From Amnesty.ca

January 2, 2013

Joint Statement Supporting Chief Spence and "Idle No More"

Indigenous and human rights organizations stand in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence in her appeal for full respect for Aboriginal and Treaty rights by the government of Canada. There is an urgent need for Canada to demonstrate genuine respect and long-term commitment, initiated by a meeting between First Nations' leadership, the Prime Minister and the Governor General.

Full honour and implementation of Indigenous peoples' Treaties are crucial to the evolution of Canada and the principle of federalism.  Cooperative and harmonious relations cannot be achieved by devaluing Treaties or by unilateral government actions. 

We firmly support grassroots actions of the "Idle No More" movement.  It has put the spotlight on federal policy and legislative agendas that are trampling the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples affirmed in domestic and international law.

Human rights - not colonialism

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada highlighted "the history of colonialism, displacement, and residential schools and how that history continues to translate into lower educational attainment, lower incomes, higher unemployment, higher rates of substance abuse and suicide, and ... higher levels of incarceration".

Canada must abandon out-dated, discriminatory approaches from the colonial era, especially in relation to Indigenous peoples' lands, territories and resources. What is urgently required is a principled framework consistent with international human rights law.

Currently countless amendments and laws are being adopted that undermine Indigenous peoples' human rights, including Treaty rights. These legislative measures were developed with little or no consultation with Aboriginal peoples and without their consent.  Such actions erode democracy, the rule of law and integrity of Parliament. 

Indigenous peoples' rights and related government duties are an integral part of Canada's Constitution.  They are affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The government should address this grievous situation in good faith.  Justice, peace and reconciliation remain crucial objectives.

The omnibus budget bill C-45 introduced far-reaching changes.  Amendments include changes to complex land provisions in the Indian Act that compound existing problems. It also re-writes environmental laws, including Navigable Waters Protection Act, Fisheries Act and Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, which were used to promote and protect a sustainable environment, clean water and healthy oceans.  The integrity of the environment is being assaulted, to the detriment of present and future generations.

Canada is estimated to contain nearly 32,000 major lakes and more than 2.25 million rivers. Yet a new Navigation Protection Act reduces federal environmental oversight and covers only 3 oceans, 97 lakes, and portions of 62 rivers.  Certain key rivers in British Columbia along the path of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline are not included.

Resource development projects on traditional lands of Indigenous peoples will be much less likely to be subject to rigorous public environmental impact assessment. These changes are on top of cutbacks on environmental safeguards already passed in the previous omnibus budget bill C-38. As concluded by the David Suzuki Foundation: "In reality, amendments to environmental laws account for about half of the 452-page bill. These amendments will weaken Canada's capacity for environmental governance, threatening our land, climate and water." 

International human rights standards require that decisions affecting the rights of Indigenous peoples be made with their full and effective participation. In the face of very serious issues concerning lands and resources of Indigenous peoples, the appropriate standard is free, prior and informed consent.

Canada's Supreme Court has said that the "Crown ... cannot cavalierly run roughshod over Aboriginal interests".  There must be "reconciliation" between the power of the state and the pre-existing sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. "In all its dealings with Aboriginal peoples ... the Crown must act honourably. Nothing less is required".

It is tragic that a hunger strike and Canada-wide protests are necessary, in order for Indigenous peoples to bring attention to violations of their dignity, Treaties and human rights.  Our organizations strongly support human rights education.  We urge all Canadians to engage with Indigenous peoples, to help educate others, and to support the current movement of awareness raising and ensuring vital reforms.

For more information on events in your area, please see www.idlenomore.ca.

Supported by:

Amnistie Internationale Canada
Amnesty International Canada
Arctic Athabaskan Council
Assembly of First Nations
Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador/Assemblée des Premières Nations du Québec et du Labrador
British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
Chiefs of Ontario
Dene Nation/AFN Regional Office (NWT)
Earthroots
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations
First Nations Summit
First Peoples Human Rights Coalition
Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee)
Haudenosaunee of Kanehsatake
IKANAWTIKET
Indigenous World Association
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Lawyers Rights Watch Canada
Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council
MiningWatch Canada
National Association of Friendship Centres
Native Women's Association of Canada
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs

For further information contact John Tackaberry, Media Relations                   (613)744-7667 #236 jtackaberry@amnesty.ca

 

From ElyseBruce blog

Idle No More: A White Man Speaks

January 1, 2013 - Elyse Bruce

Today's blog is written by guest blogger, Thomas D. Taylor. He is the Co-Creator of the Midnight In Chicago initiative as well as the Author of "Geo-213: The Lost Expedition" and "Evil Creeps In: A Tale Of Exorcism" and a number of other books.

At the time of this writing, I am 81,000 words into my upcoming anthology of short horror stories and near to the point of finishing the last story in the anthology. Soon will come the laborious process of revising and proof reading, and then the pre-launch activities.

It's a very exiting time, and a very tense time. People who write will tell you that whenever you write, never mind when you are entering the final lap of the race, you should do it in private, free from distractions, so you can concentrate and apply the full amount of your attention to what you are doing. After all, though readers derive a lot of pleasure from reading, writers are writing not only for the pleasure of it, but to make money. It's a job, and as with any job, it needs a considerable amount of concentration, effort and devotion to do the job right.

Be all that as it may, I find it necessary to pull myself away from the writing process to address a topic that is much more important than my job and also, I daresay, the pleasure of my fans.

I am talking about the rights of North American Indigenous People.

Human rights in other words.

Thanks to our media, which really only airs, prints, and transmits what sells, most people are not aware of what's been going on in Canada with Bill C-45, the Idle No More movement, and Chief Theresa Spence. And so if you are ignorant of what's been happening, it may not entirely be your fault.

What is going on?

Well, on the one hand, it's complicated. Trying to understand what's happening - especially if you are white like I am - means understanding not only what is going on now, but also understanding what has happened in the past. One has to understand things like treaties, land rights, residential schools, missing Native women, and many more important issues.

One has to understand the relationship between Native people in Canada with their government, how white people in Canada perceive Natives. One needs to the relationship between Native peoples and government approved Chiefs. One needs to have a grasp of what a Governor General's job is and how the pen in the hand of such a person can determine the optimistic future or pessimistic fate of so many people. One needs to know the perspective the relationship between Native people in the U.S. with their counterparts in Canada, and one would do well to understand how worldwide government bodies view the rights of indigenous peoples.

On the other hand, maybe you don't need to know all of that to understand the fact that human rights have been violated in Canada.

If I was going to oversimplify the dichotomy of views as I see them, taking only one issue as an example, imagine how you would feel if you were told your land was your land for all time, and at a later date, a bill was passed into law which stated that your land could be taken away from you by the government any time and sold to someone else? Further, what if this bill voided all previous agreements which certified that your lands would never be a subject for disagreement again?

I think everyone in the world can relate to how indigenous people in Canada must feel.

A treaty is an agreement between two parties, and is meant to be honored. It would seem, however, that treaties are only respected by parties with good intentions.

Let's look at when the US bought the land that we call Alaska from the what we now call Russia. The US got the land for a paltry amount. Years later, it's been found that billions of dollars worth of oil have been discovered beneath the surface of Alaska. But did Russia ever go back and demand additional compensation from the US for the US getting this land at such a steal? Not that I recall.

For some odd reason, it now seems that the Canadian government believes it's time to void the terms of many treaties struck with indigenous people. The government may have reasons, but it really doesn't matter what those reasons are. The treaties were signed long ago and the terms of those treaties must be honored now and forevermore.

When we go into a store and buy an item for a dollar, and then see later on that some other store is selling the same item for fifty cents, do we go back to the first store and demand fifty cents? No. And unless the store has a price match guarantee, we should not expect the store to pay us anything. When the money we pay for the item we are purchasing is accepted by the cashier, we have made a contract. That at some later date we do not like the contract is not the store's problem. The item is ours for the amount we paid for it. Let the buyer beware.

Likewise, so should the signers of treaties beware.

At any rate, setting treaties aside for the moment, there is a larger issue here: How indigenous people are treated generally.

To digress for a moment, in 1965, segregation between blacks and whites was ended in the US, but discrimination persisted afterwards, and continues to this day. From any way you look at it, the egregious violations of human rights that have been committed against African Americans (and - prior to that - Africans) cannot be made up for. What amount of money does one give for every lash of the whip upon a person's back? How do we make up for denying an entire population of people the right drink out of the same water fountains as whites did for so long? How do we tally all the times the N-word has been used and make amends? And what should be given as compensation? Money? Goods? Services? An apology?

The task is overwhelming.

We can try to make up for what's happened in the past. And we should try. But while we are doing that, we have to respect those in the present with whom the disagreements lie.

It gives me great pain that I should even have to write this blog entry because I would have thought that civilized countries would have made more progress towards respecting the rights of their own indigenous peoples.

I am in my forties now, and many of the same prejudices toward indigenous peoples that were drummed into my head in elementary school are still in existence today - decades later. In reality, no significant progress has been made in terms of how those in charge relate to those who are subjugated, and no significant attempt has been made to reverse the ignorant misconceptions perpetuated by inaccurate textbooks, and, yes, even government propaganda.

I have tweeted extensively in support of the Idle No More movement and Chief Theresa Spence and will continue to support Idle No More and Chief Spence in whatever ways I feel will be most impactful. This blog entry is an example of that.

I hold little hope that we will see any kind of resolution in the short term, however, because it seems ignorance is stubbornly preventing any coherent solutions to the situation from presenting themselves. For example, I was watching the news the other day and saw that some white shopkeepers in a mall were shutting their stores, fearing violence or shoplifting on the part of the indigenous flash mob participants.

Really now.

If you looked at the participants, you saw men, women, and children. Good people in other words. Many of the dancers were whole extended families. These people were doing nothing to impede the flow of shoppers. They bore no weapons. They used no foul or provocative language.

Had the shopkeepers succumbed to their curiosity instead of their fears, they might have learned something about native culture. Had they taken the time to see who it was that was dancing, they might have learned that - gee whiz! - these people weren't thugs. They were good, upstanding citizens who - like everyone else in the world - wanted to live according to their own morals, values and ethics on their own property (whether that property lies among the whites or on a reservation), legally, and without interference from government.

In another instance, a security guard - and I am paraphrasing here - told flash mob round dance participants that the mall in question was not a reservation, and that if they wanted to dance, they should dance "there." As if all Native Americans live on a reservations. It's a prejudicial statement pronounced by an ignorant person.

I am not going to presume to pontificate at much more length about the Idle No More movement because, not being Native American, I cannot say that I know what it is like to feel what indigenous people feel, but I will say this: There needs to be some understanding on the part of whites for any of this to be resolved.

Many Native Americans believe that there are four colors of man: Red, White, Yellow, and Black. But in terms of white Christian spiritual beliefs, there is only Adam and Eve, and the presumption is that Adam and Eve are white. Go to any church in Europe and Jesus will be white. In Italy, he'll look a little Italian. In South America, he'll look Spanish, thanks to the influence of the Spanish explorers and their foisting of Christianity on native peoples. Sometimes in Africa, Jesus will look black, but one gets the sense that this a sop to Africans to get them to believe in the Christian God.

What religious white Christians would do well to remember, however, is that men were made in God's image, and, - guess what - there ARE four colors of man. That means God is a little bit red, a little bit white, a little bit yellow, a little bit black. Therefore, when we mistreat a fellow human being, we are, in effect dishonoring the God in whose image all human beings are made.

What other religious and non-religious whites would do well to remember that it doesn't matter whether there is or isn't a God. All that matters is that all human beings have certain inalienable human rights, and when the rights of even one human being are denied, it means that a statement has been made: All people are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Now, given that at present, some of humanity has been allowed more rights than others, the question is, if you - whether you are white, black, red or yellow - have all of your rights, will you use the rights you've been given to help those whose rights are in jeopardy, or whose rights are being taken away?

Don't know where to start?

Begin by learning more about the Idle No More movement, and learn to about what Chief Theresa Spence is doing, and why.

Feel free to leave any comments.

Racist ones will not be put through in order to demonstrate to bigots what it's like to be suppressed, and left without a voice.

Thomas D. Taylor

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From the Globe and Mail

With events worldwide, #IdleNoMore movement grows too big to track

RENATA D'ALIESIO - Dec. 31 2012

On Idle No More's website, a message has been posted for people looking to join marches, blockades or flash mobs to support the grassroots aboriginal movement: The site's two administrators note they can no longer keep up with all the events being organized in Canada and other parts of the world.

From a round dance in Toronto's busy Yorkdale Mall on Monday to the blockade of a major downtown intersection in Winnipeg to a rally planned outside a New Year's Eve concert in El Paso, Texas, the Canadian movement that began about a month ago to advocate for native treaty rights and protest against federal budget legislation continues to grow on social media and through on-the-ground demonstrations.

And now a second hunger striker - this one subsisting on herbal tea for the past 20 days - is shifting his protest from Manitoba to Ottawa to join Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence in her three-week-old fast a stone's throw from Parliament Hill.

"This is about respect for our treaty rights," Raymond Robinson, 51, an elder with the Cross Lake First Nation, said Monday in a phone interview from the Winnipeg airport. "And, at the same time, about respect for Mother Earth and the land and resources that [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper is taking it upon himself to own and control."

During the interview, Mr. Robinson had to pause at one moment to catch his breath. He has been consuming only herbal tea and medication provided by aboriginal elders, he said, and he's been feeling weak recently, experiencing headaches, dizziness and trouble breathing.

"It's really starting to take a toll on me," he said, but added that he will not end his hunger strike until Mr. Harper agrees to meet with native leaders. He also wants the Prime Minister to back away from the budget legislation, Bill C-45.

Idle No More has found a strong foothold on the Internet. Last week, the movement was mentioned 12,258 times on Facebook, 1,165 times on news websites and 144,215 times on Twitter, a number that would likely have been higher if it weren't for the Twitterwide slowdown on Christmas Day, according to analysis by Mark Blevis, who specializes in digital communication. Meanwhile, more than a dozen protests are planned across the country this week - at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on New Year's Day, at a community gathering in Port Alberni, B.C., on Thursday, and potentially at all border crossings on Saturday.

On Victoria Island in the Ottawa River, Chief Spence of the Attawapiskat reserve in Northern Ontario prepared to enter Day 22 of her hunger strike as the new year began. On Monday, she reiterated her call for Mr. Harper to participate in "meaningful dialogue" about enhancing the political and economic relationship with aboriginals.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan has offered to meet with Chief Spence, but he has not received a response from her yet, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office noted in an e-mail. Mr. Harper has not extended the same offer. In a statement issued on Monday to highlight the government's accomplishments in 2012, the Prime Minister touched on Ottawa's "strengthening" relationship with natives, pointing to last January's meeting between native leaders and his ministers, legislation to protect drinking water on reserves, and government support to improve education for aboriginals.

He did not mention the Idle No More movement or Chief Spence's hunger strike, but press secretary Carl Vallée said: "The government remains willing to work with Chief Spence, and all chiefs, to deliver better outcomes for first nations communities."

At her tent on Victoria Island, Chief Spence has met with a steady stream of visitors over the past few days, including several opposition politicians and former Progressive Conservative prime minister Joe Clark. Danny Metatawabin, a spokesman for Chief Spence, said he hopes the arrival of Mr. Robinson from Manitoba will turn up the pressure on the Prime Minister.

"We're hoping that it will make a big difference in order for the Prime Minister to open his heart to the seriousness of the situation," said Mr. Metatawabin, a member of Attawapiskat. "A dialogue needs to be committed on from the Prime Minister."

Chief Spence also continues to call for Governor-General David Johnston to get involved. He has publicly declined to do so, saying earlier in December that the issues being raised were primarily a matter for elected officials. His position has not changed, a spokeswoman for the Governor-General said Monday.

But University of Alberta history professor Ken Munro, whose expertise includes the Canadian Crown, noted that under our government system, it would be improper for the Governor-General to meet with Chief Spence without the Prime Minister's approval. However, he could advise Mr. Harper that such a meeting is warranted.

"His hands are really tied at the moment," Dr. Munro said in an e-mail regarding the Governor-General. "Under our system of 'responsible government,' the Governor-General must accept the advice of his Prime Minister."

On its website Monday, founders of Idle No More expressed frustration that aboriginal leadership is urging action in the name of the movement, noting their supporters have given them a clear mandate to work outside of governments.

"The Chiefs have called for action and anyone who chooses can join with them, however this is not part of the Idle No More movement as the vision of this grassroots movement does not coincide with the visions of the leadership," the founders said in a statement.

The founders expressed appreciation for Chief Spence's efforts, but then stressed "the face of Idle No More is also the grassroots people."

More Related to this Story

• Protest Idle No More protesters block main Toronto-Montreal rail line in support of Chief Spence

• Earlier Attawapiskat chief on hunger strike has 'humble and achievable' vision: Joe Clark

• The Advocate Jeanette Jules finds extra value in a gold mine

Infographic

The hashtag uprising: Analyzing #IdleNoMore's social-media footprint

Watch

Video: MPs sit down with Theresa Spence

Watch

Video: Chief should end hunger strike, health minister says

More Related to this Story

• Naomi Klein As Chief Spence starves, Canadians awaken from idleness and remember their roots

• Environment Northern Ontario chromite mining has first nation worried for water safety

• Hunger strike As protests swell, Attawapiskat chief stands firm on hunger strike

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From the National Post

Chelsea Vowel: Assimilation is not the answer to the Aboriginal ‘problem'

Chelsea Vowel, Special to National Post - Dec 31, 2012

"Canada is a test case for a grand notion - the notion that dissimilar peoples can share lands, resources, power and dreams while respecting and sustaining their differences. The story of Canada is the story of many such peoples, trying and failing and trying again, to live together in peace and harmony. But there cannot be peace or harmony unless there is justice. It was to help restore justice to the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada, and to propose practical solutions to stubborn problems, that the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was established." - page ix, A Word From Commissioners

The quote above comes from a publication that is 150 pages in length. Every Canadian should read it. This publication is called "People to People, Nation to Nation: Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples." If you want something less dense, there is a 51-page document that summarizes the report and its main recommendations. Included at the end is a nice breakdown of financial estimates for implementation of these recommendations.

The RCAP was established in 1991 and engaged in 178 days of public hearings, visiting 96 communities, commissioning research and consulting with experts. In 1996, the RCAP released a five volume report of findings and recommendations. The central purpose of the RCAP was to figure out what went wrong, how it went wrong, and what can be done to correct the problems identified. As the report asked, "What are the foundations of a fair and honourable relationship between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people of Canada?"

A lot of people seem to feel lost when it comes to the huge diversity of issues faced by Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and with the obviously dysfunctional system of relationships between indigenous peoples and the broader Canadian population. This is why I think the RCAP is so incredibly powerful and important. Much work has already been done to come up with practical solutions to identifiable problems. No wheels need be reinvented here.

The report notes that government policy toward natives has been wrong in the past, and still is. The RCAP was quite adamant about this when they released their final report in 1996, and not enough has changed since then to warrant a pat on the back for making things all better. This is a vital admission. Admitting that historical and current government policy towards indigenous peoples is wrong is no light thing. You will find strong resistance to this concept, particularly in the contemporary context. The Canadian government certainly does not accept this as true. The vast majority of Canadians probably do not accept that this is true.

Yes it is true; the Royal Commission was very clear on this, and since indigenous peoples are here to stay, it's important that everyone understand that.

Many Canadians are still clamouring for assimilation. The solutions are invariably, "Make them more like us! Private property! Get them out of isolated communities and into the cities with the rest of us! No special rights! No differences! Treat them the same!" and so on.

It's all been tried. Read Volume One of the RCAP Report, titled "Looking Forward, Looking Back." Pretty much every suggestion currently being given has been attempted before: relocation, teaching us to be ‘Canadian' (residential schools), making us Canadian and getting us off the reserve (enfranchisement) etc, all with disastrous results and ultimately, a failure to actually assimilate us. In fact, as the RCAP details, these attempts are the main causes of the atrocious socio-economic situation indigenous peoples currently face in this country.

The status quo isn't working, and contrary to what you may believe, the status quo is colonialism. This is something many people have recognized over the years as they have examined the history and the current reality the relationship between indigenous peoples and Canada. A new direction is needed, and the Commission has some proposals worth closely considering as to how the relationship between indigenous peoples and other Canadians can be restructured.

Taiaiake Alfred and Tobold Rollo summarized Volume Two of the RCAP in a recent pamphlet, helping to clarify "the most crucial and imminently needed recommendations". First, Canada and Canadians must acknowledge Canada's past and present colonialism. Second, the inherent right of indigenous peoples to self-govern must be given real expression. Third, indigenous governments must have control over their own social, cultural, economic, housing, health, and educational services and the duty to consult must be replaced by federally structured shared jurisdiction. Fourth, funding must be provided to build this capacity after which such monies will cease to be needed. Fifth, all restrictions on treaty negotiations over rights to land and culture must be removed and replaced with a good faith approach.

This is what we mean by changing the relationship. You may be wondering how this is going to fix the problems indigenous communities face?

Volume Three of the RCAP is titled, "Gathering Strength." It deals with many of the issues that have been raised recently in the context of Attawapiskat, such as housing, education and health, and lays out specific ways in which indigenous control over these services can be organised to improve the delivery and efficacy of those services. The focus must be on moving from dependency to strength, which is something that it seems everyone living in Canada can agree on.

But it's Volume Five that lays out a 20-year plan to implement all the recommendations of the Commission. It also provides a cost/benefit analysis for all 444 recommendations for change proposed by the RCAP.

In the 16 years since the RCAP was released, almost nothing has been accomplished. The Assembly of First Nations released a Report Card 10 years after the RCAP, looking at the recommendations and pointing out that for example: the Department of Indian Affairs (now AANDC) had yet to be abolished, there has been no commitment to train 10,000 native professionals in health and social services over 10 years, there is no First Nations jurisdiction over housing, no independent administrative tribunal for lands and treaties, and no sustained investment in meeting basic needs in First Nation communities. These are just some of the concrete recommendations that have not yet been followed through on.

The RCAP is a starting point for further investigation into the many issues faced by native peoples in Canada, and also as proof positive that practical solutions have been suggested. That latter part is important, because people need to stop believing that there is no other way forward besides just assimilating us once and for all. It might seem so much simpler to just legislate us out of existence, make us all the same to satisfy liberal notions of equality, but it won't actually solve anything. The RCAP is a good place to start if you want to know why such attempts are doomed to fail, and what alternatives have been proposed.

Chelsea Vowel is Métis from the Plains Cree speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. She currently lives in Montreal, Quebec. She holds a BEd, an LLB and is working on a Bachelor of Civil Law.

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From Salon.com

Canada's aboriginal protest movement explodes - Idle No More has galvanized marches, flashmobs and railway blockades in the fight for indigenous rights

By Natasha Lennard - Jan 2, 2013

Last month a protest movement exploded across Canada, but little has been made of it by the media below the border. The reason for this, perhaps, is that the issues underpinning the movement are - quite literally - indigenous to Canada.

Under the banner Idle No More, thousands of Canada's aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) and their allies have staged mass demonstrations in cities and towns all around the country in protest of the abusive treatment of indigenous people in Canada by the Canadian government. Mass marches have peacefully taken over the streets in Ottawa, while Round Dance flashmobs (nodding to both traditional indigenous dances and social media-fueled protest practices of late) have popped in around Canada and even in a handful of U.S. cities in solidarity.

Bold protest stunts have involved blockading some of Canada's major railway lines. Galvanizing a huge amount of attention to the issue is Chief Theresa Spence, the leader of the small Ontario Cree Nation of Attawapiskat, who is now 23 days into a hunger strike on Ottawa's Victoria Island, just across from the Canadian parliament, and who is demanding a dialogue between Canadian parliamentary leaders and aboriginal representatives.

A number of Canadian media outlets have cast the movement as a direct response to an omnibus bill, C-45, passed recently by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. Idle No More protesters argue the C-45 tramples on the treaty rights of aboriginal people, especially when it comes to land use. The bill, organizers note, will lower the threshold of community consent in the designation and surrender process of Indian Reserve Lands and remove particular protections from rivers and lakes within Reserve Lands. However, as Métis Nation blogger Chelsea Vowel points out, Idle No More is about far more than C-45 - it is about aboriginal sovereignty and rights.

As the Idle No More mission notes state:

Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water. Colonization continues through attacks to Indigenous rights and damage to the land and water. We must repair these violations, live the spirit and intent of the treaty relationship, work towards justice in action, and protect Mother Earth.

Conservative commentators in Canada have been swift to criticize Idle No More and Chief Spence, often invoking the sort of thinly veiled racism far-right voices in this country use to disparage Muslim and black groups. Well-known right-wing voice Christie Blatchford decried Spence's actions (a hunger strike) as "intimidation, if not terrorism." Arguments from Blatchford and other anti-native voices suggest that claims for aboriginal rights should be dismissed, as aboriginal cultures are no longer relevant in Canada. Writer and activist Harsha Walia called such dismissals of Idle No More "disgraceful and racist."

A recent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, flagged by Al-Jazeera, found that in 2006 the average income for aboriginal people was just under $19,000, which is 30 percent lower than the $27,097 average for other Canadians. For long-term activists in Canada, Idle No More is an exciting space for aboriginal people and non-aboriginal allies to begin to fight the conditions they see perpetuating this sort of inequality.

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From huffingtonpost.ca

Are Women Taking Over Canada's First Nations?

Tim Knight writes the regular media column, Watching the Watchdog, for HuffPost Canada. - 01/03/2013

It's not much of a protest.

Perhaps 400 people drum, wave flags, chant, block traffic on this bitterly cold day on Yonge Street at Dundas Square.

Buckskin jackets, a few jingle dresses, a banner reading "We Are All Treaty People." And two cops standing, watching, not even anoraked against the cold. (Rumour has it that the riot squad is in buses parked in a nearby street, waiting to be called in if necessary.)

It's another Idle No More protest in Toronto -- traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation -- this one on the very first day of 2013.

It could be any one of thousands of routinely ignored First Nations protests over the past hundred years against government neglect and consequent third-world conditions.

Except it isn't.

Yes, the crowd isn't big. But there's a new energy here this day. A new focus. Along with a problem for Idle No More.

Everyone here knows that the women who started the movement on that small Saskatchewan reserve 3,000 kilometres to the west of here have had to slap down Canada's chiefs -- mostly male -- who tried to take over leadership once it hit the headlines.

Last Monday the founding women issued this statement: "The Chiefs have called for action and anyone who chooses can join with them, however this is not part of the Idle No More movement as the vision of this grassroots movement does not coincide with the visions of the Leadership."

This is a blunt reference to the fact that the nation's indigenous chiefs have largely failed to improve First Nations living standards over the years.

Some are regarded as government stooges, others as corrupt, many as simply weak.

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On this first day of 2013, some 350 kilometres to the north-east of Toronto on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River -- traditional Algonquin territory -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence starts the fourth week of her hunger strike.

She calls for peace between the Idle No More movement and the chiefs. "Let us come together in unity, because all of us, chiefs and grassroots, are one. If we are going to point fingers, let us point them squarely at this colonial government. The chiefs have made mistakes in the past, but don't shame them for these. They are, after all, our people. The chiefs are ready now to humble themselves for the people."

Canada's chiefs aren't used to being humbled. Particularly by a women.

Could it be that women are finally, in desperation, taking over leadership of the First Nations world?

After all, many tribes and bands are matrilineal (descent traced through the mother and maternal ancestors.)

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Back in Toronto, the protesters -- perhaps half indigenous, half settler -- gather in a circle under the banner "Indigenous Rights Are Non-Negotiable ... Protecting the Rights of the People who are protecting the Rights of the Planet."

A young woman takes the loudspeaker to attack successive Canadian governments for treating indigenous people like inferior dependents. "It's a new year and we want a new relationship" she shouts "nation to nation."

The crowd echoes back: "It's a new year and we want a new relationship -- nation to nation."

Tantoo Cardinal (Order of Canada, Dances With Wolves) picks up the same thread to a CityTV camera: "Canadian people really have to understand that there are two signers in the treaties. They call a certain indigenous people treaty people, right? [But] we're all treaty people. Because those agreements were signed for all nations."

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Time for the traditional round dance, a ceremony to remember and honour ancestors. Now, today, part of a protest against a distant, uncaring government.

The drums and singers start. Protesters form two huge circles in the middle of Dundas Square. On one side, a woman in buckskin and beads takes my hand. On the other side, a white teenage boy. We smile at each other.

And dance.

I've danced at powwows before, but at first, I feel awkward, silly. Old white man, descendent of British colonialists responsible for so much of this mess, daring to dance with wolves.

But as the drums, the heartbeat of Mother Earth, beat out their rhythm and the singers' voices rise and fall and we slowly circle the square, holding hands, feet sliding on the packed snow, something strong and bright and shiny happens.

We become as one. All of us -- First Nations, protesters, sympathizers, settlers, young, old, women, men, all of us holding hands and dancing this dance while the voices ring clear and the drums beat time.

And for these moments at least there is no difference among us. Only oneness, only the dance and the cause and Mother Earth and Turtle Island.

The protest ends. The banners and flags are furled. The drums are wrapped. The people drift away, most toward the subway. The two cops climb into a SUV with bicycles strapped to its back and drive off.

And I walk across the deserted white and frozen square and pass a music shop where Bob Marley sings "Get Up, Stand Up."

And it's the first day of a new year.

And perhaps a new start for Canada's First Nations.