news // 4

Idle No More event presents
13-year-old activist

» Environmental and human rights activist Ta’Kaiya Blaney speaks at Douglas College

Julia Siedlanowska
Staff Writer

 

a’ Kaiya Blaney made her
debut as an environmental
activist when she was just
10 years old. After learning
about the Enbridge Pipeline
project, the young Sliammon
First Nation girl from North

Vancouver wrote a song entitled :

“Shallow Waters”, this song was
the catalyst to her activism.
Blaney is now 13 years old, and
she spoke at Douglas College in
New Westminster on February
25 about her views on the
environment and our way of
life.

“When I was eight years
old I stopped going to the
regular school and I began to
homeschool. What happened
was | saw this news article
about the Northern Gateway
pipeline,” said Blaney during
her talk at last week’s Idle
No More event, organized by
Douglas College’s aboriginal
liaison, Sonia Keshane. Blaney
went on to vividly describe the
project as she sees it.

going from the tar sands, the
crude oil sands in Alberta,
across the Rocky Mountains,
and through 45 different first
nations territories that have
unique cultures, that have
languages, and that have
traditions,” she said.

Ta'Kaiya Blaney speaking at Douglas College // By DSU

She further described the

: route of the pipeline and how

: super tankers “that are longer

: than the Empire State Building”
: go to China and California to

: transport the oil. “And at that

: moment I just imagined this

: massive British Columbia in

: my head where I could see

: all the rocky islands and I

: just imagined catastrophe,

: I just imagined an oil spill. I
“It’s basically an oil pipeline imagined the days when you

: wouldn't even be able to see a

: seagull or a bird fly by because

: there were no more. I imagined
: catastrophe, which meant no —:
: more culture, which is rooted so :
: much to the land.”

Blaney then revealed that

: it was at that moment that

 

: she decided to write her song.
: “Shallow Waters” is about the
: Northern Gateway Pipeline

: project. “I didn’t really think

: much of writing that song at

: the time. I thought of this as

; just something that I obviously
: care about but I’m not really

: going to do anything with the
: song. I’m not going to become
: an activist.”

It was footage of the oil

spill in the Gulf of Mexico

: that prompted her to action.

: She submitted her song to the
: David Suzuki environmental

: song writing contest and it

reached the semi-finals. “With

: the courage I got from seeing
: how my song could go so far I
: decided to connect myself with

: Greenpeace,” said Blaney. After
: this move, she decided to go

: to the Enbridge headquarters

: in the Bentall Building in

: Vancouver to “talk to Endbridge :
: about what my concerns were.”

“T planned to do this

: ina way where my words

: would bring attention to the
: Northern Gateway Pipeline,

: so I called way in advance,”

: says Blaney. When she got

: to the building, she recalls

: that it was surrounded with

: security guards. “I got about
: a few feet into the lobby and
: I was stopped by security

: guards and told that if I didn’t
: leave at that point I would be
: charged with trespassing. As
: a 10-year-old this was a very

disappointing experience,
being my first step in activism,”

: she says. “Later I realized

: this was also inspirational to

: see how unafraid indigenous

: people involved with Idle No

: More are—how unafraid these
: environmentalists and activist
: and people with passion in

: their hearts for Mother Earth

: and for other human beings,

: how unafraid we are in the face
: of these adversities and these

: corporations that are destroying :
: our Mother Earth and

: destroying the future and my
: future, how unafraid we are and :
: how afraid these corporations
: are of us.”

Blaney also spoke of

: her experiences attending
: youth conferences about
: environmental issues and

theotherpress.ca

: human rights, also expressing

: her belief that youth should

: demand a better future for

: themselves from their leaders.
She spoke of the

: Rio+20 Conference and

: her disappointment at how

: “green-washed” she found it

: to be. “They were speaking

: about sustainability which

: is something that doesn’t

: really happen nowadays with

: our ‘leaders’... the busses

: that were transporting these

: environmentalists into the

: conference were these big black
: busses that were sporting the

: name ‘Petrobras’ on the side

: which is the number one oil

: company in Brazil... really the

: outcome of this conference

: was to say that in 500 years

: we're going to start our first

: environmental action, and

: then in 1,000 years, we're

: going to start phase two of our
: plan,” said Blaney. “The entire
: conference just had a ‘woulda-
: shoulda-coulda’ vibe to it.”

: Near the end of her speech
: Blaney expressed that she felt

: it was the responsibility of

: her generation to take steps

: to ensure the health of the
environment. She also sang

: one of her two songs about the
: environment entitled “Earth
Revolution.” The small audience
: stayed behind to ask questions
: of the young activist. Many

: expressed their joy in how

: much they learned from her,

: and expressed that they found
: her to be “inspiring.”

Russian parliament approves plan to invade Ukraine

» President Putin's forces take Crimea, says invasion justified as threat to Russian interests are evident

   
 

Patrick Vaillancourt
» "News Editor
; M news
@theotherpress.ca

ere hours after the

Russian parliament
approved a request from
the Kremlin to send troops
into neighbouring Ukraine,
Russian forces have taken
the Ukrainian peninsula of
Crimea.

Russian President
Vladimir Putin has indicated
that sending Russian troops
into their politically unstable
neighbour is justified to
protect Russian interests and

Russian citizens living in
Ukraine.

Russian troops have
advanced inside Ukraine,
seizing control of Crimea with
the assistance of pro-Russian
groups in the region. Russia
asserts that its actions are
required to protect Russian-
speaking populations living

: within Ukraine.

Interim Ukrainian
President Oleksander

: Turchinov ordered his troops

at “full readiness.” Turchinov

: was installed as president

last week as former president

Viktor Yanukovych fled the
: Ukrainian capital after months :
? may send its troops not

of demonstrations against his

>: government.

International

: condemnation of Russia’s
: unilateral military action in
: Ukraine was swift.

US President Barack

: Obama promised

: “consequences” if Russia were
: to invade Ukrainian territory.
: Upon hearing of the military

: action by Russia, Obama spoke :
: with France and Canada’s

: leaders to discuss helping
: Ukraine, and he also had

: a phone conversation with
: Putin.

The Toronto Star has

reported that Putin told

Obama “Russian troops

: only to Crimea but all of

: predominantly Russian-

: speaking eastern Ukraine

: due to ‘the existence of real

: threats’ to Russian citizens in
: Ukrainian territory.”

Stephen Harper has recalled
: his ambassador from Moscow
: and met in an emergency

: indications are that Harper

: will boycott the G8 meetings

: which are scheduled for June

: 4-5 in Sochi, Russia. Obama

: also indicated he may skip

: the G8 meeting in response to
: Russian aggression in Ukraine. :
: : pro-European Union foreign

: Security Council has had : policy.

In Canada, Prime Minister

cabinet meeting. Initial

The United Nations

: emergency session meetings

: to discuss the crisis, one of

: which was televised. Several

: groups, including Ukraine’s

: UN ambassador, are calling

: on the council to stop Russian
: “aggression.”

This is not the first time

: in recent years that Russia has

: taken unilateral military action
: against one of its neighbours.

: In 2008, Russian troops

: entered Georgia to support a

: pro-Russian separatist group

: demonstrating against the

: Georgian government. The

: Georgians at the time were

moving to adopt a more