‘I Think the Women Are Winning’

Kelli María Korducki - Yesterday 
The Atlantic

“No one can predict how a revolution starts,” the Iranian American poet and author Roya Hakakian writes this week in The Atlantic. And make no mistake, she told me in an interview yesterday: The wave of protests now sweeping Iran is a revolution. After 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody following her arrest for improperly wearing the hijab earlier this month, Iranian men and women have filled the streets and set fire to the head coverings that have, for many, come to represent a collective loss of freedom since they were made mandatory following the 1979 revolution. I spoke with Hakakian about Iran’s “Ukrainian moment”—and about what comes next.

“We Are All Mahsa Amini”

Kelli María Korducki: You were a young teen when Iran’s mandatory dress code went into effect in 1981, three years before you left the country for good. Do you see any echoes of that transition period in the current moment?

Roya Hakakian: This revolution in Iran is 43 years old. On March 8, 1979, which was barely even a month after the Iranian Revolution had succeeded, women took to the streets to protest the hijab and the ayatollah’s reinstatement of a mandatory dress code.

I was 13. But this confrontation between the women of the country and the regime is the oldest, most enduring standoff in Iran. And I think the women are winning.

Korducki: You write in your essay, “Today I feel what so many Iranian women feel: We are all Mahsa Amini.” What do you mean by that?

Hakakian: What happened to Mahsa Amini happened to every single one of us. We’ve all been stopped [by Iran’s religious police], and some of us have been detained. I was stopped many, many times. When you think back to all the conversations that you have had with the people who have stopped you, you realize that a slight shift in tone or something very, very small could have gone wrong to get the person who had stopped you to deliver a blow to your head. All of us, the women who’ve lived under this regime, we all know what it’s like and that we could be a victim like Mahsa Amini.

Korducki: You write that Amini’s death has sparked an unusual degree of outrage and solidarity across Iran. What’s different about this particular incident, and why is it uniting so many people from such varied walks of life?

Hakakian: I think it’s in part because all previous hopes for change have been lost. In 2009, there were a lot of young people—university students, especially—who really had placed their hope in the 2009 presidential elections and were rooting for [the reformist presidential candidate, Mir Hossein] Mousavi. When Mousavi lost—the votes disappeared—millions of people took to the streets asking, Where is my vote?

Since then, there have been other demonstrations over simple, tangible, legitimate issues that people generally take to their governments. And because none of those things was ever resolved, I think the natural conclusion that people have come to is that the system is rotten and incapable of responding to our needs. So now nobody’s saying, Where’s my vote? They’re simply saying, This cast of characters has to go.

Korducki: You describe the protests as Iran’s “Ukrainian moment,” and call for the U.S. to act accordingly. What do you mean by that?

Hakakian: I testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, and subsequently had several meetings with various senators. The moment you mentioned Iran, all of these senators started thinking about Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria—that’s their context. And, in fact, that’s the wrong context.

The people in Iran aren’t asking for any foreign powers to invade the country, to come and do the job. They have done the work. They’re not demanding anything from the international community other than the sort of support that the international community, the Western world, must give to those who are vying for democratic values in one of the most dangerous parts of the world. The context to me seems far more similar to the Ukrainian context.

We support Ukrainians in their war against invading Russian forces. Iranians are, in a way, also essentially at war with a very, very powerful and highly armed government, and they need our support now. The regime’s riot police have been throwing women demonstrators against the cement curbs, and there are videos being circulated online that show police opening fire on protesters. Yet the U.S.—which has been investing in democracy promotion in Iran for at least the past two decades—is still sitting at the table and holding nuclear negotiations with these very people. To me, it seems very reasonable to demand that negotiations be stopped until the riot police stop exercising violence.

Like in every other revolution that has ever taken place, if it isn’t supported by governments that believe in the prodemocratic values that the demonstrators are demanding, these protesters will fail.


Related video: Iran's Raisi condemns 'chaos' of protests after Mahsa Amini's death, backs security forces Duration 5:12  View on Watch

'Say her name' chants at protest for Mahsa Amini in New York, USA

StringersHub

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The bonfire of the headscarves

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Indian Supreme Court upholds abortion for unmarried women and in case of marital rape

Daniel Stewart - News 360


India's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which was amended in 2021 to allow termination of pregnancy on several grounds up to 24 weeks, for unmarried women and those who have suffered spousal rape.



The court, which has made a landmark decision, has thus indicated that it considers unconstitutional the distinction between a single woman and a house when it comes to requesting to undergo this practice. "The benefits of this law should be extended to both," said Justices DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna and JP Bardiwala, according to the judgment, which has been accessed by the NDTV channel.

Thus, the definition of rape in the law should include marital rape, which paves the way for bringing such cases to justice. "Married women can also be among the survivors of sexual abuse and rape. The definition of rape implies having sexual intercourse without the consent of the other person or against their will regardless of whether this occurs within or outside marriage," they clarified.

Related video: SC Hearing On Abortion | Remarkable And Progressive: Advocate Amit Mishra | English News | News 18   Duration 4:37  View on Watch


In this sense, they have emphasized that the marital status of the woman cannot "encourage her to be deprived of the right to abortion, so that even unmarried women have the right to access it in those first 24 weeks". The sentence indicates that the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy "for the body and mind of the woman cannot be underestimated".

"The decision to carry the pregnancy to term is part of the woman's autonomy," they stressed before stating that if these women are forced to give birth, the State "would be stripping them of their determination and their ability to decide about their own future."

The decision followed an appeal filed by a 25-year-old unmarried woman after a lower court ruled that she was ineligible for the abortion law because she was not married and had consensual relations.

However, the woman has claimed that she was 23 weeks pregnant and that her partner in question had refused to marry her. In addition, she said that she was the eldest of five siblings from a poor family, so she lacked the resources to raise her child.

Last July, the court allowed the woman to have an abortion after receiving the approval of several doctors. Now, the regulations state that women who have been raped, have a disability, are minors or are at risk of physical or psychological harm if they go through with the pregnancy can have an abortion.

MISOGYNISTIC BARBARISM
At Least 2 More Underage Rape Victims, 2 Pregnant Cancer Patients Denied Abortions in Ohio

Kylie Cheung - Yesterday 

All eyes were on Ohio in July when news broke that a 10-year-old rape victim had been forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to Ohio’s six-week abortion ban. Now a new affidavit filed to challenge Ohio’s ban (currently paused until Oct. 12) shows the child wasn’t alone: There are at least two other cases of minors who were impregnated by rape being denied abortion care, according to abortion providers in the state, as well as two documented cases of pregnant cancer patients who couldn’t get abortions and thus couldn’t receive chemotherapy.


Photo: Getty© Photo: Getty

According to the affidavit, three different Ohio women with unwanted pregnancies who were denied abortion care threatened to die by suicide. There were at least three cases of pregnant people with fetal abnormalities, rendering their pregnancies nonviable being forced to remain pregnant, and a case of someone whose pregnancy had made them so sick she couldn’t get off the clinic floor.

Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed the current abortion ban in 2019, but it only took effect shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. The law notably doesn’t have exceptions for rape, allowing abortions only when the pregnant person’s life is in imminent danger—which is highly medically risky, dangerously arbitrary, and clearly didn’t help the aforementioned cancer patients.

For months now, we’ve witnessed the horrifying ripple effects inflicted by the fall of Roe on the health system, between a New York woman being denied medication that could cause birth defects for her chronic, debilitating pain because she was of “childbearing age,” and a Louisiana woman forced to carry a skull-less, nonviable fetus. The Kansas City Public Health System at one point stopped giving plan B to rape victims. But for many people, the case of the 10-year-old rape victim from Columbus, Ohio, stood out as particularly jarring—and it turns out this was merely the tip of the iceberg in the state.

In the affidavit, Dr. Adarsh E. Krishen, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, recounted that one minor who had been impregnated by raped had to travel to Michigan for an abortion. “This patient experienced immense trauma from the assault itself and then endured further trauma from a forensic interview alongside a physical exam to collect evidence for the ongoing police investigation,” Krishen wrote. “This trauma was further exacerbated by needing to wait over three weeks for her appointment.”

Aeran Trick, operations manager of Women’s Med Center of Dayton, wrote that “a 16-year-old girl living in Southwestern Ohio who had become pregnant after being sexually assaulted by a family member,” like the 10-year-old, was also forced to travel to Indiana for abortion. “The local Ohio law enforcement agency—which was already involved at the time the clinic was contacted about the patient—had to drive to our Indianapolis clinic to retrieve the tissue for crime lab testing related to the sexual assault investigation,” Trick added.

Dr. Sharon Liner, medical director of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio in Cincinnati, wrote in her affidavit that a cancer patient whose chemotherapy had been paused due to her pregnancy sought and was denied abortion care, despite the Ohio law’s supposed exception for threats to the pregnant person’s life. Trick also recounted trying to help a pregnant person suffering from stage III melanoma, who sought abortion care because her pregnancy had paused her cancer treatment. Both of these women were ultimately forced to travel out of the state for care.

“If that patient couldn’t get her chemotherapy because she’s forced to continue her pregnancy, she’s not going to die in that moment, but she probably will die much sooner. Maybe significantly sooner, decades sooner,” Georgia-based abortion provider Nisha Verma told Jezebel in July, discussing one of her patients who had been diagnosed with cancer and needed an abortion so she could start chemotherapy.

According to Liner, after SB23 took effect, her clinic “had to cancel over 600 [abortion] appointments.” She continued, “We have had at least three patients threaten to commit suicide. Another patient said she would attempt to terminate her pregnancy by drinking bleach. Another asked how much vitamin C she would need to take to terminate her pregnancy.”

However heartbreaking these stories may be, I don’t expect them to move Gov. DeWine or his ilk. After the 10-year-old rape victim’s case drew national attention, DeWine and other top Republicans attempted to cast doubt on the veracity of the story, and even threatened legal action against the Indiana doctor who provided the child with care. Other anti-abortion activists suggested there was nothing wrong with what had happened to the child, and argued we should normalize literal children impregnated by rape becoming parents.

These reactions should dispel with the myth that any amount of suffering from abortion bans will ever be “bad” enough to persuade anti-abortion politicians, who refuse to recognize pregnant people as human beings.

Hundreds of ancient artifacts seized from home in northern Israel

About 270 ancient artifacts were found in the search, including coins from different periods and figurines of Medusa.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Published: SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 

Ancient artifacts seized from an antiquities dealer in northern Israel, September 2022
(photo credit: YULI SCHWARTZ/IAA)

Hundreds of ancient decorated toga pins, earrings, rings and figurines of animals and idols were found in the home of a man who used to be an antiquities dealer in northern Israel, the Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday.

The Robbery Prevention Unit of the Antiquities Authority had entered the home with a search warrant. The suspect, a 70-year-old man, used to be an antiquities dealer and is suspected of trading in antiquities without a license and smuggling antiquities abroad.

"The suspect knew the provisions of the law but chose to ignore them and act against the law in order to make money," said Amir Ganor, director of the Robbery Prevention Unit. "Hundreds of ancient finds reach the antiquities trade market as a result of illegal excavations at antiquities sites throughout the State of Israel. The time has come to act to ban the trade in antiquities in Israel, similar to all the countries of the Mediterranean Sea."

About 270 ancient artifacts were found in the search, including gold, silver and bronze coins from different periods, including coins placed inside modern jewelry.

Ancient artifacts seized from an antiquities dealer in northern Israel, September 2022 (credit: YULI SCHWARTZ/IAA)

The inspectors also found 2,000-year-old signet rings and bronze objects in the shape of Medusa, the mythical gorgon. The Antiquities Authority believes that the artifacts were stolen from tombs that had been sealed for thousands of years.

Antiquities Authority conducting large-scale operation to thwart illegal artifact trade

The Robbery Prevention Unit has conducted a large-scale operation in recent months to thwart the illegal trade of antiquities around the country, with 35 suspects arrested so far and over 60,000 ancient artifacts seized.

Bell: Smith loss 'almost impossible' — the last UCP member poll

Rick Bell - 6h ago


A week to go.


UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith speaks at a campaign rally in Chestermere on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.© Provided by Calgary Sun

It’s not impossible.

It’s “almost impossible.” It’s “extremely difficult” for anybody to catch UCP leadership frontrunner Danielle Smith.

So says Hamish Marshall of ONE Persuasion.

He headed up the latest nose-count of the race where the winner next week becomes UCP leader and premier.

It is the last poll of this kind, unless some candidate has numbers stuffed in their back pocket.

It is a nose-count commissioned by the camp of UCP leadership frontrunner Danielle Smith.

It is a survey of 1,603 souls from the actual UCP membership list and the results came out of the field Tuesday.

As your scribbler always says, you can take it or leave it.

It might be in the ballpark of reality Oct. 6.

Or there could be a big surprise and the so-called smart money will lose their shirts.

So let’s go.

First, a real big number everybody has wanted to see.

Of those polled, 84.6% have voted.

That’s more than four out of five.

Of those who have already voted, it’s Smith 45%. Travis Toews 28%. Brian Jean 11%. Rebecca Schulz 6%. Todd Loewen 5%, and Leela Aheer and Rajan Sawhney with lower percentages.

The first choice for all decided voters is almost the same. Smith 45%. Toews 27.5%. Jean 11.5%. Schulz 6.1%. Loewen 6%, with Aheer and Sawhney further behind.

Now some people have asked, so your scribbler asks.

Could there be some kind of surprise where someone overtakes Smith when leadership candidates drop out of the race and the second choices of their supporters are counted?

Marshall, who ran the leadership campaign of former federal Conservative boss Andrew Scheer, points out Smith’s first round support is so high the finish line is not far away.

Bell: Danielle Smith, can she beat Rachel Notley? More numbers

Bell: Shandro's Sovereignty Act Lite on Ottawa gun grab, say what?!

UCP leadership hopefuls show united front against Smith's Sovereignty Act

The poll does look at candidate second choices for leader.

Aheer and Sawhney numbers are low.

Related video: Who were the winners and losers of the final UCP leadership debate?


Who were the winners and losers of the final UCP leadership debate?

Aheer’s seconds go to Toews and Jean more than Smith.

Sawhney’s number twos go to Toews and Jean slightly more than Smith.

Half of Loewen’s second choices go to Smith.

Half of Schulz’s second choices go to Toews.

It’s not enough to derail Smith.

Marshall says if the frontrunner was at lower than 40% on the first ballot, maybe even lower than 35%, then it could be different story.

Marshall says by Round 5 of the balloting Smith will be at 51.2%, Toews at 34.1% and Jean at 14.7%.

Even if it was just Smith against Toews, Smith would still win. She just doesn’t need much to get 50% plus one.

As for the Sovereignty Act, 54% of UCP members polled back it and don’t want to give Ottawa an inch.

Another 15.7% support the proposed new law for “Ottawa’s most egregious violations of the constitution.”

A little more than six out of 10 members polled agree with changing the province’s human rights law to prohibit discrimination of those choosing not to get a COVID shot or booster.

Just wait. There is a second poll by the same outfit, with 750 adult Albertans counted.

This is the general public.

It’s from mid-September.

The horse race. UCP 44.6%. NDP 39.8%. The rest are other parties.

On the Sovereignty Act, Albertans are less enthusiastic backers of the Smith brainwave than UCP members.

Fewer than half, 40.8%, support the Sovereignty Act in some circumstances.

Almost a third, that’s 31.7%, need to know more before deciding.

“Should Danielle Smith become premier she’s got an opportunity to sell the idea to Albertans,” says nose-counter Marshall.

On whether Alberta’s human rights law should be changed so it would be illegal to discriminate against the unvaccinated, 41.2% say Yes.

Again, different numbers than the UCP membership.

“It’s not a giant surprise UCP members are generally more libertarian than the public as a whole,” says the pollster.

Then, last but surely not least, the nose-counter decides to have the top three leadership candidates square off against NDP leader Rachel Notley.

One against one. A different question than the poll in the last column.

This number crunch finds Notley 50.9%. Jean 49.1%

Notley 53.2%. Toews 46.8%.

Notley 50.2%. Smith 49.8%.

Here’s what the collector of the political math sees.

“When push comes to shove, as what happens in an election, non-NDP voters are happy to consolidate around whoever the UCP leader is.”

Some would beg to differ. Some within the UCP. Some talking in coffee shops right now.

Jean is not waving the white flag.

He’s telling UCP members Notley is planning for her election win knowing Smith is the UCP leader less likely to defeat her.

Jean’s camp says Notley wants to take on Smith and the NDP know what buttons to push and won’t be as gentle on Smith as everyone in the UCP leadership race has been.

Well, in a few days, if Smith wins, we’ll all get a chance to see if that’s true.

rbell@postmedia.com

‘Companies would much rather you leave’: Ex-HR worker says companies will ‘manage you out’ instead of firing you, sparking debate

Natasha Dubash - Yesterday

In a TikTok video that has gone viral with over 527,000 views, Joanna Briggs (@whatmatterscic) details the practice of being “managed out” of your job.


woman speaking in front of light gray wall with hand in speaking gesture (l) woman speaking in front of light gray wall hand on chin caption© Provided by Daily Dot

Move over “quiet quitting,” there’s a new passive-aggressive behavior taking over the corporate workforce called "quiet firing." The Washington Post describes the phenomenon as being “nudged out by a manager who can’t fire you but is making your job increasingly unpleasant and unrewarding.” This is exactly what Joanna, the founder of youth career developmental organization What Matters CIC, warns followers of in her viral video.

The TikTok is a stitch that responds to user @jennahushka’s video in which Jenna asks people to elaborate on something that they were not prepared to encounter in the corporate world. “That instead of firing you, they will just manage you out,” Joanna says to the camera in her stitched video.

The ex-HR professional goes on to explain the practice. Many people believe that if they work hard at their job, they will simply reap the rewards that are due to them. Conversely, Joanna says, you might think that if you were bad at your job, “they will just sit you down, have a conversation and say, 'hey, this isn’t working.'"

But, the TikTok creator explains this is often not the case in large corporations. “Instead, your manager will talk to everyone else under the sun, apart from you,” she says, leading others at the company to also believe that you are bad at your job. This will “just make it difficult for you to stay.”

“Companies would much rather you leave…rather than them having to actually address the issues and train you properly or help support you become a better employee for their company,” Joanna says. But companies should be cautious about treating their employees as disposable assets as it leads to low morale and retaliatory behaviors like "quiet quitting."

A Time article from Sept. 10, 2022, suggests that employees who find themselves in this situation be vocal about their needs with their supervisors and co-workers and familiarize themselves with their company’s policies for promotions and raises. That way, when it comes time to have a conversation with their supervisor (or their supervisor’s supervisor), they can better present their accomplishments and progression at the company.

Ultimately, Joanna urges her followers to read the room and trust their intuition. “If you’re not getting those promotions, if you’re not getting those pay rises, and if something in you is telling you this isn’t right, trust me, your gut isn’t lying to you," she says.

The Daily Dot reached out to Joanna via email and Instagram direct message.

Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

The post ‘Companies would much rather you leave’: Ex-HR worker says companies will ‘manage you out’ instead of firing you, sparking debate appeared first on The Daily Dot.

STAKEHOLDER CAPITALI$M

Indigenous communities to buy stake in seven Alberta Enbridge pipelines

Lisa Johnson - 

Greg Desjarlais, chief of Frog Lake First Nation (left) and Enbridge CEO Al Monaco at an announcement of a $1.12-billion Indigenous energy investment in northern Alberta Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 in Edmonton.

Touted as the largest Indigenous energy partnership in North America to date, 23 communities are buying a minority stake in seven northern Alberta Enbridge pipelines for $1.12 billion.

With a news conference Wednesday, newly-created Athabasca Indigenous Investments, made up of 23 First Nation and Métis communities, announced the deal to buy an 11.57 per cent non-operating interest in the Enbridge-operated pipelines in the Athabasca region.

The pipelines covered by the deal include the Athabasca, Wood Buffalo/Athabasca Twin and associated tanks, the Norlite Diluent, the Waupisoo, the Wood Buffalo, the Woodland, and the Woodland extension. Colin Gruending, executive vice-president and president of liquids pipelines at Enbridge, said they collectively transport about 45 per cent of oilsands product.

Chief Greg Desjarlais of Frog Lake First Nation said the investment brings Indigenous communities who are impacted by development in the region an important seat at the table, and will allow them to improve their quality of life.

“This investment — it creates opportunities. It’s going to allow us to send our kids to school. It’s going to allow us to send more people to treatment. It’s going to allow us to deal with the mental (health) crisis that we have in our communities, the anxiety of the young people,” he said, adding the deal should be seen as a benchmark.

“I hope the industry and other levels of government are paying attention, because our people should not be living in poverty in the land of milk and honey.”
A deepening relationship

Al Monaco, president and CEO of Enbridge, said the company aims to become a partner with Indigenous communities in future renewable, renewables, carbon capture, hydrogen and natural gas projects.

“Really it’s the beginning of a partnership and a deepening of the relationship that I think is going to be absolutely vital to what we do in the future,” said Monaco, who added the deal would not have been possible without the work of the provincial government.


The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) backstopped the Athabasca Indigenous Investments deal to the tune of $250 million, with the rest of the investment raised through private investors. The Crown corporation was established by the UCP government in 2019, to extend loan guarantees and give advice to Indigenous groups to get involved in natural resource and other projects.

The latest project brings the total backing from AIOC to $410 million since 2020.

Premier Jason Kenney marked the announcement as one of the most exciting and consequential of his political career.

“(It’s) an historic, game-changing deal that shows the way to the future of shared prosperity,” he said, adding that pipelines will not get built without the full participation of Indigenous people, and the most effective way to ensure that participation is for them to be equal partners with an ownership stake.
Partnership is ‘precedent-setting’: crown corp

Stan Delorme, chairman of the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, said Enbridge has set the bar, and the partnership is a chance “to bring attention to the other industry players that are nickel-and-diming us currently.”

Justin Bourque, president of Athabasca Indigenous Investments, said it offers an important opportunity for all 23 communities involved to act as environmental stewards.

“This partnership in general provides a completely different form that we’ve never had in terms of engagement, in terms of discussion, in terms of being able to hold accountable,” he said.

AIOC chief executive officer Chana Martineau called the deal precedent-setting.

“These communities may not otherwise have been able to access the kind of capital required to facilitate equity share ownership in projects of this size and magnitude,” she said.

Enbridge and Athabasca Indigenous Investments said the assets are underpinned by long-term resources and long-term contracts, which provide “highly predictable cash flows.”

The deal is expected to close next month.

lijohnson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/reportrix

‘We want to be at the table’: Indigenous leaders call for more partnerships after Enbridge deal

Paula Tran - Yesterday 

Indigenous leaders across Alberta are calling for more partnerships with the provincial government after a "historic" economic development.


Derek Johnson, Supervisor/operator for Enbridge loads pipe at a storage facility just west of Morden, Man., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. A press conference and tour of a Line 3 site for federal, provincial, municipal and indigenous leaders was held at the site.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Enbridge Inc. signed a deal to sell a minority stake in seven pipelines in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta to a group of 23 First Nation and Métis communities for $1.12 billion.

The deal is the largest energy-related Indigenous economic partnership transaction in North America to date, according to Enbridge.

Video: Enbridge sells minority stake in 7 Alberta pipelines to Indigenous communities

The pipelines included in the agreement are the Athabasca, Wood Buffalo/Athabasca Twin and associated tanks, Norlite Diluent, Waupisoo, Wood Buffalo, Woodland and the Woodland extension.

Read more:
Why Indigenous-led projects could be key to combating Canada’s energy dilemma

Athabasca Indigenous Investments (Aii), a limited partnership of 23 Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 First Nations and Métis communities, will manage the investment which includes an 11.57 per cent non-operating interest in the pipelines.

Aii said the deal is expected to bring in more than $10 million annually to the communities represented in the partnership.

Enbridge said the assets are underpinned by long-life resources and long-term contracts, which provide highly predictable cash flows.

In March 2022, 16 Indigenous communities along the Coastal GasLink pipeline route signed option agreements for an equity stake in the project.

The deal is expected to close within the next month.

Video: Indigenous monitors track TMX pipeline progress through B.C.

Frog Lake First Nation Chief Greg Desjarlais said the deal marks a new path because it will create opportunities to improve the well-being of Indigenous peoples across the province.

"First Nations weren't the problem. We are part of the solution in this country," Desjarlais said at a news conference on Wednesday.

"This investment creates opportunities. It's going to allow us to send our kids to school. It's going to allow us to send our people to treatment. It's going to allow us to deal with the mental health crisis in our communities.

"Our people should not live in poverty on the land of milk and honey. Our milk has gone sour somewhere. We need to get back to working together."

Read more:
Indigenous monitors join province in tracking Trans Mountain pipeline progress

Desjarlais urged the Alberta government to continue inviting First Nation and Métis peoples to have a seat at the decision-making table.

These decisions will affect the generations to come, he said.

"I support economic sovereignty. I also live off the land... We always had an economy, but somewhere down the line we were excluded," the First Nation chief said.

"Today, the investment means we have an important seat at the table, and that seat cannot be ignored or overlooked... As the chief of Frog Lake, I have to have the foresight like many of our leaders do to look beyond the generations that are yet to come.

"This is what the Elders prophesized. We must work together and we must care for one another."

Read more:
Indigenous non-profit group seeks ownership stake in Trans Mountain Pipeline

Stan Delorme, chairperson of the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, said the funding from the deal is necessary but more needs to be done.

"Hopefully other industries are paying attention at this point in time," Delorme said.

"This is not only a historical day but also a beneficial deal... The funding is needed. Like any other community, the needs are there."

Video: Landlocked: Canada’s Energy Dilemma

Enbridge deal a major steps toward reconciliation: Alberta government

The Alberta government said the deal is a major step toward reconciliation with First Nations and Métis settlements.

According to Premier Jason Kenney, the "game-changing" deal makes the Alberta government a partner in Indigenous prosperity.

"This moves the talk of reconciliation to the real progress of reconciliaction," Kenney said at a news conference on Wednesday.

"This is the single largest Indigenous transaction in the natural resource center in the history of North America."

Video: B.C. First Nations urge Canada to cease pipeline construction

Chana Martineau, chief executive officer of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp. (AIOC), said the deal benefits all Albertans, not just Indigenous peoples.

The AIOC, a provincial crown corporation, said it provided a loan guarantee that enabled the communities to borrow the $250 million for their equity stake in the assets instead of contributing their own capital.

"The AIOC has continuously championed Indigenous prosperity and the impacts that these kinds of projects can bring to industry partners, Indigenous communities and Métis settlements across the province," Martineau said.

Enbridge chief executive officer Al Monaco said the partnership exemplifies how Enbridge and Indigenous communities can work together.

"We're actually doing something to ensure that we foster reconciliation in this country... If we can get this right going forward, then we have a lifetime of opportunity here," Monaco said.

--With files from The Canadian Press.

RIGHT WING & PROCAPITALISM

Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets are damaging to First Nations, says Merasty

The head of an Indigenous organization that advocates for sustainable and responsible resource development is pushing for “meaningful talks” to happen with Indigenous communities on how to move forward on a 42 per cent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target set by the federal government for 2030.

Robert Merasty, executive director of the Indigenous Resource Network, calls that target a “political statement.”

“That’s what I disagree with: Political people making their own statements without consulting with … rights holders... In our Indigenous communities, we are rights holders. We have, absolutely, certain rights that are identified within the Constitution of Canada. You need to have meaningful talks,” said Merasty.

“It’s really (been) an issue of government dictating what must be done instead of sitting and discussing and asking what should be done. That’s the fundamental approach here.”

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Stephen Guilbeault says consultations have happened and he continues to speak with Indigenous communities and leaders.

In June 2021 the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act was passed, committing Canada to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

The Emissions Reduction Plan, published this past March, states 30,000 Canadians had input, including Indigenous peoples. It sets out a 42 per cent emissions cap on the oil and gas sector by 2030 as one of the tools to hit the zero emissions mark by 2050.

“We did consult in preparing this plan,” said Guilbeault. “It’s not something that we did on our own in Ottawa. There was a lot of consultation. I’m hearing from some Indigenous representatives that there are too much consultations that we’re doing right now on environmental issues or climate change.”

What that plan doesn’t take into account, says Merasty, is the impact such measures will have on the quality of life of Indigenous communities that have finally been able to raise the capital needed in order to partner in oil and gas development.

“Nobody supports the protection, the stewardship of our Mother Earth more than our Indigenous communities…that’s paramount. But we also have to address the dilemma of how we address the poverty,” said Merasty.

Energy projects, such as Coastal GasLink, which will deliver natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to a facility near Kitimat and has considerable Indigenous buy-in (although there are Indigenous communities that oppose the project as well), have the ability to provide Indigenous communities with tens of billions of dollars that can be used to improve their quality of life, says Merasty, and move them away from dependence on federal funding.

“So let’s sit down and talk about what’s digestible in terms of addressing our climate change. Let’s sit down and talk about how do we do it together. Because in the midst of an energy crisis that Canada is having, we can’t simply shut off our energy productions and (be) purchasing our energy from other countries. That does not make economic sense,” Merasty said.

Merasty doesn’t stand alone with his concerns about how climate change measures could impact Indigenous communities economically.

The First Nations Financial Management Board (FMB) has raised concerns over the mandatory guidelines set by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) for how companies on the stock market will be required to disclose their GHG emissions.

“GHG reporting will likely have a negative effect directly and indirectly on the Indigenous economy, but, at the same time, it will not include reporting on the value of Indigenous stewardship of traditional territories or “natural capital.” The value of this stewardship is far in excess of GHG emission reporting penalties and additional costs that Indigenous businesses, individuals and governments may face,” wrote the FMB in a February letter to the CSA.

The FMB works with First Nations to help them establish strong financial practises and secure loans.

FMB also raised concerns that GHG reporting may have an impact on Indigenous communities and businesses that operate in remote parts of Canada if they were required to report GHG. FMB notes that these communities and businesses rely heavily on GHG-intensive electricity and transportation.

ANNOTATED

Opinion: How to get conservatives on board with environmental issues
Jerome Gessaroli 

A pedestrian walks past pro Canadian oil signs in the window of the O'Canada Gear store, 9859 76 Ave., in Edmonton Tuesday Dec. 31, 2019. The Canadian federal carbon tax takes effect across the country January 1, 2020. Photo by David Bloom© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Polls show that conservative Canadians are less inclined than progressive Canadians to prioritize environmental issues. That is unfortunate, as climate policies will only succeed if all major constituents throughout the country see them as valuable. It is not that conservatives don’t care; rather, they are opposed to how environmental policy is discussed and constructed .

Left and left-leaning progressives have dominated the environmental movement and shaped policies based on centralized big government and regulatory top-down principles. They have also inserted other social justice issues into the environmental movement, using such terms such as “climate justice” and “environmental racism.” Reflexively, conservatives will recoil at this approach.

Engaging and encouraging conservatives to support action on the environment and climate change is possible by creating policies that respect important conservative values. Such values include taking personal responsibility, protecting private property, and encouraging growth through competitive markets. It is quite possible to create effective environmental and climate policies around these values. NO IT IS NOT

Personal responsibility includes paying for the pollution one creates. Taxing pollution puts a price on it, requiring companies to pay for how much they pollute. The challenging part here is designing a pollution tax that is strictly revenue-neutral and does not unduly burden those who rely on fossil fuel use in their jobs or where they reside. 

LIKE OIL/GAS  WELL, MINING RECLAMATION THAT WILL COST TAXPAYERS MILLIONS

For example, those living in rural areas requiring trucks or farmers needing to fuel their equipment should be provided larger tax offsets to compensate for the higher carbon taxes they’ll pay. 

CORPORATE FARMERS ARE ALREADY MILLIONAIRES THANKS TO TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES

The incentive to reduce carbon emissions will still be in place, since using more fuel-efficient equipment and vehicles will reduce the carbon tax they pay and result in overall lower taxes.

In addition, any tax must only affect those companies that pollute. Too often, governments use the pretext above to impose a tax but then apply it too widely and to use the tax as an additional revenue source. Back in 2008, British Columbia introduced a well thought-out carbon tax. However, in 2017, the NDP government removed its revenue neutrality, and it is now another tax that adds to the government’s coffers. REVENUE NEUTRALITY IS A MYTH

Second, protecting private property includes valuing environmental benefits that reside on private property. Just as there should be a cost to polluting by those who pollute, there also should be benefit to private property owners for conserving environmentally important land for the public’s benefit. Think of the habitat of endangered species.

Unfortunately, regulations dealing with endangered species on private lands can create perverse incentives that increase the extinction risk. The regulations can be so burdensome that property owners are incentivized to prematurely destroy endangered species habitats on their property, to avoid future punitive regulatory costs. Shawn Regan, an environmental economist, explains the misaligned rules this way : “If I have a rare metal on my property, its value goes up, but if a rare bird occupies the land, its value disappears . ” By pricing environmental benefits, property owners have an incentive to conserve.

Third, the market economy is often blamed for pollution, but that assertion is incorrect. In the 1980s, Eastern European countries in the Soviet bloc had neither a market economy nor private property rights, yet those countries experienced terrible environmental degradation. For example, these countries on average used 75 per cent more energy per dollar of GDP as compared to the United States. And although they accounted for only 12 per cent of European output, eastern bloc countries contributed to over half of the continent’s particulate air pollution. This is but one of a multitude of pollution statistics created by their socialist system. STATE CAPITALISM IS NOT SOCIALISM

Competitive markets can help the environment. Capitalism creates economic growth. And according to the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy on sustainability, there is a strong positive relationship between economic wealth and environmental stewardship. This makes sense. Those with greater wealth can afford and invest in more sustainable activities. BUT THEY DON'T

Market competition also improves how resources are used. For example, North American sawmill efficiency has improved to the extent that wood waste has declined from 55 per cent in the 1930s to 0.8 per cent by 2012. And the industry is still innovating by looking for ways to increase wood reuse and recycling. MAKING WOOD PELLETS FOR BIOMASS

It is possible to develop policies for the environment that are based on conservative values. Far too often, we look to the government for solutions. In turn, we get layer upon layer of costly regulatory burden. Not only do they diminish our ability to prosper, but they are often poorly designed and fail to meet their environmental goals.

By recognizing that conservative values are complementary, rather than opposed, to environmental stewardship, we will be in a better position to engage with conservatives and encourage them to join a non-partisan effort to protect the environment and fight climate change. Such efforts will not only be more effective but also sustainable in the long term, irrespective of whether conservatives or progressives hold office.

Jerome Gessaroli teaches at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and is a visiting fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. RIGHT WING THUNK TANK

Species 'Extinct' for Nearly 100 Years Bought Back to Life in Colorado

Robyn White - 

A picture shows a greenback cutthroat trout, a species once thought extinct.© CPW

The Greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado's state fish, was thought to be extinct in the 1930s, when it had been decimated due to mining pollution, overfishing and competition from other species.

Biologists from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said on Friday that the fish is naturally reproducing, marking the official recovery of the once-extinct species.

CPW said in a statement that "this is huge," after more than a decade of "intensive efforts" to rescue the species from the brink of extinction.

The naturally reproducing fish were found in Herman Gulch, in Clear Creek County, Colorado, one of the first places in which CPW stocked the fish.

"The long-term survival and natural reproduction of the greenbacks discovered is a major milestone for our recovery efforts and a huge win for conservation," the CPW statement read.

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Several endangered populations were found in 1957, 1965, and the 1970s, but it was discovered that they weren't pure-bred trout, but rather a type of subspecies, CPW said in a news release.

The only pure population of the species was discovered in 2012, near Bear Creek, central Colorado, and biologists began making the trek there every spring to collect sperm and egg samples from the population of fish in the region.

A small population of the species were kept in a hatchery to enable breeding and to establish new populations, the news release said.

Biologists then gradually implemented the species in several places, including the Herman Gulch in 2016.

Now, six years later, that population has been recorded thriving and populating without their help. There are other, fledgling populations in four other streams, but the Herman Gulch batch is the only one so far to reach adulthood and begin populating on its own.

CPW will continue to place the sperm and eggs in other areas to stabilize the species.

Josh Nehring, CPW's assistant aquatic section manager, said the reproduction of the species was "truly monumental."

"CPW aquatic biologists in the Southeast Region have worked incredibly hard to protect and preserve the only known population of greenbacks in Bear Creek," Nehring said in a news release.

"Our hatchery staff along with our federal hatchery partners overcame immense obstacles to be able to replicate the species in captivity. Now to see them on the landscape in their native habitat replicating on their own is a huge sense of accomplishment for everyone involved."

Bureau Of Indian Affairs Raids Native American's Legal Medical Marijuana Crop, Feds Now Being Sued

Joana Scopel - Yesterday 


In 2019, officials from the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) seized and destroyed medical marijuana plants from a Picuris Pueblo man who is now suing for $3.5 million in damages from the U.S. Department of the Interior.



What Happened

Charles Farden, from Picuris Pueblo, one of the 23 tribal nations in the state, filed a suit with the federal agency earlier this month, alleging violations of his federal and state constitutional rights.

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“By unlawfully cutting down and burning Mr. Farden’s medical cannabis plants,” the document states. “Federal law enforcement officers committed an act that is tantamount to these same officers unlawfully entering into Mr. Farden’s home, without a warrant, going into his medicine cabinet and flushing his prescription diabetes medication down the toilet.”

The BIA declined to comment. “We do not comment on issues regarding ongoing litigation,” a spokesman for the agency wrote in an email.

Jacob Candelaria, an Albuquerque attorney who is representing Farden in the case said the three BIA agents entered Farden’s property without a search warrant. “They proceeded to cut down and then burn and destroy nine medical cannabis plants that Mr. Farden was growing,” Candelaria said. “At that time, he had his New Mexico [medical] cannabis card, and he also had a personal production license.”

A Marijuana Medical Patient

"My vegetables, my medical cannabis," replied Farden when the officers asked him why he was growing weed.

Candelaria noted that his client is diabetic and did not have access to food or water while he was handcuffed. Moreover, the tort claim states that Farden “has for several years cultivated and used medical cannabis to treat several disabling conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain, in full compliance with New Mexico state law as well as the laws and traditions of the Pueblo of Picuris.

“One of the driving factors why the damages are so high in this case, we contend, is also how patently racist the Department of Interior’s enforcement of federal drug policy is,” Candelaria told The Santa Fe New Mexican.

“If you’re a non-Native person engaging in the same conduct Mr. Farden did on non-Native land, your chance of federal prosecution and conviction is next to zero because Congress has prevented the Department of Justice from using any money to enforce the law.”

According to the Taos News, Farden at the time explained to police that he was growing cannabis plants for medicinal purposes and only for his personal use. Farden, who was unsure of the officers' authority to seize the marijuana plants, also told police that he followed and complied with state production regulations.

“I explained to [Farden] several times the violations of manufacturing marijuana within federal jurisdictions,” one of the officers wrote in the report.
Native Land & Equal Rights

Picuris Pueblo decriminalized medical marijuana for members in 2015.

“For Indigenous persons on indigenous lands, there’s this huge risk and desire to criminalize, but on non-Native lands, the federal government has taken a completely hands-off approach,” said Candelaria, who is also an independent state senator.

“In Mr. Farden’s view and in my view, this is a fundamental example of racialized enforcement of drug policy (...) I think the Interior Department and [Secretary Deb Haaland], quite honestly, need to explain why the Department of Interior has chosen to take a much different approach than the Department of Justice and, in doing so, deny my client his right to medical care, to medicine,” Candelaria concluded.

Recently, Picuris Pueblo inked an intergovernmental agreement with New Mexico, a step toward setting up their own cannabis companies to operate within their communities.

Photo: Courtesy Of Ali Kazal On Unsplash

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