This summer, CPT-Reservist Steve Heinrichs stood trial and went to jail for his prayer vigil at the gates of the construction of Trans Mountain pipeline (see more in Geez 50 [Fall 2018], civil disobedience). On August 30, a court overturned Ottawa’s approval of the pipeline. Steve added his prayers and support to all the participating First Nations, and those of all the ancestors. In September, the team accompanied faith leaders at the Spirit of the Buffalo Camp near Gretna, Manitoba, as they sought to apply some of that same Divine energy to the Line 3 Pipeline that would run from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. Participants shared bannock and platz (Mennonite cake).

The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity team camped at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre and learned how to build a pow-wow drum, tan hides and make medicines from herbs.

IPS team has a reason to celebrate! Friends at Shoal Lake 40 now have a road that connects them to the Trans-Canada Highway. With a road to their island, they now have safe, year-round access to supplies. Next step: clean drinking water. Seems fair, since the city of Winnipeg takes its drinking water from Shoal Lake, but the province of Manitoba doesn’t provide Shoal Lake 40 First Nation with purified drinking water.

The IPS team was pleased to see the Canadian parliament pass Bill C-262, which would ensure that Canadian law was in harmony with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Kathy Kern is the CPT page editor for Geez magazine.

Image: MCC Canada

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This article first appeared in Geez magazine Issue 51, Winter 2019, Wealth Redistribution.