MIDLAND, DECEMBER 3 -- Charges of mischief against two elderly activists who were part of a peaceful protest against a dump site near Elmvale, close to the shores of Georgian Bay, were dropped in Superior court here this morning.

Charges of mischief – and, in three case, intimidation - against 16 other Stop Dump Site 41 protesters were stayed and will be withdrawn after 12 months if the accused do not get into trouble at Site 41 again.

“No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”

Dec.13- Declaration of Onkwehonwe of Grand River Territory on 2010 Olympic Torch Relay

A public mobilization against the Olympic Torch Relay

AW@L and friends from across the region are sending an open invitation for a participatory public event to coincide with the arrival of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay in Kitchener on Sunday, December 27.

WHAT: A family friendly rally, march and demonstration against the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. We intend to create a festive atmosphere that is safe and inviting for activists as well as families. Our goal is to educate and to deliver a message. We will start with interactive events, free hot coffee and food at a rally at the entrance to Victoria Park in downtown Kitchener featuring speakers from the Olympic Resistance Network-Ontario (ORNO) as well as prominent Six Nations youth activists. Then we will all march to City Hall for a public demonstration during the Olympic Torch Celebration.

Resistance spreading as Olympic Torch Relay approaches Ontario.

Press Release
November 29, 2009

HAMILTON—Today, moments after the Grand Entry was completed for the final day of the Canadian Aboriginal Festival in Hamilton, a group of youth will deliver a message, unfurling several banners from the stadium balcony stating: ‘No Olympics on Stolen Native Land’ and ‘Our Land is Life – No 2010 Torch’. The group will also distribute flyers informing people of the reasons for resistance against the Olympics, and inviting people to an information session at Skydragon in Hamilton later in the afternoon.

Listen to AW@L Radio podcast:
We Will Stop This. Ongoing Resistance to HCBP in Guelph, actions take place in Kitchener

AW@L delivers message to Xterra Construction

Xterra Construction is the company who has successfully bid on the latest construction for the Hanlon Creek Business Park. For $1.7 million of taxpayers money, they hope to tunnel pipes below the Hanlon expressway at Clair rd., to connect the HCBP to the city’s water, electrical, and telecommunications infrastructure.

Too often people defend construction companies as ‘innocent bystanders’ who are just doing their job. But if one’s job is to facilitate the destruction of the earth and our landbase, then one must at least become aware of, and accept responsibility for, the results of these actions.

Friday's online content:

You are on Indian land

WATCH ONLINE: Intercontinentalcry.org

You Are on Indian Land was one of the first films in Canada to give voice to the concerns of Indigenous People. Produced in 1969, the film documents a protest that was led by Mohawks from the Haudenosaunee community of Akwesasne on December 20, 1968.

At the time, community members were being forced to pay duty on purchases they made in the United States, despite the fact that the Jay Treaty of 1794, also known as the “Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation”, affirmed that they were not required to do so.

The issue surrounding the Treaty has yet to be resolved, as a protest earlier this year reminds us.

Press Release: October 23, 2009

National day of action targets RBC’s environmental destruction for 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics and the Alberta Tar Sands

WATERLOO—Activists from AW@L will be demonstrating at the Waterloo Royal Bank of Canada at the corner of King and University at noon today to protest the bank’s sponsorship of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the Alberta Tar Sands development. Responding to a national call to action against corporate sponsors of the Olympics, AW@L is joining environmental organizations and activists across the country in condemning RBC for supporting this rampant environmental destruction.

KWCCSJ Newsletter Issue 1, Fall 2009

This innaugural issue of the KWCCSJ Newletter was completed in September and has been available at the centre since then. Stop by some time--the KWCCSJ is located at 63 Courtland (main floor, side doors)--or send us an email at kwccsj@peaceculture.org

In this letter you will find a brief introduction to the KWCCSJ as well as a history of recent events and a schedule for some that are coming up in the near future. You will also find links to info about those events and also to all sorts of issue-based information from AW@L.

<PDF Here>

A Letter of Resistance to the City of Kitchener

In Opposition to the 2010 Olympics
Sept. 24

Since the awarding of the 2010 Olympics to Vancouver and Whistler, a growing network has resisted the social, cultural, and environmental injustices attributable to the Olympics. The Olympic torch relay itself is a burning symbol of injustice and colonialism. The torch is planned to pass through Kitchener – this implicitly supports the injustices and destruction occurring in the name of the Games. For these reasons, we demand that the City of Kitchener back out of the Olympic torch relay.

Read Statement (long version), (short version).
Read letter to Mayor Carl Zehr
Read press release
Read the "Call for Cross-Canada Mobilizing: Extinguish the Torch"

Video of Press Conference on August 28 at Guelph’s City Hall

This press conference took place on August 28 in front of Guelph’s city hall. In attendance were:
* Jim Bogart, Professor emeritus of the University of Guelph, Jefferson Salamander expert, and author of the Jefferson Salamander’s Recovery Strategy (pdf available here)
* Two members of the hoskanigetah of the Grand River
* Shabina Lafleur-Gangji and Matt Soltys, two Guelph residents who have been involved in organizing around the HCBP and were participants in the occupation.

Part 1
Part 2

Victory! One-year moratorium carries 22-10

cut from: stopdumpsite41.ca

Today Simcoe County Council voted 22-10, a weighted voted of 83-39 on a motion in favour of a one-year moratorium, put forward by Tiny Township Mayor Peggy Breckenridge and seconded by New Tecumseth Mayor Mike MacEachern.

“All your hard work paid off,” Anne Ritchie Nahuis told jubilant supporters at the county administration centre in Midhurst.

An urgent call for support from the organizers resisting the construction of dumpsite 41, near Wasaga Beach, has been issued as developers ready to resume construction and the OPP make a wave of arrests (detailed below).

The latest from the Hanlon Creek Liberation:
-link to AW@L Radio's Rabble podcast on the HCBP-

Update August 4th, 2009: Injunction hearing adjourned until Monday August 10th - land protected for another week.

The site's lookout tower:

(Ottawa – June 24, 2009) — In advance of the anticipated return of Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen from Montréal who has been exiled in Sudan for six years, his lawyers, human rights and civil society organizations, and fellow Canadians will announce plans for Mr. Abdelrazik’s repatriation. His lawyer, Yavar Hameed, will then be boarding a flight to travel to Sudan and accompany Mr. Abdelrazik
home.

UPDATE, June 14

CANNON’S BAD FAITH IS NO MATCH FOR OUR SOLIDARITY

Outrageously, the government once again failed to issue the travel document that Abousfian needed to board a flight scheduled to leave Khartoum at 3:45pm Friday, 12 June. They didn't give any reasons. Abousfian remains in the embassy.

May 12, 2009. – With 9 months to go before the Vancouver Olympics, local anti-Olympic activists are stepping up their activities and taking on one of the biggest Olympic sponsors: Royal Bank of Canada.

Members and supporters of AW@L and KW Anti-Racist Action held a rally in front of the main Waterloo branch of the RBC at 74 King St. South. The protest began at noon and continued until around to 2pm.