{"id":893,"date":"2014-01-26T16:54:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/?p=893"},"modified":"2014-01-26T16:54:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T23:54:11","slug":"got-land-idlenomore-day-of-action-january-28-bced-bcpoli-occupyeducation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/2014\/01\/26\/got-land-idlenomore-day-of-action-january-28-bced-bcpoli-occupyeducation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Got Land?\u2019 #IdleNoMore Day Of Action January 28 #bced #bcpoli #occupyeducation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Staff, Indian Country Media Network<\/a>, Popular Resistance<\/em>, January 26, 2014–\u00a0Above photo:\u00a0Courtesy Tenelle Starr\/Via Metronews.ca,\u00a0Tenelle Starr, a Grade 8 student at Balcarres Community School, wears her, \u201cGot Land? Thank an Indian,\u201d sweatshirt. Starr and other students wearing sweaters bearing that slogan were initially instructed to wear them inside-out due to complaints.<\/p>\n

The grassroots Idle No More movement was already planning a national day of action across Canada for January 28 to teach people about the First Nations Education Act, which most Indigenous Peoples oppose. Now the organizers are exhorting everyone to dress for the occasion\u2014in a \u201cGot Land? Thank an Indian\u201d t-shirt or sweatshirt.<\/p>\n

Idle No More has scooped up 13-year-old Tenelle Starr, the eighth-grade student from Star Blanket First Nation who persuaded school officials to let her wear a hoodie with the words \u201cGot Land?\u201d on the front and \u201cThank an Indian\u201d on the back.<\/p>\n

Since that day, the shirt\u2019s maker in Canada, Jeff Menard, has been swamped with orders. But now he might want to add another phone line. Idle No More is calling on everyone across Canada to don the slogan, which Menard sells on t-shirts and bibs in all sizes, in addition to hooded and non-hooded sweatshirts.<\/p>\n

Menard has set up a website,Thank An Indian<\/a>, to field and fulfill orders. The shirts, bibs and other items that he said are forthcoming are also showcased on his\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0of the same name. A portion of the proceeds will go to help the homeless.<\/p>\n

Those wishing to buy the slogan south of the 49th Parallel can order at its U.S. source. The\u00a0White Earth Land Recovery Project<\/a>, part of the Native Harvest product line that is run by Ojibwe activist and author Winona LaDuke, has sold\u00a0hoodies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0t-shirts<\/a>\u00a0bearing the slogan for years. Menard has said he got the idea after seeing friends from the U.S. wearing similar shirts.<\/p>\n

The message and the lesson have taken on new urgency as racist comments proliferated on Tenelle\u2019s Facebook page to such a degree that it had to be taken down. But that has only solidified the teen\u2019s determination to make a difference and to educate Canadians, which she said was her intial goal in wearing the shirt to school.<\/p>\n

She received support, too, from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta, which invited her to the Neil Young concert in support of its efforts to quell development in the oil sands of the province. She attended the Saturday January 18 performance as an honorary guest, according to Idle No More\u2019s website. Young is doing a series of concerts to raise funds for the Athabasca Chipewyan\u2019s legal fight against industrial activity in the sands.<\/p>\n

Tenelle \u201cis now calling, along with the Idle No More movement, for people everywhere to don the shirt as an act of truth-telling and protest,\u201dIdle No More said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0on January 17. \u201cNow and up to a January 28 Day of Action, Tenelle and Idle No More and Defenders of the Land are encouraging people across the country to make the shirt and wear them to their schools, workplaces, or neighborhoods to spark conversations about Canada\u2019s true record on Indigenous rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBC News reported that Tenelle\u2019s Facebook page was shut down at the suggestion of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which briefly investigated some intensely negative and racist comments that were posted on the girl\u2019s page after the school ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was racist remarks with attempts to shadow it in opinion, but they were pretty forceful, pretty racist,\u201d Sheldon Poitras, a member of the band council for the Star Blanket First Nation, and a friend of the family, said to\u00a0CBC News<\/a>. \u201cThe family was concerned about Tenelle\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family deactivated Tenelle\u2019s Facebook account \u201con advice from RCMP,\u201d CBC News reported, and the RCMP confirmed that it was investigating.<\/p>\n

The message is a quip laden with historical accuracy that refers to the 1874 document known as Treaty 4, which Star Blanket First Nation is part of, in which 13 signatory nations of Saulteaux and Cree deeded the land to the settlers of what would become modern-day Canada.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, many continue to view the message as racist. Idle No More aims to debunk that notion as well as clarify the historical record. Tenelle has participated in Idle No More rallies with her mother as well, the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can wear the shirt,\u201d said Tenelle in the Idle No More statement. \u201cI think of it as a teaching tool that can help bring awareness to our treaty and land rights. The truth about Canada\u2019s bad treatment of First Nations may make some people uncomfortable, but understanding it is the only way Canada will change and start respecting First Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Menard said that support has been streaming in from chiefs and others throughout Canada for both him and Tenelle, there has been negative feedback that shows there\u2019s still a lot of misinformation to be dispelled, he told ICTMN.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been getting hate messages, Tenelle has been getting hate messages,\u201d Menard said in a phone interview on January 21, but reiterated that the slogan merely reflects historical fact. \u201cIf anybody learns their history they see that the Indians were here first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Popular Resistance<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staff, Indian Country Media Network, Popular Resistance, January 26, 2014–\u00a0Above photo:\u00a0Courtesy Tenelle Starr\/Via Metronews.ca,\u00a0Tenelle Starr, a Grade 8 student at Balcarres Community School, wears her, \u201cGot Land? Thank an Indian,\u201d sweatshirt. Starr and other students wearing sweaters bearing that slogan … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1527,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[406501,4182,4772,879,2258,2259,635,524083,2262,2265,2266,5038,737179,2273],"tags":[617412,1063390,1063372,1063373,1063365,1063374,1063379],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bc-education","category-civil-liberties","category-critical-education","category-environment","category-equity","category-ethics","category-government","category-idle-no-more","category-k-12-issues","category-organizing","category-protests","category-student-movement","category-student-speech","category-students","tag-bc-education-2","tag-critical-education","tag-equity","tag-ethics","tag-government","tag-k-12-issues","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}