Co created by Polinizaciones, Peace Valley Environmental Association & others fighting Site C Dam. The Beaver, Bear and Garden photo are copyright of Don Hoffmann.
Like most
things it started with an urge, a need, an idea… some time later a pollinator from
the Polinizaciones process, also part of the Ríos Vivos Movement was able to
reach out to other pollinators and put together a presentation tour that would
cross a significant portion of Turtle Island, the North American
continent. The idea that developed into
the Pollinating Ríos Vivos Tour was to fulfill three main objectives; to first
share the experiences of land defense processes such as that of
Ríos Vivos Movement, The
Strength of Wayuu Women,
Yalayalamaana and the
Intercultural Communication School of Putumayo through stories, pictures, maps, videos and
the Beehive´s Mesoamérica Resiste graphic. The second purpose was to build ties
with other land defense processes within the territories being journeyed, especially
in the case of indigenous, immigrant and racialized communities. Finally the
tour did function as a fund raising strategy to maintain the projects associated
with the Polinizaciones process with the above mentioned movements.
Long before
the Pollinating Ríos Vivos started, another tour kicked off from the shared territory of
the Haudenosaunee, the Missisaugas and the Huron wendat. Two pollinators
departed from Toronto making their way west on what was the first Art of
Resistance Tour. One of these pollinators, is the Hip-Hop artist Testament, of
the duo Test their Logik, who helped combine lyrics about food systems, the war
on drugs, decolonization, gold mining and having loved ones incarcerated
alongside the Mesoamérica Resiste and True Cost of Coal graphic campaigns that
relate a lot of the same stories. The combination of musical and graphic arts
of resistance allowed for the Art of Resistance Tour to enter into a wider
diversity of spaces than a traditional Beehive Collective graphic campaign
tour.
The
Pollinating Ríos Vivos tour initiated close to six weeks after the Art of
Resistance Tour in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, the city of Edmonton, a territory of
different First Nations such as the Cree, Blackfoot, Dene, Nakoda, Salteaux. The
first night was a lively artist line up with Testament headlining organized by
ESPA- Edmonton Small Press Association at Brittany´s Loungue and the following
day being able to share with the incredible space and community at iHuman Youth Society, a
large center in downtown Edmonton open to youth and geared to homeless youth that
has facilities for painting and art, wood shop, fashion design, music studio,
dancing, cafeteria, Elder accompaniment, traditional and current healing, not
to mention a committed and loving staff who work with the youth. We briefly hung the banner in the hall way for
folks to observe and later shared in a Canadian ThanksTaking meal ;).
From
Edmonton we embarked northwest leaving the plains for the city of Fort St. John,
located on the uplands of the Peace River Valley and within two hour of the
Rocky Mountains. We came to Fort St. John specifically to share with people
from the Peace Valley Environmental Association and the local Treaty 8 First
Nations (communities predominately from Dane-zaa, Cree, and Saulteau
backgrounds). None of the pollinators on the tour had been here before or knew
anyone personally. However, as part of
the Ríos Vivos Movement and the potential shared experiences and struggles against
mega dams, the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project and the Site C Dam Project, we made
an effort to go to this region.
The Peace
River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows
to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave
River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River that ultimately flows into the Arctic
Ocean. It´s original name to the Dane-zaa as WpchiigÍi (meaning “big river”) or Tsadu
(meaning “river of beavers”), “Unjegah” and “Unchagah” are names often
referenced in local history books and provincial place name books. These last two names refer to the making of
peace as there were decades of hostilities between the Dane-zaa and the
Cree First Nations; in 1781 the Treaty of the Peace was celebrated by the
smoking of a ceremonial pipe, making the Peace River a border, with the Dane-zaa
to the north and the Cree to the south.
Since the
late 1700s European fur traders were in the region and in 1794 a trading post
was built on the Peace River at Fort St. John; the first non-native settlement
on the British Columbia mainland. Historically and even today the Peace River
country is a sea of Boreal forests, made-up of spruce, birch, and poplar,
cottonwood, and willow. This is the
habitat for a large variety of species such as, but not limited to: Bald Eagle,
Moose, Deer, Grizzly Bear, Caribou, Wolves, Elk, Wolverine, Trout, Otter and
Beaver to name a few. Some of these
animals´ skins and meat were what the initial Europeans fur traders and early
settlers to this territory prospered from and kept them alive, with the
skillful knowledge and help of the First Nation people.
Today, this
territory has been deeply wounded by a long history of rampant pillaging of
extractive industries’ relentless search for raw materials. Not far from the
infamous Tar Sands in northern Alberta, the Peace River country is also crisscrossed
with a growing grid and patch work of conventional oil and gas well sites,
facilities, roads, seismic lines, and pipelines. An alarming amount of development, so much in
fact, that a David Suzuki Foundation study calculated that if all the existing
oil and gas activities recorded were laid from end to end, it would circle the
earth 4.5 times!
Recently,
the fracking industry has entered the region and this will blanket the land with
an entire new layer of destruction;
eliminating more forests, taking of water for fracking, and rupturing
the earth below the surface without knowing the risks. The industry and government have admitted
that recent earth quake activity in the region is because of the fracking
activity.
In addition
to fossil fuel extraction the Peace River currently has two dams that already
exist, the W. A. C. Bennett Dam at Hudson´s
Hope built in the 1960s and the Peace Canyon Dam completed in 1980. Both the Bennett and Peace Canyon Dams
resulted in the flooding of large areas of forest and displaced many First
Nations people from their hunting, fishing, and trapping territories. These
dams are owned by the provincial corporation, BC Hydro, which is the
entity responsible for the proposed Site C dam along the Peace River.
The Site C
Dam was already proposed once and turned down by the BC Utilities Commission in
the early 1980s and recently the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations
have launched legal challenges and are still fighting against the dam in the
provincial and federal courts. Since
2010 BC Hydro has been pushing the project through and in the middle of 2015
the expansive logging and construction for the project commenced and since then
has destroyed thousands of hectares of forest including old growth and trees harbouring
eagle’s nests.
The unique
topography of the valley allows a particularly long agricultural growing season
not enjoyed by any other region within these latitudes where for many months of
the year, squash, beans, corn, leafy
greens, carrots, potatoes, wheat, canola and other crops are grown. Proponents of local agriculture claim the river valley could feed a million
people. The Peace River is a definite strength in terms of food sovereignty in
a region that is not hospitable to agriculture for most of the year. Food sovereignty
aside, the relationship of the Dane-zaa and Cree people to their territory, the
relationship to place, memory and identity as a peoples is tied to their mountains,
their valleys, their forests, all the waterways and this river. Sound like another
river and dam we have covered extensively in Polinizaciones?
On January
1st this year the Treaty 8 Land Stewards established the Rocky Mountain Fort at
the historic site of the original trading settlement established by European
explorers in the late 1700s as a point of first contact and trade with the First
Nations of the upper Peace River Basin. Since then the local First Nations,
farmers, ranchers and other allies have been defending the land that they have never consented to having destroyed for a hydroelectric dam.
The strategies on both sides
have been many, the Rocky Mountain Fort and taking up land defense helps create
space for local Native and non-Native youth and elders to nurture traditions
and their relationship to their territory, to help deepen their relationship through
participating in harvesting and cultural activities, similar to when the Fort
was in operation, and supporting the land and all of its inhabitants. The Rocky
Mountain Fort is a space that has fostered strategies of direct action for the
defense of the land, as well as cultural and spiritual strategies.
None the
less BC Hydro and Site C supporters have been relentless, land defenders have
been harassed both at the Rocky Mountain Fort and in their everyday lives.
Outside intimidation tactics have included verbal assault, car windows broken, phone
calls, cyber threats against people, namely Helen Knott, a land defender from
Prophet River First Nations and great-great granddaughter of Chief Makenachę “Bigfoot”,
last co-signer of the Treaty 8 in 1911 establishing Native rights to 84,000,000
Ha of land including the Upper Peace River Country.
When
Polinizaciones shared with Helen Knott she told stories of her river, her
people´s river, the river where Peace was signed, and how going to the river is
a practice of self-care both in her life and in that of many others. The river has
also served as a place of returning to traditions, territorial runnings and
offerings.
Knott spoke
also of how huge and unacknowledged the loss is by explaining that; “land is
connected to us as peoples, both today and historically through our blood
memory, and how when going to these places you regain the memories of your
ancestors on a cellular level. We as a people have lost so much that we can´t
just afford to lose anything else that can give us that.”
On February 29th, the colonial British Columbia Supreme Court with no regards to
the Treaty rights of the Treaty 8 Nations granted BC Hydro an injunction
against the land defenders ruling for their withdrawal from their own
territory. The Land Stewards have since been ordered away from their camp and
the old growth forest wiped out. Now more
than ever, they could use support and solidarity. March 6th, Kristin Henry started a hunger
strike for 20 days until she was hospitalized. Kristen and supporters set-up
camp in front of BC Hydro’s corporate headquarters, in Occupied Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territory. The
urban solidarity camp still remains active and continues to educate people on
the streets about the impending Site C Dam and its many violations – letters
are sent daily to Trudeau and hunger striking remains as an action by some
campers.
Our visit
to the Peace River Valley was nearly a couple of weeks before the first snows of
the 2015 winter and even though we were met with cold and clouds, the people
who received us were as warm as family members not seen in a long time. In the
time we were there we were able to hold the first Pollinating Ríos Vivos works
sharing the Mesoamérica Resiste graphic as well as experiences of the different
processes such as Ríos Vivos and the
Association of Affected Peoples of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project- ASOQUIMBO
at the North Peace Cultural Centre.
Afterwards
just before sun set we were invited to a lookout point over an area of the
Peace River Valley where the logging had already commenced and the land owners
had created a sign on the hillside using rocks that clearly read “No Dam C”. That night we shared music, words, food,
experiences and items with a variety of beautiful land defender family
including people from all ages and communities that we still think about and
keep in mind as they are fighting the same fight as we are in Huila.... the Treaty
8 Stewards of the Land and their supporters who occupied the historical Rocky
Mountain Fort site are our land liberators, the streets of Fort St. John or
Dawson Creek are the streets of Garzón and Gigante and the Colonial
Government halls of Vancouver or Ottawa are to those of Neiva and Bogotá.
That night
we received many messages with peoples of the Peace River. One of the youth
most active with the Rocky Mountain Fort land defense is Waylon Fenton who sent
a message to children impacted by dams in Colombia by saying; “not be afraid to
use their voice, one of the most of powerful weapons in defense of what is ours
as kids”.
Verena Hofmann
of the Peace Valley Environmental Association sent a message of solidarity by saying;
“to all communities in South America and globally in the same story as us,
fighting mega dams and big mines… you inspire me, through your stories and
pictures. We as people will prevail if we come together, all of us with our
land, our water and move with the beat of our hearts. We may seem very far
apart, and very different but if we see what we are fighting for we will see it
is the similar and close and keep the good fighting going because we are now
connected and I want to see that you all prevail.”
As one
could expect, tour life is not exactly fit for soaking into places, early the
next morning the three pollinators continued on our way but not before a brief
stop at the confluence of the Halfway River and the Peace River to thank the
rivers and the territory, to experience and feel the place in silence and with
permission, to exchange elements of this territory with those from Magdalena
and Suaza rivers in La Jagua, Huila. Before rushing back to the car for another
full day of driving, two bald eagles danced in the air above us before landing
on some large trees watching us as we headed west to other regions where
peoples' love for their land has brought them to stand up against all odds to
defend their territories against destruction and displacement.
For more
information about the campaign to protect the Peace River Valley, go to:
Facebook
Pages
Say “NO” to
Site “C” Dam!
Desde aquel espacio se abren otras propuestas para lograr encuentros en relación a las prácticas y literatura anarquista, auto gestión y comercio justo y a eventos contra culturales. Así que invitamos a todo tipo de personas de procesos de defensa territorial ante el extractivismo, como son los proyectos de minería, extracción de petróleo, represas, monocultivos como la caña o palma, de acercase a estos espacios para aprender de otras posibilidades de cómo defender todos nuestros territorios; nuestros cuerpos, nuestros hogares y nuestras vidas.
During the month of March 2016 various individuals and collectives arrived to the shores of the Arenoso creek in el Caguan, Neiva for the Anarchist Practices and Tendencies Gathering. Peoples from different regions of Colombia attended including Neiva and La Jagua, Huila; Bogota; Medellin; Ibague; Cali; Palmira; Villavicencio and Bucaramanga. There were also international participants from Mexico, Costa Rica and Venezuela that were active throughout the gathering.
The bee from the Beehive shared the graphic campaigns and the audio visual fruits created from Descolonizando La Jagua. They also participated in different workshop and discussion spaces about subjects like social ecology, prison abolition, natural and autonomous women´s healthcare, unschooling, as well as a demonstration space to show how the bicycle powered blender works. There was also a variety of zines, patches, music and art available for sale or barter.
