I thought this was pertinent to the list. Cheers, Stefanie Rixecker ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: 22 Sep 1994 11:29:00 -0700 (PDT) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: VOW joins boycott of hearings Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Originally to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailing List: NATIVE-L ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Forwarded message: Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 13:05:00 -0700 (PDT) NOTICE OF PRESS CONFERENCE Sept. 21, 1994 CANADIAN VOICE OF WOMEN BOYCOTTS LOW LEVEL MILITARY FLIGHT TRAINING PUBLIC HEARINGS IN SUPPORT OF THE INNU NATION The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) have decided to support the Innu in their boycott of Public Hearings of the Federal Environmental Assessment Office (FEARO) being held in Labrador/Quebec beginning this week and continuing through next month. The hearings concern the proposed enlargement of the current Low Level Military Flight Training Area and number of flights. "Everyone is familiar with the tragic conditions of the Innu in Davis Inlet and of their struggle to regain their dignity and some control over their own justice system," said Betty Peterson, Coordinator of the Voice of Women Innu project, "but not everyone is aware of the damage of low-level military flying on the Innu people, their culture and their environment." VOW believes the Innu are justified in their reasons for boycotting the hearings and they agree that low-level flights are driving the Innu off their land and prejudicing their land rights negotiations. The Guidelines for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which necessitate making full use of the knowledge, understanding and interpretations of aboriginal persons, have not been followed, the VOW asserts. VOW is the only federally funded organization representing women and the peace movement to address the social and economic impacts of the Goose Bay base on Innu women and children. Two researchers from Halifax interviewed Innu women and others in Sheshatshiu, Labrador (Nitassinan). In July VOW submitted a brief to the Federal Environment Assessment Panel. VOW had planned to address the Public Hearings in Goose Bay in October until it received word this week of the Innu boycott and then reassessed its own strong objections. Last week VOW expressed these concerns in a letter to the panel stating that the Panel had not asked the Department of National Defence to meet the objections raised in the VOW brief before the Public Hearings take place. The EIS, according to its own Guidelines, must deal with impacts as they affect women and especially their individual or collective rights which are recognized by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and the Newfoundland Human Rights Code. VOW fears there is a rush to have the Public Hearings over and done with. This would clear the way for the Department of National Defence to begin negotiations with Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to renew and expand the present training agreement to the year 2011. DND proposes to double the number of aircraft involved, substantially increase the flying area and double the current 6-7000 low flights to 15,000 while extending the flying season by 2 months. This would even more severely impact the traditional fall and spring hunting and camping season of the Innu. VOW insists that the Federal Defense Policy Review, which will consider the viability of all bases including Goose Bay and which is scheduled to report to the country in late October, must be completed before the Panel should consider any option to expand the low-level flight training base. "The Panel is not treating the Innu and their legitimate concerns fairly," said Ms. Peterson. "Until the Innu people are satisfied that they are being listened to in depth, Voice of Women will boycott these Public Hearings. We urge all Canadian women's organizations, peace and social action groups to express their support of the Innu and their disappointment in the Federal Environmental Assessment Panel and its processes. The VOW brief and boycott have been endorsed by the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada's largest women's organization with over 500 member groups including aboriginal women. A press conference will be held at the Micmac Friendship Centre, 2851 Gottingen Street at 11 am, Thursday, September 22. For more information phone: Betty Peterson 902-454-8664 (Sept. 22-23) or 902-226-3294 Marion Kerans 902-485-4839 or 902-425-3593
