Message given the Queen on her 1997 visit to Newfoundland

SHESHATSHIU, CANADA: As Queen Elizabeth II’s motorcade drives by, an Innu woman holds up a sign protesting Canada’s claim to their lands in Sheshatshiu, Newfoundland during the Queen’s 26 June 1997 visit. AFP PHOTO/CARLO ALLEGRI

As is well known, in Newfoundland the genocide of the Beothuk Indigenous people occurred due to the slave trade and brutal treatment carried out by colonial powers of which the English set the pattern, something the Indigenous peoples have repeatedly raised. 

Queen Elizabeth II visited Labrador in June, 1997 to mark the quincentennial anniversary of the “discovery” of Newfoundland by the Venetian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), who was commissioned by Henry VII of England.

This Day. ‘Discovery’ of New Found Land and Cape Breton: Who was Caboto and what was his claim on Canada?

The Venetian navigator Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), commissioned by Henry VII of England, landed in Newfoundland, on June 24, 1497 believing it to be an island off the coast of Asia and named it New Found Land. [1] Under the commission of this king to “conquer, occupy, and possess” the lands of “heathens and infidels”, Caboto reconnoitred the Newfoundland coast and also landed on the northern shore of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. [2]

He returned to England on August 6 and took three Mi’kmaq with him, thereby introducing slavery into North America. This may be responsible for his disappearance when he returned to Newfoundland with five ships in 1498. When his ships arrived in northern Cape Breton Island, the Mí’kmaq attacked. Only one ship returned to England, the other four, with Caboto as Captain, never returned.

‘Removing Cornwallis,’ it’s been a long time coming

In support of the “Removing Cornwallis” activities in Halifax, Nova Scotia – July 15, 2017 from 12:00 to 15:00 hours

By TONY SEED

On November 21, 2009 some 200 people gathered in a rally in Cornwallis Park to oppose the inaugural Halifax International Security Forum (HISF), a warmongering agency based in Washington, DC and funded by the Department of National Defence and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. They took the collective decision to rename it Peace and Freedom Park as their very first act, an act carried out in consultation with Mi’kmaq elders such as acclaimed historian Dan Paul.

They covered the statue of Edward Cornwallis with a white sheet. The anti-war rally was organized by an ad hoc committee consisting of activists from different affiliations and background, which became No Harbour for War.

Stop NATO bombing over Labrador!

By TONY SEED

Innu women demonstrate in the mid-1980s against NATO overflights and for self-determination for their homeland which they call Nitassinan.

“THE Department of National Defence is considering expanding an aerial bombing range in Labrador to allow pilots from NATO nations to train with so-called smart bombs,” the Canadian Press reported.

“The department has applied to the provincial government for an amendment to the provincial land lease under which the Canadian Forces operates its air weapons range, 120 kilometres southwest of Goose Bay.”