Union Education Meeting in Support of Six Nations, Hamilton Ontario, Saturday March 31st

UNION EDUCATIONAL MEETING IN SUPPORT OF SIX NATIONS

(Please contact tom@tao.ca or call 416-526-4255 or visit

www.honorsixnations.com for more information. Please be in touch with us to register if you’re planning to come to the event.)

DATE: 11:30AM – 5:00 PM Saturday, March 31st, 2007

LOCATION: Hamilton Horseshoe Club – 170 Brockley Dr

DIRECTIONS:http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=170+Brockley+Dr.,+Hamilton,+ON&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=43.23895,-79.739799&spn=0.057526,0.215263&om=1

Community Friends for Peace and Understanding with Six Nations, a grass-roots coalition of community and labour activists is hosting this meeting in order to create a place for trade union activists in southern Ontario to come together to build union support for the Six Nations reclamation. From the beginning of the reclamation, the trade union movement has issued statements of support and made financial donations.

However, this support needs to be sustained as well as extended into the rank-and-file of the union movement, as we at the grassroots work consistently to build bridges between the common values and interests of the trade union movement and those of indigenous peoples.

Members from the following unions will be present at the workshop: CAW

707, CAW 555, CAW 88, CUPE 3903, CUPE 3906, CUPE 4400, CUPE 5167, USWA

1005, and USWA 1998.

11:30am SHARP Welcoming session:

– people from Six Nations welcome union activists to the event

– representative from Community Friends explains the purpose of the meeting

– go around and introductions of everyone present

12:00pm – 2:00pm “INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY AND HAUDENOSAUNEE RELATIONS WITH THE BRITISH CROWN AND THE CANADIAN STATE: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE CONFLICT OVER THE ‘DOUGLAS CREEK ESTATES’”.

The purpose of this session is to provide people with the historical and political background to the struggle going on and to provide people with the tools to convince their fellow union members about the justness and righteousness of the Six Nations cause. Speakers include Hazel Hill from the reclamation site, Ruby Monture, and Rhonda Hill – mother of Six Nations political prisoner Christopher Hill. Other speakers TBA

2:00-2:30pm snack break

2:30pm – 5:30pm “WHY (AND HOW) SHOULD TRADE UNIONS SUPPORT INDIGENOUS RIGHTS?

HOW DO WE ORGANIZE WITHIN UNIONS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF INDIGENOUS ISSUES AND MOBILIZE THE RANK-AND-FILE TO GET ACTIVE IN SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY?”

Some people argue that trade unions exist for the purpose of defending their membership from their bosses and should only be limited to working around workplace issues. Other people argue that “an injury to one is an injury to all” and that trade unions are powerful vehicles for social justice and solidarity on a wide range of issues not limited to the workplace. This panel discussion will address the question of how trade unions have related to indigenous struggles in the past, how they do so today, and why the union movement can be an important ally for indigenous peoples across the country. The second part of this session will focus on the nuts and bolts issues of how we can work within the union movement to build support for indigenous sovereignty in general and concrete support for Six Nations in particular and address the kinds of problems and challenges we might face in doing this work.

Speakers: Lindsay Hinshelwood, CAW 707; Tom Keefer, CUPE 3903; Joanne Webb, CUPE National Aboriginal Council, and others TBA from the Trade Union Movement.