David Sone

David Sone's picture
Basic Info
Wild Gift Class Year: 
2010
Work Focus: 
Community Engagement & Activism
Wildlands Conservation & Stewardship
Location: 
Grassy Narrows  Ontario
Canada
Current Occupation: 
Environmental Justice Advocate
Website: 
http://freegrassy.org/
Blogs/Social Media: 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grassy-Narrows-First...
Impacts of My Work: 
Stopped clear-cut logging on the 2,500 square mile territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nations from June 2008 to the present.
March 2012: Withdrew 9,000 square miles of KI Homeland from mineral exploration and mining activity to protect KI culture, water, forests, and wildlife. This is a roadless wilderness 2.5 times the size of Yellowstone National Park.
March 2012: Stopped Gods Lake Resources from drilling for gold on the ancestral burial grounds of the KI First Nation.
My Story: 

The mission of my Wild Gift Project – Earth Justice Initiative (EJI) - is to use grassroots organizing and coalition building to support indigenous First Nations of Canada who are protecting their traditional territories in North America’s largest wild forest ecosystem.  Globally, only 20% of the world’s original forests remain intact.  The largest wild forest in North America is the boreal forest – the world’s greatest reservoir of fresh water, and the biggest storehouse of carbon beyond the ocean.  Canada’s vast boreal forests, which remain legally unprotected, are being rapidly exploited for extraction of timber, energy and mineral resources.  EJI believes the most strategic and responsible way to advance human rights and protect the boreal forest is to partner with First Nation communities who are working to protect their traditional territories. The boreal’s largest roadless area, an area the size of California, falls within the traditional territories of 49 Ontario First Nations.  EJI will build a coalition of 15 organizations to work toward its goals including legislated recognition for the right of First Nations to say ‘no’ to industrial projects - as enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - and legislated protection for Ontario’s Boreal Forest.