I’m working on a set of four paintings that pay tribute to the Gwich’in fight for their way of life. About 9,0000 Gwich'in live in 15 communities in a vast area of North America extending from northeast Alaska in the U.S. to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. The Gwich’in are caribou people. For thousands of years, Gwich’in have relied upon the Porcupine caribou herd to meet their subsistence needs. For the past couple of decades, they (with the support of environmental and human rights groups) have been battling oil and gas interest, over potential drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) which, if it is allowed to happen, will threaten theirs and the caribou’s very existence. I’ve followed their story for years, and am glad to finally honour their story within the freedom fighter series. Please visit Gwich'in Steering Committee's website for more on the Gwich’in resistance to Big Oil.
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Resistance
- Algonquin - Barriere Lake
Barriere Lake Algonquins are resisting the supplantation of their customary governing system, on their unceded territory, by Indian Act band elections imposed by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl. - Anishnaabe - Asubpeeschoseewagong
Anishnabe of Grassy Narrows First Nation in northeastern Ontario battle clearcut logging and the effects of colonial and industrial invasion of their homeland. - Beaver Lake Cree - northeastern Alberta
"The Beaver Lake Cree, a small, impoverished band of 900 people in eastern Alberta, are suing the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments to protect the land. The tar sands are obliterating their traditional hunting and fishing lands in Alberta. The animals, fish, plants and medicine that sustain the Beaver Lake Cree are being destroyed." - Coastal First Nations - B.C.
An alliance of British Columbian First Nations oppose the Enbridge Pipeline and excessive resource extraction in their traditional territories. - Gwich'in - Arctic National Wildlife Range
"The Gwich’in people stand united in our continued efforts to protect the (caribou birthing grounds) from oil and gas development." - Gwich'in - Peel River
"Mining interests are lobbying hard to open up the Peel River watershed to roads and industrial development. The Peel Watershed Planning Commission recommends protecting 80% of this wilderness. Affected First Nations are calling for protection of the entire watershed." - Lubicon Lake Cree - Little Buffalo
The Lubicon Cree Nation is fighting the invasion of their unceded territory by colonial governments and resource extraction companies. - St'at'imc - Sutikalh
The Sutikalh Camp is dedicated to the preservation of the pristine area of the Melvin Creek Valley, also known as Sutikalh or Winter Spirit. Members of the St'at'imc Nation established this permanent camp in 2000 to protest the proposed development of a 500 million dollar ski resort by Nancy Greene Raine and her husband Al Raine (NGR) in the Cayoosh Mountain Range. - Tsilhqot'in - Teztan Biny
"Taseko Mines Ltd. is proposing to develop the Prosperity Mine, a massive open pit gold and copper mine, deep within the traditional territory of the Tsilhqot'in Nation. The proposed mine's two kilometer-wide open pit, tailings pond, waste rock piles, roads, and transmission lines would destroy an entire sub-alpine ecosystem, and most importantly Teztan Biny, a lake sacred to the Tsilhqot'in Nation, and known to others as Fish Lake." - Yup'ik - Bristol Bay, Alaska
Native and non-native Alaskans oppose the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine in the headwaters of one of the most productive salmon spawning areas in North America.
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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