(Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt & Montreal) – The burning question at the upcoming 27th UN Climate Conference (COP27) is whether richer, historically more polluting governments are going to pay up for the loss and damage caused by climate change. With final preparations underway, Greenpeace said significant progress can be made on the justice and support countries most impacted by past, present and future climate disasters deserve. The climate crisis could be solved with science, solidarity and accountability, by way of real financial commitments for a clean, safe and fair future for all. 

COP27 could succeed if the following agreements are made:

• Deliver new money for countries and communities most vulnerable to climate change to address the loss and damages from past, present and near future climate disasters through the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance Facility. 
• Ensure US $100bn pledge is implemented to support low income countries to adapt and increase resilience to climate change impacts, honouring the commitment made by rich countries at COP26 to double funding for adaptation by 2025.
• See all countries adopt a just transition approach to a fast and fair phase out of all fossil fuel use, including putting an immediate end to all new fossil fuel projects as recommended by the International Energy Agency.
• Make it clear that limiting temperature rise to 1.5C by 2100 is the only acceptable interpretation of the Paris Agreement and acknowledge the 1.5°C aligned global phase out dates for the production and consumption of coal, gas and oil. 
• Recognise the role of nature in climate mitigation, adaptation, as a cultural and spiritual symbol and as a home to diverse flora and fauna. Protecting and restoring nature must be done in parallel to the fossil-fuel phase-out and with the active participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
  

A detailed briefing on Greenpeace’s COP27 demands is available here.

In advance of the COP:

Yeb Sano, Executive Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Head of the Greenpeace delegation attending the COP said:

“Feeling safe and seen is central to the wellbeing of us all and the planet and this is what COP27 needs to be about, and can be about if leaders pick up their game. Justice, accountability and finance for the countries hardest hit by the climate crisis, past, present and future, are three of the key components to success not only during the talks but in the actions afterwards. Solutions and wisdom are in abundance from Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities and youth – what’s missing is the will of rich polluting governments and corporations to act but they’ve definitely got the memo.

The global movement, led by Indigenous Peoples and young people, will continue to rise if world leaders fail again but now, once more, on the eve of COP27, we call on leaders to step up to build the trust and plans we need, to take the opportunity to work together for the collective well-being of people and planet.”

Salomé Sané, Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada said:

“Justin Trudeau’s absence at the summit proves actions speak louder than reassuring words and promises. We’re living in a time of multiple crises, disproportionately affecting the communities least responsible, so the only way that COP27 could be called a success is if justice is at the centre of all negotiations and agreements. For Canada, this means addressing its role in fuelling the climate crisis, by raising national emissions targets, committing to a new loss and damage mechanism, and putting real money on the table for vulnerable regions to deal with the harms caused by climate change, and proactively tackle its future impacts.”

ENDS

Notes to editors : 

Ahead of the COP, Greenpeace Middle East North Africa released a new report on 2 November: Living on the edge –The Implications of Climate Change for Six Countries in the Middle East North Africa Region. See here for more information. 

Briefing note from the Climate Action Network (of which Greenpeace is a member): COP27, a moment to reclaim climate justice

For media enquiries please contact :

The Greenpeace delegation will be in Egypt from 6 November with representatives available for comment. For enquiries, please contact Gaby Flores, cflores@greenpeace.org 

Greenpeace International Press Desk: pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours)

For other requests, please contact:

Laura Bergamo, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Canada

lbergamo@greenpeace.org ; +1 438-928-5237

Maybe that means the familiar view of a mountain or the neverending prairie skies. Maybe home has a lemon tree in the backyard or chickadees singing in the pine tree out front. Maybe it smells like lilacs in the spring or tingles with the salty ocean breeze year round.

Home may look different for each of us, but we all share this beautiful planet. And there are so many people working to protect what we love.

Scroll to read some of the most recent stories and developments. You may even find some content recommendations near the end to make you smile!

THE BUZZ

New Zealand Takes Action for the Ocean

New Zealand has been making waves in its efforts to protect the oceans!

To start, the government is expanding its ban on single-use plastics! In 2021, the government announced that it would phase out most single-use plastics by 2025. As part of that plan, it has broadened its ban to target more plastics, like single-use drink stirrers and certain types of takeaway packaging. More items will be phased out in 2023, including single-use plastic cutlery and produce bags. 

And as if that news weren’t promising enough, the government just announced that it is supporting a conditional moratorium (pause) on deep sea mining in international waters! With the International Seabed Authority meeting in early November, the announcement couldn’t be more timely. The conference will likely include discussions around the regulation of deep-sea mining, and New Zealand’s stance may encourage other governments to support a moratorium until stricter rules are established.

Mining and plastic pollution are massive threats to the health of the oceans, and we’re celebrating these meaningful steps in the right direction. There is still more to do, but just like these victories show us, there is so much we can achieve when we work together! Just look at the numbers. More than 16,000 people signed petitions or wrote emails asking the government for a pause on deep-sea mining. Meanwhile, Greenpeace delivered a petition to ban single-use plastic bottles earlier this year that amassed more than 100,000 signatures.

Our messages are clear and building momentum to protect the oceans!

The Defeat of the Dirty Deal

CAMPAIGN UPDATES

European Parliament Votes in Favour of Forest Law

Greenpeace Protests to Protect the Jaguars

United for Climate Justice Ship Tour

SUPPORTER SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

In recent years there have been lots of tips and tricks on how to reduce your plastic use and waste on Halloween. And while parents and ‘all hallows’ eve’ enthusiasts scramble to get organized for the scariest day of the year, it’s pretty terrifying to think of the lack of truly plastic-free, zero waste treats, costumes and decorations that are available across the country. Why is that? Who’s created this plastic-dependent holiday?

When it comes to the sugary loot, it’s the same companies that are fuelling the wider plastic waste and pollution crisis. After all, Halloween treats are just the miniature versions of the chip bags, chocolate bar and candy wrappers, pop bottles and other snacks that end up in landfills, burned or polluting beaches and greenspaces around the world. Brightly designed bags and boxes of PepsiCo (Pepsi, Lays chips, etc), Mondelez (Cadbury, Sour Patch Kids, Maynards,Trident, etc), The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle, Hershey, among various other companies’ treat products appear on supermarket shelves every October, and, because the contents all come in single-use packaging, are basically garbage once they are produced.

In other words, the parent companies behind your favourite Halloween candies are the very same ones that haunt the world’s beaches in waste audits year after year, making a graveyard of our oceans.

So what are these companies doing about their waste-generating treats and growing pollution nightmare? Nothing of note. We’ve seen flashy commitments from companies like Coca-Cola that claim it will offer reusable packaging alternatives for a portion of its business, but the progress is slow and only in specific locations. We’ve seen other companies pilot reuse models or reusable packaging, but the candy aisles of our grocery stores have remained virtually unchanged.

And we know that the treats are just one piece of the Halloween plastic waste and pollution puzzle. It’s such a plastic-filled occasion that it’s overwhelming to think about. We want to be able to have fun holidays but not at the expense of the health of communities, wildlife, habitats, the climate, and future trick or treaters!

Halloween needs a new look and feel. More scary tricks, fewer plastic-wrapped treats. More DIY creations, fewer toxic dollar store decorations. And we need it to not be a tonne of extra effort and money to dodge toxic, polluting plastic. That’s why governments must hold polluting companies accountable and force them to turn our wasteful consumption machine around. We need government action to accelerate the shift to a system that allows all of us to enjoy the fun times, be toxin-free in our day to day, and operate in a way that respects nature without the constant dread of need

In 2030, the federal government claims it will have reached zero plastic waste. What will Halloween look like then? At this rate, not much different.

It’s time that Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault commit to:

• creating a nation-wide reuse and refill strategy so more of the things we eat and use in our daily lives come package-free, plastic-free and zero waste, and
• expanding the single-use plastic ban list to include highly polluting and waste generating items like multilayered packaging like wrappers, chip bags and sachets, bottles and caps, and a long list of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics.

Urge Minister Guilbeault to accelerate our shift to a reuse and refill future, now!

A comparison to released plans by Canada’s other major banks shows RBC’s plan is less ambitious, falls well short of what’s needed for action on the climate crisis from Canada’s largest financier of fossil fuels and demonstrates a continued pattern of greenwashing by the bank. 

Unlike RBC’s competitor Bank of Montreal (BMO), RBC continues to rely on carbon intensity targets instead of absolute emission reduction targets for energy sector clients, which can be achieved even if overall emissions increase. RBC continues to evoke climate leadership while refusing to address their reality as the fifth largest financier of fossil fuels globally. There remains no timeline provided to phase out financing to the expansion of coal, oil, gas and tar sands while they continue to double down on support for projects including TC Energy and the Coastal Gaslink pipeline which violate Indigenous rights.

Representatives of Indigenous-led and environmental organizations, including signatories to a recent open letter to RBC CEO Dave McKay, provide the following reactions to today’s announcement and are available for interviews:

“RBC has been instrumental in the destruction of our lands by financing the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, which is illegally now drilling into our pristine lands and threatening our waterways. While RBC claims it’s saving the planet, we’re here defending our yintah and Wedzin Kwa. Coastal GasLink would emit the equivalent of every car in so-called Canada. Today’s announcement does nothing to stop RBC’s financing of fossil fuel projects destroying Indigenous lands.” Chief Woos, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief

“It’s hard to see RBC as a climate leader when they are funding the destruction of our homelands with pipelines that have been forced upon us without our Free Prior and Informed Consent.” Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer of the UBCIC

“There’s a dictionary-official definition for RBC’s climate targets: it’s called greenwashing. With RBC continuing to bankroll polluters, these pledges are just more smoke and mirrors. While people across Canada bear the brunt of fires, floods, and deadly heat, Canada’s #1 fossil fuel-financing bank continues to pour gas on the flames, bankrolling gas, tar sands, oil, and coal. Instead of financing Indigenous rights-violating fracked gas pipelines, RBC has the opportunity to reinvest in climate-safe solutions and truly live into its climate rhetoric.” Richard Brooks, Stand.earth Climate Finance Program Director

“RBC is dragging its feet on climate while positioning itself as climate leaders and advocates for youth futures. The bank has poured hundreds of millions into student initiatives and ‘green tech innovation’ challenges to mask the harm they continue to cause by funding fossil fuel expansion. It’s disheartening to see them position themselves as advocates for young people and then do the bare minimum on climate action.” Evelyn Austin, a youth organiser with Banking on a Better Future 

“Families across Canada face an uncertain future and increasing impacts of climate chaos. Meanwhile, RBC continues to pour money into oil and gas projects that add to that crisis and violate Indigenous rights, instead of living up to its claim to support youth and a greener future. Kids need a safe, just, and liveable future. If RBC is committed to that, it can’t continue to support the fossil fuel industry.” Jennifer Roberge, Organizer with For Our Kids Montreal and complainant in the RBC Competition Bureau investigation

Quick facts:

• RBC CEO Dave McKay was called on by 19 organisations supported by over 2 million people in a recent open letter, to commit to a credible pathway to achieving net-zero – a 50% absolute emissions reduction target covering all aspects of RBC’s business including scope 1, 2, and scope 3 emissions, which includes financed emissions, by 2030. This is consistent with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE) based on a pathway towards limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C which requires ‘a huge decline in the use of fossil fuels.’ The letter further calls for leadership on climate and Indigenous rights including a timeline to phase out financing the expansion of coal, oil, gas, tar sands, and projects that violate Indigenous rights, and severing ties with TC Energy and Coastal GasLink.
• RBC joined the Mark Carney-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ) in October 2021, promising to align the bank’s lending and investment portfolios with a science-based pathway to net zero by 2050. Membership in the now 500+-strong GFANZ was a condition to access COP26 negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland. Now, ahead of COP27, RBC and Canadian banks risk getting booted from the global network as they push back against the global financial sector setting standards for climate risk, revealing the bank’s playbook of delay and deceit on climate action.
• Bank counterparts in Europe are consistently taking more leadership in responding to the climate crisis. Just last week, Deutsche Bank, French bank SocGen, and the UK’s Lloyds all released absolute emissions targets for oil and gas clients. Citibank, the world’s second largest fossil fuel financier, also set an absolute target for its energy sector clients of 29% by 2030. BBVA, a major Spanish bank, recently announced that it would no longer finance new projects related to oil and gas exploration, drilling and extraction. It is working with oil and gas clients in its credit portfolio with the aim to reduce their global carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 and aligning its exposure to the oil and gas sector in accordance with a 2050 net zero emissions target. 
• RBC competitor Bank of Montreal (BMO) is currently the only major Canadian bank to have set absolute emissions reduction targets for its energy sector clients — 24% by 2030, which is still below what is required to achieve net zero by 2050. 
• RBC’s goals also fail to meet the bar set by the Canadian government for emissions reductions by 2030 (e.g. a 42% reduction in absolute emissions from oil and gas by 2030). 

-30-

For more information: 

Kari Vierimaa

KPW Comms 

416.578.0488

kari@kpwcomms.com

But this year, you won’t need to look too far to find a truly horrifying story. The climate crisis is deepening, and the science is clear: Continuing to invest in fossil fuel expansion is not sustainable economically, nor is it sustainable for the planet. We need to immediately phase out fossil fuels and invest in green and sustainable energy. But we’re not.

Since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, BMO, CIBC, and Desjardins have funneled over $900 BILLION into fossil fuel projects that violate Indigenous rights while simultaneously attempting to cloud us with their greenwashing tactics. Terrifying, right?

Slowly but surely, banks’ deceptive strategies are being exposed. They’re feeling the pressure — and people are taking notice. 

So this Halloween, join in on the fun! It’s time to give the banks some goosebumps by calling out their chilling indifference to climate change.

TWEET AT YOUR BANK

Which fossil bank is using your savings to fund fossil fuel colonialism? Send them a targeted tweet. You can also personalize the character and/or the bank to your liking before you send your tweet:

RBC

Michael Myers won’t be coming this Halloween! Climate change is too frightening, even for him. Who plays a part in that chaos, you ask? #FossilBanks like @RBC, and it’s time to call them out >> https://act.gp/3DxQQVA @GreenpeaceCA

SCOTIABANK

.@scotiabank, your greenwashing tactics are as scary as Pennywise! Stop funding #FossilFuels, respect Indigenous rights. https://act.gp/3DxQQVA #FossilBanks @greenpeaceCA

TD

It’s ~ HORROR SEASON ~ ! But what’s even scarier than Freddy Krueger is what @TD_Canada’s doing to frontline communities and to the planet through their fossil fuel funding. Let’s put an end to their shenanigans >> https://act.gp/3DxQQVA #FossilBanks @GreenpeaceCA

BMO

There is nothing quite as haunting as @BMO’s financial support to fossil fuels, not even the Babadook!! Tell #FossilBanks to #KeepItInTheGround >> https://act.gp/3DxQQVA @GreenpeaceCA

CIBC

BOO! If you thought Annabelle was scary, wait till you find out how @cibc is wrecking the planet through fossil fuel funding! Tell #FossilBanks to stop their terrifying tactics >> https://act.gp/3DxQQVA @GreenpeaceCA

DESJARDINS

Who’s worse: Chucky, a fictional horror character, or @DesjardinsCoop, who invested BILLIONS in fossil fuels? I think you know the answer. No more #FossilBanks! https://act.gp/3DxQQVA @greenpeaceCA

Time for these CEOs to be the leaders they claim to be: take responsibility for your dirty investments, phase out of fossil fuels, and respect Indigenous rights. Find more ways to take action on our Fossil Banks Campaign page here.

Despite a multi-layered corporate structure with holding companies in numerous jurisdictions, the report’s findings clearly demonstrate a series of factors such as family ties, overlapping management, and lobbyist filings providing strong evidence that the Sinar Mas Group controls Paper Excellence. 

According to Head of Food and Nature with Greenpeace Canada, Shane Moffatt:

“This report shines a light on the power of a relatively few multinationals over the fate of the world’s forests. It’s no coincidence that forests across Canada are in crisis from unsustainable logging, loss of wildlife and climate change. With the Sinar Mas Group rapidly expanding its empire into Canada, it’s clear we need much stronger laws to protect nature and ensure the rights of Indigenous Peoples are respected. As host of the global biodiversity negotiations in December, the Canadian government needs to make passing such legislation a top priority.”

The analysis is based on a review of hundreds of publicly available corporate registry documents and other official filings about entities in Canada, Indonesia, France, Brazil, the Netherlands, the United States, Malaysia, the British Virgin Islands and other jurisdictions. In Canada, evidence ranges from the British Columbia lobbyist registry in 2022 and the official Sinar Mas letterhead used by Paper Excellence when the company purchased its first mill in Canada.

Paper Excellence now owns mills in half of Canada’s provinces: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The past year, in particular, has seen them grow exponentially with the purchase of controversial and litigious logging giant Resolute Forest Products. When the sale of Resolute is concluded, Paper Excellence will become the largest logging company in Canada based on revenues generated.

Priyanka Vittal, Legal Counsel with Greenpeace Canada said:

“The public deserves much more transparency on who truly owns the mills. Corporations can often hide behind complicated corporate structures to avoid financial and environmental responsibility. When it comes time for clean up or paying unpaid wages, they restructure themselves, claim bankruptcy, pack up shop or hide behind shell companies with no assets. Local communities and Indigenous Peoples should be able to fully understand any company’s plans and hold them accountable. 

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) could result in less transparency and more control by corporations over natural resources. We need a full, independent review of the agreement to understand how transnational corporations like Paper Excellence and the Sinar Mas Group will benefit and to ensure it contains effective environmental policies and frameworks if it goes ahead.”

Currently, the Canadian and Indonesian governments are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement that risks further entrenching the control of corporations like Paper Excellence linked to the Sinar Mas Group over forests to the detriment of local communities. In December, Canada will also host global negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to agree a framework for greater forest and nature protection over the next 10 years.

ENDS

Notes to media

A summary of main findings of the report were shared with Paper Excellence, Asia Pulp & Paper, the Sinar Mas Group, and Jackson Wijaya Limantara prior to release. The full comments provided by Paper Excellence and Asia Pulp & Paper can be found in the Appendix. No response was received from the Sinar Mas Group or Jackson Wijaya Limantara.

The executive summary is available here.

The full report is available here.

For more information, please contact:

Brandon Wei, Communications officer, Greenpeace Canada

brandon.wei@greenpeace.org, +1 778 772-6138

Updated at 7:38 PM: After having deployed a banner in front of the main entrance of the Bell Center, Greenpeace Canada activists displayed signs inside the Bell Center. Photos available on the Greenpeace media library.

(MONTREAL) – Greenpeace activists denounced the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for its investment in fossil fuels at the Montreal Canadiens’ opening game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the first official game with the RBC logo on the Habs jersey. The activists deployed a banner saying “#NOLOGO, RBC finance la crise climatique” (#NOLOGO, RBC is financing the climate crisis) in the area outside where fans were invited to participate in pre-game activities [1]. The logo placement is part of a new partnership between the team and RBC that has drawn a wave of criticism from fans. Greenpeace activists at the game covered the bank’s logo with a black cross on their jerseys in protest over how RBC is trashing the planet and the Habs jersey. 

“I put on my first skates when I was 3 years old and received my first Canadiens jersey when I was 6,”  said Louis Couillard, Greenpeace Canada’s Mobilization Campaigner, who attended the game. “The Habs and hockey are not just a sport to me, but an integral part of my identity and culture, as they are for many people. How could I accept that the logo of RBC, the fifth worst bank in the world in terms of financing fossil fuels, will stain the jersey so dear to my heart? That’s a big no: no to RBC and its oil staining my jersey, no to fueling the climate crisis, and no to trampling the rights of Indigenous peoples. The way RBC treats the planet is not how I want to leave it to my daughter. ”

Since 2016, RBC has provided $264 billion to the fossil fuel industry. In 2021, RBC increased its funding to fossil fuels by $23 billion, doubling its funding from the previous year [2]. RBC supports destructive fossil fuel projects, such as the Coastal Gaslink (CGL) pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en Nation territory, even though the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have never given free, prior and informed consent for this project. Drilling for the CGL pipeline under the Wet’suwet’en sacred river began shortly after the announcement of the partnership between RBC and the Montreal Canadiens [3].

“In 2019, RBC’s support for fossil fuels was more than 250 times greater than its support for charities. These numbers are absurd, and show that RBC is trying to buy a squeaky-clean public image while continuing to destroy the planet” [4] concluded Mr. Couillard.

Greenpeace Canada is calling on RBC and other Canadian banks to stop financing fossil fuels and to uphold, respect and affirm the rights of Indigenous peoples [5]. 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

[1] Photos are available on the Greenpeace media library. Greenpeace is also calling on supporters to denounce RBC on social media using #GoHabsGo and #NoLogo. 

[2] Greenpeace Canada Blog: Canada’s Big Five banks have increased their support for fossil fuels by 70% by 2021

[3] More information on the Yintahaccess.com website.

[4] Greenpeace Canada Report: Your money can’t buy our love : Fossil Fuels, Climate-Concerned Youth and Reputational Risk in the Canadian Banking System

[5] Greenpeace has written to the Montreal Canadiens’ CEO, Geoff Molson, to express their concerns.

For more information, please contact:

Laura Bergamo, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Canada

lbergamo@greenpeace.org; +1 438 928-5237

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15, which will be held in Montreal in December is our best shot to protect biodiversity globally and stop the crisis of biodiversity loss and mass extinctions that threatens all life on earth. 

Greenpeace calls on the negotiators to create ambitious protections for wildlife, with more than 30% of all land and seas protected by 2030 (a policy known more commonly as 30×30) and for Indigenous rights to be explicitly recognised and respected throughout all negotiations, putting Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the center of decision making, management, and funding to protect wildlife. 

Negotiators must also convene on how different nations in different contexts will implement the suggested plans. Funding for biodiversity protections is key – particularly since many of the countries suffering the greatest biodiversity loss have suffered from colonial oppression and extraction.

Yet despite CBD COP15 being our best shot to protect biodiversity, and despite the biodiversity crisis being as serious an existential threat to life on earth as climate change, the biodiversity crisis and the CBD COP15 remain relatively unknown. There’s a serious risk at the moment that this chance to protect nature will come and go without much attention. Decades in the future, we may look back and wish governments had acted stronger.

That’s why we’re demanding world leaders step up today. As of now, negotiations are still lagging at the CBD COP15, and there’s a serious risk these meetings will fail. Political participation is key to opening up the space for ambitious actions. From ozone pollution to climate change to biodiversity, it’s clear that global protections require leadership.

Biodiversity is set to be a major issue on the global stage for decades to come. Human life relies on biodiversity. As biodiversity crashes, we go with it. Biodiversity is central to our health, society, and to our economies – from local fisheries to global finance. Biodiversity is also one of the key sources of solutions to climate change – how we will mitigate and adapt to the impacts of our changing climate. 

The key moment for global biodiversity and our collective future here on earth is now. 

Consider this an open invitation to make biodiversity action happen. So we are asking world leaders: can nature count on you in Montreal?

August Rick is the International communications officer with Greenpeace East Asia

Whether you march in the streets, paint murals, or sign petitions. Whether you organize blockades, take legal action, or put your sailing skills to good use. Everything you do, every act of courage, makes a difference. 

Just take a look at some of the recent campaign victories from around the world. From the forests to the coasts, our activism is fostering creative, peaceful, and diverse solutions. 

We’re excited to share some of these stories with you, along with some cool content for you to click on. Start scrolling for your dose of good news!

THE BUZZ

Shell’s right to blast the South African seashores revoked

In an enormous victory for the planet, Shell will not be allowed to conduct seismic blasting off the Wild Coast of South Africa!

Last year, Shell announced that it would start looking for oil and gas reserves off South Africa’s eastern coast. The South African government granted exploration rights to the company in 2014, which it renewed in 2021. Under the ruling, the company could conduct underwater explosions, using sound waves to map the seabed for oil and gas.

Several organizations and community groups – including Greenpeace Africa – challenged the decision in court. They argued that decision-makers did not consult coastal communities. As a result, they did not consider the potential impacts of this exploration on communities’ livelihoods or culture. 

After reviewing the case, a judge of the High Court in Makhanda decided that the exploration rights granted to Shell were unlawful. The ruling revokes Shell’s exploration rights, banning it from searching for fossil fuels off the Wild Coast. 

This is a huge win for our oceans and all who call them home! It is a testament to the hard work of coastal communities on the frontlines of ocean protection, whose campaigns have highlighted how our well-being is tied to that of the oceans. In putting people before profit, the decision represents an important step in the struggle against #FossilFuelColonialism, toward environmental justice.

New rules around forest fires in Russia

The Russian government will reduce the number of forest areas where fires can be left to burn. 

Ironically named “control zones,” these are remote areas where local authorities are not obliged to fight fires. Instead, they may track forest fires with satellites, either because a site is difficult to access or because of the financial cost. As a result, fires often grow and burn millions of acres a year, with smoke blown into cities. 

Public pressure to address these fires began to mount when large fires burned millions of acres of forest in Siberia in 2019. Greenpeace Russia has been on the front lines of this advocacy, insisting on a review of control zones. In July, for example, Greenpeace submitted several proposals to the Russian government. They called for authorities to extinguish as many fires as possible, especially where smoke traps cities or fires threaten nature reserves and national parks. Over 23,000 people expressed their support for Greenpeace’s proposal.

Now, the Ministry of Natural Resources has approved new legislation to decrease the number of “zones of control.” As of spring 2023, these “control zones” will account for 25-30% of Russian forests, reduced from almost 50%. The decision will affect roughly two million square kilometres of forest areas and help ensure that more fires are extinguished in the early stages. This is especially important for fires in Siberian forests, which can impact the melting of Arctic ice. 

The Russian government’s review of “control zones” is an encouraging and necessary step in fighting forest fires. There is still more to be done, however, and Greenpeace will keep pushing for policy changes to protect the forests!

CAMPAIGN UPDATES

Greenpeace activists block Russian gas from being offloaded in Sweden and Finland

On September 8, a tanker carrying Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) was set to unload at a Finnish-owned terminal in eastern Sweden. In response, Greenpeace activists climbed the cranes used to unload gas. Meanwhile, activists in kayaks placed themselves near the loading dock, alongside the Greenpeace vessel Witness. Together, they managed to prevent the tanker from docking for more than twenty hours.

On September 17, another shipment of Russian LNG was set to unload, this time at a terminal in northern Finland. This shipment was also blocked by climbers and activists in kayaks for more than twelve hours. 

Greenpeace is calling for the Swedish and Finnish governments to stop importing Russian gas, highlighting that this kind of trade finances the war in Ukraine. And it’s not just an issue in Ukraine – the extraction of fossil fuels has fuelled many forms of conflict worldwide, including police aggression against Indigenous peoples in Canada. The solution? Energy efficient and renewable energy options to replace oil and gas. 

The war in Ukraine has exposed the problems associated with fossil fuel dependency, catalyzing governments’ plans to transition away from fossil fuels. Let’s keep the conversation going.

Greenpeace Africa supports legal actions led by grassroots groups

Greenpeace Africa has announced some groundbreaking litigation! In Senegal, grassroots campaigners are suing a fishmeal factory that’s been polluting the environment and jeopardizing people’s health, livelihoods, and food security. As of September 19, the Taxawu Cayar Collective is taking legal action against the Touba Protéine Marine (formerly Barna Sénégal) fishmeal factory, calling for an injunction to suspend the factory’s activities.

Meanwhile, farmers in Kenya have filed a court case to challenge the Seed and Plant Varieties Act, which criminalizes the sale and exchange of uncertified and unregistered seeds in Kenya. This law affects smallholder farmers who use indigenous seeds to grow food because most of these seeds are unregistered and uncertified. The farmers are appealing to the Kenyan government to respect the right of farmers to share and exchange indigenous seeds. This case will be mentioned in court for the first time on November 16, 2022.

These lawsuits are inspirational examples of how communities and grassroots organizers can use legal channels to defend their rights and interests against profit-driven entities. Greenpeace Africa is supporting the collectives in this litigation. Keep your eyes peeled for developments in the coming months and sign the petitions to amplify the activism that these communities are doing!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Meet Lagi!

SUPPORTER SPOTLIGHT

Pepper Oni

Pepper is a good girl who’s paw-ssionate about nature! She loves going on walks by the river, chasing squirrels, and taking naps in the sun. But going on walks is tough when it gets hot outside – like during the heat dome last year. While Pepper loves humans, she doesn’t like how they treat the planet. So she’s going on walks every day to ask people to put “more than humans” at the centre for a change. 

With the help of her friends, Pepper has surpassed her fundraising goal of $500, showing us what’s paw-sible when we work together! A big thank you to Pepper for raising the woof!

If you want to make a positive impact like Pepper, check out our #BECAUSE fundraising campaign for tools and inspiration! You can kick off your own challenge or fundraiser to support Greenpeace in a few simple steps.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Towards justice and healing, the staff at Greenpeace have been reading, listening to, and supporting Indigenous perspectives in our desire to shift culture. Here’s a list of our recommendations, curated for your own journeys ahead. 

Reparation. Restoration. Reconciliation. We often forget that action holds the truth behind these words. 

As a settler organization, extracting the remnants of colonial legacy from our identity is a process of accountability. Decolonizing our minds and methods may feel unfamiliar – wearing away at our indoctrination until we are hardly recognizable. But the pains of growth only mean we’re heading in the right direction. 

We still have a long way to go. We cannot rebuild until we dismantle. 

Education and exposure have become great tools in deepening our understanding of the world around us, naming our privileges and the harms we cause in ignorance. We are each responsible for the future’s unfolding. As we write a way forward, we must resist comfort and reject the status quo.

As an environmental justice organization, Indigenous leadership must be at the forefront and centre of the journey. We are in the midst of an environmental crisis caused by colonialism and capitalism driven by Indigenous dispossession. Our livelihoods depend on Indigenous environmental governance, sovereignty, and the value of Indigenous wisdom and knowledge systems. If we only listen, we can find truths untold and often erased. 

Truth and Reconciliation are commitments lasting far longer than 24 hours and made visible by more than an orange shirt. Last year marked the first-ever National Day of Truth & Reconciliation in Canada. Today marks a point of reflection on our journey of decolonization and a call to keep going. Greenpeace Canada invites you to join us in learning new ways of care and unlearning old ways of harm. 

Towards justice and healing, the staff at Greenpeace have been reading, listening to, and supporting Indigenous perspectives in our desire to shift culture. Here’s a list of our recommendations, curated for your own journeys ahead. 

Indigenous Authorship

“Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.” – Toni Morrison

*all Audiobook options are available for free through the Libby App (only requirement is a library card, which is also free)

• 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph (available as Audiobook)

Everything we’ve been told about Canadian history is a lie. What we call “Canada” was born out of colonial imperialism and is upheld today through White supremacy. In 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Bob Joseph reveals untold truths about a history often altered in typical school curriculums. In less than 150 pages, Joseph exposes the Indian Act as a critical tool in the erasure of Indigenous Peoples in Canada with the repercussions felt to this day. Our future relies on an understanding of the past and justice cannot be served without repair. Complete with collaborative activities and a discussion guide, this book is essential reading for settlers seeking to make reconciliation with Indigenous peoples a reality. 

• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good (available as Audiobook)

The day of Truth & Reconciliation is held in mourning of lives taken by residential school, holds space for grieving families, and honours the resilience of traumatized communities. Five Little Indians follows the journey of 5 residential school survivors as they dare to exist in “a world that doesn’t want them.” We revere this novel and the deep truths it exposes on this day, and everyday. 

• Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel (available as Audiobook)

Art Manuel’s foundational book provides a rich history of Indigenous resistance in Canada, especially over the past forty years, from the Constitution Express to the Oka Crisis to Idle no More. Since the very inception of the colonial concept known as Canada, successive governments have been trying to separate Indigenous people from their land to facilitate white settlement and resource extraction. And from the very beginning, Indigenous people have fought back. For a long time, they were up against some of the most powerful governments and corporations in the world completely alone. But as more and more people wake up to the relationship between Indigenous dispossession and excessive extraction as the primary driver of the climate crisis, the counterforce to colonial capitalism grows. To truly address this crisis, we must tip the balance of power back towards the original Indigenous stewards of this land, who understand deeply how to live in reciprocal relation with it. 

• Je suis une maudite Sauvagesse by An Antane Kapesh (FR & Innu-aimun)

In this poignant book, An Antane Kapesh depicts from first-hand testimony the realities of White settler-colonialism and the impacts on Innu communities, lands, cultures, language and traditions. The text is presented in Innu-aimun (left pages) and in French (right pages). 

• Les visages de la terre by Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui (FR) 

In this collection of poems, Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui explores the spirituality of the Wendat through his personal life.

• Décoloniser le Canada by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chef Ron Derrickson (FR)

This book is a call to resistance. In it, Arthur Manuel retraces decades of Indigenous activism, inherited from their father George Manuel, and depicts the political, economic and social struggles as well as resistance movements striving for the recognition of Indigenous rights, and the decolonization of the Canadian state.

• As We Have Always Done by Leanne Simpson (available as Audiobook)

As We Have Always Done offers the gift of an Indigenous perspective of what a true “nation-to-nation” relationship would look like in Canada—not a surface-level acknowledgment of Indigenous existence, but a deep commitment to dismantling the colonial structures that continue to oppress Indigenous peoples to this day. (Structures like the extractive projects being forced through unceded Indigenous land, the disproportionate representation of Indigenous women in federal prisons, and the “modern-day residential school system” of foster care that is separating Indigenous children from their communities.) Leanne Simpson writes: “I am not interested in inclusion. I am not interested in reconciling. I’m interested in unapologetic place-based nationhoods using Indigenous practices and operating in an ethical and principled way from an intact land base. This is the base from which we can develop a ‘new relationship’ with the Canadian state.” 

• Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga (available as Audiobook)

“Seven Fallen Feathers” is the carefully reported story of seven Indigenous high school students who died in Thunder Bay between 2000 and 2011. Critically, journalist Tanya Talaga connects the seven deaths to Canada’s colonial history, which extends to the present day—today, right now, Indigenous children are forced to move away from home to live in communities that are alienating, racist, and unsuited to meet their culturally specific needs. Tanya Talaga definitively rejects the idea that these deaths were mere “accidents”: they were, in fact, the tragic result of a careless, colonial system that does not value Indigenous lives as much as settler lives. Everyone in Canada must read this book, get angry, and demand change. 

• Braiding sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (available as Audiobook)

Can you imagine a relationship to the land that’s not purely and fundamentally extractive? 

“Our toddlers speak of plants and animals as if they were people, extending to them self and intention and compassion — until we teach them not to. We quickly retrain them and make them forget. When we tell them that the tree is not a WHO, but an IT, we make that maple an object; we put a barrier between us, absolving ourselves of moral responsibility and opening the door to exploitation. Saying IT makes a living land into “natural resources.” If a maple is an IT, we can take up the chain saw. If a maple is a HER, we think twice.” – Robin Kimmerer

• Life in the city of dirty water by Clayton Thomas-Muller

In a “memoir of healing” both written and visual, Thomas-Muller uses the tradition of Indigenous storytelling to share a personal account of the realities of abuse, intergenerational trauma and racism in Canadian cities. Various life events ultimately led him to reconnect with his heritage and find empowerment as a frontline Indigenous land defender and social justice organizer in his community. Further education can be found through his teaching tools. 

• Shuni by Naomi Fontaine (FR) 

Shuni – how one says the name Julie in Innu-aimun, is written as a letter, sharing stories and experience in close and  personal prose. Naomi writes a letter to her friend and tells her the stories of her people, the precious moments she shared with her community, vividly depicting her traditions and culture. 

Interested in purchasing a book from this list? Check out an Indigenous-owned bookstore in your area! 

Indigenous Voices On the Air

Listen Up! *all closed-caption versions are available for free on YouTube

• All My Relations podcast (CC available through video version)

“All My Relations is a podcast hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) to explore our relationships— relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.”

• Laissez-nous Raconter: L’histoire Crochie (FR)

Laissez-nous raconter : L’histoire crochie A series of 11 episodes to decolonize our understanding of words like “discovery”, “savage” or “obey” – with heavy meanings in our collective history. 

• Unreserved (CBC)

“Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices — our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Falen Johnson guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.”

• Buffy (CBC) 

“Buffy Sainte-Marie is one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the past century. For 60 years her music has quietly reverberated throughout pop culture, and provided a touchstone for Indigenous resistance. In this five-part series, Mohawk and Tuscarora writer Falen Johnson explores how Buffy’s life and legacy is essential to understanding Indigenous resilience.”

• Nation to Nation (APTN)

“Nation to Nation takes a weekly look at the politics affecting Indigenous people in Canada. Join host Todd Lamirande as he connects you to the decision makers in Ottawa and across the country.”

• Warrior Life, hosted by Pam Palmater (CC available though video version)

“This is an Indigenous podcast about the warrior life – featuring the voices of Indigenous warriors, advocates & leaders on the front lines of Indigenous resistance, resurgence and revitalization, who are protecting our lands, peoples and sovereignty.”

• Thunder Bay, hosted by Ryan McMahon (Canadaland)

“The highest homicide and hate crime rates in the country. A mayor charged with extortion. A police chief who faced trial for obstruction of justice. Nine tragic deaths of Indigenous high schoolers. Why does it all happen here?”

Support Indigenous-led Organizations

Donate! Volunteer! Cultivate Community! 

• Indigenous Climate Action

Justice-centered environmentalism is the ONLY environmentalism. Indigenous knowledge systems are essential to the climate movement. This Indigenous-led climate action group loudly advocates for Indigenous environmental governance and we settlers need to listen up! Rooted in Healing and Community, ICA seeks to inspire the next generation of climate leaders and build solutions from within Indigenous worldviews.

• Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre – Kingston, ON

As “the primary recognizably Indigenous space on-campus” since its conception in 1996, Four directions Indigenous Student Centre is committed to guiding Indigenous students in navigating predominantly white institutions through connection with elders. 4D supports the Queen’s University community in facilitating indigenous-centered programing for students and the Kingston community at large. 

• Future Ancestors Services Inc.

Miyoonakishkatoohk/Future Ancestors Services Inc. is an Indigenous and Black-owned, youth-led organization offering professional services to overcome systemic barriers in advancing climate justice through the lens of anti-racism and ancestral accountability.

• The Yellowhead Institute 

Based at the Toronto Metropolitan University the Yellowhead Institute is an Indigenous-led research and education centre that offers “critical and accessible resources to support the reclamation of Indigenous land and life.” Their “Red Papers”—the Land Back and Cash Back reports—are required reading for those seeking to educate themselves and contribute meaningfully to Indigenous land restitution. 

• Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning 

Created ten years ago in response to the barriers Northern Indigenous communities were facing when trying to access post-secondary education, Dechinta is the “only fully land-based university accredited program in the world, and the only program explicitly mandated to serve Indigenous peoples.” Donate to the Centre here and follow them on social media here. 

• Caring Society

Created in Squamish First Nation in 1998, the Caring Society offers research, support to guarantee the well-being and safety of First Nations youth and provides reconciliation-based public education. The organisation works to ensure First Nations children and their families have access to “culturally-based and equitable opportunities to grow up safely at home.”

• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

ITK is The national voice for over 65,000 Inuit in Canada advocating to protect community rights and sovereignty in Canada. Towards building resilience within their community, donate here.

• Assembly of First Nations

Assembly of First Nations is a national advocacy organization, representing First Nations perspectives and advancing the collective aspirations of First Nations individuals and communities across Canada concerning nature and environmental matters.

• Metis National Council 

Metis National Council  preserves the history and collective vision of the Metis Nations in Canada. Advocating for justice and recognition in the Canadian federation, the Metis National Council values democratic accountability in their approach to governance and builds its community by delivering programs and resources to Metis community. 

• Indian Residential School Survivors Society

IRSSS offers counseling and mental wellbeing services for Indigenous communities, including a 24/7 crisis line for those in need. 

• The Tsleil Waututh Sacred Trust 

The Tsleil Waututh Sacred Trust is an initiative of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN), a Coast Salish nation living on the unceded territory of what is colonially known as Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet. The community has been organizing for years against the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX), which was approved without TWN’s consent. Learn more about the sacred trust here and donate to them here.

• Nuluujaat Land Guardians

The Nuluujaat Land Guardians formed in 2021 to protect the Inuit territory (Nuluujaat) from the actions of the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation. In February 2021, the group peacefully blockaded the iron ore mine for one week and are now facing a $14 million lawsuit from Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation and a permanent injunction from the mining site. All money donated will support Inuit hunters opposing Baffinland’s dangerous expansion project.

• Unist’ot’en camp and Unist’ot’en legal defence fund

Donate to the Unist’ot’en camp or to the Unist’ot’en legal defence fund. Your contributions will enable the Unist’ot’en Clan to stop the pipelines that threaten all of us. Your contribution ensures that supporters on the land have food and medical supplies, that Unist’ot’en Youth are able to visit their territories, that Wet’suwet’en Elders have the necessary materials on the land to teach traditional hunting, gathering, food processing, language skills, songs, stories and more.  The Unist’ot’en are also facing mounting legal fees in order to protect their unceded territory. To date, more than $400K has been spent on the injunction proceedings and a related Judicial Review.

• The Support Network for Indigenous Women & Women of Colour

The Support Network for Indigenous Women & Women of Colour works to dismantle the barriers preventing women and girl’s access to safe healthcare and reproductive justice through education, food and art. Dedicated to the empowerment of women, the organization tackles the cultural, social and political realities of Indigenous and immigrant communities and provides culturally-appropriate services through all of their programs.  

• Indspire

Indspire invest in the education of Métis, Inuit and First Nations students in urban centres, rural areas and remote communities. By sharing resources, delivering programs, and providing financial awards, Indspire contributes to increasing graduation rates for Indigenous students. 

Indigeneity on Instagram

Diversify your feed and follow these Canadian Indigenous Influencers!

@shinanova  – Shina Novalinga is an Inuk throat singer and activist. With over 4M followers on TikTok, she quickly gained massive attention during the first wave of the pandemic when she shared an intimate video of her and her mom throat singing together. She now uses her social media platforms to celebrate and preserve Inuit throat singing; a beautiful tradition that was almost lost when it was banned by missionaries in the 1920s.

@larissa_speaks – Larissa Crawford is a Métis-Jamaican climate activist, anti-racist educator, and entrepreneur. As the founder of Future Ancestors Services Inc., she is a leader in anti-racism and indigenous research Initiatives, using her platform to educate her followers by sharing her experience as a disabled BIPOC creator.

@tanyatagaq – Tanya Tagaq is an award winning throat singer, writer and activist from Ikaluktutiak, Nunavut.  She blends traditional throat singing techniques with experimental electronic music. She uses her voice and her platform to fight for the rights of Indigenous people in Canada.

@autumn.peltier – Autumn Peltier  is a world-renowned water-rights advocate and a leading global youth environmental activist. She comes from Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island and was named Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation in 2019. You’ll  likely remember Autumn from when she bravely criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s clean-water policies in a face-to-face meeting with him at the young age of 12, gaining her international media attention. At the age of 13, she addressed world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York on World Water Day with a powerful speech. Let’s follow her lead and advocate fearlessly.

@nanookfareal – Nanook Gordon (White Wolf) is an Inuvialuk community organizer and artist and co founder of  Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction (TIHR) –  a queer and Two-Spirit Indigenous grassroots collective providing essential frontline support and services to Indigenous houseless folks in Tkaronto.

@christi_belcourt – Christi Belcourt  is an award-winning visual artist and activist from Mânitow Sâkahikan, Albertaj whose art speaks to the struggle for Indigenous identity and sovereignty. Her activism focuses on Indigenous issues related to justice, education and meaningful reconciliation. She co-founded the Onaman Collective alongside Isaac Murdoch which helps to organize Indigenous environmentalists and artists who share a belief that the ways of the ancestors must be reclaimed. 

@takaiya.blaney – Takaiya Blaney  is an Indigenous youth land defender from Tla’amin First Nation, Salish Sea in BC whose activism took flight when she protested the Enbridge pipeline at age ten . She’s now an award-winning actress, singer, and  leader in the climate youth movement where she fights against the continued exploitation and injustices caused from extractive industries in her own community, while also pushing for the global rights for indigenous people and the environment.

@jdutchermusic – Jeremy Dutcher, is an award-winning and classically trained musician, performer, activist and two-spirited member of the Tobique First Nation in North-West New Brunswick. He brings a bold signature style and sings in his traditional Indigenous language, Wolastoqey Latuwewakon. His lyrics often talk about the natural world and our relationship to it.

@yintah_access is the definitive source for news from the frontlines of Wet’suwet’en resistance against Coastal GasLink (CGL), a pipeline slated to be drilled under one of North America’s last clean rivers, Wedzin Kwa (which has been stewarded by the Wet’suwet’en for millennia). CGL does have the consent of the hereditary leadership and is being actively resisted by the Wet’suwet’en, who have been harassed, assaulted, and arrested by the RCMP and private CGL security forces for years. Follow the resistance here, donate to the movement here, or lend your support at camp, if you can. 

@notoriouscree –  James Jones,  is a Cree creator from Edmonton best known for hoop dancing, an Indigenous healing dance often performed at powwows. He uses his social media accounts—on TikTok and Instagram—to spread awareness and education around his culture and fill our Instagram feeds with joy. 

@scottwabano – Scott Wabano is a two-spirit, youth Cree who is making waves in the fashion industry as a designer, stylist,  and model who is helping to fill the gap where there is lack of Indigenous representation in the fashion industry.  Wabano is also an advocate for Indigiqueer and two-spirited people. 

@Isaac_murdoch1 – Isaac Murdoch  is an artist, activist and educator who has committed his life to the preservation of Anishinaabe cultural practices and has spent years learning directly from Elders. He co-founded the Onaman Collective alongside partner Christi Belcourt and  they offer their iconic art for free download across the movement, where we’re sure you’ve seen it at protests and blockades  all across turtle island. 

@chiefladybird –  Chief Lady Bird (Nancy King) is a Chippewa and Potawatomi collaborative artist, illustrator, educator and activist from Rama First Nation and Moosedeer Point First Nation and is well known for her stunning murals. Much of her work is based on issues that intersect indigenous communities and youth, such as the reclamation of our bodies and sexuality, the reclamation of ancestral language and land-based knowledge, and land sovereignty. 

Indigenous Cultural Centres

Celebrate and preserve Indigenous art, culture, and history. 

• Bill Reid gallery (wheelchair accessible)

Established in 2008 to celebrate the legacy of famed Haida artist Bill Reid, the Bill Reid Gallery’s mandate is to “promote a greater awareness of Indigenous cultures and values” through special exhibitions and programs. If you’re in Vancouver, visit the gallery at 639 Hornby street; you can also donate right here. 

• Squamish Lil’wat cultural centre (wheelchair accessible)

The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Líl̓wat7úl (Lil’wat) cultural centre in Whistler, BC was opened in 2008 as a “partnership between two unique nations who wish to preserve, grow, and share [their] traditional cultures.” Although many Squamish and Lil’wat stories were lost during colonization (both nations were oral societies, and didn’t develop written languages until the 1970s), many remain and you can read them on the centre’s website. (Such as the Lil’wat origin story, who are the people of Srap7úl—the “real tree,” colonially known as the Douglas fir. Original burials of Lil’wat peoples were done in this fir tree, and when a Douglas fir grew to its fullest, Lil’wat ancestors believed they were closer to the Creator.)

Find a Friendship Centre near you through the The National Association of Friendship Centres (accessibility varies per location)

Indigenous Cinema 

We are what we see. Exposure can make or break our mindsets, attitudes and biases. 

• Beans (CC available)

Directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer, Beans follows the story of the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake—which Deer lived through as a child—through the eyes of a young Mohawk girl named Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed “Beans”). The film is heartbreaking and inspiring, and in case you needed any more convincing, it received 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

• Reservation Dogs (CC available)

Reservation Dogs is a comedy series centering around the lives of Indigenous teens navigating life’s ups and downs on an Oklahoma reservation. 

• Angry Inuk (CC available)

Angry Inuk, a feature-length documentary written and directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, exposes the injustices suffered by Inuit seal hunters who saw their traditional ways villainized and disrupted in the wake of the Greenpeace seal campaign and the EU Ban on Seal Products. Healing our relations with Inuit communities has been a huge part of our decolonization journey. 

• Reel Injun (CC available)

From cultural appropriation, blatant racism and finally towards reclamation, Reel Injun offers an insightful look at the portrayal of North American Indigenous people throughout a century of cinema. 

• Night Raiders (CC available) 

Night Raiders is a dystopian drama echoing the reality of forced assimilation of Indigenous children and mirroring the effects of colonizing powers that created what we call Canada. 

• Turning tables (short film) (CC available)

Looking for a new music genre to add to your Spotify playlists? Look no further than Joshua DePerry’s pioneering of “Pow Wow Techno!” In this short docufilm, DePerry shares his journey navigating two-worlds as a Toronto-based artist popularizing this unique combo of Indigenous war cries and funky techno beats. 

This is not where it ends, but we hope you will get started.