I had a fabulous sleep last night.  It was a quiet morning and I took time to speculate at how surprised and pleased I am to be ‘weathering’ so well.  I suspect others are feeling similar feelings.  Going in, I imagined that by the end of a full month, I’d be in far rougher shape than I am, energy/strength-wise.  Could it be that I continue to hold up so well because what I am doing here feels/is ‘right’ and, in conjunction with the efforts of others, the path remains clear.

Having internet service has definitely changed the look of my day.  I only spent about four hours outside today, compared to the usual 14 or more.  On the up side, the time was spent networking, mostly with radio stations across Ontario, and on an interview with Global TV.  They will air tomorrow night at 5:30 on Shawn Mallin’s show (I’ve likely spelled that incorrectly).  A positive response has quickly come back from radio-ecoshock, where they have already planned to speak with Jim Harding, author of  Uranium – Canada’s Dirty Secret, and will add a bit on our struggle here.

I neglected to mention that we had an unusual guest at the site last night.  Her (new) name is Mori (short for moratorium) and she is a feline, about 5 months old, mostly grey in colour, with very short hair.  Incredibly thirsty and hungry, she was inclined to devour the single can of dog food that I found, but, to give her stomach a chance to stretch, we fed her in little bits.  (That’s how we’ll be feeding me one of these days.)  I’m not sure whether she is lost or has been dropped off.  We’ve had a cat food donation and she is gradually getting her fill. Personality wise, she is a charmer. One of our MELT OPP officers has already fallen in love and I suspect that Kassia, Zephyr and Taegan will too when they visit on Wednesday.  We’ll wait to see if someone shows up to claim her before doing anything drastic.  Meanwhile, she is a lovely mascot for the site.

Today’s visitors included a couple of ladies who have been very active in Ottawa and in Carleton Place.  One, a member of Ottawa CCAMU, has written a newsletter and distributed 200 copies, with more to come.  I didn’t realize it when she visited, but she’s also responsible for the red ‘no uranium’ bumper stickers that you may have spotted.  The other has sent numerous handwritten letters to the Premier, the Prime Minister and various ministries and has had her ‘letter to the editor’ published in several area newspapers.  She’s planning to invite friends, feed them (potluck?) and have a letter writing party at her home.  This is an excellent idea for others to entertain and to spread around.  Maybe we could do it from here at some point, now that we have a nice warm spot to work from.   If you can join us at the ‘sit-in/picket’ at Premier McGuinty’s office on Friday, Nov 16th, throughout the day, how about handwriting a letter to deliver in person.

Scott Reid’s office called tonight and he will be out for a visit on Wednesday morning.  Scott is the MP (Conservative) in this riding and I’ve a personal connection to him, through Mike.

Blessings
Donna (and Mori – she enjoys ‘helping’ me type by walking over top of the keyboard)

The last day of my first (I say that hoping there won’t be a second) full month on site proved to be a lively one.  First off, I was able to get on the net, al-be-it briefly.  There are still some kinks, but it is looking very possible to get hooked up, via dial-up, to the world.

About 50 interested supporters showed up for the community meeting, which will continue every Sunday at 1 p.m.  An agreement is in place and the monitoring team will begin work tomorrow.  They will be doing a baseline survey to record where the exploration company is currently, so that they can come in two or three times a week and check the progress.  No date has been set for the mediation with the province and the feds, but the mediator has been agreed upon.  It is unclear whether the twelve-week period before drilling will begin starts tomorrow, or on the date of the first meeting.

I’m very pleased with Janice Kennedy’s column in today’s Ottawa Citizen.  Not only is it well written, but it also very well researched.   As to, “She gets under the skin of people put off by the implied arrogance of her action, by the suggestion that one ordinary person should make a difference,” the way I see it, everything starts with one person, but never in isolation.  For example, Ryan’s Wells Foundation www.ryanswell.ca is a huge and growing organization that has built 319 wells in fourteen countries because one six-year-old saw a need.  It’s ever been thus.  I’m a firm believer that changing the world happens one person at a time and somebody, ordinary or extraordinary, whatever that means, has to start.  In fact, in this situation it was Frank and Gloria Morrison, local landowners who were not willing to sit by and let the status quo reign supreme.  My action is one more cog in a wheel that they set in motion well over a year ago.

My schedule this week has me out at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, from mid afternoon to late evening, and from Friday mid afternoon to late Sunday or into Monday (if I can get some press, or a meeting with the Premier in Ottawa).  Please don’t let that stop you from coming by and saying hi to those that continue to keep the vigil on the side of the road.  If you are able to help financially, the “Bring Gramma Home” campaign would like to have some bumper stickers, buttons, etc. printed.  Click on the appropriate link (Editor’s note: How you can you help” tab) on the website www.ccamu.ca for more info on donating to help make this happen.

New numbers to report:  BP 109/66; Pulse 77; Weight loss 15 lbs.  (I continue to feel blessed that I had an extra layer to work with there.)  I’m still feeling very positive about achieving our goal and grateful for a good night’s sleep.
Love
Donna

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the days pass here on the side of the road.  Between boiling water, squeezing lemons, greeting visitors, keeping warm, making and tending fires, giving interviews (phone and in person), the time just flies by.

Today we were videotaped and interviewed by two students doing a paper on conflict for a course at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa and by a writer from a bi-monthly publication in the Killaloe area.

One of our MELT (Major Events Liason Team) OPP Officers was kept busy mediating over whether hunters would be allowed inside the gate for their annual hunt.  The issue is one of safety.  I’m personally fine with it so long as the hunters remain aware that there are people on this side of the gate.

One of our overnight guests, joining us for his first visit, came from Kingston bearing gifts of flour, oat flakes, rice, sugar, propane and organic chocolate bars.  It was debated as to whether the bars could be juiced but we decided that it likely wouldn’t fly.

News came that the twelve-week negotiation period will begin on Monday and that more news would be forthcoming at the community meeting to be held early tomorrow afternoon.  The campfire discussion this evening was stimulating, as is often the case.

If you have the annual Native Christmas gathering marked on your calendar, please change the date from Dec. 1st to the 2nd.  The hall had already been booked for the former date, hence the change.  Please do plan to attend; it should be quite a party.
Love
Donna

Settlers, the more the merrier, are invited to join the annual Christmas party put on by the Shabot Obaadjiwan at the Catholic Church (across from Timber Mart) on Hwy 38 at Sharbot Lake on December 1st at 1 o’clock.  There well be a short presentation on the sacredness of the land, followed by a feast (bring a desert if you are so inclined, but not to worry if you cannot).  If you are a man, please do bring a wrapped gift marked ‘man;’ if a girl age ten, mark your gift ‘girl - 10 years old.’  ‘Santa will be responsible for the distribution. This will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the solidarity, the friendships and the extended community that has developed here over the months.

We, at the site are waiting patiently and with anticipation for the negotiations with the governments to begin.

Special thanks today for the pair of Alpaca socks received from a somewhat local lady.  They are so cozy and soft I’m almost tempted to use them to warm my hands.

I’m including the rest of the “What you can do when times get trying?” list.
Whatever you are able to accomplish is one more step in the right direction toward bringing sanity to a society that is dangerously close to the edge in terms of resource drawdown, climate disaster, pollution and waste.  While the train is traveling one way and some of us are out of our seats walking in the other direction, we must get the train stopped and turned around.  Enough of us, working together, can do that. We are on a roll.

At the Community Level:

* Support and invest in local initiatives/enterprises; buy locally - i.e. a 100-mile diet supports local farmers and producers; when buying from a distance, support fair trade initiatives; start a community garden; The more we do such things, the more adequate local provision will be when transportation costs become unaffordable.

* Invest in conservation, renewable energy, and in sustainable infrastructure - soil fertility; forest management; community cohesion, (festivals, craft and information fairs, block parent programs, community radio, theatre, etc.)

* Participate in your local community or intentionally bring people together to form community.

* Make your opinions known: Write letters to the editor of your local paper; expand your personal communication comfort zone to let others know that you see perpetual economic expansion (and specifically, in this case, uranium exploration and mining) as a recipe for calamity.  Letting people know that you question the current direction gives them permission to question it as well, thus building support.

*Support people and organizations that are leading the way; begin discussion groups in your home, church, school or community centre and invite speakers; donate your time, your energy and/or your money to the effort.

* Develop/participate in a community currency or trading system and encourage others to do so.

At the Government Level:

* Write, email or call your MP.   (For MP's contact information, call 1 (800) 622-6232 )
Let him/her know that you support:

- The Well-Being Measurement Act  www.SustainWellBeing.net/WBMA.html
The WBMA measures environmental and social factors in addition to economic ones,
i.e.: unpaid work; extracted resources, both renewable and non renewable; food quality; community stability; income distribution; education; pollution levels; quality of employment; amounts of exercise & stress; participation in decision making; levels of violence and more;

- The enactment of laws/subsidies that encourage sustainable activities and discourage non-sustainable activities;

- The formulation of a more equitable tax system, which draws revenue from pollution, natural resource use and speculation, while lowering or removing taxation from local businesses and low-income jobs;

- Full cost accounting; Extended producer responsibility; Proportional Representation;
Reigning in usury and, ultimately, adopting a monetary system that is not based on debt and the consequent need for perpetual growth.

Thank and Blessings,
Donna

Up until this point, Donna has been reaching out to folks with the help of friends.  Some of us are keeping this blog going (a huge thank you to Nathan Sloniowski!!) and are unable to respond to all the kind words of support you are sending Donna's way.  Please know that she is hugely appreciative of your thoughts and prayers.

We are very grateful to Sheila MacDonald for taking the following footage of Donna.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The following is a press release from the Green Party of Canada

26.10.2007

Green leader lauds federal councilor for hunger strike against uranium mining

OTTAWA – Green Party leader Elizabeth May today lauded the efforts of Green federal councilor Donna Dillman, who has received national media attention for a hunger strike she began on October 8th in an effort to end uranium mining in Eastern Ontario.

Ms. May, who staged a 17-day hunger strike herself in 2001 to get federal action on the Sydney tar ponds, renewed the Green Party’s call for a moratorium on uranium mining and prospecting, calling Ms. Dillman’s hunger strike “inspirational”.

“Donna’s effort plays an important role in the campaign to end uranium mining and prospecting in Canada,” said Ms. May. “Her actions are indicative of the broad-based, community opposition to uranium extraction and the severe environmental and health effects posed by a uranium mine in Eastern Ontario.”

Ms. Dillman has been camped out at a mine site in Robertsville, near Sharbot Lake in Eastern Ontario, where thirty thousand acres have been staked out for uranium exploration by mining company Frontenac Ventures. Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadgiwan First Nation have blockaded the mine site at Robertsville since June 29th of this year.

“Radioactive particles released by mining are carried downwind and downstream and have the potential to poison hundreds of thousands of Eastern Ontarians. Nuclear energy is no solution to the climate crisis and is inevitably linked to nuclear weapons proliferation. The Green Party would end mining and refining uranium in Canada and put a stop to perverse subsidies to the nuclear industry.”

The old saying “It never rains, but it pours,” was certainly true here yesterday.  Heating equipment arrived for the Boler, the HTHB got well on its way to being fully insulated and a wood stove was installed in the Dickey Moore Trailer.  The new, fully insulated, to code, stove-pipe was donated by a local, very sympathetic business.  (If corporations are people, I figure business could and should have feelings.)  Thanks to everyone for the parts he or she played in bringing us heated accommodations.

Janice Kennedy, from the Ottawa Citizen, paid a visit and will write about us in her column in Sunday’s edition.  One of her many interesting inquiries was around what I say to people who think that I’m a ‘flaky.’  The question amused me, mostly because I assumed some might think me crazy, but flaky hadn’t entered my head.

On this, the first day of my 4th week on the side of the road, I am still feeling positive, still appreciative of the company and the incredible support and glad to have the amenities that are coming our way – specifically the land phone line and warm beds.  My blood pressure remains good at 115/75 and my pulse strong (61).  My upper arm muscles are weakened slightly and I have to watch to not stand up or turn too quickly.  I haven’t weighed myself, sans clothes, yet, but now that there is a warm space I’ll be able to remove the numerous layers long enough to get an accurate reading, so stay posted.

With the government having named its new ministers, please keep the letters rolling out to them, handwritten if you have the time, and hopefully we’ll soon have our assurance that uranium will be left in the ground, undisturbed, where it belongs.

Blessings
Donna

People often ask what they can bring when they come visit.  At the top of the list would be a couple of armloads (or a trunk load) of dry seasoned hardwood.  If they have a juicer, and are so inclined, I always appreciate whatever juices come my way.  Interestingly, and without any coordinated effort, about a liter appears daily.  No fuss, no waste.

I’ve been asked if I do broths, smoothies, protein drinks and the like.  The answer is no.  My intake consists of 4 plus litres of water daily in the maple syrup/lemon juice/cayenne pepper mix and in herbal teas.  In an attempt to keep me internally warm, all my drinks are taken warm or hot.

I’ve also heard the comment, “But doesn’t a hunger strike, by its very nature, mean no nourishment what-so-ever?”  Not this one.  I believe ‘water only’ would not allow me to live to see a moratorium.  From the beginning I’ve recognized that the process of securing a moratorium is something that will take some time.  Consequently, I made the decision to go with what I am doing and to draw the line at smoothies, etc., which I consider food, as opposed to drink.

Some have wondered what I did before I became the hunger striking Gramma.  I am, as you likely know, a mother, grandmother and wife and I live(d) a half hour’s drive from the site - on the outskirts of Lanark.  My youngest daughter, who turns 18 on the 7th of November still lives at home.  For much of the last decade I’ve practiced and taught Reiki and done personal and spiritual growth counseling.  More recently and since his latest book has been published, Mike and I have spent the majority of our time planning itineraries and traveling the country educating what it takes to “Live on Earth as if we want to stay (which is the subtitle of his book).

In some ways what I am doing here is not a big leap from what I was doing every day.  I still write letters to ‘the editor,’ network with people who can help us get the message out, and contact media regularly.  The difference is that now, instead of being the support person while Mike is out front, I’m on the front line.  As intimidating as that is, the issue far outweighs any hesitation on my part.  Other differences include the lack of creature comforts we are all so accustomed to.  Surprisingly, no part of me misses any of those (warmth aside), possibly because I recognize that if we don’t, as a society, wake up to the reality of how we are abusing the very planet that sustains us, we are all in for some difficult times, that will make what I am doing here look like a picnic outing.

Thanks again for all you are all doing.  The letters to the premier are being noticed. Thanks to Lynn for editing my submissions.  She tells me that she has noticed some decline my ability to write in the last week. (Editor's note: She needs a bit more editing than usual.) Today’s highlight was a surprise Moon Ceremony, led by White Bear Woman.  Not being a Native myself, the experience was wonderful and powerful.

Blessings
Donna

Lots of visits with friends, old and new today. We viewed a CD copy of The National’s report on a portable computer here at the site. It was good press. You can probably catch it on line if you have the capability.

The Ottawa Citizen’s Janice Kennedy is scheduled to arrive on Monday, so maybe we are on a roll, not that we should be letting up on the pressure at all. Mike and Lynn have been receiving email responses from across Canada.

I slipped home for what should have been a hot shower, but with our hot water tank is misbehaving, I had to settle for a very warm one ? I followed that with some catch up with family and email, before dressing in my gramma costume, complete with apron, scarf and granny glasses and heading out to the Halloween fundraising outside of Westport. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. Some of the costumes were very creative and the music was fabulous. I had told Mike that we had to dress up and, taking me literally, he dawned a three-piece suit and went as a paradym salesman.

I’d like to have stayed to speak after the second set, but, needing to protect my energy, I bowed out and returned to the site at around midnight. A fun connection was that the couple throwing the party had bought some artwork of Elisha’s (my youngest daughter) at a youth poverty awareness event in Perth last winter and had one of the pieces displayed in their bathroom.

Thanks to the lady who returned four sheets of petitions all signed up. If there are others out there, please do get them back to us. Blanks can usually be picked up here or you can print them out online at www.ccamu.ca There are still a few ‘no uranium mine’ signs for anyone who wants one for their lawn/yard.

Driving through Perth last night it struck me that every storefront (and residence) should have a ‘Bring Gramma Home” sign in its window, front and center. Are there some students (we are all students) reading this who might print off that message, perhaps on coloured 81/2 X 11 paper, add the web address at the bottom and approach the businesses in Perth (and in every town across Canada and beyond) with the request that they help with this campaign? If they want to take some brochures send Lynn their names and address and they can be delivered or mailed. It wouldn’t have to be an organized campaign, tho it could be. If you decide to do this and the business refuses, please be polite, smile and thank them anyway. Not everyone shares our view of the issue (or any other).

I’m hearing directly and via friends and family that people are getting concerned more about me as I enter the fourth week (on Monday). Please use that energy to write yet another letter or take one more action to move us closer to a moratorium and please know that I appreciate that you are concerned and your prayers are most welcome.

Love
Donna

It has been 3 weeks now since the hunger strike began and we still wait for a meaningful response from government;  the moratorium on exploration and mining of uranium in Eastern Ontario.  Please help to spread the word.  Deluge McGuinty's office with letters calling for the moratorium.  Fill e-mail boxes of politicians at all levels.  Tell your friends and neighbours to do the same.  Let the media know you're interested in this story and ask for coverage.  Download the bring gramma home graphic and make signs to post in your window, your car, your grocery store, your library.....
Help make this hunger stike count!  Thank you.

Lots of visitors, on an otherwise uneventful day. With the weather so cool and wet, it was good to be able to gather around the woodstove in the HTHB (house that Harold built).

A couple from Sharbot Lake stopped in for the first time and I was offered (and gratefully accepted) a mini Reiki treatment.  I’d been feeling drained again today and it really picked me up.  Thanks.  Scales arrived today, so I’ll be able to give an accurate account of weight loss from here on.

As I write this I find myself curious as to what is being shown on News World and The National, so do please bring me reports and call or write to other programs/newspapers/magazines to encourage them to cover our story.

People are curious as to how it is for me not having eaten for 16 days.  I continue to feel peaceful and grounded most of the time, and I’ve been a bit fatigued in the last three days, as you know.  When I get up or turn too quickly, I feel lightheaded and that will worsen over time.  As long as I sip my hot drinks pretty continuously, I’m not experiencing hunger pangs and I can keep my body temperature up.  A mild headache will develop when I go too long without the maple syrup concoction that remains the mainstay.

People are also curious in regard to what I am thinking about during all of these hours at the roadside.  I’m thinking that I thought that I’d have had lots of time to catch up on my reading.  I’d packed a box of books for that purpose and have since sent most of them back home, as there, so far at least, has been very little desire to be reading.  When the desire is present, it is too dark to struggle to see with my aging gramma eyes and hopelessly inadequate lighting. With so many visitors arriving throughout the days, I find myself much more interested in their stories and in catching them up on what is happening here.  As well, I think a lot about how to reach the masses and what would help them understand that this is one of those issues that could result in turning the direction in which society is headed and that once our goal is changed, getting there will be easy. There are so many fronts that could be acted on.  No precedents will have to be set.  There are examples all over the world of various components of what needs doing.  One day soon, I’ll write my list of what I believe those things to be.

Be well, please come visit to show your support, or do one other thing today to further our efforts.
Love
Donna