About
Racialized, migrant communities are underrepresented in discussions and decision-making processes about the environment. Our concerns about the environment and the types of environments that we care about are often not adequately represented in the mainstream environmental movement. This contributes to the exclusion of racialized, migrant communities.
I decided to go ahead and ask the Ilankai Tamil community in Montreal about their main concerns and the types of environments that mattered to them. Check out the Research page on this website to find out more!
This project was conducted on Tiohtià:ke (more commonly known by its colonial name of Montréal). Tiohtià:ke is the traditional and unceeded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation.
Goals
The main mission of this organization is to encourage discussions and actions around environmental issues. Through discussions, we can build knowledge rooted in our community and decide on the issues most important to us.
This organization has 3 main goals:
1) Build knowledge and understanding through discussions and stories, shared across generations. This can be done, for instance, through oral history projects.
2) Develop skills to form a collective movement to impact decision-making about the environment.
3) Work towards solidarity with:
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communities in Ilankai on issues that they prioritize
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the wider Ilankai Tamil diaspora.
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Indigenous communities on Turtle Island.
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other racialized migrant communities.
By working towards these 3 goals, we can begin to build an environmental movement from the ground up (one that works for us).
Vision
To develop a collective of Ilankai Tamils living in Canada and beyond who will come together to discuss and take action on environmental issues that affect us.
Framework
This organization aims to focus on environmental and social justice issues. This means we will work within an anti-oppression framework, aiming to deconstruct casteism, classism, ableism, racism, and many other forms of oppressive systems.
In doing so, we will aim to reconstruct a more equitable environmental movement that works for marginalized communities, particularly racialized, migrant communities.