| Re: "From Sombreros to Sweetgrass," by Ashifa Kassam. City, May 20 — May 26, 2004.
The article highlights the work of various individuals who work very hard to incorporate aboriginal culture awareness into local social services, corporate functions and through artistic ventures.
The story made numerous references to the Zapatista movement and contrasted their movement with the one that is being engaged here in Calgary. The same struggle for land and self-determination happens here in Canada as well, however. In northern Alberta, the Lubicon Lake Nation has been struggling for over 60 years to gain official recognition for but a fraction of the land they have traditionally held. They have been fenced in by the oil and gas industry that has extracted billions of dollars worth of resources. The people living there have suffered a severely degraded environment, a loss of traditional lifestyle, and the situation has severely impacted the collective health of the Lubicon Lake Nation. The Lubicon Lake Nation has no school, no health centre, not even running water. They have fought incredibly hard, however, to bring justice to their community of 500. That is the reason that I'm writing today as I feel it is a horrible disservice to such struggles to read how Dr. Victoria English "debates whether or not such a movement exists."
The Indigenous Solidarity Working Group (ISWG) is a Calgary-based group that works with groups like the Lubicon and others in B.C. We do presentations for community groups, carry out public campaigns to place political pressure on government officials to settle land claims, and stage public demonstrations in solidarity with other native groups. For more information about the ISWG please email iswgcalgary@yahoo.com
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