I. PROJECT PROPOSAL
Abstract
Project Description
Project Background
Project Methodologies
Visual Materials
Project Schedule
Project Cost
Anticipated Outcome & Impact
Literature & References
II. CORRESPONDANCE
Transcription of a phone interview with Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia, ON
Transcription of a phone interviews with Chief Joanne Rogers of Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Correspondance with Ron Plains, activist and Aamjiwnaang band member
Correspondance with Luc Jobins, CEO of CN Rail
III. ON SITE INVESTIGATION
Site Photos
Live Interview with Mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia, ON
Site Photos
Live interview with Chief Joanne Rogers of Aamjiwnaang First Nation Summary
IV. FINDINGS
I. PROJECT PROPOSAL
e following project proposal was awarded by the Penny White Project Fund to investigate the complicated relationships of Sarnia, ON, Aamjiwnaang First Nation and CN Rail.
Sarnia, Ontario is home to over sixty chemical plants and oil re neries making up forty percent of Canada’s petrochemical industry. e project is a site investigation of Sarnia, ON and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation located within the city’s limit. e travel will be a continuation of the research the team has been conducting as part of Pierre Belanger’s ADV-9132: Ecology, Infrastructure, Power seminar course. e research explores the intricate history and relationships between the First Nations, the Canadian government, petrochemical industries and infrastructure networks. rough interviews, conversations, and exchanges over the phone and emails with the Mayor of Sarnia Mike Bradley, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Chief Joanne Rogers, and the Canadian National Railway CEO Luc Jobin, the team has gained a better understanding of the complex issues Sarnia and the Aamjiwnaang faces ‒ including signi cant environmental pollution, health impacts, housing shortages, social and economic inequity, social and cultural dissonance, and encroachment and contamination of native lands. Because of the good relationships built and commitment shown over the research, we received invitations from the Mayor Bradley and Chief Rogers to visit Sarnia, ON and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. e team hopes to further investigate the compounded complexities on site and offer their help as designers and researchers.
Sarnia’s Petrochemical plants and oil re neries
Project Description
e project explores the relationship between First Nations, the Canadian government at the local and national level, petrochemical industries and infrastructural networks. Given the tremendous presence of Canadian resource companies and services worldwide, Sarnia, ON ‒ containing forty percent of the country’s petrochemical industry ‒plays a signi cant role in Canada’s resource industry. Although these industries foster economic growth of the region, the local residents and the Aamjiwnaang First Nations are impacted by highly toxic emissions released by the chemical plants and oil re neries in the area. e toxins and pollutants contaminated the air, water and soil, destroyed the ecology of the area, and also caused detrimental effects on the health of the local residents including abnormal birth ratio of females to males, stillbirth, miscarriages and cancer. Surrounded by over sixty chemical plants and oil re neries is the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reservation, where the Chippewa have lived for over 300 years. Not only do they live in highly toxic environments and suffer serious health threats, the community also encounter problems of insufficient infrastructure, housing shortages, lack of adequate education and healthcare, and unemployment.
rough our research and the nal publication of this work, we hope to reveal the complex and intricate relationships between the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, City of Sarnia, and the Chemical Valley. e initial investigation will examine the forces in play - including charged histories and hidden agendas - to examine the critical issues needed to be addressed: environmental pollution and its effects on the health and livelihood of the local residents, contamination and its effects on indigenous cultures, rituals, and identity, development on indigenous lands by the Canadian government and industries in relationship to indigenous rights and land claims. rough interviews and meetings with the Mayor and the Chief and other members of the communities, we will acknowledge and encourage the ongoing efforts the City of Sarnia and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are making to strengthen their relationship, build a strong and healthy community, improve living conditions, and create opportunities for education and jobs. e project explores how design can improve the environmental, ecological, health and living conditions of the local communities. It examines new possibilities for occupation. and the role of landscape design as a driver for environmental, social, cultural, economic, and urbanistic transformations.
Project Background
e project explores Canada’s global resource empire and its relationships to the Canadian local and national government, industries, infrastructural systems, and First Nations. With over 75% of the world’s mining companies based in Canada and more than half of the world’s mines operated, serviced, nanced or engineered by Canadians, Canada is the most active mining nation in the world. e enormous contribution of the mining sector in Canada’s GDP drives the exploration, exploitation and extraction of indigenous land for resource development. e colonization and territorialization of land forced the First Nations into reservations and pushed them to the fringes, or in the case of the Aamjiwnaang in the middle of the Chemical Valley surrounded by chemical plants and oil re neries. Resistance from the First Nations has taken many forms including protests, hunger strikes, and blockades as their lands and rights are taken away. e encroachment of indigenous lands still continues today.
e project examines the complexities of resource extraction, industrial and infrastructural developments, land encroachment, territorial claims, environmental impacts, health risks and social injustice and inequalities. With the power of the extraction empire, the industries and infrastructure that supported resource development dominated. Over the years, the resource industry has been taking over the First Nations’ land to make way for extraction sites, petrochemical plants, re neries and railroad systems that pollute the air, water and soil, destroy the ecology and natural habitats, and cause severe health impacts.
Project Methodologies
As part of an ongoing project, the team will further develop and advance the previous work done for Pierre Belanger’s ADV-9132: Ecology, Infrastructure, Power seminar course. e work includes research on Canada’s extraction empire focusing on Sarnia, ON, Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Canadian National Rail; spatial mappings at various scales; and interviews conducted with the Mayor of Sarnia, the Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation, and Chief of Staff for the President and CEO of Canadian National Rail.
e team hopes to travel to Sarnia, ON and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation to visit the city, local communities, the chemical plants and oil re neries, and wind power, biofuel and other renewable energy sites within the area. rough site visits, the team will document (through diagrams, drawings, maps, photographs and videos) the existing conditions of various areas in order to identify shared and speci c issues, such as environmental pollution, inadequate infrastructure, housing shortages and health threats. e team will also engage in conversations and exchanges with the Mayor of Sarnia, the Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Jeff Plains and the local residents to discuss their experiences, insights and concerns. e interviews will be recorded and transcribed for reference. e report will analyse the environmental, social and living conditions, identify issues, concerns and efforts of the different groups, propose opportunities for design interventions at different sites, scales, and systems.
e project is part of a lineage of project precedents:
Cook, Katsi. Mother’s Milk Project, 1984.
Gibbs, Lois Marie. Love Canal: And the Birth of the Environmental Health Movement. Island Press, 2011.
Hoover, Elizabeth. e River Is in Us: Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
However, this project’s approach will be different that the projects done in the cases of Love Canal, Mother’s Milk and e River Is In Us. We are interested in the reaching the same goals through research. We are also ghting for environmental justice, human rights and First Nations rights, however we will use our design and visual representation skills to bring those issues to the foreground.
is project will shine a light on a hidden legacy of chemical plants dumping waste on to First Nation Lands. rough the package, the project will highlight the phenomenon as it happens repeatedly across North America.
Visual Materials: Maps and Diagrams
Map showing the railroad network and its intersection with the First Nations of North America, hilighting Sarnia, ON as a major node in a network of oil extraction, transportation and re neries.
Zooming into Sarnia, ON: Map showing the over sixty petrochemical plants and oil re neries in the city’s limits
Visual Materials: Maps and Diagrams
Zooming into Aamjiwnaang First Nation: Map showing the over sixty petrochemical plants and oil reneries as gures. e Map also hilights the 2012 CN rail blockade, headed by activist and band member Ron Plain. e blockade happened on the land of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
Relationship map between Sarnia, ON, Aamjiwnaang First Nation, CN Rail and the research team at Harvard GSD
A Friendship Agreement sent to us by Mayor Bradley of Sarnia: signed by the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and City of Sarnia, as the foundation for our work, a clear goal to collaborate on a range of issues the First Nation and City are experiencing
An excerpt from the interview (38 minutes) conducted with Mayor Mike Bradley hilighting a change in fuel industry, economic, housing, transportation and substance abuse issues in the First Nation, and our commitment to help as designers.
Visual Materials: Example of Outcomes
Cook, Katsi. Mother’s Milk Project, 1984. A in-depth study of the Akwesasne/ St Regis Mohawk Reservation on the topics of contamination and its effects on mother’s milk
http://www.toxicsites.us/#
Interactive Map of superfund sites in America
e Pennywhite project addresses the hidden legacy of dumping wastes on First Nation Lands in North America
Hoover, Elizabeth. e River Is in Us: Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community. University of Minnesota Press, 2017. Studying the effects of chemical plants on the health and livelihood of First Nation inhabitants
Lessons of Love Canal, developed in 2003 by the Boston University School of Public Health
We aim to produce community maps of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, hilighting sources of pollution, water, public spaces and other resources
Project Schedule
February 2nd: Onwards
May 12th:
10:25 AM - 4:58 PM
May 13th:
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Additional research: research, production of maps, coordinations with local community and leaders, preparation of interview questions.
May 14th:
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Interviews TBD
May 15th:
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Interviews TBD
May 16th:
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM 5:35pm - 10:27pm
Travel project start date:
Flight from Boston, MA BOS to Sarnia, ON YZR
Visting and documenting petrochemical plants, oil re neries and the nearby neighbourhoods
Visting and documenting the St. Clair River, the U.S. | Canada border conditions and the factories on the U.S. side across the St. Clair River
Visiting and documenting the Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Conducting on site interviews with Chief Joanne Rogers, Jeff Plains and local residents
Visiting and documenting the CN Rail Crossing
Documenting the Sarnia city | Aamjiwnaang First Nation border and threshold conditions
Visiting and documenting the Aamjiwnaang Business Park
Visiting the office of Mayor of Sarnia Mike Bradley
Conducting on site interview with the Mayor and other municipality officials
Visiting and documenting Downtown Sarnia, ON
Visiting and documenting the residential neighborhoods of Sarnia, ON
Conducting on site interviews with Sarnia residents
Visiting and documenting the wind power mills, biofuels and other renewable energy plants
Flight from Sarnia, ON YZR to Boston, MA BOS
Production of additional drawings and compilation of live research materials
May 21stMay: 31st
Present to the Department of Landscape Architecture
e day of presentation can be any day after May 21st, 2018. at the convenience of the Landscape department.
Project Cost
Grace Jiranuntarat’s Budget Request:
Air Travel between Boston, MA to Sarnia, ON and return ight: $416.61
Ground Travels: ~$10 per ride x 8 rides = $80
Accommodations: Airbnb
$46 per night x 4 nights = $184
Reproduction of the deliverable package: $.1~1 per page $100
Exhibition as we secure a space within the GSD orCambridge: ~$100
Total = $890.61
Sonny Xu will cover all his travel expenses*.
*As this ongoing project has been a joint effort by Grace and Sonny in the past six months, Sonny has already built personal relationships with the local authorities and community members there. However, the team understands that Sonny is graduating in May, 2018, hence why he is not applying for any funding from the School. He only wishes to travel to Sarnia, ON and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation as he is passionate about understanding more and helping with the issues there. Sonny has also told the people there over phone and e-mail that he will try to visit. e team will nish the intended traveling by March 15th, 2018 and deliver the research package to the Department of Landscape Architecture by May 15th, 2018. However, if this exception hinder’s the project from moving forward into the next round, please inform the team, as they can make neccessary adjustments.ank you for your considerations.
e Ten dollar Bank of Canada note featuring Sarnia, ON on its back.
Anticipated Outcome & Impact
We are eager to contribute to the local communities as trained architectural and landscape designers and researchers. rough our discussions with Mayor Bradley and Chief Rogers, we found out many of the issues the locals are facing which could be improved through design such as housing shortage and poorly designed governmental housing. Well designed housing- that is t for the climatic, cultural and social need is incredibly important to keep the community healthy and from moving away and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation culture and customs to survive. Mayor Bradley also revealed to us that mass transportation (which is lacking on site) is crucial in bringing the First Nation youth to schools to keep them off drugs and educated in order to be employable by the new renewable power companies and First Nation Tech Park nearby. Many renewable energy programs, such as biofuel and wind power, have been started nearby,as initiatives to replace the traditional fossil fuel. When relocating is not an option (discouraged by the Chief and the band council as the land holds ancestral signi cances), how can design be implemented to improve housing, transportation needs and environmental, living and health conditions? rough our onsite investigation, we hope to offer help and propose design studies and drawing sets to the locals as part of the Pennywhite Project Fund.
Meanwhile, we will deliver a report to the GSD community, the local community and hopefully an even broader audience. We hope to bring to light the ongoing efforts the city of Sarnia and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are both making in strengthening their relationship with one another, building a strong community, improving living and working conditions and creating greater opportunities for education and jobs. e media coverage of Sarnia in the past decade have been mainly negative and disregards some of the initiatives and programs that have been started. We hope to publish a report that looks at the issues from multiple perspectives and hopefully bring momentum and positive rapport to Sarnia and Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
e project will contribute to the discipline of Landscape Architecture through investigating the relationships of resource extraction, First Nation, human rights, activism and blockade, territorial claims, land encroachment, environmental contamination and pollution, health and livelihood of inhabitants, and border (fringes) study. e project will broaden the conventional scope of Landscape Architecture and empower the eld. At the same time, we hope to contribute our skills, time and efforts to a group of people in need on the ground through design.
As the nal product of the project, we will compile the research, statistical and scienti c research, precedent projects and studies, transcripts of interviews with Mayor of Sarnia, Chief of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Jeff Plains, and local communities, photographic documentation, analytical diagrams, historical and relational timelines, spatial mappings and drawings of site conditions and possible transformations, and design proposals of prototypical conditions and interventions. Apart from the report, we also hope to exhibit the work at the GSD or publish it as a research document through GSD publications.
Literature & References
Alanis Obomsawin. 1993. Kanehsatake: 275 Years of Resistance, edited by Wolf Koenig and Alanis Obomsawin National Film Board of Canada.
Blomley, Nicholas. “Law, Property, and the Geography of Violence: e Frontier, the Survey, and the Grid.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93, no. 1 (2003): 121–41.
“Canada’s Toxic Chemical Valley.” Vice Documentary. 2011.
Coulthard, Glen. 2014. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Policies of Recognition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Cook, Katsi. Mother’s Milk Project, 1984.
Cook, Katsi (30 September 1997). “Women are the First Environment”. Native Americas. XIV (3).
Cook, Katsi. “Katsi Cook Papers, 1977-2008 Finding Aid.” Five College Archives & Manuscript Collections, asteria. vecolleges.edu/ ndaids/sophiasmith/mnsss432_main.html.
“Ecojustice Charter Challenge.” Great Lakes Environmental Justice, 7 June 2012, greatlakesenvironmentaljustice. wordpress.com/aamjiwnaang/ecojustice-charter-challenge/.
Edwards, Peter. One Dead Indian: the Premier, the Police, and the Ipperwash Crisis. M & S, 2006.
Ejolt. “Chemical Valley, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada | EJAtlas.” Environmental Justice Atlas, ejatlas.org/con ict/ chemical-valley-sarnia-ontario-canada.
“Facts and Figures.” 2013. Mining Association of Canada.
Gibbs, Lois Marie. Love Canal: And the Birth of the Environmental Health Movement. Island Press, 2011.
Hoover, Elizabeth. e River Is in Us: Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
“Love Canal.” Center for Health, Environment & Justice, chej.org/about-us/story/love-canal/.
Patrick Wolfe. “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.” Journal of Genocide Research (2006), 8(4), December, 387–409.
Productions, Patrick Gilbert. “Sarnia Plans to Implement UNDRIP.” Anishinabek News, anishinabeknews. ca/2017/12/13/sarnia-plans-to-implement-undrip/.
“Shell Leak Sheds Light on Life in Canada’s Chemical Valley.” DeSmog Canada, www.desmog.ca/2013/01/29/shellleak-sheds-light-life-canada-s-chemical-valley.
Sean Craig and Carolyn Jarvis with Global News, Emma McIntosh, Sawyer Bogdan, Morgan Bocknek and Robert Mackenzie with the Ryerson School of Journalism. “‘We Expected Cancer’: Are Industrial Spills in Canada’s ‘Chemical Valley’ Making People Sick?” Global News, 16 Oct. 2017, globalnews.ca/news/3796720/sarniaoil-industry-spills-human-impact-investigation/.
Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 1–40.
Wright, Heather. “Idle No More Disrupts Railway Traffic, but CN Fights Back.” Macleans.ca, 5 Feb. 2014, www. macleans.ca/economy/business/idle-on-the-tracks/.
In bold are precedents of methodologies we are interested in exploring.
PROJECT ADVISORS
Pierre Bélanger
e Internal Faculty Advisor belanger@harvard.edu
48 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard University Graduate School Of Design
Pierre is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, who conducts the seminar: ADV-9132: Ecology, Infrastructure, Power. Pierre has been sharing his knowledge and insight into issues of Extraction and First Nation with the team and guiding the project forward in the last six months.
Jeff Plain
e External Project Advisor plainj@lao.on.ca (519) 332-8055
First Sarnia Place, 201 Front St N #407, Sarnia, ON N7T 7T9, Canada Community Legal Assistance Sarnia, ON
Jeff Plain was recommended to us to be our External Project Advisor by Sarnia’s Mayor of 29 years, Mike Bradley. e team and Jeff have been working together to craft this proposal.
Jeff is an Aamjiwnaang First Nation band member, and not an elected official. He told us he can share insights, provide contacts, and be as helpful as the project move forward.
Jeff was raised on Aamjiwnaang First Nation (formerly Chippewa’s of Sarnia). He is through his father, Ojibwe, and through his mother, Pottawatomi. He is direct descendant of hereditary chief Animikeence (Little under). His mother is from Walpole Island (Bkejwanong Territory, which is unceded), 30 minutes south of Sarnia. He also have family connections (grandmother) through Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation, (30 minutes north).
He is employed at Community Legal Assistance Sarnia (CLAS). CLAS is one of 76 community legal clinics throughout Ontario funded by Legal Aid Ontario. For the last 5 1/2 years Jeff administered an Indigenous Outreach position that he co-developed with CLAS’s Exec. Dir., Andrew Bolter. Andrew is aware of this potential collaboration and sees some potential. e name of their program is Baamsedaa (translated from Ojibwe - Let’s Walk Together). e model developed is presently utilized in 4 other communities in Southwestern Ontario.
II. CORRESPONDANCES
is chapter of the book includes several e-mail correspondances and phone interviews we conducted as part of the research project. We reached out to Mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia, ON, Chief Joanne Rogers of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, activist and Aamjiwnaang First Nation band member Ron Plains, and CEO Luc Jobin of CN Rail.
Correspondence with Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia, ON for 29 years
Transcription of a Phone Interview with Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia, ON
Productions, Patrick Gilbert. “Aamjiwnaang First Nation and City of Sarnia under New Agreement.” Anishinabek News, anishinabeknews.ca/2017/02/09/aamjiwnaang- rst-nation-and-city-of-sarnia-under-new-agreement/.
Email Correspondences with Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia, ON
Correspondence with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Interview Transcript with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Correspondence with Jeff Plains, Aamjiwnaang band member
Community Legal Assistance Society
External Project Advisor
Correspondence with Ron Plains, Aamjiwnaang band member
2012 CN Blockade Activist Leader
Correspondence with Luc Jobin, Director,
President and Chief Executive
Officer at Canadian National Railway
OnCNworkingwithCanadiangovernment,localmunicipalities,andFirstNations.
CNisatruebackboneoftheeconomywhoseteamofapproximately23,000railroaders transportsmorethanC$250billionworthofgoodsannuallyforawiderangeofbusiness sectors,rangingfromresourceproductstomanufacturedproductstoconsumergoods,acrossa railnetworkofapproximately20,000route-milesspanningCanadaandmid-America.CN,along withitsoperatingrailwaysubsidiaries,servesthecitiesandportsofVancouver,PrinceRupert, B.C.,Montreal,Halifax,NewOrleans,andMobile,Ala.,andthemetropolitanareasofToronto, Edmonton,Winnipeg,Calgary,Chicago,Memphis,Detroit,Duluth,Minn./Superior,Wis.,and
operateswithinordirectlyadjacenttonearly200differentreservesofmorethan110First NationsandsomeMétisterritories,in8provinces.
CNhasverylongstandingrelationshipswiththeFederalandProvincialgovernmentsinCanada aswellasmunicipalgovernmentsinareasweserve.Railremainsaheavilyregulatedindustry inCanadaandasaresultwemustmaintainacloserelationshipwiththefederalgovernment departmentsandagencieswhichoverseeourindustry.Wehavealsoincreasinglytriedtobuild ourrelationshipwithdepartmentsthatdealwithsectorsoftheeconomywhoseproductswe moveandthosedealingwitheconomicmattersandtrade.Werecognizethatweareamajor partoftheCanadiansupplychainandadriveroftheCanadianeconomyandasaresult, governmentwillalwaysbefocussedonourperformanceandinterestedinourperspectiveon economicgrowth.
Atthemunicipallevelweunderstandthatrailwaysafetyandissuesofproximityofrailto communitiesareissuesofsignificantconcern.Whilewearenotregulatedbymunicipal governmentwerecognizewehaveaneedtomaintaincloserelationswiththemunicipalitiesin whichweoperate,keeptheminformedofouractivitiesandrespondtotheirconcerns.This includesmeetingwiththemonaregularbasis,offeringtrainingtotheirfirstrespondersand providingthemwithinformationontheproductsmovingthroughtheircommunities.
IntheyearssinceourmajoracquisitionsintheUnitedStates,CNhasmovedtobuildthesame sortofrelationshipstherethatwehaveinCanada.WemeetregularlywithU.S.regulatorsand officialsatboththefederalandstatelevelsandhavethesamesortofongoingcontactsatthe municipallevelthatwehaveinCanada.
WithintheUnitedStates,CNhasdirectrelationshipswith80TribalGovernmentsregarding TribalHistoricPreservationaspartofitsPositiveTrainControlprogram.
In2013,CNadoptedtheCNAboriginalVision,whichhasatwofoldpurpose: Developrespectfulandmutually-beneficialrelationshipswithallAboriginalpeople,while ensuringservicetoourcustomers; Berecognizedbykeystakeholders,includingcustomersandGovernments,ashavinga soundapproachtoengagingwithAboriginalCommunitiesandhavingarespectfuland sustainablerelationshipwithAboriginalpeopleacrosstheCNnetwork.
TheintentoftheCNAboriginalVisionwastogofromhavingareactiveapproachtoaproactive one.Tothateffect,majorprogresshasbeenachievedandsuchwasrecognizedearlierthis yearbytheChambersofCommerceofAlbertawhentheypresentedtheawardofAboriginal RelationsBestPracticestoCNattheirannualgala.CNisnolongerwaitingforissuestobe raised.Weengageproactivelyonanongoingbasiswithcommunitiesalongourright-of-way. WehaveestablishedgreatbusinesspartnershipswithAboriginalcompaniesandgroups,we
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oftenretaintheservicesofAboriginalcompaniesandconsultants,wehireAboriginal employees,andsoon.Webelievethatourrelationshipwithourneighbours,includingthe Aboriginalcommunities,influencewhatwedoandhowwedoitonanongoingbasis.
AcomprehensivestrategywasdevelopedbytheAboriginalAffairsTeamtoensureCNdelivers onitsVisionStatementandthatongoingprogressisbeingmade.Thefiveareasofthestrategy are:
EngagingsmartlyandrespectfullywithAboriginalcommunities, PromotingEmploymentOpportunities, IncreasingEmployeeEngagement, IdentifyingandFosteringBusinessOpportunities, IncreasingSmartStakeholderEngagement.
OnrailblockadeinparticulartheCNblockadeinSarnia,OntarioofDecember2012. ItisimportanttonotethattheblockadeoftheSarniaspurwasinitiatedbyaYouthCouncilfrom theAamjiwnaangFirstNation.Thestatedpurposeoftheblockadewastoraiseawarenessof FederalG handlingofFirstNationsissuesandtosupportahungerstrikebyChiefTheresaSpenceofthe AttawapiskatFirstNation.ItwasnotrelatedtoissuesinvolvingCN.Itwastakenoverbyuseof intimidationwithinhoursbyanindividualwhowasabandmember,butdidnotresideonthe reserve,alongwithnon-FirstNationactivists.Theblockadewasusedasavehicletogain internalbandpowerandnotoriety.
TheelectedChiefChrisPlainandCouncilofthecommunity,whileinitiallysupportingthe principleso YouthCouncil,didnotsupportthenon-residentblockade leaderandaskedpolicethatheberemovedfromthereservealongwithhisnon-FirstNation supporters.CNcontinuallymetwithChiefPlainandhiselectedcouncilthroughouttheblockade andmanytimessince.ChiefPlainandhiscouncilmadeitcleartoCNthattherewasnoissue theentirequestionhadbeenresolveddecadesearlier.Itwasacaseofthenon-resident blockadeleaderseekingtopresentjustificationforhisactions,whichwasopenlydisputedby theelectedgovernment.
TheSarniaPoliceServicefailedtoenforceinjunctions.TheOntarioProvincialPolicewere askedbythecourttotakeoverpolicingactivitiesonthereservefromtheSarniaPoliceService. T -resident blockadeleader,afterbeingservedwithaninjunctionnotice.
CNmetwiththeYouthCouncilcontinuouslythroughouttheincidenttodiscusstheissueswhich hadinitiallybroughtthemtostarttheblockade.CNalsoreachedouttotheGovernmentto expressitssupportforrespectfuldialogueandresolutiontoFirstNationissues.Oneofthe YouthCouncilmembersnowsitsasanelectedBandCouncilorforthecommunityandher husbandandbrotherbothworkforCN.
allrailblockades havebeenundertakenas apublicprotestofgovernmentorthirdpartyactivities.CNhasbeenacknowledgedmanytimes bycommunitiesassimplybeingcaughtinthemiddle.Therehavebeenoccasionswhere
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protestorshaveapologizedtoCNfortheirblockades,explainingthattheyfelttherewasno otherwaytodrawtheattentionofgovernmenttotheirissues.
AnoftenoverlookedaspectoftheSarniablockadewastheimpactontheBandowned ChippewasofSarniaIndustrialPark.Theblockadedisruptedbusinessesandcausedlayoffs includingAmericaRailcarindustrieswhichleasespropertyfromtheBandandemploys members.
CNengagesmeaningfully,facetofacewiththe communitieswhereitispresentorinvicinity.TheSarniaspurblockadehashadnoeffecton howCNengageswhenseekingtoundertaketrackconstruction. AboriginalVisionwasadoptedin2013andthestrategybehindtheVisiondictatestheactions www.cn.ca/aboriginalvision).
PriortotheBlockadeandcontinuingafterward,membersofthecommunityhavebeen employedwithCNanditscontractors.In2015,amemberofthecommunityundertookan internshipwiththeCNLawDepartmentatitsMontrealHeadquarters.
CNrecognizesandrespectsthesovereigntyandgovernmentsofFirstNation,MetisandTribal communities.ThroughfacetofacedialoguewithelectedChiefsandCouncils,itmaintainsopen linesofcommunicationalongwithengaginginrelationshipagreements.
CN,throughitssponsorshipanddonationsprogram,supportslocalAboriginalevents,initiatives, projectsandorganizations,andisinvolvedwiththecommunitiesinmanycelebrations.
marketavailabilityof4.5%
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inalona
III. ON SITE INVESTIGATION
Between May 27th and June 2nd, 2018, the team visited the Amajiwnaang First Nation and Sarnia, ON. We interviewed Chief Joanne Rogers of Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia, ON. We also spoke with local members of both communities.
rough photography and videography, we also documented the urban, industrial and landscape conditions.
Zooming into Sarnia, ON on Google Map
To understand the geographic signi cance of Sarnia, ON and its landscape features and urban fabric
e Trip to Sarnia from Toronto, ON on the VIA Rail
Multiple industrial sites can be seen on the trip. May 28th, 2018
Multiple industrial sites can be seen on the trip. May 28th, 2018 e Trip to Sarnia from Toronto, ON on the VIA Rail
View across the St. Clair River, Sarnia, ON Smoke can be seen released into the sky in a distance. May 29th, 2018
May 29th, 2018
Boating, water and shing activities can be seen along the river Tide pools near Blue Water Bridge, Sarnia, ON May 29th, 2018
Boating, water and shing activities can be seen along the river e water treatment plant and Blue Water Bridge, Sarnia, ON May 29th, 2018
e rail and trucking of Sarnia, Ontario
May 29th, 2018
e rail and trucking of Sarnia, Ontario
May 29th, 2018
Meeting with Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia, ON May 30th, 2018
e rail and trucking of Sarnia, Ontario
May 29th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON: Industrial proximity to residential
May 29th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON: Industrial proximity to residential
May 30th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON: Imperial Oil
May 30th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON: Imperial Oil
May 30th, 2018
May 29th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON
May 30th, 2018
e “Chemical Valley” neighbouring the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, with a road separating the two, May 30th, 2018
e sign found at the boundary between the “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, ON and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, May 30th, 2018
Google Map of the “Chemical Valley” neighbouring the Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Meeting with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation
May 30th, 2018
Chief Joanne Rogers showing us map of the industries in the region, May 30th, 2018
Chief Joanne Rogers showing us map of the industries in the region, May 30th, 2018
Chief Joanne Rogers showing us the Media Release on Documentary “Canada’s Toxic Secret, May 30th, 2018
Chief Joanne Rogers showing us the Media Release on Documentary “Canada’s Toxic Secret, May 30th, 2018
Visiting Aamjiwnaang First Nation’s community center with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation, May 30th, 2018
Some of the amenities at the Aamjiwnaang First Nation’s community center, May 30th, 2018
Visiting Aamjiwnaang First Nation’s plant nursery with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation. May 30th, 2018
Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation showing us the native plants the Aamjiwnaang band members eat and use. May 30th, 2018
Live
Interview Transcript with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aammjiwnaang First Nation
Meeting and interview with Joanne Rogers, Chief of Aammjiwnaang First Nation (middle) on May 30th, 2018 at the Chief’s office Conducted by Sonny Meng Qi Xu (left) and Grace Suthata Jiranuntarat (right)