Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs facts for kids

RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs) is a charity in Canada. It helps Indigenous nations get money for legal battles. These legal battles help them protect their traditional lands and ways of life. They also help fight climate change and other environmental problems caused by big industrial projects.

RAVEN's Mission

RAVEN's main goal is to help Indigenous peoples protect their lands and resources. They also work to solve big environmental issues like climate change. RAVEN does this by supporting court cases. These cases help Indigenous communities use their legal rights to stop harmful industrial projects.

How RAVEN Gets Money

RAVEN is a registered charity in Canada. This means people can donate money to them, and RAVEN doesn't have to pay taxes on those donations. They also have a similar tax-exempt status in the United States.

A group called Friends of RAVEN Foundation also helps. It was set up to hold donations and gifts. This money then goes to RAVEN to help Indigenous peoples. It supports legal services and educational programs.

What RAVEN Does and How It Works

RAVEN raises money for legal defense. This money helps Indigenous peoples in Canada go to court. They use the courts to protect their traditional lands and rights. These legal actions can create important new rules for future cases. They also help protect the environment by fighting climate change. They work to keep nature healthy, ensure clean water, and secure food supplies.

Since 2014, RAVEN has raised over $7.2 million for Indigenous partners. Their legal work has led to big wins. For example, they helped stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. They also helped protect a large area of the Peel Watershed in the Yukon. Mining projects at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) and T’ak Tl’ah Bin (Morrison Lake) were also stopped. Plus, a big gas project at the Skeena River was cancelled.

RAVEN raises money for nations defending their lands from harmful resource extraction. Here are some examples:

• Challenging Fossil Fuel Projects:

* The Beaver Lake Cree Nation is fighting against oil sands projects in Alberta and Canada. * The Wet’suwet’en are challenging the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia. * The Heiltsuk Nation is suing over a major diesel spill in the Great Bear Sea.

• Protecting Rivers and Rights:

* The West Moberly First Nations are involved in a campaign against the Site C dam.

• Fighting for Mining Justice:

* The Gitxaala Nation is challenging a law to protect Banks Island. * The Neskantaga Nation is fighting against poor environmental reviews in the Ring of Fire mining area. * The Tsilhqot’in Nation is taking legal action against Taseko Mines Ltd and British Columbia.

RAVEN is special because it's the only group in Canada focused on raising money for Indigenous legal defense. This helps Indigenous peoples protect their rights and lands. These rights are guaranteed in the Canadian Constitution.

RAVEN works with many other groups. Some of these include Sierra Club BC, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace.

RAVEN has a board of directors and a legal advisory panel. These are groups of people who help guide RAVEN's work and give legal advice.

Friends of RAVEN Foundation

The Friends of RAVEN Foundation helps RAVEN. It manages donations and gifts. This money helps Indigenous peoples protect the environment. It supports legal services, like court cases. It also helps create education programs. These programs teach people about legal rights and how to use them.

The Foundation also supports an essay prize for young scholars. It plans to help RAVEN cover its daily costs. This way, all the money raised for specific campaigns can go directly to legal costs for Indigenous nations.

Important Campaigns

Beaver Lake Cree Nation vs. the Tar Sands

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation is a small community in eastern Alberta. They are suing the Canadian and Alberta governments. They say that tar sands projects are destroying their traditional hunting and fishing lands. Animals, fish, plants, and medicines that the Beaver Lake Cree rely on are being harmed.

In Canada, Indigenous peoples' rights are protected by the Constitution. The Beaver Lake Cree Nation says they have a treaty right to hunt and fish. They say this right is being destroyed by tar sands activity. Their lawsuit aims to stop new developments. They have listed over 17,000 ways their treaty rights have been harmed.

The tar sands in northern Alberta are one of the world's largest oil deposits. Billions of dollars have been invested there. But no one has fully studied the total environmental or cultural damage. Many believe this project will destroy a huge part of North America's boreal forest. It could also make global warming worse and destroy an Indigenous way of life. The Alberta government keeps approving projects. This means more "dirty oil" is produced.

Huge areas of the boreal forest have already been cut down. This harms the environment. The forest is home to many animals like black bears, caribou, and moose. The Beaver Lake Cree say they can no longer find caribou herds. Moose are also disappearing.

As the forest is cleared for mines, it loses its ability to store carbon. This adds to greenhouse gases in the air. Oil sands extraction also pollutes the earth with waste ponds. It pollutes the air with emissions. It uses huge amounts of water, creating lakes of chemicals that can leak into rivers.

Beaver Lake Cree History

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation is near Lac La Biche in Alberta. In the 1800s, they hunted, fished, and trapped fur. In the 1870s, the Canadian government started making treaties. These treaties aimed to open up lands for settlement. Food for the Cree was becoming scarce.

In 1876, Canadian officials met with Cree, Chipewyan, and Salteaux leaders. They held pipe ceremonies, which were very serious for the Cree. Promises made during these ceremonies were meant to be kept. The officials made promises in the Queen's name.

The Beaver Lake Cree's ancestors met with Commissioner Alexander Morris in September 1876. He told them: "I see them enjoying their hunting and fishing as before, I see them retaining their old mode of living with the Queen's gift in addition."

Chief Pay-ay-sis signed Treaty 6. The Cree gave up a large area of land. In return, they were promised they could still hunt and fish to make a living. They were also promised $5.00 per person each year. The $5.00 payment has been made every year.

Treaty 6 says the Cree give up their land rights. But it also says: "Her Majesty further agrees with Her said Indians that they, the said Indians, shall have right to pursue their avocations of hunting and fishing throughout the tract surrendered... saving and excepting such tracts as may from time to time be required or taken up for settlement, mining, lumbering or other purposes..."

This part of the treaty has a conflict. The government can take land, but Indigenous peoples keep their right to hunt and fish. For over 100 years, there was enough land for hunting and fishing. So, there was no conflict.

But in the last 20 years, tar sands projects have taken up huge amounts of land. Now, the right to hunt and fish is threatened. The Supreme Court of Canada has said that the government cannot take so much land that it makes hunting meaningless. If there are too few animals, or people have to travel too far, the treaty right is no longer meaningful. If government actions cause this, those actions can be found unconstitutional.

Impact of Tar Sands on the Beaver Lake Cree

The Athabasca oil sands are one of the world's largest oil deposits. Billions of barrels of oil can be recovered. Alberta produces a lot of "dirty oil" every day. This amount is expected to double or triple soon.

Oil sands extraction causes many environmental problems:

• Destroying the Boreal Forest: The boreal forest stores a lot of carbon. Destroying it releases greenhouse gases. If all planned projects happen, an area twice the size of Ireland could be removed. This destroys homes for many animals.
• Harming the Athabasca River: Producing oil from tar sands uses huge amounts of water. For every barrel of oil, about one barrel of water is polluted and put into waste ponds. The Athabasca River might not have enough water for all the mining and for nature. This harms fish, wildlife, and communities downstream. Toxic waste ponds also threaten water quality.
• Using Lots of Natural Gas: Natural gas is burned to heat the tar sands. This adds carbon dioxide to the air. It means a cleaner fossil fuel (natural gas) is used to create a very dirty one (synthetic crude oil).
• Creating Toxic Waste Ponds: The waste from oil extraction includes sand, clay, and toxic substances. Billions of liters of waste are created every day. These ponds cover a huge area. They contain harmful chemicals that can leak into the Athabasca River. In 2008, 500 ducks died after landing on a Syncrude waste pond.
• Releasing Greenhouse Gases: Tar sands extraction increases greenhouse gases in three ways:

1. Carbon released when the boreal forest is destroyed. 2. Burning natural gas in the refining process. 3. Carbon released from the oil itself. Because of this, Alberta produces much more greenhouse gas per person than other places. If tar sands are fully developed, they alone could add a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This could cancel out all global efforts to fight climate change. It would also make the Beaver Lake Cree Nation's treaty rights meaningless.

Toxic Fuels Campaign

In 2009, Co-operative Financial Services (a bank) announced it would support the Beaver Lake Cree lawsuit. They launched a "Toxic Fuels" campaign. This campaign aims to fight oil extraction from sources like tar sands. They say this threatens efforts to stop climate change and risks local environmental disaster. The campaign directly links to RAVEN to help fund the lawsuit. The bank has donated over £100,000 to the Beaver Lake Cree's case.

Tsilhqot'in Fight to Save Teztan Biny

Taseko Mines Ltd. wanted to build a huge gold and copper mine called Prosperity Mine. It would be deep inside the traditional territory of the Tsilhqot'in Nation. This area is in south-central British Columbia. It's a beautiful mountain area near important parks and wild horse preserves.

The Tsilhqot'in National Government says the mine would destroy an entire ecosystem. Most importantly, it would destroy Teztan Biny, a lake sacred to the Tsilhqot'in Nation. This lake is also known as Fish Lake. It has been used by their ancestors for a very long time. Teztan Biny has many unique Rainbow Trout. These fish are a key food source for the Tsilhqot'in people and local wildlife, like grizzly bears.

For generations, the Tsilhqot'in have gone to Teztan Biny to fish, hunt, gather medicines, and practice their spiritual beliefs. It is a vital part of their culture and survival. Many other local people and tourists also enjoy the lake. The Tsilhqot'in Nation is not against all development. But they believe destroying Teztan Biny is wrong. They say it is not sustainable.

Wild salmon start their journey to the Pacific Ocean from this area. Teztan Biny is part of a watershed that supports one of North America's largest salmon fisheries. Toxic waste from the mine could harm these salmon.

The Canadian government rejected the Prosperity Mine in 2010. An independent review found it would cause terrible, lasting damage. It would harm fish, grizzly bears, and Tsilhqot'in culture and rights.

In 2011, Taseko Mines submitted a new plan, called New Prosperity Mine. But the federal government rejected it again in 2014. Experts said it would still have major impacts on water quality, fish, and Tsilhqot'in culture. They also said Taseko couldn't prove their plan to protect the lake would work.

Taseko Mines then launched legal challenges. But courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, upheld the rejection. The Supreme Court refused to hear any more appeals in 2020.

Even with these rejections, Taseko was pushing for "exploratory drilling" in the Teztan Biny area. They had permits from the provincial government. These permits allow exploration even if a mine proposal is rejected.

In 2019, the Tsilhqot'in filed a lawsuit against Taseko and the British Columbia government. They are fighting to protect their Aboriginal rights at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) and the surrounding area. This legal action will be heard in 2022. For now, the B.C. Supreme Court has stopped Taseko from drilling.

RAVEN continues to support the Tsilhqot'in in this ongoing legal fight. Their goal is to protect the Teztan Biny area from any mining forever.

See also

• Environmental issues in Canada