1. The Indigenous Education Network Presents:
Environmental Activism and Aboriginal Peoples
with a screening of the film Toxic Trespass
Who: Ron Plain, Environmental Policy Analyst for the Southern First Nation Secretariat, and a
member of Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
Who: Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg, MES, PhD, Executive Producer, Toxic Trespass
Where: OISE Library, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON
When: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
“I am not an Environmentalist, I am Aanishinaabe. My reverence for Mother Earth is not
a conscious decision, rather it is a genetic predetermination.” Ron Plain.
Toxic Trespass is a compelling film on children's health and the environment. It reveals a
startling birth rate problem in Aamjiwnaang First nations that officials just can't ignore. It
investigates the growing evidence that we are conducting a large-scale toxicological
experiment on our children.
Bio: To understand Ron Plain is to understand activism. Ron comes from a family of activists and
community leaders dating back to contact. Ron formed a community environment committee that
eventually became a standing committee of Aamjiwnaang Chief and Council. As Chair of this
committee Ron steered the committee and community into international media attention.
Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia’s Chemical Valley have been the focus of 11 documentaries and feature
length news pieces, Currently Ron is the Environmental Policy Analyst for the Southern First
Nations Secretariat, the Tribal Council for the 7 First Nation communities of SW-Ontario and is
on faculty at Trent University’s Indigenous Environmental Studies program.
Bio: Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg holds a Masters in Environmental Studies (York University)
and a PhD (University of Toronto). An education and film consultant, she researches, writes and
speaks on environmental health, equality, social, economic and environmental justice, peace and
energy issues. She has worked with the National Film Board, school boards, non-governmental
organizations, health professional and policy groups on these issues.
As Canada’s largest and most influential faculty of education OISE is a leader in Aboriginal education and is among
the first Canadian faculties of education to prioritize Aboriginal values and educational research following the signing
of the Accord on Indigenous Education by the Association of Canadian Deans of Education (ACDE) in June 2010.