Round Up of Week 2 of COP26

After the intensity of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice March on November 6th, where we rallied with 100,000 people, criticizing False Climate Solutions like Net-Zero and singing proudly our demands for Land Back!, we took a day to rest and reconnect before another action-filled week.

A water ceremony with Indigenous Elders by the River Clyde helped to ground us in  our basic purpose in being at COP 26, and a nice dinner with many of our Indigenous relatives and intersectional allies within It Takes Roots, Black Indigenous Liberation Movement, NDN Collective, Indigenous Environmental Network and many more helped us to connect and strengthen some of our most important relationships in this challenging work. 

Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, Grandmother Mary Lyons & Bineshi Albert take a moment of grounding in Glasgow during COP26

The past week was filled with actions and events inside and outside of the COP 26 venue, as well as a multitude of speaking engagements to get our words into the world and speak truth to power. We supported the activities of friends in our network, and organized our own opportunities to draw attention to important issues and messages. One of our youth delegates, Sarah Hanson shared a reflection linking her work on exposing the flaws with Nature-Based Solutions with the work to stop False Solutions in this global forum, if you missed it check it out here!

The Memorial Action for MMIW2SLGBTQQIA+ garnered the attention of international media during COP26 in Glasgow

We supported a memorial  action to call attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirit, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and A sexual, plus.  in order to make an explicit connection between violence against the land and violence from the patriarchal systems of the extractive industry. We co-organized an action outside of the JPMorgan Chase investment firm headquarters to call out the continued investment of billions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry and their shameful profit off of climate change and the death and displacement of Indigenous Peoples and grassroots communities. We supported our allies at Grassroots Global Justice Alliance in calling out the US Military as one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, and supported the message that ending militarization  is an important part of addressing the climate crisis. 

We made a strong showing at events, panel discussions, and speeches both inside and outside the COP 26 venue. Many of these speaking events were live-streamed and recorded to allow for amplification - we have been so uplifted by the enthusiasm and words of encouragement from supporters outside of Glasgow!  ICA Executive Director Eriel Deranger spoke powerfully at a closing press conference to lay bare the connection between colonization and climate change, and positioned Indigenous land defenders as the best and most effective protectors of a liveable future. At the closing People’s Plenary, ICA was proud to support Ta’Kaiya Blaney in delivering an impassioned speech which received a standing ovation. 

Ta'kaiya Blaney (centre) alongside numerous Indigenous Youth at the closing People's Plenary

As the official negotiations wrapped up at the end of the week, ICA supported interventions by the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus on striking down Article 6, which outlines mechanisms for false solutions such as carbon markets and offsets without clear grievance mechanisms . We and our allies at NDN Collective and Indigenous Environmental Network have been speaking strongly against the weak inclusion and full participation of Indigenous peoples rights in Article 6, as it enables the further commodification of Indigenous lands and permits corporations to continue increasing emissions. ICA released a press release outlining how Article 6 puts the Paris Agreement at risk, along with a statement about the final agreement that came together from World Leaders.

We are ever grateful for the care and encouragements from all our supporters. Thanks for showing up with donations, words of encouragements, amplification to wider networks and more. We couldn’t have come this far without you!

An overview with quick links in case you missed it!

Speaking Engagements at COP 26:

• Eriel Deranger (ICA Executive Director) -  “Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change” hosted by WECAN

• Daniel T’seleie (ICA Executive Steering Committee member) - “Phasing a just and equitable phase out of fossil fuel production to limit warming to 1.5c” hosted by Oil Change International 

• Grandmother Mary Lyons, Ta’Kaiya Blaney, Aya Clappis, and other frontline youth speaking on “Voices from the Frontlines - Narratives of Indigenous Resistance” hosted by Indigenous Climate Action (ICA session starts at 4:23:47)

• Eriel Deranger - “Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative: Fossil Fuels Phase-out is Needed as COP26 Come to a Close” hosted by Stand.Earth

• Ta’Kaiya Blaney - Speech representing Indigenous Caucus at the People’s Plenary closing session

Speaking engagements and panels outside COP 26 venue:

• Hoodwinked in the Hothouse with Indigenous Environmental Network

• Defending Old Growth Forests: Indigenous Rights & Land Titling with Sierra Club BC

• People's Summit Assembly for Indigenous Peoples with Indigenous Environmental Network

Actions and events

• Water Ceremony

• Relationship building dinner with Intersectional Movement Partners 

• Anti-militarization action with Grassroots Global Justice 

• MMIW2SLGBTQQIA Memorial Action

• JPMorgan Chase divestment action

• People’s Plenary and walk out

Media Articles 

• Indigenous women speak out at Cop26 rally: ‘Femicide is linked to ecocide’

• ‘Shame on you’: Indigenous campaigners demand JPMorgan end fossil fuel finance

• Indigenous youth, Kitchener advocate share experiences from COP26

• Global leaders must listen to those with connection to the land, Manitobans who attended climate summit say

Some compelling quotes this past week: 

“The murder and disappearance of Indigenous women, queer, trans, and two-spirit peoples is a form of colonial violence that impacts Indigenous communities globally.  Violence against our bodies accompanies violence against the lands in the form of resource extraction, fossil fuel industries, and the policing of our resistance movements by settler governments. We are of the land, and as our lands are targeted so are we. There will be no climate justice until there is justice for every Indigenous person murdered in the name of extractive economies.” - Cheghajimixw from the Tla’amin Nation. 

“Line 3 pipes are in ground, the dirty TarSands Oil will be filling them, we are not done fighting. We also stand with Line 5, we have to protect the Great Lakes. We cannot stop fighting at every level to protect our water and the sacred knowledge of the land.  We will prevail and hold JPMorgan Chase accountable because there is too much to lose” Grandma Mary Lyons, an Anishnaabe leader. 

“It’s simply lip service in the name of business as usual if our people do not have power to make decisions for ourselves, participate in the processes, or have mechanisms for grievances. It’s clear governments are unwilling to decouple themselves from corporate interests, that dominated negotiations this year, and that the rights of our communities are nothing more than bargaining chips. For our communities the real work begins when we get home and have to tell our people we didn’t succeed, and that the risks and threats to our people and land will continue, and increase, and that our fight for climate justice still wages on.” - Eriel Deranger, ICA Executive Director, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation