Deusdedit Ruhangariyo
Special to ICT
Around the world: Indigenous nations in Saskatchewan want more time for day school survivors to file claims, Brazilians fight for the Xingu River and a powerful group plans more protests against mining in Ecuador
CANADA: Day school survivors need more time to file claims
Indigenous nations in Saskatchewan, Canada, are demanding the elimination of court-ordered deadlines for claims associated with a national class-action settlement for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who are still coming to terms with the harms they suffered while attending federally run day schools, CBC News reported on Jan. 13.
Bobby Cameron, chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, which represents more than 70 First Nations in Saskatchewan, said the Jan. 13 deadline didn’t allow enough time for some survivors.
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The federation wants survivors to be able to apply for compensation for “years to come,” he said, saying they “are still coming to terms with their past schooling experience and will miss out for reasons that are not their fault.”
Canadian officials signed the $1.47-billion Indian Day Schools settlement in 2019 with thousands of former students at the more than 600 schools that operated across Canada. The claims process opened in January 2020. The initial deadline of July 13, 2022 was expanded to Jan. 13. Requests for extension are considered case-by-case basis by a committee appointed by the federal court, CBC reported.
So far, more than 178,000 claims have been received and more than 124,000 survivors have received compensation, CBC reported.
The day schools operated independently from residential schools, so the settlement agreement is separate from the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which created a $1.9 billion compensation fund, CBC reported.
BRAZIL: Fighting for the Xingu River
Indigenous communities in Brazil are fighting efforts to build a gold mine along the so-called Big Bend of the Xingu River, saying it will damage an ecosystem that already is suffering from one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world, Mongabay.com reported on Jan. 12.
Canadian mining company Belo Sun’s proposal to construct the mine has been legally challenged, raising tensions in the area and leading to harassment and intimidation of opponents, Mongabay.com reported.
The same region is enduring the impacts of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, which began operating in 2016 and diverts up to 85 percent of the flow of the Xingu River, causing a sharp decline in fish that the traditional people living along the river have relied upon.
One resident of Galo, a community downriver from the dam, said hundreds of residents have already abandoned their homes.
“We’re starving, eating only bananas,” he told Mongabay.com. “We used to fish in the summer. Now it’s just mud.”
The region also continues to suffer from violence linked to land grabs, deforestation and illegal mining that have worsened since the completion of the dam, Mongabay.com reported.
ECUADOR: Indigenous group promises more protests
A powerful Indigenous organization that paralyzed Ecuador last year with protests over mining operations is preparing to launch new protests this year, Reuters reported on Jan. 12.
The organization, CONAIE, which led the protests last year, vowed to defend the ancestral lands by opposing the expansion of mining in Ecuador, Reuters reported.
“We want to say to trans-national mining companies, to mining business people in our country: ‘Don’t invest more in mining because we are going to defend our land,” Leonidas Iza, the leader of the group, told Reuters.
The demonstrations last year led to a deal to limit mining in ancestral Indigenous territories until the legislature can set standards for community consultation. But Indigenous and environmental organizations say the government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso has not followed the terms of the last year’s deal.
The group voted at an assembly to “prepare conditions of territorial defense” in areas where mining companies were present, Iza said.
My final thoughts
My final thoughts are about the Indigenous Brazilians near the city of Altamira who are fighting against an international mining giant to protect the Xingu River. The adage that water is life is slowly gaining serious attention due to the damage caused by so-called development. The people who are fighting to defend the source of water and therefore their source of livelihood deserve international attention.
There are many like them who don’t get a chance to have their stories told. I stand with them and assure them that they are not alone. The fight may take long. But justice will prevail.
Global Indigenous is a weekly news roundup published every Wednesday by ICT (formerly Indian Country Today) with some of the key stories about Indigenous peoples around the world.
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