1/10 PM @JustinTrudeau & #NATO @jensstoltenberg just visited #Canada’s biggest fighter jet base, CFB Cold Lake, in #Alberta. Canadians should know that the land for this @RCAF_ARC base & air weapons range was stolen from First Nations 70 years ago. bit.ly/3CxYLCb 🧵⬇️ 
2/From 1952-1960 Liberal govt gave minimal compensation to Dene & Cree peoples for taking land then stopped all payments. Loss of land had devastating consequences: poverty, despair & trauma. They lost traditional hunting grounds & sacred sites that were under Treaties 6, 8 & 10.
3/For 7 decades, all year long, Canada’s #fighterjets conduct loud, low-level flights over reserves & they bomb, strafe and torpedo #ColdLake Air Weapons Range, it's boreal #forest habitat for endangered #caribou. Land contaminated w/ munitions & toxins from military. @IENearth
4/At @RCAF_ARC CFB Cold Lake, #Canada hosts regular @NATO war exercises and multinational air force training: Exercise #MAPLEFLAG. #RCAF shamefully trains the air forces of repressive regimes like #SaudiArabia, #Colombia, #Morocco, #Philippines & UAE: bit.ly/3ReT14h
5/Federal government broke promise to Indigenous people to return #ColdLake #RCAF land within 20 years by 1972. People protested, forced govt to hold inquiry into their land claims in 1991 & gave hearbreaking testimony.💔👇Commission recommended that govt settle w/ First Nations.
6/Instead federal govt delayed negotiations and worked w #Alberta & #Saskatchewan to expand #oil & gas developments into #ColdLake Air Weapons Range in 1990s. There have been many leaks from pipelines and drilling. First Nations also protested this environmental destruction.
7/Not until 2001 did federal govt finally settle and compensate #FirstNations. However, it was too little, too late. Indigenous community in #ColdLake still struggling w/ poverty, addictions, poor housing, unpaved roads, limited social services. But @NationalDefence gets more💰!
8/ @JustinTrudeau govt will also buy 88 carbon-intensive #F35 warplanes for $19 billion. They will be stationed at CFB #ColdLake. New #fighterjets will further harm land and people & will exacerbate #climatechange. Cancel the F35s! #NoNewFighterJets nofighterjets.ca
9/#Canadian govt shouldn’t buy new fighter jets and shouldn’t increase military spending. CFB #ColdLake & #RCAF weapons range should be shut down and land given back to Indigenous people. #Reconciliation means #landback #peace and justice. #Canada out of @NATO. #Demilitarize ☮️
Find out more, read @wilpfcanada report "Soaring: The Harms and Risks of Fighter Jets & Why #Canada Must Not Buy a New Fleet" & our @UN Submission "The Militarization of Indigenous Land in Canada" bit.ly/3dTolqN #UNDRIP @Indigenous_ca
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