Friday, 27 February 2009 from 12-5 pm. UBC First Nations Long House. Register: environment.colonialism.justice@gmail.com

12:15-12:30: Registration and Musqueam Welcome:  Ros Campbell, Musqueam Nation, First Nations Law Students Association

12:30-2:30: Environmental Racism and the Tar Sands. Facilitator:  Gordon Christie, UBC First Nations Legal Studies; Andrea Hilland, Associate Director, UBC First Nations Legal Studies; Jada Voyageur, Fort Chipewyan First Nations; Harjap Grewal, Council of Canadians; Chiinuuks Ruth Ogilvie, Tla-o-qui-aht and Checlesaht First Nations, University of Victoria

2:45-4:45: Film Screening: “To the Tar Sands”. Facilitator: Usman Majeed, UBC Colour Connect, No One is Illegal and Director Jodie Martinson present. 

*************************************************************************
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM: TAR SANDS, COLONIALISM AND RESISTANCE
************************************************************************

Please join us for a half-day conference with inspiring speakers, powerful films and thought-provoking discussions. This conference gathers scholars, students, legal advocates and community activists working in the intersecting areas of indigenous rights, environmental rights and equality rights.

In light of the devastating reality of environmental destruction globally, there is an urgent and critical need to expose the root causes of environmental injustice as stemming from systems of domination.

By featuring the tar sands projects in Canada, the conference will critically expose the root causes of environmental injustice as stemming from institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism; the commodification of land, water, energy, food, and air in a capitalist economy; and the plunder of the Earth and displacement of its inhabitants due to a colonial legacy of pillage and militarization.

Join us in exploring how environmental movements are inextricably connected to these broader social justice and human rights struggles and in deeply acknowledging that there exists an inequitable distribution across the planet between those who bear the greatest brunt of environmental degradation, and those who are responsible for it.

This event is organized by various UBC Law faculty members, UBC social justice student groups and community organizations. Co-organizers/Sponsors: UBC First Nations Legal Studies, Public Interest Law Society, First Nations Law Students Association, Social Justice Action Network, Environmental Law Group, UBC Law Students of Colour United, UBC Colour Connected Against Racism, No One is Illegal-Vancouver, UBC Outlaws

————————————————————-
Admission is free. Please PRE-REGISTER by email at:
environment.colonialism.justice at gmail.com
——————————————————