Support needed for NB anti-Fracking protest

Supporters and encouraged to come to the Sacred Fire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT FOR ANTI-FRACKING PROTESTS FROM THE  ELSIPOGTOG FIRST NATION AND THE PEOPLE OF NEW BRUNSWICK

June 21, 2013

• Your solidarity is needed: a call to join the protest at the Sacred Fire at the junctions of highway 126 and 116
• Funds and resources also needed to support the protests
• 32 protesters have already been arrested
• Fracking will endanger our water and future generations
• The government has put the profits of a foreign corporation ahead of the people of New Brunswick
• These actions contravene aboriginal rights and treaties  

Brothers and Sisters,

The Province of New Brunswick has allowed South-Western Energy (SWN), a Houston-based corporation, to explore 2.5 million acres of lands for the purpose of shale gas extraction, or “fracking”.
Fracking involves drilling wells that fracture shale rock beds and pumping millions of gallons of pressurized fresh water and toxic chemicals (including known carcinogens and neurotoxins) into the well to bring up natural gas. This hydraulic fracturing process is known to cause earthquakes, contaminate water, and disrupt animal life. Millions of litres of fresh water become contaminated with a toxic cocktail of chemicals, petroleum by-products and with the naturally-occurring ionizing radiation that is brought up from deep within the earth. These chemical and radio-toxins travel through the food chain. There is no guaranteed safe way to treat and dispose of this dirty waste water. Some dirty frackwater may have already been dumped into the ocean.

The people of New Brunswick elected prime minister David Alward on a platform that included enacting a moratorium on fracking. Once elected he changed his position because he views it as a quick way to deal with provincial debt and unemployment. We know that fracking will not create sustainable jobs in New Brunswick. Even the drivers of the tracking trucks are brought in from the US. The few local jobs that are generated are low-paying, non-unionized and short-term. We know that all the profits will go south to line the pockets of multi-national oil and gas executives and investors who do not live here and will never have to suffer the consequences. We know that the human and environmental health impacts are devastating.

Seismic testing has already begun causing irreparable harm in New Brunswick. The people of Penobsquis are now trucking in their water; many of their wells have caved in or dried up and homes have started sinking into the ground after seismic testing. Insurance companies will not cover their damage claims.

The grassroots Indigenous people of Wabanaki are asserting their legal Aboriginal rights and responsibilities to their traditional territory and resources. They have not been consulted nor have they given their consent. This shale gas activity is not an isolated event but the continuation of 500 years of colonial exploitation. The Government of Canada has no treaty right or legal authority to allow a foreign corporation to destroy the waters and poison the lands, homes and livelihoods of the Indigenous peoples and of all their neighbours who are living in their territories.

Water is not a commodity that can be owned. It is a resource that must be cherished and protected. If the water is poisoned, there can be no sustainable jobs, or life at all on this land. We are unwilling to accept that outcome.

It is unacceptable to risk the poisoning of millions of litres of fresh water while so many Aboriginal and settler communities are already without secure clean drinking water. It is unacceptable that our governments are acting without accountability against their own promises and against the will of the majority of the people.

The Acadian, English, and Aboriginal communities of Kent County are standing together peacefully against fracking. At present, an estimated 32 people have already been arrested for peacefully standing their ground to stop seismic testing trucks and equipment.

Right now, the physical presence of all our supporters and all people who care about the water and the earth is needed at the site of the sacred fire gathering to stand in solidarity and protect these resources for future generations.

We must stop this insanity before irreparable damage is done. To do that, we need your support. We are calling on the solidarity of all our union brothers and sisters, environmental groups and NGOs, concerned health agencies, and conscientious individuals to stand up for our common interests.
First and foremost, we need our allies present at the sacred fire gathering site currently located at the junction of highways 126 and 116. Donations of food and camping supplies, travel, print and communications resources, and money are needed, welcome and very much appreciated.

Please join us in Elsipogtog, Kent County, New Brunswick, and be IDLE NO MORE!

---For more information, please contact -------.

John Levi (War Chief), Amy Sock

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/451969464893759/?fref=ts

PLEASE NOTE: Because the sacred fire and camp gathering sites are located in a rural area, communications can be intermittent and are sometimes intercepted… please use your best wisdom and judgment to bring support to this action that is now under the watch of more and more people of the earth.