WUNRN
Nobel Women's Initiative
CANADA - INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST WOMAN
FIGHTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS, NATIVE PEOPLE'S TREATY RIGHTS, HUMAN RIGHTS
I
really feel the need to be a part of the struggle against the way the world is
being desecrated for the pursuit of profit. The natural balance of our
environment is seriously in threat.”
November 28, 2012 - Meet Melina Laboucan
Massimo - Melina is an Indigenous and environmental activist—and
a committed spokesperson on behalf of her Nation, the Lubicon Cree in
Having grown up in the oil sands region, Melina
knows the reality of the oil sands too well. She has seen first-hand
the impacts of oil sands development on her Nation’s people, culture, and land.
She now spends most of her days traveling inside
The Canadian government has granted almost 1400 square
kilometers of leases for development on Lubicon lands, and almost
70 percent of Lubicon territory has been leased for future development.
These developments have taken place without consent by the
Lubicon people—and in direct violation of their treaty and
international human rights. Indeed, in 2005, the United
Nations Human Rights Committee found that
Melina says so much has changed in a short time. Her father’s generation and her grandparent’s generation survived by hunting, fishing and trapping throughout the region. But the oil and gas have edged out these traditional livelihoods, and brought little good in return. “Since 1978, over 14 billion dollars have been taken out of our traditional territory,” says Melina. “Yet my family still goes without running water! The more than 2600 oil wells on Lubicon territory make it difficult to live a healthy, traditional and sustainable lifestyle.”
Earlier this year, Melina testified before the US Congressional Committee on
the impacts of oil sands projects in northern
Melina’s voice is one that urges world leaders and citizens to consider
those who are affected by the oil sands development—including her community—and
take decisive action. “Native people have always tried to maintain this
reciprocal relationship with nature realizing that one must take care of and
respect the environment,” says Melina. “When will our governments learn
that they cannot keep taking and taking without regards to its consequences?”