“When I saw the welcoming ceremony in front of the Water Treatment facility, and knowing the history of gas and oil extraction, and the fracking that goes behind it … it is not a friendly enterprise. …I just went and grabbed onto that monster.” – Corrine Tooshkenig
Photo by Sydenham Current.
The Council of Canadians Windsor chapter is supporting members of the Walpole Island First Nation and allies who are opposing a Union Gas fracked-gas pipeline that would run under the Snye River.
In mid-May, Postmedia reported, “Protesters have set up a camp on top of a proposed natural gas pipeline on Walpole Island First Nation. The protesters set up on [May 19], just west of the Walpole Island Bridge… Protesters had a number of signs with anti-fracking message written on them. ‘The way that natural gas is pulled out of the ground is through fracking. This natural gas that we will be receiving comes from Pennsylvania. Also, our brothers and sisters are in Oklahoma, British Columbia and Alberta where fracking is really big. It affects our relatives greatly, it affects their drinking water, their hunting and food’, said Theo Blackbird-John.”
In early-August, Postmedia added, “With a long list of concerns about the arrival of natural gas to their community, a handful of Walpole Island grandmothers on [August 8] stood in solidarity beside a piece of heavy equipment, refusing to allow it to dig into the earth to start construction. The grandmothers met with Walpole Island officials, asking that the heavy equipment be removed. Walpole Island administrators agreed to move the equipment off of Walpole Island for now. Corrine Tooshkenig, who said she’s also a great-grandmother, said the group are not protesters but call themselves ‘concerned grandmothers, aunties and mothers’.”
On August 11, an Anishinabek News article titled ‘Grandmothers create blockade to protect the water’ reported, “The gas line excavation was starting ‘without the people’s knowledge’, Grandmother Corinne Tooshkenig, the first of the blockaders, told Chief Dan Miskokomon and councillors the evening of Tuesday, August 9. …[And yet] Walpole council decided the work would resume after hearing from both opponents and supporters of the gas line in a meeting that spanned two evenings.”
But as The Two Row Times further explains, “The grandmothers insist that the work is being done without community consultation or consent. …Chief and Council refused the request tor a community vote and went so far as to change the time and location of the second meeting without prior notice.”
Grandmother Corinne Tooshkenig has stated that if Union Gas brings in heavy equipment again they will be met by elderly women at the island bridge to stop them.
Chapter activist Randy Emerson notes, “Last night at the Windsor/Essex Council of Canadian meeting, Indigenous people from Walpole Island made a presentation about a ‘natural’ gas pipeline being installed on the Island. They asked for our help to prevent Union Gas from bringing equipment on the island. They do not want fracked gas. They are worried about losing mineral rights under section 28 (2) of the Indian Act permit. They are worried about the possibility of fracking on their territory. They are worried about their ancestors being disturbed (burial grounds) and not having the proper ceremony by digging the pipeline trench. They are asking us as allies to help them Monday morning, as close to sunrise as possible, to stand with them.”
And this morning, Windsor chapter activist Doug Hayes posted on Facebook, “Some of us will be heading up to Walpole Monday morning to support the pipeline blockade. If you are interested in helping we are meeting at the Walpole Island bridge at 8:30 AM.”
We also encourage Council of Canadians chapters in southern Ontario and our members who are nearby to support this effort on August 29.
Walpole Island First Nation is located about a 125-kilometre drive north-east of Windsor, directly across Lake St. Clair.
