Petition in Support of Freedom Train 2012

We call on Parliament to recognize the decision that has been taken by the Yinka Dene Alliance and other First Nations to ban tar sands pipelines and tankers in their lands and waters - including the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project. Click here to Sign the Petition.

JASPER, ALBERTA - The Yinka Dene Alliance (YDA), a coalition of First Nations from northern BC, will hold rallies to launch its nationwide "Freedom Train" journey from the Pacific Coast to Toronto's financial district in Jasper, AB, on April 30, and in Edmonton, AB, on May 2.

Local First Nations and community groups will join the YDA at these events, with dancing and the Wild Spirit drummers. Joe Abraham from Big Horn will lead the water ceremony, where water from different regions of Canada will be mixed to symbolize that water connects us all. YDA leaders will be available to media for comment at all events. The YDA delegation will take its message across Canada, directly to Enbridge's corporate leadership at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Toronto on May 9.

Jasper Freedom Rally

    Monday, April 30, 2012

    Jasper VIA Rail Station

    607 Connaught Drive, Jasper, AB

    4:00 pm

Edmonton news conference and rally

    Wednesday, May 2, 2012

    Steps of the Alberta Legislature, 10800 97 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB

    News conference: 10:30 am

    Rally: 12 noon

For updates and news from the Freedom Train - LIKE their Facebook Page!

Follow the Yinka Dene Alliance as it makes its way from Jasper to Enbridge AGM in Toronto May 9 at @YinkaDeneA5.#FreedomTrain

Schedule/Events

April 30     

Freedom Rally – No Tar Sands Pipeline on our Lands

Jasper Train Station, Jasper AB

4:00 pm

May 1

Feast and Round Dance - open to public, closed to media for protocol reasons

Westmount Community Centre (10970 127 Street), Edmonton AB

5:00 pm

May 2     

Freedom Rally – No Tar Sands Pipeline on our Lands

Steps of the Alberta Legislature, Edmonton AB

12:00 noon

May 3     

Whistlestop Freedom Rally – No Tar Sands Pipeline on our Lands

Saskatoon Train Station, Saskatoon SK

7:45 am

May 4     

Feast and Celebration - open to public, closed to media for protocol reasons

Thunderbird House, 715 Main Street, Winnipeg MB

6:00 pm

Panel Discussion:  The Yina Dene Alliance and their effort to stop the Enbridge pipeline and tanker project.Thunderbird House, 715 Main Street, Winnipeg MB  8:00 pm

May 5     

Freedom Rally – No Tar Sands Pipeline on our Lands

Oondena Celebration Circle, 1 Forks Market Road Winnipeg, MB, Canada

1:00pm

May 8     

Freedom Train Solidarity Concert

The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto ON

8:00 pm

People on the Train

The Yinka Dene Alliance is sending 30 people on the Freedom Train ranging in age from youths of 16 to elders up to age 67. The Yinka Dene delegation will be joined on the train by representatives of other First Nations who are also deeply involved in the fight to keep their territories and waters free from Enbridge’s proposed tar sands oil pipelines and supertankers.

Here are some of the representatives on the Freedom Train:

Chief Jackie Thomas, Saik’uz

Jackie Thomas is of the frog clan at Saik’uz. She is a mother of four and proud grandmother of one.  Jackie has been working for her community for over 25 years in various capacities. Currently she completing her 6th year as the elected chief and still hunts, fishes, collects berries, and medicines in the territory.

Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, Yinka Dene Alliance

My name is Geraldine Thomas Flurer, I am from Saikuz and born into the Frog Clan. I was raised by my Grandmother the late Dr. Sophie Thomas, Traditional Medicine Woman. I am married to a wonderful Sahtu Dene hunter and have four children and two grandsons. I attended school at Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and currently work as the coordinator for the Yinka Dene Alliance. I don't want to say I am an environmentalist, because being Carrier/Cree we naturally care for Mother Earth as it is our responsibility. I am a board member for the BC Aboriginal Tourism Board, and have held many leadership roles in urban society, where I received a leadership award for my role as President of the Prince George Native Friendship Center. My Grandmother always said "If you take care of mother earth, she will take care of you, if you destroy the earth, you destroy yourself". So I am proud to walk in the footsteps of my Grandmother until we meet again.

Jasmine Thomas, Yinka Dene youth representative, Saik’uz

Jasmine Thomas is of Carrier/Cree descent raised in her mother Geraldine Thomas-Flurer’s traditional territory of Saik’uz and is a member of the frog clan (steward of the water). Taught by her late maternal great-grandmother Sophie Thomas, traditional healer for the Yinka Dene (People of the Land), she continues the ancient practice of traditional medicines with her grandmother Minnie Thomas within her community. She has studied Environmental Planning at the University of Northern BC and has also attended the Greenland-based International Training Centre of Indigenous Peoples. She is also a youth advocate and organizer for the Yinka Dene Alliance on a broad range of social, environmental and climate justice issues. Jasmine has also been involved in the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign with the Indigenous Environmental Network

bringing national and international attention to this issue. She is currently a youth engagement worker for various northern-interior BC communities focusing on holistic health issues and youth empowerment.

Learn More about the People On The Train Here.

Why We Say "NO"

Our Indigenous laws say that we must protect our land and waters from threats such as the 

introduction of oil pipelines. They do not permit us to make any other decision. We have never given up our Title, Rights and legal authority over our lands. As self-governing Nations, we have a legal and moral responsibility to protect everyone from the harms that are sure to result if this pipeline is built. 

Our laws state that we have a responsibility to ourselves, our ancestors, our descendants, and to all the people living in our territories and elsewhere to defend the health of our lands and waters. Our laws do not permit us to stand by and allow these oil pipelines to enter our shared Fraser River watershed.

Along with our more than 130 First Nations allies across BC and western Canada, our Nations are united as never before to protect against threats to our rivers, our ocean, and the plants, animals and fish that we rely on for our food, our livelihoods and our culture. We will not put them at risk.

Our communities rely on our lands and our waters every single day. We continue to sustain ourselves, and to feed our selves, and to keep ourselves healthy, from what the land provides. 

Our entire culture, our language, our way of being in the world, are directly tied to the land and water and the creatures around us. Gathering our foods and medicines is one of the central parts of our culture, our families and our community life. Our very existence as separate peoples depends on this.

That’s why we can’t accept any risk of an oil spill. It doesn’t matter what technical safety measures that Enbridge promises, or how much money they are willing to offer. We simply will not allow our communities to be placed at this risk, and we will use all lawful means available to ensure that this tar sands pipeline and tanker project, or others like it in future, are not built in our territories.

Pipeline/tanker threatThe proposed Enbridge Northern Enbridge Gateway oil pipeline and tanker project would put our communities at grave risk in order to transport crude oil (diluted bitumen) by pipeline from the Alberta tar sands with the Pacific coast port of Kitimat, British Columbia, where supertankers will transport it to overseas markets.

Read and learn more.

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