From the Desk of Jamie Kneen
Communications and Outreach Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada
A "Protect the Earth Summit: On the Shores of Gichigami" will be held the first weekend in August in Marquette, Michigan and on the Yellow Dog Plains, near Big Bay, Michigan. The event will feature speakers from Minnesota and Michigan, as well as Tribal and community leaders from Wisconsin and Ontario who have had success in stopping dangerous uranium exploration and metallic sulfide mining projects around the Great Lakes. The event will culminate with a walk to Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains and more speakers.
The first Protect the Earth Gatherings began in 1986 in the State of Wisconsin when the US Department of Energy was considering northern Wisconsin as a site for nuclear waste and Ojiwbe Treaty Rights were under attack. The first rally was held at the Mole Lake Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin and helped bring people together to work toward a common goal. Green Party activist and Red Cliff Tribal member Walt Bresette was instrumental in getting the Protect the Earth Gatherings off the ground and ensuring their vitality over the years. When Exxon and Kennecott came to Wisconsin in the 1980s with the intent of mining in the ceded territory of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, it only served to reinforce the People's resolve to work together. A blending of wisdom from Native leaders, Green Party activists and people of heart kept the struggle alive and culminated with the defeat of Exxon's proposal to mine at the headwaters of the Wolf River in northern Wisconsin. A lesson well learned by all involved was that "Protecting Treaty Rights Protects the Environment."
According to organizer Teresa Bertossi, "We are proud to carry on Wisconsin's Protect the Earth tradition. A major theme of this year's summit is Communities without Borders. We all share and depend on clean land, air and water for our survival and must work together to protect the health of our ecosystems and communities. Many of us may lack the monetary and expert resources of a mining corporation but you cannot buy passion - and that's what the Protect the Earth Summit is all about. If we all work together, communities battling sulfide and uranium mining in the Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, and Ontario will follow in Wisconsin's footsteps, as Native and non-Native peoples worked hand-in-hand to take on giant corporations and stop dangerous mining practices.
Protect the Earth serves to bring together the hearts of Native and non-Native peoples who love and respect our water, our land, our air and the innocent creatures affected by our actions and carries a power that cannot be vanquished.
Saturday, August 2:
Workshops: Northern Michigan University, University Center, Marquette, MI 1-4pm. Topics include:
Rally, Speakers, Skits and Music: Presque Isle Band shell, Marquette, MI 5-9pm
Sunday, August 3:
Walk to Eagle Rock, speakers: Yellow Dog Plains, 10am until late afternoon.
Speakers include Susan LaFrenier (Vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan); Paula Sherman (Co-chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation , Ontario); Dr. Al Gedicks (Author, Filmmaker, Wisconsin mining activist, global mining expert); Laura Furtman (Author of "The Buzzards Have Landed: The Real Story of the Flambeau Mine" and Flambeau Mine expert); Fred Rydholm (Local historian, author, storyteller and landowner on the Yellow Dog Plains) and more. Music by Skip Jones, Victor McManemy, Gabriel Caplett, Tim Filmore, and much more.
The event is sponsored by Yellow Dog Summer, Keepers of the Water and Students Against Sulfide Mining, with funding provided by the Western Mining Action Network and the Indigenous Environmental Network.
For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Gabriel Caplett at 906/942-7325 or gabriel@northwoodswild.org.
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