Hey y’all!

It’s been a while since I have been able to write and A LOT has happened! It’s been hard to blog while things are moving and changing so quickly around the negotiations. Frankly there have been alot of late nights and early mornings and just not enough coffee to go around! So I’m going to do my best to give a short recap of what has been going on here in Cancun while folks are rocking things back home.

Thursday December 2- SHUT DOWN THE TAR SANDS

An action was staged outside of the main building in the Moon Palace where official UN Negotiations are taking place. A human banner was deployed and Indigenous People from TarSands impacted communities from the United States and Canada highlighted the impacts of TarSands extraction and processing on communities.

Thursday December 2- RESPECT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS

That’s right- we rocked two actions in one day. We must just be cool like that. This was an action from the Indigenous Peoples Caucus (Indigenous Peoples are recognized stakeholders in the UN process) to remind the UN to Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights. Indigenous Peoples from around the world came together under the same message, shared culture, songs, and their perspectives on the solutions that are being brought here to the UN by their peoples.

In general UN Security is paranoid about disruptions or protests in the UN space. It is clear that they are poised and instructed to minimize voices of dissent. This action pushed the paranoia button a bit when we closed the action with a friendship dance! As a result of this action the UN changed the rules around the permitting of actions!! Didn’t know realize that friendship dances were acts of resistance, but in the UN you never know!

Sunday December 5^th: Marching with La Via Campesina. Welcome to Cancun

We marched with our comrades of La Via Campesina and Grassroots Global Justice in a “NO REDD’S” block. One strategy here in Cancun is to combat the pro-REDD agenda that is being pushed here as a solution to climate change by governments like the United States and Mexico, but also by some environmental NGO’s. So at every turn and opportunity we are talking about why REDD’s is a false solution.

Tuesday December 7^th: LA VIA CAMPESINA CREATES THOUSANDS OF CANCUNS

We had the honor of being invited to participate with La Via Campesina in creating thousands of Cancuns right here in Cancun!! Thousands marched together on the streets of Cancun from all over the world. On the inside of UN negotiations a press conference, followed by a walk out was staged. It got a bit hairy! Check out the reports from Democracy Now! But, you can’t stop people power, and ultimately those who were ejected joined their friends in the streets for a peoples assembly, highlighting community solutions to climate change as we see them.

Wednesday December 8^th

Today I feel like I have a bit of a hangover, maybe it is from inhaling paint fumes from the visuals we have been working on! Today, the United States held a side event at the UN on its strategy for the REDD’s program. We saturated the audience with climate justice activists from communities throughout the United States who at every opportunity raised questions about financing for such programs (which gets funneled to organizations and most communities never see a dime), Free Prior and Informed Consent from Indigenous communities, and transparency of US engagement in other countries and at home. This made the US representatives very nervous! As expected, they dodged all of our questions, but we aren’t going anywhere so, see you next time!!

I encourage you, if you haven’t already to visit www.redroadcancun.com. The IEN media team is doing daily live shows, posting videos and photos from actions and workshops happening and sharing the perspectives from our brothers and sisters in the South.

It’s not over yet!!! Talk soon!

We have finally recovered from our East Coast trip enough to tell you a bit about it.

Since we are transitioning to a leadership team model in the fall, one of our key priorities over the next few months is to introduce Megan and Sharon (the new Co-Directors) to as many of our supporters as possible whom they haven’t yet met.

So Megan and I recently did a week-long mini-East Coast tour from may 3-7. Megan met up with me first in NY where we spent several days running from Harlem to Brooklyn and back again, meeting with funders and network members. We had an intimate happy hour with our network members on the Lower East Side, organized by old school network member Han Shan. Several members of our partner group Students for a Free Tibet dropped by to catch up with us over pizza and beer, and at appropriate points in the evening Bill B and John S joined us by phone and even bought us a round of drinks .

After a few days, we hopped on Mega Bolt buses to get from NY to DC – amazing how far you can go for $20 on the East Coast!

The highlight of our DC trip was the House Party that network member Cesar hosted for us. Over sangria and middle eastern appetizers we introduced Ruckus to some new folks in DC, and shared up-to-date information on the work we are currently engaged in, including the U.S. Social Forum, the Take Back the Land campaign, responding to calls for support in Arizona, and our upcoming camps [an indigenous Tar Sands Camp in BC this July and our Advanced Action Camp for EcoJustice in MN this September.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who crossed our path on this journey, and to seeing even more friends and family of Ruckus on our next journey east!

Today more than 170 people rallied outside of the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) Annual General Shareholder meeting (AGM) in Toronto after a series of creative non-violent actions all morning. Inside, First Nations Chiefs and community representatives from four different Nations demanded RBC phase out of its Tar Sands financing and to recognize the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities. Afterward, Indigenous leaders lead the crowd in a march to rally outside both RBC Headquarters buildings.

Other cities across Canada supported the First Nations voices inside the AGM as well with solidarity actions from (click on a city for pictures) London, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria and more. Check out photos from those and our events in Toronto.

And see some preliminary media coverage from the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo.

Since 2007 RBC has backed more than $16.7 billion (USD) in loans to companies operating in the tar sands—more than any other bank. Called, ‘the most destructive project on Earth,’ Alberta’s tar sands projects will eventually transform a Boreal forest the size of England into an industrial sacrifice zone complete with lakes full of toxic waste and man-made volcanoes spewing out clouds of global warming emissions.

Outside the shareholder meeting school children, bank customers of every age, First Nations community representatives joined Rainforest Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, No One Is Illegal, and Council of Canadians made their outrage at RBC’s investments heard – to the thumping beats of street Samba band, the crowd shouted “Cultural Genocide: who do we thank? Dirty investments from Royal Bank!”

Inside the shareholder meeting, Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation, Alberta,Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council of BC, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation of BC, and Gitz Crazyboy of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation addressed RBC CEO Gordon Nixon directly about the way tar sands extraction projects have jeopardized their health and their rights.

Downstream communities have experienced polluted water, water reductions in rivers and aquifers, declines in wildlife populations such as moose and muskrat, and significant declines in fish populations. Tar sands has all but destroyed the traditional livelihood of First Nations in the northern Athabasca watershed.

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Hey y’all, Sharon here. This is my attempt at a blog post summarizing what Ruckus was up to in Copenhagen this month. There was A LOT happening in a short time. If you want stories, well you’ll just have to come to a Ruckus camp…

A few months ago, the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) began a conversation with us about providing action support for their delegation to Copenhagen. The delegation included representatives from Indigenous Nations across North America. Myself, and Ruckus board member Heather Milton Lightening staffed the Indigenous support team.

Based on conversations with IEN, we arrived in Copenhagen with a few goals:

* to highlight and escalate negotiations in ways that support Indigenous vision and demands

* ensure Indigenous leadership in actions and mobilizations that could advance a climate and ecological justice agenda

* train IEN staff and allies to form their own action teams and execute their own direct actions in furthering their campaign work

We also came in with the goal of coordinating 4 actions in Copenhagen during the span of COP15 (we actually pulled off 5): a framing action to set the message “Respect Indigenous Rights”; an action calling out the US and its whacked out energy policy; an action around the Canadian Tar Sands; and an action around REDD’s (read IEN’s booklet on REDD if you want to know what it is and its impacts).  In addition we were looking to ensure Indigenous voice and leadership within other civil society actions.

A word about how we work: we took our direction from IEN and by extension, the Indigenous Caucus (recognized as stakeholders by the UN).  While direct action was being used as a tool to escalate IEN’s campaigns, the Indigenous People’s Power Project (IP3) was also brought along as an offering to the caucus to support actions the caucus wanted to engage in as a body. We briefed the caucus on an almost daily basis about IEN-initiated, and civil society actions that were taking place where Indigenous participation was strategic. We took our cues from the decisions made during those briefings. Its important to note that most of the members of the Indigenous Caucus are no strangers to direct action on their home turf, having to regularly intervene on threats to their homelands. That said, embracing direct action as a strategy within the UN was stepping into new territory for the caucus.

Indigenous Initiated Actions:

Framing Action: Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights

This action took place on the second day of COP 15.  A simple action was staged in the main hallway of the UN complex otherwise known as the Bella Center. We were there to elevate the voices of the Indigenous Peoples, who are recognized stakeholders in the UN process, and to make our presence known to the negotiators roaming the hallways, wheeling and dealing. We wanted to frame the action in such a way that was dignified, respectful of where we all come from, but that said we were here and we meant business.

You have to be permitted to do an action inside the UN and we were testing the waters with UN security to see where they were drawing their lines. Here’s how our permit read:

“This is a cleansing ceremony for conference party leaders to cleanse their minds & spirits; for clarity, compassion, strength & perseverance in coming out of the COP negotiations with a binding commitment to Save Mother Earth”

We whipped up 2 banners over night. It would be the first of many late night banner painting sessions:

We assembled with our banners, our prayers, and our message.

Check out this interview with Ben Powless, Mohawk from Six Nations Canada and one time Ruckus trainee: youtube

On December 10th, day 4 of COP 15, International Human Rights Day, and the day Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize, Indigenous Peoples stepped out with something to say. We were calling out the US and its energy policies which escalate ecological devastation and cultural genocide not only for Indigenous People in the United States but also globally.

More late night banner fun with good results:

A scroll with a letter to Obama was prepared and delivered to a representative from the US Embassy. Democracy Now told the story pretty well.

And check out Faith Gemmil and Wahleah Johns on the NBC nightly news:

As usual, our press team kicked out some jammin media of our own: IEN Pitch Engine and a video of our own

And if you’re curious, here’s how the scroll read:

Dear Ambassador:

As the United States President Barack Obama accepts his Nobel peace prize today, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and First Nations Peoples come to Copenhagen to speak out against the United States energy policy that is detrimentally affecting our lands, health and livelihoods. We represent the following Nations: Mathais, Colomb Cree Nation, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Cree, Nakoda, Blackfoot, Ojibwe, Pit River/ Wintu, Neets’aii, Gwich’in Athabascan, Navajo, Mikisew Cree, Dene, Inupiaq, Oneida, Mayan, and Yaqui.

We support a full and effective participation of Indigenous people within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

We support the free, prior and informed consent, including the right to oppose the extraction of fossil fuels by destructive industries.

We call for the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other international human rights instruments and agreements.

We strongly call for a moratorium on all new exploration for oil, gas, coal and uranium as a first step towards the full phase-out of fossil fuels, without nuclear power, with a just transition to sustainable jobs, energy and environment.

We support vibrant green economies: the U.S. assisting Indigenous communities to help supporting a just transition into a green economy, freeing ourselves from dependence on a carbon-based fossil fuel economy

We support the most stringent and binding emission reduction targets: Carbon emissions for developed countries must be reduced by no less than 40%, preferably 49% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 95% by 2050. We call for national and global actions to stabilize CO2 concentrations below 350 parts per million (ppm) and limiting temperature increases to below 1.5ºc.

We oppose false solutions: These include nuclear energy, large-scale dams, geo-engineering techniques, clean coal technologies, carbon capture and sequestration, bio-fuels, tree plantations, and international market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading and offsets, the Clean Development Mechanisms and Flexible Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol and forest offsets.

Signed,

Indigenous Peoples of North America

International Human Rights Day: Implement Indigenous Peoples Rights

After the US Embassy we headed back to the Bella Center for another action.  The co-chairs of the caucus proposed a human chain in commemoration of International Human Rights Day. It just so happened that the youth caucus were doing a “rainstorm” action just before ours and a blending of youth and Indigenous people was quite a treat.

Unfortunately UN security wasn’t as excited by this swarm of people as we were. So off we went, around the bella center!

I got a “yellow card” for this action; meaning UN security flipped out on me because we moved our human chain around the Bella Center. It was quite the joke around the action team for the next few days…

Faith Gemmil vs Ken Salazar

The day wasn’t over yet for Faith Gemmil. She heard Ken Salazar, secretary US Department of the Interior, was giving a press briefing. With the help of her new friends over at NBC (see the nightly news link above) she managed to get in and address Ken Salazar. Check out the video that was captured as Faith asked her question.

Rolling out the welcome mat for Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper

This was our much anticipated action of the COP. We had first nations folks in the house from tar sands affected communities, and allies from the UK and Canada were also rolling deep. Together with our friends at Rainforest Action Network we decided to roll out the welcome mat for Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and pay the Canadian embassy in Copenhagen a visit, just to let them know we were there. We also thought we’d bring him a welcome basket, with some useful things, like treaties, literature on the tar sands, even one of our “Respect Indigenous Rights” placards (translated into Danish for his convenience):

Oh, did I mention more late night banner painting (Heather is a machine!)

Here’s the press release our action media team pulled together. On the way to this action I got a phone call from Danish police, informing me we were not allowed to assemble at the embassy. Unfortunately for them, there were already about 20 people gathered when we got there, dozens more on their way, and we had no intentions of stopping. After all, we were only there to welcome Harper, drop him a gift basket, and let him know there’s always the opportunity to do the right thing.

Smart Meme helped us pull a video together too (in addition to their incredible support during COP15)

Also, around Canada and the UK folks were marking Canada’s oily footprint in their home cities. Check out the UK solidarity action.

NO RIGHTS NO REDDS

This was the last day we knew most of us would have access to the UN. It was also the morning after President Evo Morales of Bolivia had arrived in Copenhagen. Bolivia came to the COP with the most aggressive targets of any government. They also came with a message: RIGHTS FOR MOTHER EARTH.

Delegates from Bolivia came to the Indigenous Caucus with a request for support for a welcoming ceremony and action they wanted to do. We thought it would be a good time to pull out our NO RIGHTS NO REDDS!!! Shirts.

This was also the day of the Reclaim Power action, so at this point, it was all about keeping the energy up until our friends marching outside reached the bella center.

Indigenous Participation in civil society actions:

Marching through the streets of Copenhagen

Watch Tom Goldtooth’s rap at the rally at the end of the march.

RECLAIM POWER

In solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Bolivia, we joined them in leading the Reclaim Power march out of the Bella Center to join our comrades on the outside. Here are some of the days highlights

And a  few from outside

EJ Groups at the US Embassy

Well, we didn’t think we’d go to the US Embassy twice in one trip, but we thought it’d be worth it to unite with our friends in the Environmental Justice movement in the US. Oh yeah, we had one more delivery for Obama:

And of course, there’s an awesome video

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS…
We’re already in conversations about COP 16. Help us get there! Donate to Ruckus today…

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on our work in 2009.  While the story of economic recession has been told on the nightly news through dire images of home foreclosures and job loss, we’ve gotten to see a different side of the story.  We’ve seen that when times are tough and money is tight, communities know that the most effective way to bring about real change is by taking action!

We’ve had a busy year, pulling off some of the most work on some of the least resources in our history.  We’ve helped train, vision, and support actions for groups fighting police brutality, resisting foreclosure evictions, and ending Israel’s assault on the Palestinians in Gaza; groups fighting for clean air and water in their communities; resisting shale gas extraction in NY, and the Tar Sands oil extraction in Alberta; student groups fighting for just policies on their campuses; community groups from New Orleans to Milwaukee working to develop their folks’ skills to serve their communities’ needs; and of course, folks in our backyard here in the Bay Area who are taking Chevron to task and building up community solutions to the impending climate crisis (check out this growing list of eco-justice actions we’re developing!).

In addition to all the community-requested trainings and action support, some of the Ruckus Program highlights from 2009 were:

• The first annual Network RoundUp in January, where folks from our volunteer network of skilled NVDA coordinators and trainers gathered for 4 days in Oakland to share best practices across generations of Ruckus and develop methods to grow and deepen the skills within the Ruckus network.
  

• The Capitol Climate Action in March, where Ruckus helped train, prep and coordinate (with our allies at RAN, Greenpeace, and Energy Action) the first mass civil disobedience for climate justice.  3,000 folks risked arrest at the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, DC, demanding that congress take real steps towards ending the climate crisis.

• Localize This! Action Camp on Vashon Island, WA, in July. Upon request for training by the local Vashon community who was gearing up to (successfully) fight off a multinational corporation from decimating a local island, we used the opportunity to hold one of our cornerstone Action Camps.  Dozens of folks from around the U.S. and Canada convened for a week of nonviolence theory, direct action planning and prep, and hands-on tactical skills such as climbing, blockades on land and sea, and creative visuals.  Several of the participants from the camp went on to take high-level actions against the Tar Sands!  Check out the action on Niagara Falls, and at RBC Headquarters!
  

• West Coast Convergence for Climate Justice & Action (WCCCJA) in September.  As a central planning partner of the Mobilization for Climate Justice-West coalition, we helped host this Bay Area training camp which provided participants with in-depth ecological justice analysis and community solutions tools in addition to direct action training.  MCJ-West has mobilized actions for climate justice each month since the kick-off action at the Richmond Chevron refinery in August, including this action from 9/21 shown here in the U.K. Guardian (that’s our intern, Lydia!), the 10/24 International Day of Action for Climate Justice with 350.org, N30 10th anniversary of the WTO shutdown actions, and December 7th when we blockaded all three gates at Chevron’s Headquarters in San Ramon, CA on the opening day of the COP15 Climate Talks.
  

• Indigenous Peoples’ Delegation action support in Copenhagen Dec 7-18.  Our Indigenous Peoples’ Power Project, under the leadership of Ruckus Program Director Sharon Lungo, helped pull off action after action with Indigenous activists from around the world who traveled to Copenhagen to demand strong and just climate policies at the U.N. COP15.  Check out this video of Sharon in Copenhagen explaining why IP3 was there.

What a year!  Thank you so much to all of you who have supported us financially and otherwise to make all of this important work possible!  We couldn’t have done it without you.

For a sneak preview of what we’ve got in store for 2010, check out our upcoming events page!

Check out this video of Sharon from Copenhagen explaining why our Indigenous Peoples’ Power Project is there, and a little about the action to welcome Canada’s PM Harper…!

Canada is one of many governments who have sent “delegates” to Copenhagen to derail the UN climate conference…but Prime Minister Harper and his delegation no longer have stealth on their side. They are leaving a trail of oily Tar Sands wherever they go.

This Monday (Dec. 14) young indigenous organizers from Tar Sands impacted First Nations will lead thousands of allies in an action that is sure to electrify Copenhagen and the world.

They are calling for people of conscience across the Earth to stand with them. Solidarity actions are already planned for: Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and London (with other cities to be added).

We’ve made it easy for anyone to take a unified stance against the Tar Sands. Click here to download your very own Oily Tar Sands Footprint stencils. Then get together with your friends this Monday and take ACTION.

There are SO many banks, oil companies, and elected officials conspiring to commit the world’s greatest climate crime. But here’s a quick list of the dirtiest:

Banks: Canada – RBC, CIBC, BMO.  USA – BoA, CitiBank  Eupore – HSBC, RBS, Barclays
Oil Companies: Shell, Exxon, BP, Total, Chevron, Esso, Conoco, Enbridge,  Syncrude, Suncor
Your local MP’s Office: If the government is your thing.

So pick your favorite bad guy and leave a trail of footprints around their building.

Take Action!!

Sponsored by – Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Council of Canadians, The Ruckus Society, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Power Project (IP3)

PEACEFUL SIT-IN FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE CONCLUDES AT FINANCE MINISTER FLAHERTY’S OFFICE WITH SEVEN ARRESTS

On November 30th, ten years after the WTO protests in Seattle, activists from across Toronto occupied Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s constituency office at 701 Rossland Road Rast in Whitby to protest the Canadian Government’s failure to address the climate crisis.

This protest was the third of series of peaceful sit-ins targeting elected officials, tar sands financiers, and the coal and tar sands industries across Canada.   Additional protests are expected over the coming days to protest Canada’s failure to commit to a binding, meaningful, and fair climate treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen, from December 7th to December 18th.

Inaction on climate change is already displacing and killing millions, and sending many into poverty.  The UN estimates there will be 150 million climate refugees by 2050.

“Despite the growing crisis, the Harper Government is trying to sabotage efforts to solve this global problem, expanding the tar sands rather than leading the push for and financing of real solutions. We will not let our government delay any further while millions die and are displaced. Their behaviour is unacceptable, we need governmental leadership for climate justice now,” said participant, Indra Noyes.

The individuals inside have multiple affiliations. They presented a letter addressed to Finance Minister Flaherty outlining their concerns and demands (Attached). A group of local and regional supporters, including a local Canadian Auto Workers, also gathered outside of the Finance Minister’s office.

“Letter writing, rallies, meetings, and phone calls are all important actions, but our Government’s inaction indicates that these tactics are not enough. We must step up the pressure so we are engaging in peaceful civil disobedience, like those before us, to ensure we do our part to solve the greatest environmental threat of our time,” stated former constituent Janet McNeill.

For photos of the action, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadaclimatejustice

For videos recorded at the demonstration, see,
http://www.vimeo.com/user2720182/videos/sort:date

Information about the call for civil disobedience for climate justice, as well as updates on actions set to take place across Canada in the coming weeks is online at:
http://canadaclimatejustice.wordpress.com/

DEMAND LETTER:

Honourable Minister Flaherty:

We held a sit-in at in your constituency office today because the Conservative Government is stalling progress to build a just, meaningful, and binding climate treaty this December
in Copenhagen.

Inaction on climate change is already displacing and killing millions, and sending many into poverty.  In Canada, climate change is harming the land and lives of indigenous communities in the Far North. Globally, recent declines in food production due to climate-catalyzed droughts, is causing food shortages in some poor countries and escalating global hunger.  Climate caused events like floods, melting glaciers, and sea level rise, are forcing millions to permanently flee their homes, from Pacific islanders to subsistence farmers in India. The UN estimates there will be 150 million climate refugees by 2050.

We call on you Minister Flaherty to publicly commit to do everything in your power to meaningfully and fairly address the global climate crisis.

We call on you Minister Flaherty to make sure the Canadian Government supports a just, meaningful, and binding climate treaty this December in Copenhagen.

We call on you Minister Flaherty to publicly commit to pass the Climate Change Accountability Act, which calls on Canada to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and do its’ part to solve climate change.

Finally, we demand that you publicly commit to sign the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.  Climate change is a human rights issue, and First Nations in Canada are feeling
climate change worst and first.

The global climate crisis is threatening our future, and humanities’ future.  We have passed the time for inaction.  We demand change. We were forced to end our protest today but our struggle for climate justice will continue.

Yours,

People For Climate Justice

Did you catch that moment of unity last week in Singapore at the APEC summit? Leaders from across the Earth boldly stood, in their matching shirts, unified in their resolve to “walk back” expectations about the Copenhagen Climate Conference next month?

Sheesh.

But who needs to go summit-hopping over to Denmark when you can stay home and fight the largest and most destructive project on planet Earth? Right here in our very own back yard. That’s right–we’re taking about the Tar Sands. The dirtiest most carbon intensive oil on this here planet.

Check out our latest music video:  The Tar Sands Blow

If you ain’t ready to open up a big old can of Tar Sands Whuppass by the time it’s over, then we don’t deserve to call ourselves Popular Agitators no more.

Crank your speakers to 11 and click here:  The Tar Sands Blow

Canadian Tar Sands Oil Undermines North America’s Clean Energy Future
See more photos here.

Before dawn this morning, a small team of climate and Native Rights activists rappelled from the US observation deck at Niagara Falls. Dangling hundreds of feet above the ground, they sent a special welcome message to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of his first official visit to the White House to push dirty Tar Sands oil.

Not that he’s feeling so welcome anyway. Obama limited the meeting to just one hour. While some have called it a slap in the face, Aides say Harper will turn the other cheek. “The economy, and the clean-energy dialogue,” one aide told the Globe and Mail, “will dominate the discussions.” Obama needed to dodge controversy over oil imports from Canada’s tar sands in the midst of the Climate Legislation debate. Harper needed a story to go with his photo-op.

During Harper’s first official trip to meet Obama in the U.S., the two leaders are expected to discuss climate change and energy policy ahead of the upcoming G20 Summit. Canada supplies 19% of U.S. oil imports, more than half of which now comes from the tar sands, making the region the largest single source of U.S. oil imports. The expansion of the tar sands will strip mine an area the size of Florida. Complete with skyrocketing rates of cancer (by 400%!) for First Nations communities living downstream, broken treaties, toxic belching lakes so large you can see them from outer space, churning up ancient boreal forest, destroyed air and water quality, the tar sands have been called the most destructive project on Earth.

Tomorrow’s visit to the U.S. by Prime Minister Harper is the latest attempt by Canadian Federal and Provincial officials to lock in subsidies for 22 new and expanded refinery projects and oil pipelines crisscrossing 28 states, which would transport and process the dirty tar sands oil. Many are concerned that Prime Minister Harper wants to protect the tar sands oil industry from climate regulation, even though it is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdB39U77rGE]

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