Fort McKay First Nation stops Prosper Petroleum in Court: Hope for other First Nations following suit
When Fort McKay First Nation stopped Prosper Petroleum from starting a 10,000 barrel per day tar sands project adjacent to sacred Moose Lake, they added another stone to the cairn of legal victories that should prove foundational to the case Beaver Lake Cree – known as The Tar Sands Trial. Why this matters The victorious... Read More
Justice for Black, Brown and Indigenous Lives: A message of solidarity from RAVEN
We stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors who are in the streets and on their feet to defend the dignity of the lives of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC). The outcry over the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota at the knee of a white police officer has... Read More
VIDEO: Behind the Scenes: An Insider’s Look at the Tar Sands Trial
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... Read More
Alberta and Canada Deny Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s Financial Poverty in their Most Recent Appeal of the Court’s Advance Cost Award
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... Read More
Tribute to Richard Wright – Rest in Power
RAVEN Remembers Gapaygy’m Ganauu – Richard Wright We are saddened by the passing of Richard Wright, land defender of the Gitxan House group Wilp Luutkudziiwus. Richard helped found the Madii Lii camp on the Suskwa River which acted as an anchor for cultural revitalization and resistance to gas pipelines. RAVEN has worked with Richard... Read More
Reconcile This: Health, Wellness and Safety During a World Pandemic, or Concessions for Extreme Resource Extraction
by Crystal Lameman, guest author As the world faces unprecedented times, we are presented with an opportunity to change a system that was not working, did not put life and Mother Earth first, and was grounded in the continued taking up of land and resources to fill a bottomless stomach of greed. But for awhile... Read More
VIDEO – We Are Unfrackable – episode 3 with Robin Tress and Kukuwes Wowkis
During our third episode of the “We are Un-Frackable” series, we heard from two powerful women at the forefront in the fight to stop fracking: Kukuwes Wowkis, Mi’kmaq water protector and grandmother from Unama’ki (Cape Breton) and Robin Tress of the Council of Canadians, a climate justice campaigner and anti-fracking organizer. With attendees from Vancouver... Read More
A letter from RAVEN’s Executive Director, Susan Smitten
Last week we celebrated the final victory in Tsilhqot’in Nation’s decade-long struggle to stop the desecration of their land by gold mining. The Supreme Court’s word is final: Taseko’s New Prosperity mine is dead. Done for. Kaput. There are some events that stick with you for life. You remember where you were, like when... Read More
Celebrating a massive Tsilhqot’in win with the RAVEN community
Today, the sun is shining just a little more brightly in Tsilhqot’in territory. Glinting off of the alpine waters of Teztan Biny – also known as Fish Lake – the dancing light is a gift that, thanks to a precedent-setting legal victory, will keep on giving, forever. On a Thursday morning before a holiday weekend,... Read More
Decolonize Now! With Nikki Iyolo Sanchez
On this episode of RAVEN (De)Briefs, we’re talking to Nikko Iyolo Sanchez. We caught up with Nikki on the day that the book, Spirits of The Coast, was released. As a guest editor for the Royal BC Museum, Sanchez worked with diverse contributors, young and old, to explore the magic, myths and ecology of orca... Read More