Our Great Lakes Commons

Hello everyone,

I hope you've had a good day.

Mine's been tiring; did a lot of weeding and garden clearing today (a paid job). 

This gave me time to contemplate Maude Barlow's talk here in London last evening. 

You probably know that Maude Barlow is national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. (www.canadians.org)

She shared the stage last evening with Tom McClenaghan, founder of Friends of the Coves, a group dedicated to preserving and healing an important section of the Thames River here in London (Canada for any international reader!) and with Pat Donnelly, who is with the City of London and must know more about our position within a watershed than anyone down there.  They placed the city ... as it has grown around the low land area into which three branches of a river flows ... in almost the middle of Southwestern Ontario, which is ringed by lakes. 

Water.  That's what she was talking about.  The assault on our water from so many sides.

And she was talking about how we all need to do something to keep the lakes as a "commons" - an area shared by everyone, not taken over by companies that want to take the water and sell it off.

Maude has recently written a document titled Our Great Lakes Commons: a people's plan to protect the Great Lakes forever.  It is a background paper calling us "to action on an exciting new proposal to designate the Great Lakes and its tributary waters as a lived Commons, to be shared, protected, carefully managed and enjoyed by all who live around them." This will require personal, community, and political action.

I haven't finished it all yet, but the idea of treating the lakes - our watershed, the water that makes us live - as something essential to us and needing care by all of us because we and it are all the same being, is an ideal I'm willing to work for.

Best regards to all,

Why's Woman

Hello everyone,

A lot of our spinach plants are sending up stalks, getting ready to go to seed.  Because of the heat, they bolted really early.  I wanted to get some more harvest from them so I cut down several plants, to just leave a fringe of leaves at bottom.

Inside, I cut the farthest from leaf stem ends off the spinach that I just harvested from the garden.

What a bounty of food we have that I was able to do that.

 Best regards,

Why's Woman

(cut pieces go into the compost, and I did collect all the rinse water, to go into the bucket, that goes outside for plants)

UN Rapporteur on Right to Food

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well.  I've been gardening lately, instead of writing anything. 

It's not often that I can honestly say I'll look forward to reading the full text of a report!

Having just read the "end of mission" report about Canadians food security, by the United Nations Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, I am looking  forward to reading the full report.

You may be hearing  de Schutters "end of mission" statement about the food security situation in Canada.  No doubt this is being covered by news media all across Canada.  For myself, I heard a professor of food justice (or some such studies) interviewed on the 4-6 p.m. CBC 1 radio show Wed. May 16/12.  And the 6:30 As it Happens show interviewed 2 people, including de Schutter (who speaks really well).  And the Toronto Star and Globe&Mail newspapers are covering this.  The prof commented that, (to paraphrase) if the Feds had wanted to counter the report, it would have reflected better on them if they had highlighted the Federal positives which de Schutter mentioned, you know ... divert (he didn't use that term ... it's my word.)

The "end of mission" statement is preliminary to a longer report that won't be out for months.  The "thank you for your help" section of the end of mission statement takes up a full page.  De Schutter had a full schedule of meetings across the country.  His first thank you is to the Canadian government, which invited him to come to Canada; the Foreign Affairs Department and International Trade Canada coordinated his agenda.

I anticipate that the groups de Schutter visited while in Canada will use his visit and eom statement to highlight their undertakings.  This is a great opportunity.  Thankfully, the people and organizations around the country know that statements coming from the Prime Minister's Office via his ministerial minions are diversion tactics.  It's just such a shame that they will all have to spend extra time countering their statements. 

To focus just on one Federal Minister's comment: Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (MP Nunavut) is quoted in the Toronto Star article (cited below) as saying: " 'the food security issue is not about access to (food). It’s about fighting environmentalists trying to put a stop to our way of life,' a reference to non-Canadian activists who oppose the hunting of polar bears and seals and want to limit fishing."  

The actual final line in the eom statement is: "The Special Rapporteur believes that continued and concerted measures are needed to develop new initiatives and reform existing ones, in consultation and in real partnership with indigenous peoples with the goal of strengthening indigenous peoples’ own self-determination and decision-making over their affairs at all levels." 

De Schutter's other points in regards to aboriginal peoples:

history: "A long history of political and economic marginalization has left many indigenous peoples with considerably lower levels of access to adequate food relative to the general population."

positive in regards to traditional food and cultural identity:  " indigenous peoples are also uniquely positioned with respect to food by virtue of their relationship with traditional lands and the natural resources therein, which is a central component of their identity."

concerned with factors which affect this, including changing environmental factors not caused by indigenous people: "Although communities can, and often do, pursue a diet based on traditional/country foods, obtaining this food is not without cost. Issues with accessing traditional foods include: limited availability of food flora and fauna; environmental contamination of species; flooding and development of traditional hunting and trapping territories; lack of equipment and resourcing to purchase equipment necessary for hunting/fishing/harvesting; and lack of requisite skills and time. Many aboriginal communities expressed concerns regarding federal government policies that have disrupted and, in some cases, devastated the traditional practices of indigenous people, including through removing control over land and natural resources."

Recognition of land disputes, food subsidy program problems, and reference to agreements and rights are also in the eom statement. In mentioning that the United Nations has a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, I (Maureen) thought it was rather polite/politic of de Schutter to not mention that Canada is a country that has not signed on to this (along with U.S., Australia and New Zealand). 

Given the range of de Schutter's comments  the only reason that I can see for Agglukak's attack on environmentalists in her public statement is that she was handed a speech by the PMO guys who saw this as another opportunity to go after "environmentalists."  (Did you know that the Harper regime just cut funding to The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut- Agglukak's home town.  This is - was, it closed April 30 - one of the world's best known and respected such research facilities, and, of course, its information is directly involved with climate change, one of the Harper regime's favorite topics of denial.

Well, this got long! And the references follow!  Got to get up from the computer.

Best regards and hope you have a good day,

Why's Woman

United nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples-  from UBC's Indigenous Foundations page
http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/global-indigenous-issues/un-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html

UN food envoy blasts inequality, poverty in Canada
Wednesday, May 16, 2012   Les Whittington, Ottawa Bureau
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1179208--jason-kenney-blasts-un-food-envoy?bn=1

Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food: Visit to Canada from 6 to 16 May 2012 - End-of-mission statement
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12159&LangID=E

* Excerpt  from end of mission statement  -  VIII. Indigenous Peoples *

In Canada, indigenous peoples comprise First Nations, Inuit and Métis. There are roughly 1 million status “Indians” from 630 First Nations; 45,000 to 55,000 Inuit across 53 communities; and around 400,000 Métis. Like others, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the decision by Canada in November 2010 to lend its support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is a positive step, whereby Canada joined global consensus.  

A long history of political and economic marginalization has left many indigenous peoples with considerably lower levels of access to adequate food relative to the general population. In addition, indigenous peoples are also uniquely positioned with respect to food by virtue of their relationship with traditional lands and the natural resources therein, which is a central component of their identity.

1. Nutrition North Canada
Recognizing the importance of access to nutritious food in isolated communities in the North, the Government launched the Food Mail programme in the 1960s. Concerns regarding the escalating costs of the Food Mail programme led to a series of reviews that resulted in a decision to replace the programme with a more focused food subsidy programme called Nutrition North Canada in April 2011. 

The objective of the Nutrition North Canada programme is to improve access to perishable healthy foods in isolated Northern communities, and the Special Rapporteur welcomes this initiative. Yet, the Rapporteur also has concerns about its implementation.  In particular, he is concerned that the retail subsidy is not being fully passed on to the consumer and that in the absence of adequate monitoring by those it is intended to benefit, the programme is not achieving its desired outcome. Furthermore, he is concerned that it was designed and implemented without an inclusive and transparent process providing the Northern communities with an opportunity to exercise their right to free, active and meaningful participation. Concerns were raised in particular regarding the eligibility criteria of which communities fall within the scope of the programme and which items are subsidized.

2. Access to traditional/country foods
Historically, indigenous peoples have had their own food systems, relying on traditional knowledge of hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. Although communities can, and often do, pursue a diet based on traditional/country foods, obtaining this food is not without cost. Issues with accessing traditional foods include: limited availability of food flora and fauna; environmental contamination of species; flooding and development of traditional hunting and trapping territories; lack of equipment and resourcing to purchase equipment necessary for hunting/fishing/harvesting; and lack of requisite skills and time. 

Many aboriginal communities expressed concerns regarding federal government policies that have disrupted and, in some cases, devastated the traditional practices of indigenous people, including through removing control over land and natural resources. 

 3. Access to land
In many parts of Canada access to country foods requires access to land. As such, on-going land claims across the country have implications for the right to food among aboriginal Canadians. 

Concerns have been raised that although aboriginal title is recognized under Canadian law, the Government has made attempts to extinguish title through onerous negotiations and terms of modern land claims and self-government agreements, as well as through a narrow and reductionist reading of historical Treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements. The Special Rapporteur recalls that article 8.2(b) of the Declaration provides that States shall provide effective mechanisms “for prevention of, and redress for…[a]ny action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources.”

The Special Rapporteur notes the existence of “Aboriginal Consultation and Accommodation: Updated Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Duty to Consult,” a Government policy document on aboriginal consultation and accommodation. In this context, he recalls article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes that, in general, consultations with indigenous peoples are to be carried out in “good faith … in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent.” 

The Special Rapporteur believes that continued and concerted measures are needed to develop new initiatives and reform existing ones, in consultation and in real partnership with indigenous peoples with the goal of strengthening indigenous peoples’ own self-determination and decision-making over their affairs at all levels.

High Arctic Research Station Forced to Close
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/28/science-pearl-arctic-research.html

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By growing food, Occupy the Farm helps a movement grow up

“We don’t need corporations and we don’t need gene research to tell us how to farm. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. We just have to remind each other how to do it.”

                                                                           Gopal Dayaneni, urban agriculture activist, Albany CA

Happy May everyone!  

I hope you are all well and growing!  I ran across an interesting article - summarized below.  I leave it to you to decide whether this action is something you would do yourself, agree with or not.  Just thinking about it is good.

Very best regards,

Why's Woman

On Earth Day, April 22/12, hundreds of urban agriculture advocates marched under the banner “Occupy the Farm” and took over a University of California (UC) agricultural testing station.  The 5 acre site is the last of 104 acres,  originally deeded to the University in the 1920s.  It is the last agriculturally zoned land in Albany, California, and has been been used for agriculture research for over 30 years.  For at least 15 years it has been the subject of the "What to do withs."  In 1997 a representation by 40 groups had submitted a detailed proposal for an urban farm, and since there have been other such proposals.  Currently, the UC has been entertaining a proposal to build over the site.  The Occupy group planted one acre of crops on the land, while UC officials turned off water to the site (figuring this would deter the watering in phase of planting).  The next day, half an inch of rain fell, during a late-season storm.  Gaia wins again!

for the full article, which talks more about the Occupy movement and has several useful links:  http://climate-connections.org/2012/05/02/by-growing-food-occupy-the-farm-helps-a-movement-grow-up/