Quebec/Canada Conference on the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Movement
- Saturday October 23rd 9h -10h30
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
Pavillon des Sciences de l’Éducation
1405 St-Denis (corner René-Lévesque)
Room N-M140 (pavilion N métro level)
Montreal, Quebec, metro Berri-UQAM
It is impossible to speak meaningfully about Israeli apartheid without speaking first about the realities of Apartheid in Canada, or Turtle Island, as it is known by some indigenous peoples. From its foundation, Canada has been based on the theft of indigenous lands, and the genocide and displacement of indigenous peoples. The Canadian state’s treatment of indigenous peoples, both historically and currently, can be described as an apartheid system. And in the face of more than five hundred years of colonialism, indigenous communities continue to resist and survive. This panel discussion will bring together activists Judy da Silva, Harsha Walia, and Clifton Nicholas to discuss the ongoing Indigenous struggles against apartheid in Canada.
presentations from
Judy Da Silva
Judy Da Silva is a Anishinabekwe from Grassy Narrows, northwestern Ontario. Judy is the mother of 5 children, fighting to protect the way of life of the Anishnabe people. She is active in resisting the environmental devastation and destruction of the land, animals and people, by logging and mining companies and the provincial and federal governments. She is currently involved in an environmental contaminants study of three northwestern Ontario Indigenous communities.
Harsha Walia
Harsha Walia is a South Asian organizer and writer based in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories. For over a decade she has actively organized in radical grassroots anti racist, migrant justice, Indigenous solidarity, feminist, anti-imperialist, Palestine solidarity, and anti capitalist movements. She has been published in a variety of mainstream newspapers, anthologies, magazines, and alternative press.
Clifton Nicholas
Clifton Arihwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) from Kanehsatake. Clifton is active in his community as both an activist and as a defender of his people. Clifton was one of the people who defended the community of Kanehsatake in 1990, he has been a staunch advocate of Indigenous resistance throughout Canada and the Americas. Since 1990 Clifton has been an outspoken supporter of Palestinian human rights and a critic of Israeli abuses and occupation of Palestine.
