On this week’s episode of Talking Radical Radio, Vanessa Gray talks about taking action against toxic colonialism. She is a 21 year-old university student from Aamjiwnaang First Nation in southwestern Ontario, located near the city of Sarnia and what is colloquially referred to as Chemical Valley. The community is surrounded by mulitple toxin-producing industries. It is further threatened by the efforts of the oil company Enbridge to re-purpose its four decade old Line 9 pipeline to carry a different kind of oil in the opposite direction, as part of ongoing efforts to export oil from the environmentally and colonially devastating tar sands in Alberta. Gray works with youth in Aamjiwnaang, with a coalition of activists from both Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia, and with allies in cities and front line communities far and wide. She’s working to raise awareness about the dangers posed by Line 9, about the multiple sources of toxins imposed on her community, and about intertwined environmental and sovereignty issues more broadly. She talks with me about her community and her involvement in struggles to defend it.
To learn more about the struggle at Aamjiwnaang, click here.
Talking Radical Radio brings you grassroots voices from across Canada. We give you the chance to hear many different people that are facing many different struggles talk about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it, in the belief that such listening is a crucial step in strengthening all of our efforts to change the world. To learn more about the show in general, visit the recently revamped website here. You can learn about suggesting topics for future shows here.
Talking Radical Radio is brought to you by Scott Neigh, a writer, media producer, and activist based in Sudbury, Ontario, and the author of two books examining Canadian history through the stories of activists.