rabble.ca - Healing the Earth

Tangled Roots: Dialogues exploring ecological justice, healing and decolonization

Matt Soltys — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:48:29 +0000

Healing the Earth Radio was produced in Guelph, Ontario, on CFRU 93.3 fm, from 2005 to 2010. Healing the Earth also had a popular podcast on the Rabble Podcast Network. Since the end of the show, producer Matt Soltys has been working on a book that is a collection of Healing the Earth Radio's most powerful interviews.

The Hanlon Creek 5: Land defence and SLAPP Suits in Guelph, Ontario

Matt Soltys — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:13:06 +0000

After a community-led occupation shut down a contentious industrial park in Guelph, five people were named in a $5 million lawsuit by the City of Guelph and a private developer. This is the audio from their press conference from April 23, where they outline their reasons for their actions, how this lawsuit is affecting their lives, and why it should be dropped. The press conference was in front of city hall and attended by upwards of 40 people.

Defenders of the land: Indigenous survival and liberation in times of collapse

Matt Soltys — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:25:02 +0000

Waziytawin is a Dakota writer, scholar, and activist, who urges Indigenous people as well as non-Indigenous people to think seriously about the threats of collapse and the need for land defence.

She is from The Place Where They Dig for Yellow Medicine, also known as the Upper Sioux Reservation in southwestern Minnesota. She also holds the Indigenous Peoples' Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She is the author of numerous books on the Dakota nation and decolonization, and has been a strong community activist working on truth-telling initiatives in the Minnesota/St. Paul area. You can learn more about her at www.waziyatawin.net.

Interview with Dave Schultz, Manager of Communications with the Grand River Conservation Authority

Matt Soltys — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:54:01 +0000

Dave Schultz is the Manager of Communications for the GRCA, and this interview is about the culvert construction for the HCBP infrastructure, and the City of Guelph's bid to extend the deadline.

Since one of the goals of the July 27 occupation has succeeded - to make it impossible for the City of Guelph to do this infrastructure work by their deadline - the City now wants to have the rules changed. There has been confusion abound about when the actual deadline is, some sources have said September 15, others September 30. This interview clears up some of this, and addresses what is currently happening with regards to a possible extension.

The struggle to protect Guelph's Old Growth Forest and thwart Guelph's newest and largest industrial development

Matt Soltys — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:35:51 +0000

In the heart of Southwestern Ontario, Guelph's Old Growth forest is under threat of being surrounded by a 675-acre corporate industrial development. Community efforts to protect this land continue, and time is running out.

Recent efforts have been spearheaded by several groups, including LIMITS (Land Is More Important Than Sprawl), which began organizing in the community and raising awareness in late 2008. This interview with a member of LIMITS gives an overview of the issues at stake, including recent updates on impending construction, the status of Federally and Provincially-protected species on the site, and the connections between colonialism, public health, sustainable growth, biotechnology, and other related issues.

Root Force: Examining the Costs of Infrastructure and Industrial Culture

Matt Soltys — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:16:46 +0000

Ben and Toby from Root Force explore many different angles on industrial infrastructure - from major highways, shipping networks, mines, oil and gas industries, etc - and its connections with colonialism in the western hemisphere, labour issues and the state of the economy, its cumulative costs to the earth, and the need to strategically resist industrial projects.

The analysis of Root Force differ greatly from mainstream environmentalism, in that it offers a systemic look at the foundations the system, and sees the need for a complete overhaul, rather than various reforms.

Ramona Africa on the 24th Anniversary of the Police Bombing of MOVE Headquarters

Matt Soltys — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:58:26 +0000

On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia police bombed the home of MOVE members and murdered 11 people. Ramona Africa is the sole adult survivor, and has been organizing on behalf of the dead and imprisoned ever since.

In this interview with Ramona Africa, conducted on the 24th anniversary
of the May 13, 1985 police bombing of MOVE headquarters, Ramona shares life lessons about freedom, standing up for oneself and one's family, being true and honest with ourselves and our principles, and her concept of 'total revolution' - all learned through enduring violent repression, maximum prison terms, and decades of community
organizing.

Swimming With Dolphins: Freedom, Captivity, and Our Many Interconnections

Matt Soltys — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:40:06 +0000

Leah Lemieux is the author of the book Rekindling the Waters: The Truth About Swimming wtih Dolphins. Leah has lectured, written about and worked on dolphin protection, education and conservation issues for twenty years, collaborating with individuals and NGOs from a number of countries, including the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots Environmental and Humanitarian program. Most recently she has contributed an essay on Cetaceans and Eco-tourism for The Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships.

Air quality and pollution in Southwestern Ontario

Matt Soltys — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:20:38 +0000

Quentin Chiotti works with the environmental organization Pollution Probe, as both the Director and Climate Change Program & Senior Scientist. Pollution Probe, now in it's 40th year, focuses on researching and advocating for changes to do with climate change, energy, air, water, environmental health effects, and policy.

Developing Community Responses to Sexual Assault and Sexual Violence, part 2

Matt Soltys — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:06:37 +0000

Erin Crickett is the campaign coordinator with the Guelph-Wellington County Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign, which is organized through the Guelph-Wellington Action Committee on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. This is a 24-member agency that includes Women in Crisis, the Humane Society, school boards, mental health workers and more, working together to develop a protocol to respond to sexual assault and domestic violence. As the campaign coordinator, Erin leads workshops with all kinds of groups about warning signs of abuse and effective res

Developing Community Responses to Sexual Assault and Sexual Violence, part 1

Matt Soltys — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:27:04 +0000

Since the Last Ice Age: Original People In and Around Guelph, and the Proposed Hanlon Creek Business Park

Matt Soltys — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:11:12 +0000

Dana Poulton is an archaeologist based in London, Ontario. He was commissioned to do an archaeological assessment of the proposed Hanlon Creek Business Park, based on the south end of Guelph. It turns out that humans have been using this particular land for as long as 11,000 years ago, since the land shifted from a colder tundra to a fertile garden of eden, that lasted up until European immigrants clearcut the land to create an agricultural colony, now called Guelph.

Dana and his crew found things like spear tips, arrowheads, and other stone tools for preparing animal hides and cutting animal bones. Other things that would have been there, things made out of wood, sinew, and hide, have long since decayed.

Tyendinaga: The Struggle for Drinking Water and the Health of the Land Continues

Matt Soltys — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:57:53 +0000

I spoke with Dan Doreen, a Mohawk from the community of Tyendinaga, which is located in Southeastern Ontario near Belleville. Dan has been on Healing the Earth several times before; he is one of many people from Tyendinaga who are fighting a new police station that the band council and the provincial and federal governments are trying to bring in to their community.

For a Soft Landing: Transition Towns, Peak Oil, and Climate Change

Matt Soltys — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:48:13 +0000

The Long-Standing Conflict With the Algonquins of Barriere Lake

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:42 +0000

I spoke with Marylynn Poucachice from the Algonquin community of Barriere Lake, which continues to deal with the problems of colonization of their land and people. For a preface to the interview, youth spokesperson Norman Matchewan says it best:

In 1991, Barrière Lake signed a historic trilateral agreement with Canada and Quebec to sustainably develop our traditional territories - a United Nations report called the plan an environmental "trailblazer." Yet in 1996, the federal government tried to hijack the agreement by replacing our legitimate chief and council with a minority faction who let the agreement fall aside.

Speaking About Land Reclamations with 'Boots' from Six Nations

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:41 +0000

Boots has been living in a teepee on a construction site in Brantford, Ontario, since July. He's from Six Nations, and they've been shutting numerous development sites over the years due to concerns of land rights and ecology. What most people think began in February 2006 on the edge of Caledonia, the site that blew up into a world-renowned conflict, actually began long before that, and has kept going ever since. The site Boots has been living on was slated to be a fiberglass insulation factory, right next to a large Hampton Inn hotel, which has also been shut down.

Ending Industrial Culture, Building Cultures of Resistance

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:38 +0000

Lierre Keith and Aric McBay are both authors, small farmers, activists in their own way, and over the last couple years have been organizing weekend-long conferences entitled Deep Green Resistance. If you'd like to read it, their statement of purpose from their first gathering sums up where they're coming from better than I can.

Industry and Military vs. Marine Life: Seems They Can't Coexist

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:33 +0000

I spoke with Kim Elmslie, a campaign coordinator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, who spoke about a recently-published report by IFAW, about the threat to marine life from noise pollution. It made me recall reports I had read about whales washing up dead on shores, with blood coming from their ears and hemmorhaged brains, just after the US military conducted underwater sonar testing nearby. It turns out that not only is military testing killing marine life and ruining the lives of surviving populations, but all the noise from oil rigs, shipping, and other industrial activity is also to blame.

The Revolution Will Not be Microwaved: Speaking with Sandor Katz

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:29 +0000

Sandor Ellix Katz is the author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements. His work has become enormously popular, helping bring the ancient rituals of fermentation to new generations of people hungry for a connection with these life processes.

The Story of Eric McDavid, Trapped by a Paid FBI Informant

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:19 +0000

Eric McDavid had the misfortune of falling in love with an FBI informant, a young woman who went by the name Anna. She was being paid by the FBI to fish for people at protests who she could convince to conspire with her to engage in illegal direct actions. Eric and two others, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, were involved in a plot 'Anna' led; Zachary and Lauren decided to plead guilty and testify against Eric, while Eric held out as not-guilty, maintaining that the whole thing was a trap. Eric was recently found guilty and sentenced to 19.5 years in prison. His lawyer, Mark Reichel, explains the ins and outs of this shocking story.

Government of Newfoundland Labrador Seeks to Evict Innu

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:19 +0000

More than 100 Innu families who are now occupying and using their traditional homeland in Newfoundland Labrador recently received eviction notices from the provincial government of Newfoundland Labrador. The Removal Notices direct Innu families to "remove all structures from Crown land and restore the site to its original conditions within 60 days of notice." Failure to do so will result in the Crown Lands Division demolishing their homes and charging the costs of demolition to the Innu families.

What Does Decolonization Look Like?

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:13 +0000

What Does Decolonization Look Like? Minnesota Turns 150 and Nothing Much Has Changed

In early May 2008, the state of Minnesota turned 150 years old. People fond of such things sought to have a celebration of this sesquicentennial anniversary, which included several days of events. What the organizers of this anniversary neglected to include in their accounts of history is the genocide against the Dakota nation, whose homeland was destroyed in order to create the state of Minnesota. This involved state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, hangings, bounties, massive displacements, and an overall campaign of violence and fear.

Two Six Nations Men Facing Extraordinary Imprisonment in the US

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:10 +0000

Two Six Nations men, Albert Douglas and Trevor Miller, are being indicted to a US federal grand jury for incidents stemming from the 2006 Six Nations land reclamation outside the town of Caledonia. Albert Douglas was allegedly with Trevor Miller when a US Border Patrol vehicle was seen on their territory during the height of the land reclamation. It turned out that the vehicle was carrying a member of the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and members of the Ontario Provincial Police, and contained surveillance equipment and confidential documents about undercover OPP and US agents used to infiltrate the land reclamation.

Native Bumblebees are Going Extinct

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:05 +0000

I spoke with Sheila Colla, a PhD candidate at York University in Toronto, about the extinction of several species of bumblebees who once lived in Southern Ontario. Many people are familiar with how honeybees have been affected by Colony Collapse Disorder, and now bumblebees are experiencing significant declines in population. While honeybees have been imported from Europe and Africa, bumblebees are native to Turtle Island. Since so many native plants have co-evolved with bumblebees, requiring them for pollination, these extinctions could pose serious trouble for the rest of the ecosystem.

Tyendinaga Mohawks Successfully Stop Another Illegal Developement

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:05 +0000

I spoke with Dan Doreen, from the community of Tyendinaga, about an illegal residential development that was stopped from occurring. The land in question is part of the Culbertson Tract, which includes the small town of Deseronto, in southeastern Ontario.

Two developers, Theo and Emile Nibourg, claim title to the Mohawk land, and had planned to build 220-240 residential units. On Monday morning, people from Tyendinaga blocked the main road going through Deseronto, and after a 24 hour period, the Nibourgs have agreed not to do anymore work on the land. Those involved in the blockade are committed to not allowing any kind of development within the Culbertson Tract.

Courage, Culture, and Sacrifice

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:22:01 +0000

Healing the Earth Radio hosts Kingston Indigenous Solidarity Network member Matt Silburn's interview with Mohawk Warrior Shawn Brant. Shawn is currently facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit from CN Rail, and 12 years in prison, due to the actions him and his community in Tyendinaga have made. I chose to host this interview because both times I have played it on the air, people have called in to express how inspired and moved they are from hearing Shawn speak.

Pre-Dawn Paramilitary Raid on Bear Mountain Tree Sit

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:21:50 +0000

Just one week after the first interview with people from the Bear Mountain tree sit, a force dozens of armed RCMP officers stormed the forest to evict them. As people were being led away in handcuffs, workers were already beginning to cut down the forest.

On Wednesday, February 13, everyone in the tree sit camp was arrested. Three people, including two tree sitters, were held and charged with mischief and obstructing a highway. They have now been released. The massive attack by police involved as many as 300 RCMP officers, dozens of them with assault rifles drawn and pointed at the campers.

Bear Mountain Tree Sit Under Threat

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:21:46 +0000

Since April 10, 2007, a tree sit and forest squat has been in the way of a proposed highway interchange that is designed to serve the massive Bear Mountain Resort development. It has gathered widespread support from the surrounding community, yet been opposed by those in power in the municipality. They are threatened with eviction beginning in March, and need all the help they can get. You can visit their website at: treesit.blogspot.com

In this interview, I speak with one of the organizers, who has some inspiring messages for us all.

Below is a communique recently issued by the people involved in the tree sit:

A Hard Look at Agriculture, and Strategies for Collapse

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:21:36 +0000

Lierre Keith is the author of the novels Skyler Gabriel and Conditions of War, as well as the forthcoming The Vegetarian Myth. In this interview we talk about the topics she explores in that most recent book. I haven't read Jared Diamond's work, but I know he also seriously tackles the issue of agriculture.

For me, Lierre's is the most solid critique of agriculture I have come across. She talks about how it is at it's most basic level a war against life and the earth, outlining the ecological impacts of agriculture, which includes it's effects on topsoil, which is the basis of all life. Sustainable agriculture will always be an oxymoron, and with the fossil fuel era coming to a close, we have to start thinking out of the agricultural box.

Talking Decolonization with Waziyatawin, Part 1

Matt Soltys — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:21:12 +0000

Waziyatawin is Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe in southwestern Minnesota. She is the author of Remember This!: Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives, In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, co-editor of Indigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities, and is the co-editor of For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook.