By Krishna E. Bera, Lori Waller, and Greg Macdougall

In Feb. 2010, the Mitchikanibikok Inik – or Algonquins of Barriere Lake (ABL), a small First Nation community located 130km north of Maniwaki, Quebec, presented arguments in the Supreme Court of Canada defending their latest leadership selection.

A few weeks later, the court decided the selection was not held according to ABL's customary governance code. The judge misinterpreted the customary governance code with inconsistent logic in his arguments, which might play a role in paving the way for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to impose section 74 of the Indian Act. This would abolish the customary method the ABL use to select their leaders.

This follows a notice Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl sent to the ABL in October that he would not recognize their legitimate leadership. Instead, he said he will impose elections on the community in April 2010.

By Chris Shannon

For those who were around during the early to mid-nineties, a familiar pattern may be emerging. Ontario was then, as it is now, in an economic crisis. The province was bleeding jobs and the coffers at Queen’s Park were short over $10 billion.

Bob Rae, Ontario premier and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader at the time, decided that public sector workers were the answer to saving money. He ripped open union contracts and imposed forced unpaid days off. Union leaders were incensed. The newly termed “Rae days” marked a split between labour and the NDP. Sid Ryan, head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees - Ontario, and a perpetually failed NDP candidate for election, said he would “Never forgive Rae for what he had done.”

By Frank Liberto

Recently, gentrification has emerged as an issue in Hamilton, where political attacks have been waged on sex workers in the form of reactionary public meetings. Some civic boosters and members of the burgeoning downtown art colony and have engaged in a hostile rhetoric toward the poor and homeless.

In response, many social justice activists have begun to mobilize anti-gentrification struggles. Reaction to an art exhibit that exploited outdoor sex workers has evolved into an anti-gentrification group called HAND – Hamiltonians Against Neighbourhood Displacement.

By Jeff Shantz
State Repression Columnist

Only a few days into the Olympic spectacle and much talk had turned to black blocs and a few broken insured Hudson Bay Company windows. Yet much of the discussion has been framed within a strange liberal duality of choices between militant demonstrations (said to be offensive to working class observers) and supposedly “peaceful” symbolic protests, like the march the night of the opening ceremonies (which is presented as more palatable to working class audiences). As if the actions of the demonstrators are the real question and determine the structure of events. Anyone who has ever been on a picket line might find this a bit strange —working class folks have never been involved in dust ups with the cops?— and it has me reflecting not so much on the specific actions in Vancouver as on the broader context for policing and protests.

By Michael Truscello

The Olympic torch relay was invented by the Nazis at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to demonstrate an ancient Aryan lineage with the Third Reich, proof of a warrior culture and foreshadow of the domination of Europe. The contemporary "Olympic Movement" trots out a similar set of symbols, but now backed by corporate logos and the promise of a portable "state of exception," to use the term articulated by Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt.

Anarchists in Canada, especially those whose primary concern is class struggle, may not see much value in protesting the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Why so much fanfare for the Olympics, a one-off event, while barely a whimper from radical groups over the installation of the HST in Ontario and BC — a tax grab that punishes the poor forever?

By Scott Neigh
Northern Ontario Correspondent

A new group based in Sudbury, Ont. is working to build national support for John Moore, an Ojibway man wrongfully convicted of second degree murder in 1978. Moore and the committee are currently asking groups and individuals from across Canada to sign on to a one-paragraph statement that outlines the injustice and asserts that "in recognition of the long history of indigenous people being targeted unfairly by the Canadian justice system, we, the individuals and groups listed below, call upon the Government of Canada to conduct a review of Moore's conviction."

Moore, a member of the Serpent River First Nation who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. was accused of involvement in the murder of cab driver Donald Lanthier in August 1978. Moore said, "I unequivocally did not commit the crime."

By Jeff Shantz
State Repression columnist

Criminal justice systems in capitalist liberal democracies like Canada have criminalized work that is predominantly done by women. Examples of this regulation of women's labour range from the witch hunts — the punishment of women largely for medicinal knowledge; the criminalization of midwifery and abortion provision; and the criminalization of sex-trade workers. Three sex-trade workers challenging Canada's prostitution laws in a court case in Toronto show the struggles over the regulation of sex work in Canada.

The three sex-trade workers involved in the court case, dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford and prostitutes Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch, argue that the laws against keeping a common bawdy house and communicating for the purposes of prostitution perpetuate violence against women by forcing them into more dangerous working conditions.

By Ray Cunningham
Workers Solidarity

Universal education is a relatively recent innovation originating in the late 19th century. Its spread followed that of the industrial revolution quite closely — and for good reason. With the increase in the amount of mechanical, as opposed to manual, work it was found that workers required more skills. It wasn't enough to have a strong back any more — to operate machinery you need at least basic literacy.

If the economy was to grow it was no longer enough to have a very narrow layer of highly educated people, everybody had to have some basic training. You can see the same thing going on today. The workplace is becoming increasingly computerized, and employers are complaining that their workforce isn't familiar enough with computers.

By Edward Wong

Tuition fees are certainly a barrier to the accessibility of education. However, an issue not often discussed is the living expenses of students. As with tuition, students are forced to take out loans or seek part-time employment. The debt load has tremendous financial implications after graduation and can be linked to drop out rates. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, insufficient funds and the need to seek employment is the number one reason for the interruption of studies for both university and college students.

By Jeff Shantz
State Repression Columnist

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games are scheduled to take place from February 12-17, in Vancouver-Whistler on land that was never given up by indigenous communities. For growing numbers of indigenous people, homeless and poor people, low-income tenants and sex workers the Olympic Games represent a continued history of colonization and “social cleansing” of poor communities.

Construction for the Olympics infrastructure is adding to extensive destruction of indigenous peoples’ traditional homelands and contributing to the displacement and criminalization of people living in poor urban neighbourhoods.