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Fundraiser

Irkar Beljaars January 31 at 9:13pm
Hey folks, I’m emceeing this event next month and wanted to know if you could pass the word along in your circles to drum up support for the project. Here is the website for registering http://voicesofthepeople.eventsbot.com/ and here is some discription of the project itself!

This documentary will celebrate the First Nations people’s will and strength while witnessing the current predicament in which they find themselves. Set on the Attawapiskat First Nation community, this documentary follows this Indian reservation, its current third world conditions, and the heroes of the community working at creating awareness and change. We explore the negative and positive effects that their physical proximity to western civilization has had on their lifestyles, specifically the installation of the DeBeers mining company on their territory.

Being such a young country drives us, as a collective, towards learning more about our history, towards defining ourselves as a compassionate society, towards making things right and just for all who chose to live in our great country and those who were here before us that call Canada home. This documentary will reveal the fact that presently many of our First Nations people live in third world conditions(1) and that without Canada’s collective enlightenment our people will continue to suffer these conditions. As we are currently experiencing, there are great social and economical repercussions when we ignore these types of issues. It is time for hope, it is time to build, it is time to care for all of the people of Canada.

Native communities provide their inhabitants with a sense of belonging, and a rich history and pride in their culture and language. The James Bay Treaty, Treaty no. 9 was portrayed to the inhabitants of the land as a means of protecting their land and culture while being provided the adequacies of Western civilization. “The Indians were giving their faith and allegiance to the King, and for giving up their title to a large area of land of which they could make no use, they received benefits that served to balance anything they were given.”(2) Throughout the years many Canadians as well as governments, whether federal or provincial, have increasingly become aware that the situation of many First Nation reserves is anything but balanced. The standards of living to which most Canadians have become accustomed are not being met in many remote Native communities, such as Attawapiskat. In many cases the federal government has stepped in to “urbanize” the community only to retreat when the funds have run out. This has resulted in inadequate housing, sub standard water treatment facilities if any, challenging access to education, sub standard health care, and inaccessibility to other essentials that many Canadians would consider to be necessities.

The story of the plight facing our First Nations People must be told. We will produce a documentary on this subject through the voices of the people on the Attawapiskat reservation.
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A little about me!

My name is Irkar Beljaars, I am Metis from Montreal, I have been working in social justice radio for nearly 5 years now. I work as a radio producer, producing Native Solidarity News and The Longhouse webcast on forgetthebox.net. My next project is producing The Longhouse Program, a 30min weekly radio feature airing on the Pacifica network in the United States.

I also help organize events like the Sister’s in Spirit vigil, Day of actions and film nights. I am called on to speak about various first nation issues at universities and community centres in Canada. I sit on the board of Directors of the National Campus Radio Association as director of the Native caucus. I’m currently writing a play for this years infringement festival which takes place in Montreal every year. Other work includes doing freelance writing work for the Nation Magazine which focuses on the issues facing the Cree up in Northern Quebec.