Michael Toledano

Living in Toronto. Writer, photographer, documentarian, "extreme left ecozealot."

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I was present when Indigenous activists along with settler allies and BLMTO took over the Indian and Northern Affair’s office in Toronto to demand immediate action to halt the northern Indigenous suicide epidemic.

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Filmed this about two weeks ago. Activists disrupted the world's largest mining convention to hold a vigil for the people killed for opposing the projects of Canadian and international mining companies around the world, including Bertha Cáceras - an Indigenous leader from Honduras who was assassinated in her home.

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On March 21st, Black Lives Matter activists pitched tents at the Toronto Police headquarters and started an occupation to protest the police killings of Andrew Loku, Jermaine Carby, Alex Wettlaufer, Melkioro Gahungu, and others. Cops reacted to the peaceful protest by attacking the crowd on two separate occasions, all in order to extinguish their campfire, confiscate their tents, and pour chemicals all over their firewood. At the time of this video’s release, the group remains in place.

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I spent several months filming this short in Unist’ot’en territory as the RCMP and pipeline companies increased their presence in the area and attempted to force fracking infrastructure onto unceded indigenous land. Edited by Franklin Lopez.

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Unist’ot’en Camp, an indigenous community in the path of three fossil fuel pipelines, is under high alert after tips of a potential police raid. They have never relinquished their land to Canada or BC by way of treaty, land sale, or surrender, and have effectively kept some of North America’s largest fossil fuel and pipeline companies from working in their territories for years.

I’m on the ground and live-tweeting.

Follow me on twitter

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Shot this short video at Unist’ot’en camp under threat of a police raid, where the compulsion to jar, smoke, or eat salmon comes before any other consideration.

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Police and pipeline companies have increased their surveillance and presence around unceded Unist’ot’en territory, where an indigenous clan has established a community directly in the path of a proposed tar sands and fracked gas pipeline corridor. I have been staying with the Unist’ot’en, and reported on this escalation for Al Jazeera. “The Unist’ot’en do not recognize or honor any permits by provincial or federal regulatory or governing bodies related to our unceded traditional territories,” read a letter sent by the clan to pipeline giant TransCanada. “We honor only our traditional law and are guided by our ancestors’ direction to protect our territories from destruction.” Read the story on Al Jazeera America.

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Filmed this in July at the Unist’ot’en Camp. Next to a glacial river that the camp drinks from, Chevron Pacific Trail Pipelines representatives offered the Unist’ot’en clan Nestle bottled water and two packages of industrial tobacco. 

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Throughout May and June, TransCanada has made repeated attempts to survey for their Coastal GasLink pipeline by trespassing in Unist’ot’en territory. A new checkpoint has gone up on the Chisolm Forest Service Road, while supporters at the main camp encountered a helicopter that landed without the clan’s consent and kept it grounded until the hereditary chiefs could be reached. The clan continues to make sure that no pipelines will be built on their unceded territores.

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Aamjiwnaang is one of the most polluted communities in Canada, surrounded on all sides by petro-chemical facilities. Three hours west of Toronto, it's a well kept secret. Vanessa and Lindsay Gray are raising funds to have Aamjiwnaang’s water and sediment tested for toxins, as a first step towards restoring the land. Check out their campaign on indiegogo.com

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Photos from a Baltimore Uprising solidarity rally held by Black Lives Matter Toronto. About a thousand people hit the streets to demand an end to racist carding policies and justice for the killings of Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Jermaine Carby, Aiyana Jones, Mya Hall, and many others. The march began at Toronto Police Headquarters and ended outside the US consulate.

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A leaked RCMP report names "violent aboriginal extremists" with "anti-petroleum ideology" as key threats to Canada's national security. I spoke to people identified as "violent extremists" in the report, including the Unist'ot'en Camp and people taking action against Enbridge's Line 9.

They talk about how law enforcement uses racism to justify its mandate and how Harper's secret police Bill C-51 is unlikely to crush this resistance.

"We already live in the world that people are afraid C-51 is going to create," said Alex Hundert.

A long-read on VICE.com

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A group of Dene in the far north of Saskatchewan are resisting tar sands and uranium mining in their territory, which could disfigure the environment and poison their food and water via radioactive dust contamination.

"We don't want to become a sacrifice zone. That's where we see ourselves heading."

A long-read on VICE.com - all photos by Joey Podlubny

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In the latest insult to the First Nation of Aamjiwnaang, Enbridge representatives failed to attend their own community open-house, while a number of oil, gas, and chemical companies sponsored "free starter emergency kits" for the residents that live next to their industrial facilities. Aamjiwnaang is a stark example of environmental racism - a reservation surrounded on all sides by oil and gas pipelines, refineries, and high-emitting petro-chemical facilities. From the article:  "They think doing this—giving us food and giving us a bag of goodies or whatever—they think that's being a good neighbour," said Mike Plain, a community Elder, to the gathered crowd of about fifty residents. "Trinkets," someone in the crowd suggested. "Trinkets," Plain repeated. "This is the word. A long time ago they gave us whiskey and smallpox blankets. It's no different. It's no different from what they're doing today." Read the story on VICE.com

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The fight against Enbridge's Line 9 appears to be escalating with coordinated direct actions across Ontario. Activists claimed to lock-up banks, political offices, pipeline contractors, and other businesses. All photos via Dam Line 9 Read the whole article on VICE.com

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Helped shoot this short video with Franklin Lopez for Al Jazeera Plus. The Unist'ot'en and Wet'suwet'en people have never ceded or surrendered their lands to the Canadian state, yet Canada and BC want to flow hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tar sands and fracked gas through their lands. In response, they've built a permanent community to block these projects.

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An insane amount of tar sands and fracking infrastructure is proposed for some of the most beautiful places on earth - unceded indigenous territories in so-called 'BC.' This article talks about the proposals (12+ pipelines, 18+ liquefaction and export facilities, tens of thousands of fracking wells, thousands of tankers), how tar sands and fracking projects are intertwined, and how indigenous communities are positioning themselves to thwart this development.  “There is a barrage of oil and gas developments being proposed in this whole North West and if they were successful we would see a wasteland development. We wouldn’t see a build-up of community development,” argues Mel Bazil, a resident of Hazelton and long-term supporter of the Unist’ot’en Camp blockade. “It comes with forms of violence: domestic violence, a large influx of drugs, missing and murdered women, and pollution.” Read now on VICE.com