What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it?

In Liz Miller’s video documentary, The Waterfront, residents of Highland Park, a struggling community on the shores of Lake Michigan are shown looking with distress at water bills totalling between 3 and 9,000 dollars.

One woman sits on a porch with her children and grandchildren and explains that on a fixed pension she will be unable to pay her bill, and since the city has decided to attach water bills to mortgages she faces eviction and foreclosure on her property.

(more inside…)

I’m still in the United States and with limited access to phone and internet on the reservation. I’ve been out of the loop with several important events that have transpired in “Kanata” (the Wendat Huron word for Canada, which actually means settlement. Yes, we are on Native land) so I’ll play the catch-up game soon.

For now I want to leave you with one of the things I’ve been up to here. My partner and I decided that on my visit here in his territory of Oneida, Wisconsin we would only eat traditional food and do as many traditional things as possible.

What is traditional food you say? Well we are both Haudenosaunee, which in English means Iroquois, or 6 Nations. The 6 Nations are Mohawk (me), Oneida (him), Onondaga, Tuscarora, Seneca, and Cayuga. We have an ancient lineage of unity and one of the oldest forms of law called the Confederacy. As such, we have similar traditions, customs, and teachings. Corn and strawberries are some of our most sacred foods and we revere them more than just foods, they are life sustinence and you can do so much more than just eat them.

For us it means eating food grown on our territories, by our own peoples. Culture is such an important part of both our lives, and we want to honour our Mother Earth as much as we can. It has been a showing of solidarity across these borders we did not create, and also proof that youth can be part of the fight to get what we lost back.

We created a blog to record our journey here and we invite you to share with us as we go back2traditions!

Talk to you soon!

My partner DJ making some yummy traditional corn mush!

The buzz has been circulating for what will be an IMMENSE gathering of activists, front-line fighters, and allies alike for the protection of Mother Earth.
Starting this Monday, hundreds (hopefully thousands!) will descend on Queen’s Park in Toronto to stand up for the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern and take care of our own land.

I’ll be facilitating Wednesday, so I hope to see you there!

OFFICIAL INFO AND WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:
(more inside…)

I’m taking a break from videogames this week (though, like the weeds in Animal Crossing, they’ll be back). Turning instead to something ‘wired’ but entirely different…

With all of the noise about Ontario becoming a have-not province, and the apparent collapse of the Canadian auto manufacturing sector, it would be nice if there was some sort of significant innovation in this major market, with international appeal, with which Canada could become a global leader.

Oh wait. There is. A made in Canada electric car perfectly poised to step in as the standard in next wave urban driving.

Nah, let’s make more SUVs.

The best synopsis of this ZENN car (Zero Emission No Noise) is found here, courtesy of the Rick Mercer Report.

More on ZENN, and driving, after the jump.(more inside…)

It’s 12:15pm on Tuesday and the text message from my friend DJ in Marty, South Dakota reads “The state has sent 47 troopers and 2 snipers here.”

For what?!

“The Yankton Sioux tribe is protesting a hog farm development that would harm the land and river.”

Are you kidding me? Last time I visited that reservation, the population read something like 3800. Marty alone has only over 400 people, and about 100 protestors were at the construction site where Long View farms is trying to build.

But it’s true. Two friends of mine, Gary Drapeau and Kip Spotted Eagle, were arrested among others for protecting the traditional territory and standing up for the wellness of the peoples on it.

Peacefully.

They were let go immediately but it was quite symbolic of the utter disrespect of the state for tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction. Never mind the health and well being of everyone else who would be greatly impacted by the waste from this hog farm and their polluted claim on Native land.

Does this story sound all too familiar? Only smaller communities like this aren’t making major news headlines, but it is people like Gary and Kip who are taking a major stand against Corporate America to ensure a better livelihood for the land and people that we really NEED to pay attention to.

Fed up of the continous disregard for the Native community? Let Governor Mike Rounds and the state of South Dakota know you support the Yankton Sioux tribe and to tell Long View Farms to cease all construction on their land.

I support my Inhanktowan brothers and stand in solidarity with them.
STOP DESTROYING MOTHER EARTH!

Ideas for a Living City – Student Shorts Competition on the TTC

Submission DEADLINE: MAY 15 2008

If you are a post-secondary student, or have just graduated, you can show your short film on the TTC this July - to over a million people a day.

We are looking for silent 1-minute shorts that take a creative peak at a greener future for the city. Ideas for a Living City challenges post-secondary students to take an imaginative leap forward and show us what it might be like to live in an ecologically sustainable metropolis.(more inside…)

This article from the National Post forwarded to me by Stacey May made me snort-laugh:

At 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, [Toronto] Mayor David Miller got in a car and drove from City Hall to a Shoppers Drug Mart on Eglinton Avenue West. He bought a card for the bar mitzvah of a family friend. Then he got back in the car, driven by his press secretary, Don Wanagas, and went to the bar mitzvah.

The Mayor did this during Earth Hour, after having called on Torontonians to “join me in the dark.”

The Post article goes on to insinuate that Miller is a big fat hypocrite, though it does stop to quote his supporters who say funny things like ““The Mayor has lots of things to do. He was very helpful in turning off the lights.”

But is it Earth Hour that is the big fat hypocrite? Tell me if I sound like the kind of person who enjoys crushing the dreams of small children and ripping up flower beds, but like the much maligned Buy Nothing Day, to me Earth Hour seems like one of those days that requires zero sacrifice, and allows the extremely class privileged to feel like we’re doing our part for one day (or one hour!) of the year. We get to pat ourselves on the back for really doing the absolute least possible that we can do.

I know that my bitterness and cynicism makes me very unattractive. But superficial and extremely showy acts towards social or political consciousness make me hopping mad. Not only do they allow people to think that things aren’t as dire as they are - because the fact that turning off our lights for one hour seems meaningful, implies (inaccurately!) that things can’t possibly be that bad - they allow people to feel righteous about acts which really aren’t that righteous. They set the bar for “doing the right thing” pretty damn low.

Is something really better than nothing? I must admit that the numbers from Earth Hour are worth noting: in Toronto energy use dropped by 8.7% (compared to average use for this time of year), in Christchurch, New Zealand it dropped by 13.1%.

But we wouldn’t celebrate “Don’t Use Racial Slurs” Hour, “Don’t Say Abusive Things to Your Female Partner” Week or “Let a Homeless Person Sleep On Your Porch” Day. Because those holidays would clearly trivialise hugely important issues, and deeply insult efforts to meaningfully end racism, violence against women and poverty.

So is Earth Hour ok?

For my Film Friday this week, I’m offering not a review or a critique, but a Shameless Exclusive. A friend directed me to this short video made by New York artist and musician Jessica Segall. It’s a history of corn told in shadow-puppetry - a fine mix of art, history, politics, oh and just a little sci-fi. (Of course, if you think about it, lots of food-politics stuff is way more Twilight Zone than Rod Serling’s most out-there fantasy.) Hope you enjoy. And eat those Corn Pops while you can, because after this you may never again.

Drop in on Jessica Segall and her band here.

A great example of when the right answer isn’t. Also, it’s funny. :)