2010: Skiing on Ancestral Bones
Port Alberini, BC, Canada
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in British Columbia, and the Native community is working to bring Native issues to the forefront. 2010: Skiing on Ancestral Bones is a film that seeks to draw together the threads of commonality that bind together the plights of Secwepemc (Neskonlith reserve), Okanogan (Penticton reserve), Statlimc (Mt. Curry), and Pilalt (Cheam) Nations.
Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance
Yellowknife , Northwest Territories - Canada
The Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance (AIYA) was created in 2003 by two Indigenous youth, out of a concern for the type of development that was being pursued in the North. AIYA is comprised of Aboriginal and Northern youth from across the Northwest Territories . Their mandate is to raise awareness and educate on the potential impacts of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project. The AIYA seeks to connect the vision and creativity of the youth with the wisdom of the Elders and to educate in areas of Traditional Knowledge and Elder's Teachings in relation to issues of development and globalization. Their work is also closely linked with raising awareness about climate change, as the Arctic is one of the most impacted areas on the planet.
Grassy Narrows Band
Grassy Narrows Reserve, Ontario, Canada
The Band is working to educate community members and the public about the dangers of clear-cutting, hydro-dam projects, mercury contamination and the threat of a high level nuclear waste dump on their land by networking with other impacted Native communities and developing organizing skills and infrastructure to fight this battle.
Grassy Narrows Youth Training Project
Grassy Narrows Reserve, Ontario, Canada
This group of avid youth organizers fights against mercury contamination, dam projects, the pulp and paper industry, and proposals to dump nuclear waste in their territory.
Green Green Water Film
In the early 1970s, Manitoba Hydro put in a series of seven dams on the Nelson and Churchill River systems in Manitoba , Canada . Lauded as “clean energy” from the north, Manitoba Hydro joined with neighboring Ontario Hydro and Hydro Quebec in selling that power to the U.S. Five of the twelve dams are on the Nelson River , the river that runs through Cross Lake on its way to Hudson Bay . The first set of dams has already destroyed 3.3 million acres of land. Rivers have been turned to toxic reservoirs and are laced with methyl-mercury. Fish from the Nelson River , a staple of the Cree, have been contaminated and pregnant women, elders and children must severely limit their intake of fish or risk dire health consequences. Large tracts of boreal forest have been flooded displacing and destroying animal habitat. Green Green Water is a documentary film about hydroelectric power and its impact on Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba . Currently they have a 13 minute trailer that is being used to fundraise and as an educational piece
Indigenous Youth to Youth Project
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
This project seeks to join Indigenous youth throughout Canadian First Nation communities to discuss issues regarding sustainable development. Discussions and trainings will prepare youth that wish to have their voices heard in national and international deliberations, and will engage youth in organizing and conscious work in this area.
Innu Tipatshimun Mashineikantshiuap Resource Center
Innu Nation, Quebec, Canada
The Innu Nation is organizing in opposition to low level military flight testing across their territory and the devastation of their lands by hydroelectric development, logging and an unprecedented level of mineral exploitation.
Justice Seekers
Nelson House, Manitoba, Canada
Justice Seekers is a grassroots group formed to seek justice for the people of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation who are living with the cumulative impacts of hydroelectric development. Manitoba Hydro is currently proposing a series of new dams from which most of the electricity produced would be exported to the United States.
Metis Heritage and Horticulture Society
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
This Anishinaabeg group is working to preserve traditional agriculture and indigenous plants of cultural, medicinal and ecological significance.
MoCreebec
Moose Factory Island, Canada
The MoCreebec First Nation opposes new mega-dam proposals in Cree territory, including James Bay III. Three major river systems have already been impacted by the grandiose schemes of Hydro Quebec's mega-dams and entire ecosystems and cultural histories have been flooded as a result.
Neyaashiinigmiing Kwe
Cape Croker Reserve, Ontario, Canada
Neyaashiinigmiing Kwe is a group of Anishinaabe women that seeks to protect the Cape Croker Reserve from the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant and stop utility plans for nuclear waste storage.
Original Women's Network, Inc.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
The Network is a grassroots organization that conducts research, community outreach, and education around Native women's issues while advocating on their behalf.
Pimicikamak Cree Nation
Cross Lake, Manitoba, Canada
The Pimicikamak are working to educate the public and consumers about the social and environmental costs of hydroelectric power. Manitoba Hydro's mega-hydropower project, a series of dams on the Nelson River, has devastated over 3.3 million acres of northern Manitoba, creating a legacy of flooded lands, poverty, and the diminishing of traditional cultures. Manitoba Hydro sells about 40% of its power supply to the United States, the majority of which goes to Xcel Energy, further distancing energy consumers from the ecological and human costs of electricity production.
Red Roots Community Theatre
Manitoba, Canada
This theatre produces pieces that depict the lives of Native people and struggles around the environment, culture, and colonialism and is the vehicle to communicate with the larger Native and non-Native community.
Redwire Native Youth Media Society
Vancouver , British Columbia
Redwire Native Youth Media Society was formed in 1997 in response to the lack of Native youth voices in mainstream media, urban centers, and Native politics. Incorporated as a youth-led organization and dedicated to Native youth expression, Redwire publishes a quarterly magazine and promotes Native youth voices in the media. Redwire is also part of the International Indigenous Youth Conference (IIYC) June 17 th –20 th , 2005 secretariat, a partnership of grassroots Indigenous youth organizations working together to honor the invitation to host the next IIYC conference. A follow-up to the 2002 IIYC, next year's conference will build on the resolutions made in 2002, which assert their right to defend their self-determination, to defend peoples and nations against the adverse effects of globalization, and to advance rights to ancestral domains. The conference project is lead by Indigenous youth targeting other indigenous youth to promote wellness through active youth participation, and to address the social issues that affect indigenous peoples that we as youth inherit. The conference is an opportunity to build the capacity of indigenous youth all over to be involved in their communities and to proud of and share their cultural traditional practices.
The outcomes of the conference will be compiled with other submissions from indigenous youth delegates into an international Indigenous youth journal, Redwire Native Youth Media Society will do the production and distribution for the journal; delegates will come to agreement and inform a declaration/resolution to be presented by an indigenous youth at the 2006 World Urban Forum in Vancouver BC; continue to strengthen the international indigenous youth network through the web site and through the launch of an international indigenous youth committee body; and work with delegates present from the US and Latin America to work out the logistics of a regional indigenous youth network.
Honor the Earth: Circle Of Resistance Map: North America: Canada: Honor the Earth Grantees