The Biimadasahwin Cabin Build Diary: Week One

Sunday 9 June, 2013.

Today marks our seventh full day here.  For many of our team of people representing different ILPS member organizations and peoples (with representatives from indigenous peoples of the Philippines, Latin America, Switzerland, and others) this is our first experience working directly with the native peoples of this land.  It has been a worthwhile experience.

It’s noon as I write this in my camp notebook.  I’m sitting in the diffused blue light under the tarps tied onto A-frames made of thin pine trees chopped down during our first day.  It is our camp centre and kitchen.

 

Connecting Indigenous Struggles: Turtle Island and the Philippines

 [The above video is a NEW video that I just posted (3 June)]

This morning Saturday 1 June 2013, I and other from associated ILPS Canada organizations–including an Filipina indigenous woman–will be headed up to northern Ontario (four hours north of Thunder Bay) to work on a grassroots project led by the women of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen.

She and I will not only be there to help with the project, but also to build bridges between the struggles of the First Nations and the Philippines–especially between our indigenous peoples.

 

My Mining Photos in This Magazine (Nov/Dec’08)

Check out the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of This Magazine for my photos and article about two Canadian mining sites in the Philippines.   The vid above was produced by This using a few of my images and narration.

 

What Killed Dr. William Jones?

I like to look at archival photos every once in awhile. There’s something about seeing images from the past that grips me. The long dead faces, and old–almost foreign–landscapes tell stories.

I was interested in this photo from 1909 instantly, two Filipino indigenous men, captives of colonized Filipino soldiers working for the Americans. One of the bound men had a look that seemed to me fearful, while the other seemed proud and defiant. The caption under the photo only told me that they were the killers of Dr. William Jones.

Who was this Dr. Jones? What was he a doctor of? What was he doing in the Phils and, presumably indigenous territory? And, of course, why was he killed?

 

Gold: Our Conflict Diamonds

As a balikbayan [Filipino with a foreign passport returning home], sometimes you’re confronted by a situation that makes you embarrassed to have a Canadian passport. This last Christmas season was pretty crushing for both the Filipino and Canadian in me.