Join March for the Land, Sept. 27

[Wendy Philpott]

This message is sent on behalf of Dr. Heather Smyth:


Dear colleagues,



I’m working with a coalition of social justice organizations to help organize a large demonstration for Indigenous rights and sovereignty on September 27th in Toronto. We’re trying to get academics from all over the province involved, and to encourage them to organize buses and bring their students out.



The background is this: in January, five Anishinaabek nations in Ontario came together to form a historic Land Defence Alliance. They’re calling on Premier Ford to end all unwanted mining activity on their Territories. They have called for a massive demonstration in Toronto on September 27th. This is going to be one of the most important demonstrations of the year, and so we really want to bring out everyone who cares about the environment, deforestation, mining, Indigenous rights, colonialism, etc. (More info is available here: https://freegrassy.net/march-for-the-land-walk-with-land-alliance/)


  *   Sept 27
  *   12 noon
  *   Grange Park, Toronto



I’m one of the academic members of this organization helping to build a network of other supportive academics.



Can you help out?



Specifically, we’re asking for these things:

  1.  Could you mention the Sept 27 demonstration in your classes and in online announcements? I’ve attached a poster you can use.
  2.  Would you consider incorporating voluntary participation in the march into your course assignments? It could be an excellent learning experience for students as well as an opportunity for in-class analysis of political participation, environmental defense, and Indigenous sovereignty.
  3.  If you decide to take one or more classes to the demonstration itself, would you be able to organize a bus?
  4.  Are there other professors you know that you could reach out to? Please feel free to share this message.
  5.  Would you like to join a thread of professors and academics to coordinate on this and share resources?
I’d be grateful if you could let me know if any of the above are options for you.

Warmly,

Heather Smyth

Dr. Heather Smyth
Associate Professor
Department of English Language and Literature
University of Waterloo
519-888-4567 x 36027


I acknowledge that I work and teach on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land promised and given to Six Nations, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20230904/0943849e/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: March for the Land Sept 27_image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 920609 bytes
Desc: March for the Land Sept 27_image.png
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/artsannounce/attachments/20230904/0943849e/attachment.png>