Everyone's Downstream: Tar Sands Resistance and Reality

Everyone’s Downstream will be a conference designed to explore the links between oppression and self-determination on many levels: indigenous land rights, gender, ecological rights, workers democracy, anti-racism and anti-border perspectives as they relate directly to the tar sands of Northern Alberta. Speakers from a multitude of indigenous nations, social justice groups, and environmental organizations will discuss the social impacts of the tar sands on workers, women, indigenous nations, ecology, migrant populations, homelessness, and the anti-war movement.


The size of the tar sands issue can seem daunting, but in reality few issues have presented an opportunity for a social justice movement to truly articulate a different vision of organizing the world that has as many entry points, and can provide as large of an impact. The scale and scope of the tar sands is huge and has tremendously deep implications for the way we approach questions that span the social justice spectrum. With a coordinated response involving all sectors of North American social justice movements currently impacted by the largest industrial project in human history we have the possibility to change the course of human and ecological fate like nowhere else.
November 24th will be a series of panel discussion led by our guests. November 25th will be a chance for the multitude of groups and individuals attending to sit down and discuss a collective way forward. Suggested donation $10, NO ONE turned away for lack of funds.

Conference panels & delegates include:
"Literally Downstream"
• Leila Darwish, Sierra Club
• George Poitras, Mikisew Cree First Nation
• Allan Adam, Chief, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
• Herb Norwegian, Grand Chief Dehcho First Nations

"Heading out West"
• Lubicon Lake Nation/Little Buffalo (invited, unconfirmed)
• Morris Amos, Gitamaat Village Haisla Nation, Tar Sands Tanker Traffic on the West Coast
• Brenda Brochu, Peace River Environmental Society: Nuclear to fuel tar sands?
• Oscar Dennis,Tahltan Nation, Klabona Sacred headwaters
• Tara Marsden, Carrier Sekani Tribal Council. Enbridge Gateway Pipeline

"What, where and why: Peak oil and mapping proposed pipelines"
• Tom Keefer, Peak Oil, Class Struggle and the Thermodynamics of Production
• Petr Cizek, Mapping the Tar Sands, The Bigger Picture

"Tar Sands & Human Rights: Exploiting migrants and fueling war”
• Julian Castro Rea, Associate Professor, political science, U of Alberta.
• Chauncey Carr, No One Is Illegal-- Vancouver, migrant rights organizing
• Ricardo Acuna, Parkland Institute, Tar Sands connection to US Wars in The Middle East
• Jaggi Singh, No One Is Illegal--Montréal & Block the Empire--Montreal, anti-war organizing

"The human face of the tar sands and resistance"
• Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Sharmeen Khan, the Whiteness of Green
• Jocelyn Saskiw, Adamant Eve: Gender and the Boom
• Julio Garcia, Albertans Demand Affordable Housing (Adah): the boom and the housing crisis
• Representative from Labour in Alberta

"Healthy Relations: practicing solidarity with indigenous struggles"
• Peter Kulchyski , Indigenous People's Solidarity Movement--Winnipeg, and working in Denendeh
• Colin Piquette, Friends of the Lubicon Alberta
• Tom Keefer, working in solidarity with Six Nations of the Grand River
• Jocelyn Cheechoo, Rainforest Action Network, solidarity with Grassy Narrows.

"Ongoing organizing: What can we do together?"
planning, networking and organizing together, meeting with one another and discussions involving any and all participants and organizers who attended or spoke over the prior two days. Getting down to brass tacks.

• Geeta Sehgal, Greenpeace Stop the Tar Sands Campaign
• Clayton Thomas-Muller, introductions and organizing now and in the future

Check back regularly for more details, possible changes and new confirmations.
If your organization would like to endorse the event, please get in touch with OilSandsTruth.org via the contact form to the right or email info [at] oilsandstruth.org

Brought to you by http://OilSandsTruth.org with help from CJSR FM 88, The Parkland Institute, Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG), Public Interest Alberta (PIA), Greenpeace-- Stop the Tar Sands Campaign, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Sierra Club (Prairie Chapter), The Dominion-- Canada's Grassroots Newspaper.

Facebook group: Everyones Downstream