Delegation visit to the head offices of Abitibi Consolidated in Montreal as part of national day of action in solidarity with the Grassy Narrows Blockades.

Thursday October 16th 2003 ---- Today a delegation of Montreal activists from the No One is Illegal Campaign and the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM) organized a delegation visit to the head office of Abitibi Consolidated Inc. in Montreal as part of a national day of action in solidarity with the ongoing Blockades at Grassy Narrows. Since December 3rd 2002 the Ojibway community living at Grassy Narrows in North Western Ontario have successfully maintained a road Blockade preventing Abitibi Consolidated logging trucks from accessing the traditional land use area of Grassy Narrows.

October 16th was called as a national day of action in support and solidarity with the Blockades at Grassy Narrows. In Kenora Ontario members of the Grassy Narrows community and supporters from the Winnipeg based Friends of Grassy Narrows marched through the streets of Kenora, lead by the youth of Grassy Narrows in support of the Grassy Narrows Blockade. The focus of the action in Kenora was to visit the offices of Robert Nault, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to illustrate the Canadian and Ontario governments complicity and assistance in sustaining the clear-cutting practices of Abitibi Consolidated on the traditional land use area of the Grassy Narrows community. Also Friends of Grassy Narrows in Thunderbay organized a delegation visit to the offices of the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources in solidarity with the community of Grassy Narrows.

The Blockades at Grassy Narrows have been a source of inspiration for indigenous resistance throughout the world as a clear example of indigenous people on Turtle Island standing up and fighting back against ongoing genocide waged against indigenous people on a daily basis by the governments of the Canadian nation state.

The Montreal delegation entered the head offices of Abitibi Consolidated, located in downtown Montreal demanding to speak with John Weaver President & CEO of Abitibi Consolidated. After explaining the urgency of the situation to the staff of Abitibi and that those participating in the delegation would not leave the offices until a representative from Abitibi who could speak directly to the companies practices at Grassy Narrows, Marc Osborne the Media Relations official from Abitbi then met with the delegation.

Osborne met for sometime with the delegation, while members of No One is Illegal & the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement explained that Abitbi must halt their environmentally devastating practices at Grassy Narrows. The delegation made it very clear that if the situation does not change at Grassy Narrows, the pressure on Abitibi would increase in Montreal and in other communities. In terms of negotiations it was stressed that the demand of the community at Grassy Narrows engaged the Blockade against Abitibi's is very clear, that Abitibi Consolidated must stop their clear-cutting practices on the traditional land use area of the Ojibway at Grassy Narrows.

As the community of Grassy Narrows continues their Blockade into the winter, support for their resistance is growing throughout Turtle Island and throughout the world. The ongoing environmentally devastating policies of Abitibi Consolidated violates the Grassy Narrows community's aboriginal and treaty rights while the federal government, the province of Ontario, and Abitibi have each tried to ignore their responsibility in the situation at Grassy, by claiming that this falls under the jurisdiction of one of the other two, while all three entities the federal government, provincial government and Abitibi Consolidated are all responsible for the devestation and genocide being waged against the people of Grassy Narrows.

In Solidarity
No One is Illegal Montreal & Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement

-> To view photo's from the Montreal delegation visit:
http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2003/10/9373.php

-> For more information about the Grassy Narrows Blockade visit:
http://www.friendsofgrassynarrows.com