0:00:00.080,0:00:02.160
We are truly and deeply sorry

0:00:02.160,0:00:04.960
and we commit to today’s apology

0:00:04.960,0:00:07.360
and next week’s apology

0:00:07.360,0:00:10.480
and, quite frankly, all apologies.

0:00:13.040,0:00:15.520
We will continue to apologize.

0:00:15.520,0:00:18.240
There are many more apologies to come.

0:00:18.240,0:00:18.880
Right.

0:00:18.880,0:00:22.480
And indeed, I’m going to apologize again.

0:00:22.480,0:00:23.680
I’m really sorry.

0:00:23.680,0:00:33.440
We were wrong. We apologize. [br]I am sorry. We are sorry.

0:00:33.440,0:00:35.360
Sorry about not having done that.

0:00:37.040,0:00:42.880
Whenever anyone makes an apology, [br]as the person apologizing—

0:00:42.880,0:00:43.840
Shut the fuck up!

0:00:44.139,0:00:45.139
Umm...

0:00:46.480,0:00:47.835
Do some damage boys!

0:01:04.160,0:01:05.120
Oh hello.

0:01:05.920,0:01:07.440
Welcome to System Fail,

0:01:07.440,0:01:10.720
the show where we agree with [br]flat-earthers about exactly one thing.

0:01:10.720,0:01:12.080
Fuck Christopher Columbus.

0:01:12.080,0:01:13.760
Christopher Columbus, the original ISIS.

0:01:16.790,0:01:20.640
Christopher my boy, the earth [br]is as flat as this orange.

0:01:21.360,0:01:22.800
But this orange is round!

0:01:22.800,0:01:24.640
So is the earth, son.

0:01:24.640,0:01:29.120
People don’t think so, but we who know the sea[br]are sure the earth is round.

0:01:29.120,0:01:30.880
Here’s the thing, globehugger!

0:01:32.160,0:01:34.280
Your plane can’t go upside down!

0:01:34.280,0:01:36.160
Yeah, fuck Columbus.

0:01:36.160,0:01:38.080
I am your host, DeeDos,

0:01:38.080,0:01:39.840
and as millions of North Americans

0:01:39.840,0:01:42.320
observe a religious ritual from feudal Europe,

0:01:43.200,0:01:45.040
by dressing up in silly costumes

0:01:45.040,0:01:48.160
and gorging themselves[br]on high-fructose corn syrup

0:01:49.560,0:01:52.320
Woo! That’s really stretchy!

0:01:52.320,0:01:56.800
members of multiple Indigenous nations[br]are engaged in an anti-colonial struggle

0:01:56.800,0:01:58.080
with many front-lines.

0:02:00.240,0:02:04.320
On October 11th, a coalition[br]of radical Indigenous organizers

0:02:04.320,0:02:08.080
called for a Day of Rage Against Colonialism.

0:02:08.080,0:02:12.000
The appeal for autonomous,[br]anti-colonial, anti-capitalist,

0:02:12.000,0:02:16.400
and anti-fascist actions was a clear[br]rebuke to what organizers called

0:02:16.400,0:02:19.280
“the uninspired assimilationist politics of

0:02:19.280,0:02:20.720
Indigenous Peoples Day”,

0:02:20.720,0:02:25.280
a tame, progressive alternative[br]to the official state holiday of Columbus Day.

0:02:25.280,0:02:28.240
Indigenous people are done with colonizers!

0:02:28.240,0:02:31.120
In several cities across [br]the so-called United States,

0:02:32.160,0:02:33.360
people answered the call

0:02:33.360,0:02:35.840
by toppling colonial statues[br]and monuments.

0:02:40.320,0:02:44.640
In so-called Arizona, members of[br]the O’odham Anti-Border Collective

0:02:44.640,0:02:49.600
blocked a highway immigration checkpoint[br]to protest the construction

0:02:49.600,0:02:52.320
of a border wall through[br]Tohono O’odham territory.

0:02:53.751,0:02:58.982
Does our freedom offend you that much?

0:03:00.000,0:03:04.560
The protest was soon set upon[br]by Customs and Border Protection agents,

0:03:04.560,0:03:08.160
who fired tear gas and rubber bullets[br]and arrested twelve people.

0:03:09.998,0:03:11.185
I’m down, I’m down.

0:03:11.185,0:03:13.101
Yeah, you’re gonna stay down! Got it?!

0:03:14.070,0:03:16.960
Leave my mom alone.[br]Y’all better not hurt my fucking mom!

0:03:16.960,0:03:20.800
Recent weeks have also seen[br]a sharp increase in colonial tensions

0:03:20.800,0:03:23.200
in the territories ruled[br]by the Canadian State.

0:03:24.480,0:03:26.480
I thought I was gonna make it[br]through this....but I’m not.

0:03:28.720,0:03:30.320
On September 28th,

0:03:30.320,0:03:34.800
a 37 year old Atikamekw woman[br]named Joyce Echaquan

0:03:34.800,0:03:37.680
died in a hospital in Joliette,[br]so-called Quebec.

0:03:39.680,0:03:42.400
After complaining of[br]mistreatment by racist staff,

0:03:42.400,0:03:45.840
she livestreamed the taunts of[br]her nurses as she lay dying.

0:03:52.160,0:03:55.760
This footage soon went viral,[br]provoking widespread outrage

0:03:55.760,0:03:58.880
and a series of vigils,[br]rallies and demonstrations

0:03:58.880,0:04:01.440
carried out under the banner[br]‘Justice For Joyce’.

0:04:03.840,0:04:07.840
Anti-Indigenous racism has[br]also been on display in Miꞌkmaꞌki,

0:04:07.840,0:04:10.800
specifically in the area[br]known as Nova Scotia

0:04:10.800,0:04:11.920
Fuck’s sake boys!

0:04:11.920,0:04:15.040
where a dispute over fishing rights[br]has boiled over into

0:04:15.040,0:04:16.800
ugly scenes of mob violence.

0:04:16.800,0:04:20.960
An estimated 200 commercial fishers[br]preventing employees of a lobster

0:04:20.960,0:04:24.480
holding pound from leaving,[br]and removing crates of lobster

0:04:24.480,0:04:26.400
caught by Indigenous harvesters.

0:04:27.200,0:04:30.560
Canada’s colonial police force, the RCMP,

0:04:30.560,0:04:33.680
has stood by and watched[br]as non-Indigenous fishers

0:04:33.680,0:04:37.840
have barricaded Mi’kmaq boats,[br]attacked lobster storage facilities,

0:04:37.840,0:04:42.080
sabotaged traps, torched vehicles,[br]and otherwise sought to terrorize

0:04:42.080,0:04:47.680
members of the Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation[br]out of exercising their inherent fishing rights.

0:04:47.680,0:04:51.760
This lobster pound in southern Nova Scotia[br]was being used by Mi’kmaq fishers

0:04:51.760,0:04:53.200
to store their catch.

0:04:53.200,0:04:57.680
The fire so intense that it burned[br]the building completely to the ground.

0:04:57.680,0:05:02.320
Lookie there, shootin flares at us.[br]Good try motherfucker!

0:05:02.320,0:05:09.040
Back in 2013, the Mi’kmaq Warriors Society[br]intervened in Rexton, so-called New Brunswick,

0:05:09.040,0:05:13.040
during a conflict between members of[br]the Elsipogtog First Nation

0:05:13.040,0:05:15.760
and Texas-based[br]fracking company SWN.

0:05:16.480,0:05:20.240
The warriors ended up clashing[br]with an RCMP tactical squad,

0:05:20.240,0:05:23.440
before the community eventually pushed[br]them out of the area,

0:05:23.440,0:05:25.600
torching a number of[br]cruisers in the process.

0:05:28.800,0:05:32.080
Recently, calls have been growing[br]for the warriors to regroup

0:05:32.080,0:05:34.560
Ah, c’mon! Really?!

0:05:34.560,0:05:38.640
to back up their fellow Mi'kmaq,[br]who are facing the brunt of colonial violence.

0:05:39.840,0:05:44.080
In the meantime, support is growing,[br]with a number of solidarity actions

0:05:44.080,0:05:45.680
taking place around the country.

0:05:49.040,0:05:50.480
We stand with them, and we stand proud.

0:05:51.360,0:05:54.480
Keep on fighting.[br]We’re here. We got your back.

0:05:54.480,0:05:57.760
On the other side of the continent,[br]the Secwepemc have delivered

0:05:57.760,0:06:01.440
a cease and desist order[br]to the TMX Pipeline corporation,

0:06:01.440,0:06:03.360
which is now owned by[br]the federal government.

0:06:04.480,0:06:06.000
Shoulda known better, but I didn’t.

0:06:06.000,0:06:11.200
The order demanded an immediate halt[br]to plans to drill under the Secwepemcetkwe,

0:06:11.200,0:06:14.000
or Thompson River,[br]in so-called British Columbia.

0:06:17.520,0:06:22.000
If completed, the Trans Mountain Pipeline[br]would massively ramp up the transport

0:06:22.000,0:06:23.600
of bitumen from Alberta,

0:06:23.600,0:06:26.400
allowing for an expansion[br]of the Tar Sands,

0:06:26.400,0:06:30.080
and threatening the survival of salmon[br]that surrounding Indigenous nations

0:06:30.080,0:06:33.840
and much of the region’s wildlife[br]depend upon.

0:06:34.960,0:06:38.640
On Thursday October 15,[br]five people were arrested

0:06:38.640,0:06:41.520
while blocking workers from[br]drilling under the river.

0:06:41.520,0:06:47.840
This is unceded Secwepemc territory.[br]Our land is not a sacrifice zone.

0:06:47.840,0:06:52.400
We are going to stand and defend[br]this water by any means.

0:06:52.400,0:06:55.920
Things have also been heating back up[br]on the Wet’suwet’en yintah,

0:06:55.920,0:06:59.760
as workers with the Coastal GasLink[br]pipeline are preparing to drill

0:06:59.760,0:07:02.880
under the Wedzin Kwa,[br]otherwise known as the Morice River.

0:07:03.840,0:07:08.080
The Coastal GasLink pipeline[br]is a proposed 670 kilometre,

0:07:08.080,0:07:11.120
fracked gas pipeline[br]owned by TC Energy

0:07:11.120,0:07:13.520
and private equity firm KKR.

0:07:15.280,0:07:18.720
Its construction through[br]unceded Wet’suwet’en territories

0:07:18.720,0:07:22.720
has faced sustained and determined[br]resistance for over a decade.

0:07:26.640,0:07:30.160
As construction continues[br]to push on towards the Wedzin Kwa,

0:07:30.160,0:07:33.760
Coastal GasLink workers are[br]increasingly enlisting the RCMP

0:07:33.760,0:07:37.760
as private security, harassing[br]Wet’suwet’en and their allies,

0:07:37.760,0:07:41.280
and attempting to block them[br]from upholding Wet’suwet’en law.

0:07:41.280,0:07:45.120
Don’t threaten me with an injunction[br]if you don’t know that you don’t have permission

0:07:45.120,0:07:47.920
of the authority of this territory.

0:07:50.080,0:07:53.200
This past February, Wet’suwet’en[br]supporters launched

0:07:53.200,0:07:57.440
a coordinated series of decentralized[br]rail, port and highway blockades

0:07:57.440,0:07:59.600
under the banner #ShutDownCanada.

0:08:01.840,0:08:05.680
These blockades lasted for weeks,[br]causing widespread logistical

0:08:05.680,0:08:11.840
and economic disruption.

0:08:13.200,0:08:17.760
Calls for a resumption of these solidarity[br]actions have recently begun to circulate.

0:08:18.480,0:08:19.360
We all knew it was coming.

0:08:20.800,0:08:21.840
But we hoped it wasn’t.

0:08:22.640,0:08:26.880
And in so-called Ontario,[br]members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy

0:08:26.880,0:08:29.120
from the Six Nations[br]of the Grand River

0:08:29.120,0:08:33.120
occupied a proposed development site[br]on their territories back in July.

0:08:34.560,0:08:37.920
The encampment,[br]dubbed 1492 Land Back Lane,

0:08:37.920,0:08:40.240
is located near the town of Caledonia,

0:08:40.240,0:08:43.200
which lies within an area[br]known as the Haldimand Tract.

0:08:46.560,0:08:48.800
This land, which spans six miles

0:08:48.800,0:08:51.040
on either side of the[br]length of the Grand River,

0:08:51.040,0:08:55.760
was granted to the Haudenosaunee[br]by treaty in 1784 as compensation

0:08:55.760,0:08:59.520
for territories that their confederacy[br]had lost in the American Revolution.

0:09:00.800,0:09:05.040
The official reservation of the Six Nations[br]of the Grand River currently accounts

0:09:05.040,0:09:08.880
for only 5% of the historical Haldimand Tract.

0:09:08.880,0:09:12.080
Ownership of much of the[br]remaining lands is disputed.

0:09:12.960,0:09:15.360
European settlers on the Grand River:

0:09:16.080,0:09:20.560
helping to create a close relationship[br]between the people of Haldimand

0:09:21.200,0:09:24.880
and their Six Nations neighbours[br]for many years.

0:09:24.880,0:09:28.880
Back in 2006,[br]community members from Six Nations

0:09:28.880,0:09:33.120
occupied a proposed development site,[br]known as the Douglas Creek Estates,

0:09:33.120,0:09:35.840
leading to what became[br]known as the Caledonia crisis,

0:09:36.560,0:09:41.040
a tense stand-off that was only resolved[br]when the Ontario government stepped in

0:09:41.040,0:09:42.240
to buy off the developers.

0:09:44.640,0:09:47.440
This time around,[br]the proposed McKenzie Meadows

0:09:47.440,0:09:51.120
development site,[br]home to 1492 Land Back Lane,

0:09:51.120,0:09:55.600
is located directly across the street[br]from the former Douglas Creeks Estate site.

0:09:56.560,0:10:01.040
Patterns of repression and resistance[br]have taken a similar direction as well.

0:10:01.040,0:10:04.000
OK, we have some people[br]chasing a police officer out of the way.

0:10:04.000,0:10:05.360
Get the fuck out of here!

0:10:12.388,0:10:13.600
Keep going!

0:10:13.600,0:10:18.800
A militarized raid on August 5th[br]by the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP,

0:10:19.680,0:10:22.960
immediately provoked widespread[br]community mobilization,

0:10:22.960,0:10:25.040
and led to burning highway blockades.

0:10:26.480,0:10:27.280
It’s on boys!

0:10:28.400,0:10:33.840
On Thursday October 22nd,[br]an Ontario Superior Court approved

0:10:33.840,0:10:36.160
a permanent injunction[br]against the encampment.

0:10:37.360,0:10:41.097
Since then, resistance has only intensified.

0:10:52.480,0:10:56.000
The Ontario government has since[br]sought to isolate the encampment,

0:10:56.000,0:10:58.080
heavily criminalizing supporters,

0:10:58.080,0:11:02.240
arresting dozens of people for breach[br]of injunction for simply visiting the site,

0:11:02.240,0:11:05.200
and playing on colonial fears[br]of Indigenous resistance.

0:11:05.200,0:11:09.120
Well you just can’t go in and[br]take over people’s future homes.

0:11:09.120,0:11:09.840
It’s wrong.

0:11:10.560,0:11:13.920
And then when the police come,[br]they get an outhouse,

0:11:13.920,0:11:17.120
toss it over from a bridge,[br]onto a police car.

0:11:20.880,0:11:21.520
Fair play.

0:11:21.520,0:11:26.400
To find out what they’re so scared of,[br]I recently caught up with Skyler Williams,

0:11:26.400,0:11:30.640
a Haudenosaunee resident of Six Nations[br]and the official spokesperson

0:11:30.640,0:11:33.200
of 1492 Land Back Lane.

0:11:33.200,0:11:35.360
Hey Skyler, how’s it going?

0:11:35.360,0:11:42.400
Holding space... and y’know, preparing[br]for what lengthy legal battles await us.

0:11:42.400,0:11:45.600
I see. Well at least the weather there[br]looks pretty nice.

0:11:48.160,0:11:51.760
How did the 1492 Land Back Lane[br]occupation start?

0:11:51.760,0:11:57.200
Myself, and some friends and family kinda knew [br]about this development that was about to start.

0:11:58.160,0:12:06.400
And then at the very beginning of us wanting to go [br]in there to occupy, or reclaim our lands – it was

0:12:06.400,0:12:11.280
right at the start of all the COVID stuff. [br]Barricades went up around the reserve, and

0:12:12.080,0:12:16.880
there was lots of concern about [br]whether us as a community could

0:12:16.880,0:12:21.040
withstand the outbreak that was coming. [br]And so people were really worried about that.

0:12:21.840,0:12:27.840
After a couple of months of letting that kind of [br]settle and get to where it is now, we had seen

0:12:27.840,0:12:33.440
that hadn’t stopped any of the development that [br]was going on there. They cleared the land of every

0:12:33.440,0:12:40.320
blade of grass. Every tree. Every shrub. Every [br]hill. So now it’s just some barren clay there.

0:12:41.280,0:12:46.480
So we moved in there on July 19th. And it was [br]a Sunday evening. We were very deliberate about

0:12:46.480,0:12:52.080
going there Sunday evening, because y’know, [br]we wanted it to remain a peaceful occupation

0:12:52.080,0:12:58.080
of our land. And so going in there during [br]the day during the week meant that we were

0:12:58.080,0:13:02.480
going to have lots of, y’know, workers there, [br]and there was gonna be confrontation and that

0:13:02.480,0:13:06.560
kind of thing. So we went in on a Sunday to [br]try and mitigate any of that risk of having

0:13:07.360,0:13:11.200
a big stand off with the developers, [br]and the workers of those developers.

0:13:11.200,0:13:17.040
We went and we were there for about an hour. [br]We set a fire and erected a couple of flags.

0:13:18.160,0:13:24.560
After about an hour the police pulled in and [br]they asked how long we were gonna be there. And

0:13:25.600,0:13:28.960
we said that day that our people had [br]been here for the last 10,000 years, and

0:13:29.520,0:13:34.000
our people are gonna be here for the next [br]10,000. And so we kind of all laughed.

0:13:34.000,0:13:40.560
And the police officer said “so I take it you’re [br]gonna be here for a while, then.” And they left.

0:13:41.840,0:13:48.480
And so two weeks of just holding space [br]began. Community support started to happen.

0:13:48.480,0:13:52.400
Y’know, we started getting hot [br]meals delivered every day, and

0:13:52.400,0:13:57.840
people started coming out to stay with us [br]to help hold that space. And so we started

0:13:57.840,0:14:03.040
everybody kind of chipping in and helping out. [br]And more and more tents started getting erected.

0:14:03.040,0:14:05.600
What has the response been [br]from the Canadian government?

0:14:07.120,0:14:17.719
On August 5th there was an injunction that was [br]granted to the developer. “Without notice”,  it's called.

0:14:17.719,0:14:24.389
And the police moved in. In the morning. [br]They said they had to come and read the injunction.

0:14:24.389,0:14:30.246
And when they did, they blocked off both accesses [br]to the camp to prevent anybody from  coming in.

0:14:30.246,0:14:37.200
They came, they read the injunction, [br]and then this massive line of vans— it was like

0:14:37.200,0:14:43.840
15 passenger vans —just started rolling down the [br]highway toward us. And the police barricade line

0:14:43.840,0:14:51.120
moved back and all of the cops rolled in. 100 [br]OPP tactical unit folks got out of those cars

0:14:51.120,0:14:58.080
with big guns. And they came out and said [br]that they’re gonna start making arrests.

0:14:58.080,0:15:04.160
And so the group of us there, we backed up [br]onto the site, and asked anybody that wasn’t

0:15:04.160,0:15:09.440
planning on staying through any of that, they [br]were told that they had the option to leave

0:15:09.440,0:15:17.120
if they want. And myself and a few others said [br]“no, we’re not going anywhere.” And we stayed.

0:15:17.120,0:15:20.160
In the process of those arrests that [br]were being made, nine of them that day,

0:15:20.960,0:15:26.400
there was one young man that was tasered in the [br]neck and head. One young woman, who happened to

0:15:26.400,0:15:31.840
be standing there videotaping, got in the way [br]of the line of cops that was coming. And she

0:15:31.840,0:15:37.600
was picked up and slammed into the mud. We all got [br]rubber bullets fired at us. It was a hectic day.

0:15:39.040,0:15:44.400
I was released about five hours later. And when [br]I got out, this woman came up to me and asked

0:15:44.400,0:15:48.480
me if I knew what was going on. On the land [br]and on the roads down there. And I said no.

0:15:48.480,0:15:54.960
And she showed me some video of stuff that [br]was going online right now. And at that moment

0:15:56.320,0:16:02.080
there was highway blockades, rail [br]blockades, and roads were blocked.

0:16:02.080,0:16:09.680
And I got back down to Caledonia, just off the [br]reserve. And folks asked myself and some of the

0:16:09.680,0:16:16.160
other people that were, y’know, at Land Back — [br]at 1492 Land Back Lane. And they asked us what

0:16:16.160,0:16:23.120
we wanted to do. And I think we all, almost [br]at the same time, said we wanted land back.

0:16:23.120,0:16:30.400
We wanted to go back to our camp. And so, just like [br]we did on day one, there was about a dozen cars,

0:16:30.400,0:16:35.520
and about 30 people jumped in those cars [br]and drove right back in the front door.   [br]

0:16:35.520,0:16:40.480
How does this dispute fit within the broader [br]context of Haudenosaunee land claims?

0:16:40.480,0:16:44.720
Those blockades that went up was like [br]– was that reaction to, y’know,

0:16:45.440,0:16:51.360
an ongoing criminalization of land defence. [br]Canada and Ontario settling land claims through

0:16:52.160,0:16:58.160
court action. Through arrests. Through putting [br]these heavy weighty bail conditions, and release

0:16:58.160,0:17:02.880
conditions on people that they can’t defend [br]the land. To drag people from their families,

0:17:02.880,0:17:07.600
from their homes. From arrests that are being [br]made in front of kids. It doesn’t matter for us.

0:17:08.160,0:17:12.240
Our obligation to the land is far greater [br]than anything they could do to us.

0:17:13.120,0:17:19.280
And to take that kind of inherent right away from [br]my grandchildren, great grandchildren... this is

0:17:19.280,0:17:24.400
their land. Who would I be to deny them that by [br]me not making the stand that I’m making today?

0:17:24.400,0:17:26.480
Is there anything else that you want to add?

0:17:26.480,0:17:30.960
When we stand together as communities, whether [br]that’s Indigenous folks across the country,

0:17:30.960,0:17:36.880
or with our allies in all the big cities across [br]the country, we’re able to make our voices heard.

0:17:36.880,0:17:38.480
There’s no limits to the accomplishments.

0:17:39.760,0:17:40.720
Thanks Skyler.

0:17:41.760,0:17:45.120
We’ve now reached the end of [br]this episode of System Fail.

0:17:45.120,0:17:50.080
If you’d like to support any of the Indigenous-led [br]struggles we’ve discussed in this episode,

0:17:50.080,0:17:52.880
check the show description [br]for links on how to do so.

0:17:53.600,0:17:58.080
To support subMedia, consider making [br]a one-time donation or signing up to

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0:18:18.160,0:18:19.680
Godspeed, humans.