Defend the Treaties
Once upon a time, a band of visionaries joined forces to ride the rails across Canada. Comprising Indigenous chiefs, lawyers, activists and artists, the group made the cross-country train journey to protest the lack of recognition of Aboriginal rights in the repatriation of the Canadian constitution. The Constitution Express became an international sensation, forcing the…
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On November 4, Beaver Lake Cree Nation will appear before Canada’s highest court in a bid to reinstate a cost award which the Nation says is the only way to bring a decade-long treaty rights challenge finally to trial. Support Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s urgent legal work to prepare for the hearing in Ottawa. “What…
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Beaver Lake Cree Nation is headed to the Supreme Court! Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal the decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal overturning Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s advanced cost award. Since 2008, the Beaver Lake Cree have been pursuing the Tar Sands Trial. This novel and complex Treaty infringement…
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In northern Alberta, Beaver Lake Cree Nation has stewarded the lands since time immemorial. But now, their traditional territory has become ground zero for dirty fossil fuel expansion. The tar sands involve both open-pit mining of bitumen, and ‘in-situ’ steam extraction to pull bitumen from deep within the Earth. Both methods cause devastating water pollution…
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We were SO delighted to receive this message from one of our online fundraisers, who writes: Team RAVEN, I have worked in renewable energy development in the United States for 14 years, developing wind, solar and battery energy projects across the country with the goal of decarbonizing the grid. I have deep environmental convictions that led me…
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On the west coast of North America, smoke from massive wildfires has choked out the sun. Amidst floods on the Gulf Coast and record breaking temperatures in the Arctic, the pressures of a changing climate are being felt across Turtle Island. Today, a courageous Indigenous Nation is facing down that climate calamity with determined action.…
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We are blown away by the ingenuity, commitment and creativity of this community that never ceases to amaze, even with the challenges of a pandemic! Marianne, an artist based in Victoria, BC has been known to trade her pottery wheel for a baking oven when solidarity calls. This May, Marianne whipped up her signature banana…
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For the past month, we’ve been reaching out to you about the tough fight facing Alberta’s Beaver Lake Cree. First, we told you about the outrageous injustice being faced by a small Indigenous Nation, forced to argue their financial poverty in court – on their own dime – while facing the deep-pocketed governments of Alberta…
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Want the backstory on the Tar Sands Trial? Watch the video of a powerful discussion between Beaver Lake Cree’s Crystal Lameman, lawyer Karey Brooks, and RAVEN Campaigns Director Ana Simeon. Crystal Lameman led us through a history of the Tar Sands Trial legal action. She says, “Our nation is tired of how industry runs amok…
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post by Crystal Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Treaty No. 6 My home community, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Treaty No. 6 (Alberta), filed a legal action in 2008 based on the Crown’s failure to account for cumulative impacts of industrial development, including numerous oilsands projects — one of the world’s largest and most carbon-intensive…
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