behind from the war with the United States that ended in 1975.
It is one of many underneath the soil in Quang Tri province, north-central Vietnam.
Once the team is ready to detonate, Lan warns people to clear the area. A siren goes off and then an earthshattering boom.
Lan is part of an all-woman explosive disposal team working under project RENEW (Restoring the Environment and Neutralising the Effect of War) — to help rehabilitate more than 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) of agricultural land.
The area was one of the most heavily bombed of the war and the U.S. Department of Defence estimates that 10 percent of the 80 million tons of munitions used by the U.S army in Vietnam failed to detonate on impact.
For Lan, being part of the 16-member team has a special meaning.
At the age of 12, her mother Hoa lost both legs and an arm due to unexploded ordnance (UXO), while playing in her front yard.
She has spent most of her life in a wheelchair, but still raised two children. Lan’s younger brother works as a deminer in another RENEW team.
“When I look at the kids playing in my front yard, it reminds me of my mother and I used to cry silently inside,” Lan says.
“My job now enables me to have a stable life and the kids are able to play around me on Quang Tri soil and all over Vietnam too.”
In Quang Tri alone, there have been over 8,500 casualties from accidents involving UXO.
Nearly a third of the victims are children who mistake the round, tennis-ball sized cluster bombs for something to play with.
EOD teams such as Lan’s have helped clear over 5,600 hectares (14,000 acres).
Demining work is grueling and dangerous. Working under the scorching sun and temperatures that can reach 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) means that skins tan no matter how much sunscreen they use.
“It is an honour to wear the uniform of the project everyday, so even if we aren’t able to wear make up or a beautiful dress like everyone else, we all feel proud from the bottom of our hearts,” says Lan.
Slideshow (13 Images)
Lan also appreciates the camaraderie that the landmine girls share, working in such dangerous conditions.
There are still many explosives to be cleared. In August 2018, more than 1,400 items were found in an underground cache. But Quang Tri had no accidents last year. The plan is to clear the province of unexploded ordnance by 2025.
Minh Nguyen
QUANG TRI, Vietnam (Reuters) - Two petite women in protective gear walk slowly down an empty field in Vietnam, carrying a large metal detector that clicks and whirrs, searching for unexploded ordnance.
Members of all-female landmines clearance team listen to their captain before their morning work at a bombs and landmines exhibition in Quang Tri province, Vietnam March 4, 2020. Picture taken March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Kham
Medic and safety officer Nguyen Thi Ha Lan supervises her teammates, the “landmine girls” as they are known, preparing to detonate a cluster bomb left behind from the war with the United States that ended in 1975.
It is one of many underneath the soil in Quang Tri province, north-central Vietnam.
Once the team is ready to detonate, Lan warns people to clear the area. A siren goes off and then an earthshattering boom.
Lan is part of an all-woman explosive disposal team working under project RENEW (Restoring the Environment and Neutralising the Effect of War) — to help rehabilitate more than 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) of agricultural land.
The area was one of the most heavily bombed of the war and the U.S. Department of Defence estimates that 10 percent of the 80 million tons of munitions used by the U.S army in Vietnam failed to detonate on impact.
For Lan, being part of the 16-member team has a special meaning.
At the age of 12, her mother Hoa lost both legs and an arm due to unexploded ordnance (UXO), while playing in her front yard.
She has spent most of her life in a wheelchair, but still raised two children. Lan’s younger brother works as a deminer in another RENEW team.
“When I look at the kids playing in my front yard, it reminds me of my mother and I used to cry silently inside,” Lan says.
“My job now enables me to have a stable life and the kids are able to play around me on Quang Tri soil and all over Vietnam too.”
In Quang Tri alone, there have been over 8,500 casualties from accidents involving UXO.
Nearly a third of the victims are children who mistake the round, tennis-ball sized cluster bombs for something to play with.
EOD teams such as Lan’s have helped clear over 5,600 hectares (14,000 acres).
Demining work is grueling and dangerous. Working under the scorching sun and temperatures that can reach 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) means that skins tan no matter how much sunscreen they use.
“It is an honour to wear the uniform of the project everyday, so even if we aren’t able to wear make up or a beautiful dress like everyone else, we all feel proud from the bottom of our hearts,” says Lan.
Slideshow (13 Images)
Lan also appreciates the camaraderie that the landmine girls share, working in such dangerous conditions.
There are still many explosives to be cleared. In August 2018, more than 1,400 items were found in an underground cache. But Quang Tri had no accidents last year. The plan is to clear the province of unexploded ordnance by 2025.
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