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• Between crisis and care –In the winter of 2009, Drake and Jowje were expecting their third child. An Aboriginal couple in their early twenties, Drake was working construction whenever work was available while Jowje cared for their two boys—Hunter, age three, and Toby, eight months. Lucy was born in the spring.
• Reconciliation on trial –Nearly three years after Stephen Harper’s historic apology to residential school survivors, Canada’s iniquitous treatment of Indigenous children lives on. With over 27,000 First Nations children currently in foster care, there are more than three times as many Indigenous youth in state care than at the height of the residential…
• Fracturing solidarity –When representatives from environmental organizations took the stage last May together with logging industry groups to promote what they billed as a new deal to protect Canada’s boreal forest, the announcement came as a surprise to Indigenous peoples across the country.
• Linguicide –While it is assumed that linguicide died with the closure of the last residential school in 1996, in truth it continues as a covert policy into the present. As Roland Chrisjohn stated, “residential schools never ceased operation; they merely changed their clothes, and went back to work.”
• Criminal (in)justice –Gillian Balfour is the author of two important books addressing racism and incarceration in Canada, including _Criminalizing Women: Gender and (In)Justice in Neoliberal Times_, which she co-edited with Dr. Elizabeth Comack. She is an associate professor in sociology at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, specializing in areas of violence against…
• An anti-colonial history of “British Columbia” –“British Columbia” is unique in Canada for both the large number of Indigenous nations and the province’s lack of Treaties. According to the 1763 Royal Proclamation, issued by the British after defeating France, no trade or settlement could occur in Indigenous territory without treaties.
• March/April 2011 –As government and industry continue to annex and desecrate Indigenous lands for resource extraction, housing developments, highways and tourist destinations, how can we organize a more effective anti-colonial resistance? What are the current sites of contestation in Canada, and what is the role of non-native allies in supporting these struggles?…
• We say no –Last November, hundreds of people gathered in the community of Tlet’inqox to thank the land defenders and praise the federal government’s decision to turn down Taseko Mines’ Prosperity project, a proposed gold and copper mine on Tsilhqot’in territory in northern B.C.
• It’s Open Season at Briarpatch! –Briarpatch is seeking submissions on any topic for our July/August 2011 issue. We are looking for feature articles, provocative essays, investigative reportage, interviews, profiles, reviews, poetry, humour, artwork and photography rooted in an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist analysis. If you’ve got a story in mind, we want to hear from you!
• Letter from the editor –Spirituality and activism are not strangers. The intimate relationship between the two is evident in the work of icons like Gandhi, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X and Desmond Tutu, for whom activism was part and parcel of their commitments to something or someone beyond the sensory world.
• January/February 2011 –What motivates us to fight for positive change? What role does our interconnectedness with other people and our environment play in the struggle for social and environmental justice? Where do religion and action meet? This issue explores the intersection between spirituality and activism, connecting the dots between our goals for…
• Faithful ally –I remember the exact moment my Sundays changed forever. I was 14. Sunday mornings in our house had always been filled with a routine chaos. Mom and Dad woke up first, showered and dressed, then called my two younger sisters and me in sequence.
• Solidarity in Islamophobic times –With Islam having moved to the centre of North American political discourse since 9/11, Muslim practices, cultural formations, sectarian divides, religious laws and political histories are being publicly scrutinized as never before. Grandiose proclamations of a “clash of civilizations” are now commonplace, as are routine examples of racial profiling, hate…
• No priests, no temples –Many activists practice yoga, but few would describe their yoga practice as a form of activism or treat their activism as an expression of their yoga practice. Michael Stone is working to change that.
• Pedagogy of the omitted –“Our action is our spirituality. It’s my faith that makes me fight.” When Rubens Pita said this, nearly everyone in the room spoke up to offer their own reflections. Rubens is an educator and coordinator at the Escola Fé e Política: Pe. Humberto Plummen (School of Faith and Politics) in…
• Blood, sweat and prayers –Tibetan Buddhism’s heavy emphasis on virtues of non-violence and compassion for all living beings raises the complex question of if or when to use violence against a violent occupier.
• Love in a time of climate crisis –It’s the year 2011. Icebergs are melting, forest fires are raging out of control, sea levels are rising, drinking water is becoming scarcer, droughts, famine, conflict and other climate-related pressures are growing exponentially. How can this crisis—the greatest challenge humanity has yet faced—be transformed into the greatest love story on…
• Twenty years since the blockades –Leanne Simpson and Kiera Ladner’s new edited collection, _This is an Honour Song_, seeks to recognize the significance of the events at Kanehsatake for Indigenous peoples, as well as for Canada. The collection does not focus on rehashing the details of events at the pines (a number of good books…
• Interconnectedness in action –While specific spiritual beliefs are as varied as the distinct First Nations communities on this land, Indigenous world views generally operate from a framework of interconnectedness whereby relationship is the lens through which we understand and sense the world. It informs the ultimate vision of sovereignty and decolonization, and impacts…
• Engendering Emancipation: Call for Submissions/Involvement –Briarpatch is seeking submissions for its May/June 2011 issue, “Engendering Emancipation,” which will explore power relations in the context of gender and sexuality. If you’ve got something to contribute to this discussion, then we want to hear from you! We are looking for articles, essays, investigative reportage, news briefs, poetry,…