By Matt Giesbrecht (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: January 23, 2013
The Idle No More movement has taken on many forms.
Sheelah McLean, Sylvia McAdam, Jess Gordon and Nina Wilson started perhaps the biggest movement of the year when they declared they will be idle no more in Saskatoon. Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence started a hunger strike in Ottawa. There were flash mobs in Regina with over 2000 people. Protest blocked the railway line for three hours between Toronto and Montreal.
Late last week, Joanne Gutierrez Hugh, Sakej Ward, Hamish Telford and Robert Harding were guest speakers for the local aboriginal Idle No More, held in the gathering place at Canada Educational Park. With a sunken speaking platform in the middle of the room, the space was open and welcoming.
Opening with the steady beating of native drums, Eddie Gardner, UFV’s resident elder, guided the discussion.
The first guest speaker was Sakej Ward, who holds a Master of Indigenous Government degree from UVic and is a member of Warrior Societies Alliance. He discussed the colonization of Canada and how the natives were treated wrongly. He ended his time by suggesting that all people take responsibility for the next seven generations, and echoed the goals of the Idle No More movement to protect water, air, land and all creation.
Joanne Gutierrez Hugh, a Sto:lo and Cree woman, voiced concerns for future native generations. She pointed out that current statistics do not favour native growth and development in Canada, and that we should be concerned. She insisted we open our hearts.
Robert Harding, a UFV social work instructor, pointed out that media coverage concerning Idle No More and First Nations people has been less than positive and also that the aboriginal voice of Canada has not been fully heard. He spoke about how some articles portray the native argument as unreasonable, while others simply give these issues minimal coverage.
Finally, Hamish Teldord, a political science instructor at UFV, helped define terms around the central issue: Omnibus bills C-38 and C-45. Both federal government bills contain a large number of unrelated items. Both bills, over 400 pages long, were proclaimed in less than three months of the first reading. He pointed out that the rapid process has become a staple of the Conservative government and that the party is abusing the process. He concluded that we needed to hold the government accountable.
With recent global concerns Idle No More is not just a Canadian issue. Canada is the second-largest country in the world; its land holds about 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water and one quarter of the world’s boreal forest. Bill C-45 inspired the Idle No More movements and discussion sweeping the country, and the concepts have been spreading through the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada and World Wildlife Fund. UFV joined this discussion on a more local scale, echoing issues in hot debate across the country.
