Madawaska River, Ontario. August 2020.

KWIC September Newsletter

Dear KWIC members and friends,

With summer 2020 coming to an end and the reopening of schools and businesses is underway, we prepare ourselves for whatever lies ahead for the rest of the year. In addition to our own lives, many of us are also called to make our voices heard in how we think the process of a just COVID-19 recovery will look like. This is an interesting time because in addition to recovering from the pandemic, we are also faced with many other looming problems around the world that are caused by humans, such as climate change. All of these problems hit especially hard for marginalized communities, highlighting inequalities in society.

Close to our home in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nation, also known as the Six Nations, is fighting an additional battle. There is an ongoing dispute between the Six Nations Confederacy and the Canadian Government about a large housing development on land bordering the Six Nations reserve and Caledonia, west of Toronto. Land defenders continue to occupy the development site since July 19, renaming it 1492 Land Back Lane. This land is Haudenesaunee traditional territory and also part of the Haldimand tract, which was “granted” to the Nation in compensation for their alliance with British forces during the American Revolution (1775–83).

Although the developer has support from the chief and band council, there was only a 4% turnout for the last election. A vast majority of the community believe that the imposed chief and band council systems do not speak for them. Based on Canadian laws of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and that development should not proceed on lands with currently disputed rights to land title, the two court ordered injunctions are inappropriate to resolve this dispute. The extensive use of force and violence by the OPP against peaceful demonstrators is yet another act of oppression in attempts to undermine the inherent rights of Indigenous Nations, which existed long before the British rule.

A growing number of communities and organizations, including KWIC, stand in solidarity with the Haudenosaunee Nation, as we did with the Wet'suwet'en Nation in British Columbia. We believe in respecting the land and Indigenous peoples, and their cultures and languages that are inseparable from it.

We know that we are capable of a just recovery that includes cooperation and co-creation with the environment that surrounds us and supporting the people who protect that way of life. We also recognize how deeply personal the decisions we make toward a just recovery are for each of us, whether for our own well-being or that of the collective. However, we offer this reminder of community solidarity to support your journey and reflection with the tools, resources and updates that you'll find in this month's newsletter.

Gchi Miigwetch/Nia:weh/Thank You for reading and take care.

- a message from Shaelyn Wabegijig, KWIC Office Coordinator

KWIC Updates

TEACH Outside the Box Social Justice Certificate Program

REGISTRATION OPEN

Are you interested in social justice education? Are you a community educator or student who wants to learn more about anti-oppressive education?

TEACH Outside the Box Social Justice Certificate Program is a unique opportunity to participate in a series of interactive workshops to explore critical education theories from various perspectives (anti-oppressive, Indigenous, anti-racist, popular education), different ways to teach (in and outside of the classroom) and how to implement them in the community or the classroom. The certificate will include practical applications of social justice education that will relate to your specific field of work based on the material shared in each month's workshop. Topics include Indigenous education, anti-racism, accessibility, gender and sexuality, privilege, and poverty. Workshops will be held through remote learning platforms from October to March, but will be experiential and focused on community building.

Register now at www.teachpeterborough.ca to reserve your spot in our program!
Space is limited and registration closes in September 25th (or until spots are filled).
Feel free to reach out to teachpeterborough@gmail.ca with any questions!

Project Launch of Candid Covid Conversations: The Relationship Between Coronavirus and Viral Racism

COVID-19 messaging that we are "all in this together" fails to reflect the realities of racism and oppression, in Canada and globally.
Join Angela Connors, executive director of Community Race Relations for a candid conversation exploring how systemic racism has increased the devastating impact of the coronavirus on the most diverse and marginalized populations, and what we can do about it.

Candid Covid Conversations is hosted by Peterborough Community Race Relations Candid Conversations Series in partnership with the Kawartha World Issues Centre, supported by the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough.

For more information or to book a workshop, contact Angela Connors at racerelations@gmail.com

KWIC Reads Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh
Recommendation offered by True Peace Trent

This month, KWIC Reads Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Within Love Letter to the Earth, Thich Nhat Hanh calls folks to deeply and authentically engage with the earth, with healing and with rest. “There is no difference between healing ourselves and healing the Earth,” he says.

As beings of the earth and as community, we must seek to make space to take care of ourselves so that we can support each other- people and other beings- in healing and loving. In understanding ourselves as one with the earth and seeking to see ourselves in one another we can move to integrate mindfulness into our everyday practice, enabling us to challenge and dismantle unjust systems of oppression.

True Peace Trent Mindfulness Meditation follows the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, supporting people to grow their mindfulness practice through building relation to oneself and the earth. Starting September 10, True Peace Trent will meet weekly, Thursdays from 6:30 until 8:00 PM via Zoom until we meet together in person again. For more information or to join, please contact true-peace-trent@googlegroups.com.

“Mindfulness is the continuous practice of touching deeply every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly present with your body and your mind, to bring harmony to your intentions and actions, and to be in harmony with those around you.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to the Earth

KWIC Events

Youth as Agents of Change: Why YOUth?!
September 17th @ 12pm-1pm

Join KWIC for the first event of the fall series during OPIRG's Dis-Orientation week!

Youth as Agents of Change: Why YOUth?! calls youth to virtually gather to discuss the importance of youth leadership and engagement in justice issues. This event will host local organizer, student and artist, Ethel Nalule to share her experiences as a youth activist.

Free Event.

Please register by Tuesday, September 15th on Eventbrite

You will receive a link to the ZOOM platform when you register.

For more information please contact nicole@kwic.info. We hope you will join us!

Advancing the SDGs to 2030 Agenda in Peterborough | Nogojiwanong

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The 17 interdependent Goals are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. Canada is committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs which offers a historic opportunity to positively shape and transform the future of our society. The overarching principle of ‘leave no one behind’ is central to the 2030 Agenda which recognizes the dignity of the individual and principles of inclusiveness, diversity and the need for partnerships that are fundamental to achieving the goals and targets for all nations and people and for all segments of society.

The SDG project, led by KWIC in partnership with GreenUP, aims to further Canada’s commitment and progress towards the 2030 Agenda and advancing the key SDG priorities of the local community. The key focus of this project is centered on the principle of ‘leave no one behind’ and to build upon the existing work of Truth and Reconciliation in our community.

The key objectives of the SDG project are listed below:

KEY OBJECTIVES

1. Raising awareness and support of the 2030 Agenda;
2. Enhancing multi-stakeholder efforts by promoting partnership and bridging efforts across sectors in support of the 2030 Agenda;
3. Ensuring that Canada’s progress on the 2030 Agenda leaves no one behind, including vulnerable or marginalized groups; and,
4. Fostering and integrating Indigenous knowledge into approaches and efforts to achieve the
2030 Agenda.

This project is supported by Sustainable Development Goals Program Funding and based in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough. To read more about the UN SDGs, please visit: sustainabledevelopment.un.org

Contact KWIC’s Project Coordinator, Shaelyn Wabegijig at shaelyn@kwic.info for any inquiries. Keep your eyes out for more details to come!

Save the Dates

KWIC @ the TCSA Clubs & Groups Day

Friday, September 11, 2020
@ 11am-3pm on Instagram Live

KWIC Youth as Agents of Change Series

Youth as Agents of Change:
The Future of Climate Activism After 2020
[This event takes place during Global Climate Change Week]
Thursday, October 22, 2020
@ 12pm-1pm
More details to come!

Youth as Agents of Change:
Facilitating Effective Action Through the Practice of Mindfulness
Thursday, November 5, 2020
@ 12pm-1pm
More details to come!

Youth as Agents of Change:
Nurturing Relations to the Land Through Place-Based Education
[This event takes place during International Education Week]
Thursday, November 19, 2020
@ 12pm-1pm
More details to come!

Global Community Network Meeting

Thursday, September 24, 2020
More info to come!

Global Community Network Meeting

Thursday, September 24, 2020
More info to come!

Community Events & Resources
Peterborough Area

Farmer’s Markets
Every Wednesday @ 8:30am-1pm
The Courtyard at Peterborough Square
https://ptbodowntownmarket.com/

Trent Talks Series
Every Wednesday @ 12pm
https://mycommunity.trentu.ca/trenttalks

Opening Celebration for Art Installations in the Jiimaan'ndewemgadnong Pocket Park in Downtown Peterborough
Thursday, September 3rd @ 11am
290 Water Street, in front of Euphoria Wellness Spa, Downtown Peterborough

For more information, contact Dawn Pond: dawn.pond@greenup.on.ca
Depave Paradise and Vibrancy Project Coordinator, GreenUP

Virtual Take Back the Night 2020
Peterborough, Cobourg, Lindsay and Haliburton
Hosted by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre (KSAC)
Thursday, September 17 @ 7pm-9pm
Free, online stream event, hashtag #TBTN2020
C lick Here

Awakening to Our Whiteness/Embodying Radical Responsibility
Wednesdays: September 9th to October 7th @ 6pm-8:30pm
Online workshop series
Click Here

Wampum Storytelling Series #1:
Niagara Treaty & 24 Nation Belts
Monday, September 21st @ 6pm-8pm
Online Event
Click here

RED TABLE TALKS
Thursday, September 10th @ 8pm
Zoom Meeting
Click here

Six Nations Resources

Find resources and updates on the official Facebook group
An online auction begins September 1st-20th - Join this Facebook group to participate
Land Back Lane Legal Fund
Petition for Land Back Lane

News from Chiappas

This is a translation of the original publication in Spanish on the CNI website.

CNI-CIG Repudiates the Aggression against the Zapatista Community Bases and Calls for Solidarity

August 24, 2020

To the peoples of Mexico and the world.
The Indigenous Government Council-Indigenous National Congress repudiate the cowardly attack by members of the paramilitary group called the Regional Organization of Coffee Growers of Ocosingo (ORCAO), who on Saturday August 22 around 11:00 in the morning robbed and burned the facilities from the Nuevo Amanecer del Arcoiris Trade Center, which is located in the place known as the Cuxuljá crossroad, Lucio Cabañas Autonomous Municipality, within the official municipality of Ocosingo, Chiapas.
The paramilitary organization ORCAO has maintained constant pressure on and violence against the Zapatista communities for years; as is the case of the Moises Gandhi Autonomous Municipality, to stop the autonomous organization and to privatize the lands that have cost the struggle and organization of the original peoples, who are Zapatista support bases. They have intimidated and threatened the compañeros and compañeras that from below bet on hope, such as the various attacks against compañeros of the National Indigenous Congress, who were violated and kidnapped by paramilitaries from ORCAO, the Chinchulines, and people from the MORENA party.
We denounce the war that, from above, is being deployed against the Zapatista communities’ organizing, at the same time that above the bad governments seek to impose, throughout the country, megaprojects of death that we oppose and will oppose, because we are not willing to give up our territories and allow the destruction promised by the powerful.
We hold the paramilitary organization ORCAO, the MORENA party, the state government, and the federal government responsible for these events. They have not stopped sowing violence in the region in order to hit not only our sisters and brothers in the Zapatista communities, but to all the peoples who dream of fighting for life, of healing our mother earth and not letting her be privatized, so that the capitalist bosses and bad governments never return to the autonomous Zapatista territories, and may that light continue to flourish in the territories of the original peoples of the CNI-CIG and all of humanity.
We call on the compañeras y compañeros of support networks and networks of resistance and rebellion to speak out and mobilize against the war of extermination, which is dangerously sharpening against our sisters and brothers of the Zapatista peoples, who teach us to never stop sowing rebellion and hope.

Sincerely,

For the integral reconstitution of our peoples
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress-Indigenous Governing Council

Community Event Calendar
Click here to open the August Calendar Page

The KWIC Community Social Justice Calendar is a free, shared community resource. Community members are encouraged to use the calendar to browse upcoming events in the Nogojiwanong/Peterborough area, and to submit upcoming events to share with the community. For more information on event submissions, please contact communications@kwic.info

EVENTS UPDATE DUE TO COVID19
Due to the overwhelming shift from physical gatherings and events onto digital, online platforms, KWIC continues to support community partners by sharing online events, webinars, community Zoom meetings, etc. on our online community calendar.
Thank you.

GIVE TODAY

Are you interested in supporting KWIC?
There are many ways to get involved and to show support!

Volunteering:
KWIC is recruiting volunteers to help out with activities,
events, workshops and programs.

Engagement and Partnership:
KWIC welcomes community partnerships with like-minded
organizations, advocates and professionals.

Donations:
KWIC is accepting donations to further support the work
we do as a registered charity! Every dollar goes a long way.

Thank You!

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