Category Archives: Indigenous peoples

Salt spat highlights Canadian national park’s troubling history

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Park agency’s order to stop harvesting salts for commercial gain has angered Indigenous community

For years, Melissa Daniels has been travelling to the vast wilds of northern Alberta to harvest naturally occurring salts on lands her ancestors once hunted and fished. She blends the salt with wildflowers from the woods and sells it in small batches.

But Canada’s national park agency recently ordered her to stop, in a move that has angered her community and highlighted the park’s troubling history.

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WA Aboriginal site near Rio Tinto mine more than 50,000 years old, new study reveals

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Mining giant funded latest excavation at Yirra, which yielded stone tools, charcoal and bone showing habitation during the last ice age

An Aboriginal sacred place located 65 metres from a land bridge used by Rio Tinto to haul iron ore is at least 50,000 years old, with new research finding evidence of occupation during the height of the last ice age.

The mining giant, which funded the latest excavation, has promised to ensure the site “is preserved for future generations”.

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Fuel protests prompt Lima curfew as Ukraine crisis touches South America

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Peru’s embattled president takes drastic step as fertiliser and fuel prices soar and Brazil seeks to open Indigenous territory to mining

Peru’s embattled president Pedro Castillo has banned residents of the capital, Lima, from leaving their homes in an attempt to quell nationwide protests over soaring fuel and fertiliser prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a televised address just before midnight on Monday, Castillo announced a curfew from 2am until 11.59pm on Tuesday, claiming the measure would “protect the fundamental rights of all people”.

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Protect Indigenous people’s rights or Paris climate goals will fail, says report

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Rainforests looked after by communities absorb twice as much carbon as other lands, analysis shows

Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.

Forest lands stewarded by Indigenous people and communities in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru sequester about twice as much carbon as other lands, according to the analysis.

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Pope meets Canada Indigenous groups seeking apology for abuse of children

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Apology sought after over 1,300 unmarked graves discovered since last May at church-run schools attended by Indigenous children

Pope Francis has heard first-hand the horrors of abuse committed at church-run residential schools in Canada, as Indigenous delegations pressed him for an apology.

Indigenous survivors are visiting the Vatican this week for meetings with the pope about the scandal that has rocked the Catholic church.

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‘Contemptuous’: anger in Brazil as Bolsonaro given Indigenous merit medal

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Government honours president who activists accuse of undermining Indigenous protections

Brazilian activists are outraged after Jair Bolsonaro – who has been accused of spearheading a cataclysmic attack on Indigenous rights – was honoured by his own government for his supposedly “altruistic” efforts to protect Indigenous lives.

Bolsonaro was granted the Medal of Indigenous Merit on Wednesday in recognition of what the justice ministry called his attempts to defend Indigenous communities in the South American country.

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Denmark PM says sorry to Greenland Inuits taken for ‘heartless’ social experiment

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Mette Frederiksen apologises in person to six surviving Greenlandic Inuits who were snatched from families as children more than 70 years ago

Denmark’s prime minister has apologised in person to a group of Greenlandic Inuits who were removed from their families and taken to Copenhagen more than 70 years ago as part of an experiment to create a Danish-speaking elite.

“What you were subjected to was terrible. It was inhumane. It was unfair. And it was heartless,” Mette Frederiksen told the six surviving members of that group at an emotional ceremony in the capital. “We can take responsibility and do the only thing that is fair, in my eyes: to say sorry to you for what happened.”

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Thousands protest against Brazil’s ‘death combo’ of anti-environment bills

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Demonstration against what activists call a historic assault floods capital after musician Caetano Veloso’s call for action

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Brazil’s capital after one of the country’s leading musicians, Caetano Veloso, called a major protest to denounce what environmentalists call a historic assault on the Brazilian environment under President Jair Bolsonaro.

The “Ato pela Terra” (Stand for the Earth) demonstration was held in Brasília to oppose what activists call a “death combo” of five environment-related bills being considered by Brazil’s congress.

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Canada: sloppy police work and racism marred inquiries into Indigenous deaths

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Independent Canadian investigators call for reinvestigation of 14 deaths of Indigenous people in northern Ontario

A group of independent investigators have called for the reinvestigation of the sudden deaths of 14 Indigenous people in a north Ontario city, after finding that the original inquiries were hampered by sloppy police work and a legacy of institutional racism.

The team have examined hundreds of deaths between 2003 and 2017 in Thunder Bay, the largest city in the northern reaches of the province – and one where the police force has long faced allegations of racism within its ranks.

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‘Consent was never given’: indigenous groups oppose restarting Guatemala nickel mine

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An investigation appears to show company employees discussing how to smear local opponents of the Central American nickel operation

A decision to restart operations at one of Central America’s largest nickel mines is being questioned by campaigners, after an investigation appeared to show the company co-opted indigenous leaders and smeared potential opponents.

In 2019, the Fenix project in eastern Guatemala was the subject of an investigation carried out by the Guardian and other media, organised by French consortium Forbidden Stories.

In that investigation, residents alleged that the mine – which is owned by Solway, a company based in Switzerland – was to blame for failing crops, polluting the lake and pressing local authorities to quash dissent.

As a result of a new investigation by the same consortium, the Guardian visited local communities in El Estor, the municipality surrounding the mine, in January this year and heard from residents and community leaders that claim little has changed.

“They said that there would be development [building schools and hospitals], that there would be a change in El Estor, when really there is none,” said Cristobal Pop, 45, the president of the artisan fishers’ union.

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Sydney is no place to build a Māori meeting house – it is disrespectful to Aboriginal people | Morgan Godfery

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Marae embody deep connections to the land and are a statement of indigeneity – but Māori aren’t indigenous in Australia

When most New Zealanders hear the term “marae” they think of the typical Māori meeting house.

The angular facade, decorated in red and white carvings, and the open space for the “encounter” where guests arrive in the warmth of welcome, in the grief of a tangi (funeral), or in the uncertainty of a disagreement.

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‘For our grandchildren’: the man recording the lives of Paraguay’s vanishing forest people

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Mateo Sobode Chiqueno’s lifelong project compiling cassettes of the Ayoreo people’s stories, songs and struggles to survive is now the subject of an award-winning film, Nothing but the Sun

In a tattered cardboard box in Mateo Sobode Chiqueno’s home, hundreds of plastic cassette cases contain four decades of memories. “Here in my house, I have more than 1,000 cassettes of Ayoreo histories and songs,” says Chiqueno, who keeps them alongside his tape recorder at his wooden shack in Campo Loro, Paraguay. Many of the voices belong to people who are dead.

Chiqueno began compiling his interviews with the Ayoreo, hunter-gatherers of the Chaco Forest, in 1979, after seeing missionaries using tape recorders to document their experiences. His tapes partially preserve a fast-disappearing culture.

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Night-time attack on controversial Canadian gas pipeline site

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Police release video of attack on workers’ equipment at camp of Coastal GasLink, a 400-mile pipeline opposed by First Nation groups

Police in Canada have released footage of axe wielding attackers as they investigate a “calculated and organised” night-time raid on a remote work camp.

Up to 20 people are believed to have attacked Coastal GasLink’s pipeline construction camp last week on Marten Forest Service Road in British Columbia.

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Indigenous nations sue North Dakota over ‘sickening’ gerrymandering

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The suit charges that diluting Indigenous power violates their voting rights and will handicap tribe members who run for office

Days before a new legislative map for North Dakota was set to be introduced in the state house, leaders of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake Nation sent a letter to the governor and other state lawmakers urging them to rethink the proposal.

“All citizens deserve to have their voices heard and to be treated fairly and equally under the law,” they wrote, arguing that the proposed map was illegal, diluting the strength of their communities’ voice.

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Ideas to change the world: Margaret Atwood talks to seven visionaries fighting for a brighter future

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The author’s hand-picked panel share their ideas on music, mushrooms, zombies and more

What do you get when you bring together some of the most revered thinkers, most progressive-minded activists and one of the most celebrated novelists writing today to discuss the immense challenges we face? A debate about the Spice Girls, of course! For the Guardian’s Saturday magazine, Margaret Atwood wanted to gather some of her favourite experts from around the globe, to ask how they see the world we live in – and what they believe is key to creating the future they want to see.

The lineup included bestselling author Raj Patel, dubbed the “rock star of social justice writing”; Senator Yvonne Boyer, the first Indigenous person appointed to the Canadian senate from Ontario; Akala, a writer, musician and poet; the excellently named Merlin Sheldrake, an expert on fungi; Kate Fletcher, whose speciality is sustainable fashion; Jessie Housty, a young Indigenous activist with a focus on decolonisation and community; and Yasmeen Hassan of Equality Now, which works to combat gender discrimination. The panel, hand-picked by Atwood, reflects the many disparate subjects the author is passionate about, and she was as keen to hear from them as they were to understand her vision and ideas.

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Greta stands with Sami and Navalny on trial again: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico

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Greta Thunberg condemns UK firm’s plans for iron mine on Sami land

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Beowulf Mining ‘hopeful’ for decision on mine in Sápmi despite opposition from activist, UN and Swedish church

A British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands.

The clamour of opposition was voiced as Beowulf Mining, headquartered in the City of London, suggested it was “hopeful” of a decision within weeks of a 5 sq mile iron-ore mine in an area where Sami communities have lived for thousands of years.

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The Hawaiian elders awaiting trial for protesting the world’s largest telescope

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More than 30 elders were arrested on Mauna Kea in 2019 in dramatic scenes, but many are still waiting for their day in court

On a cold morning in July 2019, more than 30 Native Hawaiian elders gathered on top of a mountain, committed to getting arrested.

“I wasn’t afraid,” says 83-year-old Maxine Kahaulelio. “The moment when the kahea [the call] went out, they said the big machines were coming and they were going to start the desecration … We stood there from 2:30 in the morning … freezing, 9,000 feet above sea level. They had all their gear but we didn’t have anything, just blankets and sweaters.”

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New Zealand Māori party calls for a ‘divorce’ from Britain’s royal family

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Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the move was ‘an opportunity to reimagine a more meaningful and fulfilling partnership’

The Māori party of New Zealand has called for a “divorce” from the crown and removal of the British royal family as New Zealand’s head of state.

The call came on the 182nd anniversary of the signing of the treaty of Waitangi, or Te Tiriti o Waitangi, New Zealand’s foundational legal document.

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Misinformation and distrust: behind Bolivia’s low Covid vaccination rates

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About half the country’s population is yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, despite availability

In a vaccination centre in El Alto, Bolivia, the staff bagged up in protective gear far outnumbered the few people sitting in plastic chairs waiting for their injection. A young doctor reeled off a list of all the vaccines available: Sinopharm, Sputnik, Pfizer, Moderna. What’s lacking is demand. They see 100 people on a good day.

South America, once the region most afflicted by the pandemic, is now the most vaccinated in the world. But this turnaround doesn’t extend to Bolivia, where roughly half the population is yet to receive a single dose – even though the state has had all the vaccines it needs since October.

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