Report to the 2008 AGM from CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group

Introduction

The First Nations Solidarity Working Group is a new working group that was struck at last year’s AGM. The working group has four primary aims which are as follows:

1. To educate and organize the CUPE 3903 membership about issues relating to matters of indigenous sovereignty and solidarity and to encourage membership participation both within the working group and the local on this issue.
2. To work within and to help build rank and file networks of union activists working on issues of indigenous solidarity and solidarity.
3. To co-ordinate efforts in support of indigenous sovereignty with other local, regional and national (union and non-union) projects in support of indigenous sovereignty and solidarity.
4. To actively participate in supporting indigenous struggles such as (but not limited to) the Six Nations land reclamation.

The first year of the working group’s existence has been one of slowly but steadily laying the groundwork for doing this kind of work in a sustained fashion. There are over a dozen members of the working group, and the working group has been quite active to date.

Working Group Activities

In March of 2007 members of the working group worked with the Caledonia-based Community Friends organization to hold an educational and organizational meeting where trade union activists could learn about the struggle at Six Nations and figure out what concrete steps they could take in support of the people of Six Nations. Over 50 people representing a dozen different unions attended the meeting in Hamilton.

The working group co-sponsored and helped to organize the event “Hip-Hop for Six Nations” held in June of 2007 in conjunction with Toronto’s Black Action Defense Committee and the family of Chris Hill, the Six Nations political prisoner. This work was particularly useful in building links between the Black community in Toronto, trade union activists in 3903, and the people of Six Nations. The working group paid for organizers from BADC to drive down to make links with youth at Six Nations; helped to organize a meeting at the BADC offices where friends and family of Chris Hill spoke about the reclamation and the situation of political prisoners; and paid for the bus which took CUPE 3903 members, Black youth organized by BADC, and other Toronto area activists to the hip-hop show held at Chiefswood Park in Six Nations.

In June of 2007 the working group financially and politically supported the holding of a community potluck organized by the Community Friends group in Caledonia which brought together people from Six Nations and Caledonia area residents to build links of solidarity and mutual understanding.

Members of the working group participated in the June 29 AFN Aboriginal Day of Action by marching in rallies in Toronto and also by going to support the protests in Tyendenega Mohawk territory.

Members of the working group organized carpooling to attend the Six Nations of the Grand River powwow in July of 2007.

Members of the working group traveled to Caledonia during the Sterling St. standoff in October of 2007.

The working group endorsed and financially supported the Native Youth Movement Anti-2010 Olympics tour in February of 2008.

In January of 2008, tensions between natives and non-natives in the Caledonia-Brantford area again began to increase as news spread of a planned neo-Nazi weekend retreat that was being held on a Brantford area farm. Increased sightings of neo-Nazis in the area were reported including well-known Canadian neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Paul Fromm. In this context a group of Brantford area non-native supporters and trade union activists held an organizing meeting in Brantford which eight members of our working group attended in January of 2008.

The meeting of some 30 people decided to organize a public educational forum in Brantford on March 6 to take some proactive steps in educating non-native residents in the area about the history of Six Nations and their land rights. Given that over one half of ongoing Six Nations land claims are within the Brantford area, Branford is a likely flashpoint for further protests and land reclamations. The working group has endorsed the March 6 public meeting and has made a donation of funds to help pay for the meeting hall for the event.

Conclusion:

Over the course of the past year, the working group has served as a space to facilitate CUPE 3903 members making regular visits to Six Nations to support the reclamation site when anti-native protests have taken place, and has also assisted in the developing of more mundane and low-key links of solidarity and support. Members of the working group are building ongoing networks and relationships with people at Six Nations and it is our hope that this will continue into 2008. Some work is also taking place within the working group to develop an educational documentary film about the struggle at Six Nations that can be widely distributed amongst union activists and the general public.

Most recently, the working group has been building links with members of the York Aboriginal Student Association and is looking forward to holding a series of public educational events for the purposes of better in forming our union’s membership about ongoing indigenous struggles. We also have a lot of work to do in continuing to build links with other trade union activists active in supporting indigenous struggles. In particular, the Hamilton area Steelworkers of Local 1005 and the CUPE National Aboriginal Council, are two union groups with which we hope to build ongoing working relationships.

And of course, another area that we need to improve in is in reaching out more effectively to the CUPE 3903 membership and involving you all in our work. If you’re interested in getting involved with the working group or would like more information about our activities, please contact 3903fnswg@gmail.com for details.

In solidarity and struggle,

The CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group.