Call-out to #ShutDownCanada

from In Solidarity with All Land Defenders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WHERE: Nationwide

WHEN: Friday, February 13th 2015

Grassroots collectives are organizing nationwide for a day of action to #ShutDownCanada. Through the use of a diversity of tactics the goal is to significantly impact the Canadian economy for one whole day.

What is the goal out of #ShutDownCanada?

To remove the veil or illusion of the Conservative government’s “Action Plan” that is being touted as a strong economic stance for Canada in the global market. Economics being the key word and base of why there is such a blatant disregard for human rights and our environment. Bottom line is that the government is responsible for allowing multiple injustices including, but not limited to:

• The refusal to have adequate and meaningful investigation for missing and murdered indigenous women exemplifies Canada’s systemic racism and permits it to continue.

• The ever increasing expansion of tar sands extraction and how this “development” is destroying a people (Dene), their way of life and the entire ecosystem needed for their survival. Not to mention the multitude of rare cancers and diseases which are byproducts of tar sands destruction.

• Pipeline construction which equals loss of jobs being exported topped with importing workers from other countries to take Canadian jobs (Action Plan) without the consent of First Nations.

• Issuing grants and licenses for open pit mining even after the Tshilqot’in Supreme Court decision, and the Mt Polley tailings pond breach without any real concerted effort in clean up.

• Fractured gas drilling and the serious intentional misleading of the truth of how this impacts our water supply.

• Site C dam construction and why it is being constructed, not to mention who it is displacing and how they never had any consent from First Nations to move forward.

• The destruction of wild salmon habitat, open net feedlots and fish farming with other countries in our waters destroying the seabed ecosystem and wild salmon stalks.

• Unconstitutional agreements such as FIPA, not to mention now even more so privacy laws are being changed without your consent which goes in direct violation of your actual charter of rights and freedoms.

While the issues are many and varied throughout different regions it’s all interconnected and it is this corrupt government that is responsible. The only way for the people to get the attention of this government is to target their pocket books. That is the reason to #ShutDownCanada.

The system has failed us all miserably. There is no democracy and we the people have an obligation to demand justice for all. The current status quo in so called Canada serves only the elite few while the majority of Canadians are financial slaves to the system. Politicians do not represent the people, nor have they ever. Indigenous communities know this all too well and have been actively resisting subjugation since contact with the first colonizers who illegally imposed their jurisdiction through covert biological warfare and the ongoing genocide implemented with the residential school system.

The residential schools took the children from the land to disconnect people from their culture in order to take the land from the children. The genocide is ongoing, we still see the constant removal of indigenous children from their ancestral lineages and the untimely deaths of so many indigenous men, women and children. Indigenous peoples are over-represented in the (in)justice system and homeless populations are disproportionately indigenous. The systemic racism in the RCMP and Police forces negates any effective justice from taking place. This is the reason why so many indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered without any real action to prevent further violence.

Everything is interconnected. This government blatantly oppresses indigenous peoples in a calculated effort to create dysfunction within communities to maintain control of the land and exploitation of natural resources. The rape and destruction of our mother earth is another facet of the ongoing genocide which holds no prejudice affecting all children of the earth. We are all directly affected by ecocide.

Make no mistake that systemic racism and structural violence are connected to the needs of this illegal colonial state to maintain control of the land for exploitation. That is why we must call attention to these issues at the same time – the tars sands, the pipelines, fracking, mining, mega-dam projects and justice for #MMIW — it’s all connected.

CALLOUT for communities across Canada to blockade their local railway, port or highway on February 13th. Don’t buy, don’t fly, no work and keep the kids home from school. A diversity of tactics is highly recommended! Get everyone involved. The goal is to significantly impact the Canadian economy for a day and demand there be an independent inquiry into the 2000+ cases of missing or murdered indigenous women. It’s Time to #ShutDownCanada.

Get together with your friends and family to start planning now. Please share any info on local events on this event page we will use as a networking hub. Tell as many people as you can, time to get the ball rolling.

Here are links for local events created so far.

Calgary

https://www.facebook.com/events/548709308599553/

Espanola:

https://www.facebook.com/events/838893082823510/

Edmonton:

https://www.facebook.com/events/547648822004640/

Fredericton

https://www.facebook.com/events/588076097991497/

Halifax:

https://www.facebook.com/events/354140614777162/

Kamloops:

https://www.facebook.com/events/755986344490782/

Lethbridge:

https://www.facebook.com/events/771733126228952/

London:

https://www.facebook.com/events/394466750722241/

Moncton:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1543879242532790/

Montreal:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1536597193286480/

Oshawa:

https://www.facebook.com/events/557338124403380/

Ottawa:

https://www.facebook.com/events/417780078391409/

Regina:

https://www.facebook.com/events/318180288377480/

Toronoto:

https://www.facebook.com/events/817191038344641

Vancouver:

https://www.facebook.com/events/830805010310866/

Winnipeg:

https://www.facebook.com/events/932226390123439/

(Please keep in mind that it is likely many affinity groups will organize and act without any promotion or facebook event)

Organize and share your event link here… or organize and JUST DO IT!