Category Archives: Human Rights

Conestoga students kick off final weeks of term with #IdleNoMore powwow

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Linda Givetash, The Record — To give students a boost in the final weeks of the academic term, Conestoga College hosted a powwow Saturday.

The annual event, held at the recreation centre at the Doon campus, brought a sense of home to the campus for aboriginal students and taught non-aboriginal community members about the culture.

“The powwow is a really good time for (students) to bring their families together and a lot of students do better after this powwow,” said Myeengun Henry, manager of aboriginal services for the college. “We have students from way up north and they miss their families … so when their families come and visit them, they get rejuvenated.”

Members of aboriginal communities from across the province and even the U.S. came to the event. It included traditional ceremonies, food, dance, crafts and more.

The powwow comes right at the end of reading week for students, marking the final half of the term. Henry said it brings students back to campus and gets them in the mindset for school after the week off.

Keeping an eye on her four-year-old son running around the recreation centre, community and criminal justice student Tina Allardyce, 28, said she has volunteered with the powwow for the last three years to help promote her culture on campus.

“It’s great that it’s a part of Conestoga College … and that we can bring our community and the Native members of the community in Kitchener-Waterloo here,” she said. “The more people that come out to learn and experience the aboriginal traditional culture is amazing.”

The education the powwow provided for non-aboriginal visitors reflects the current state of the Idle No More movement that launched in November. Henry explained that although the movement is no longer in the spotlight, activism and public awareness is ongoing.

“Idle No More has moved to a different thing now,” Henry said. “Instead of being on the streets and doing rallies, we’re starting to take them to institutions and schools to allow people to ask questions on what is about.

#IdleNoMore Lecture Series at U Saskatchewan

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Idle No More Discussion Series
What’s it all about?
University of Saskatchewan
Weekly, February 25 – April 3

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Posted in Advocacy, Equity, Government, Human Rights, Idle No More, Organizing, Politics, Protests, Solidarity, Student Movement, Students

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#IdleNoMore Teach-in Week (March 2-8) at UNBC

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Idle No More Teach-In Week at UNBC
March 2-8 2013

http://www.womennorthnetwork.com/images/stories/idlenomore.pdf

Idle No More as a Social Movement has been prominent in media and social media within the last several months, and is generating a great deal of interest in students and faculty both here at UNBC, across post-secondary institutions in Canada and worldwide. It is a grassroots movement begun by four First Nations women in Saskatchewan in response to the ecological and socio-political challenges generated as a result of Bills C-38 and C-45 and other actions recently initiated by the current federal government.

Idle No More has quickly become the leading voice for indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians speaking out against the government’s drastic and unilateral modifications to treaty and environmental legislation. Specific areas of concern include changes to the regulations governing environmental assessment of proposed resource developments, fisheries, protected waterways, and private ownership of treaty land. Three Idle No More Rallies have been held locally in Prince George on January 12, January 26 , and one February 14 @ 4:00 at City Hall.

Many universities and colleges are sponsoring or have sponsored teach-ins on Idle No More in an effort to have actual realistic educated opinions on the issues at stake. These teach-ins have involved faculty and students from different disciplines, as well as key politicians and Indigenous community members addressing issues arising from the omnibus bills. Some forums have been interdisciplinary and some have been discipline specific.

We are organizing an Idle No More Teach-In Week at UNBC to be held March 2-8 2013. We plan to create places and spaces on campus to have informed faculty and students, both Indigenous peoples and allies, share their research, programs, experiences, stories, poetry, music and art, focused primarily on our responsibility to honor and defend the lands and waters at this time. The academic and artistic events will coincide with other campus events for the first week of March being sponsored through the First Nations Center, NUGSS and The Women’s Center. All members of the UNBC, including the Regional Campuses are welcomed to attend these events in person or through distance delivery. As much as possible events will be video recorded and made available for viewing through social media like utube.

The preliminary Schedule of Events is available here:http://www.womennorthnetwork.com/images/stories/idlenomore.pdf.

If you want to get involved or want to chat about how you can become involved in Idle No More UNBC Teach-In please contact Fyre Jean graveli@unbc.ca.

#IdleNoMore @ Douglas College

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

New Westminster News Leader, Grant Granger, February 19, 2013 — The Idle No More First Nations movement arrived at Douglas College’s New Westminster campus on Tuesday.

At a rally organized by the Douglas Students’ Union, speakers called for the federal government to abandon its omnibus Bill C-45 that many First Nations leaders believe will pave the way for pipelines and other infringements on native land, native rights and the environment throughout the country.

“This act is pretty much going to erase all of our strides as aboriginal people,” Mique’l Dangeli, a UBC doctoral student doing a PhD in First Nations studies, told the gathering. “They pretty much clear the way for Enbridge to exploit our lands without consultation with the First Nations especially on our reservations.”

Dangeli grew up in Metlakalta, Alaska on Annette Island just south of Ketchikan while her husband Mike was raised a short distance away on land that straddled the U.S.-Canadian border. They now live in Burnaby.

“These huge (omnibus) bills bury the issues,” said Mique’l.

The Idle No More Movement was started in Saskatoon in November by Jessica Gordon, Sylvia McAdam, Sheelah McLean and Nina Wilson to call attention to the damage the legislation could do to First Nations rights and lands, as well as to the environment. It has spread across the country and also received international attention with solidarity protests supporting the cause in the United States, Stockholm, London, Berlin, Auckland and Cairo.

“It took meticulous reading by those four women to realize the implications,” Dangeli told the audience of about 200 in the Douglas College atrium.

Dangeli’s husband Mike, an artist, carver, dance group leader and business manager, said the legislation should concern everybody because Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government wants to be able to make moves however the Conservative majority sees fit.

“They’re getting rid of protected lakes and streams to make way for pipelines,” said Mike, whose powerful voice and loud drum boomed throughout the cavernous atrium as he spoke, and performed a traditional song and dance. “It’s not about yes or no [to the projects], it’s about asking. How would you feel if they wanted to put it right through your backyard or your front yard for that matter?”

And it could be even in the backyard he lives in now, considering Kinder Morgan is proposing an expansion of its Alberta-to-Burrard Inlet pipeline which could mean coming right through Robert Burnaby Park, he said.

Douglas College student Sheena Wong, one of the event’s organizers, was dressed in a traditional red-and-black cloak as she rallied the crowd.

“They’re selling our land to foreign countries,” said Wong. “I will not stand by and watch him (Harper) sell our land out from underneath us.”

Organizer Madison Paradis-Woodman said the intent of the event was to educate everyone of how the changes in social and environmental policy will affect all walks of life. He estimated there were 350 people throughout the day who absorbed the positive energy of the speakers, the drummers and the singers.

“I have never felt so proud to be an indigenous person. If anything this movement is proof of the power we can receive when we stand not behind people but in front of people and stand for environmental and social justice,” he said. “Just seeing people from all walks of life come out and participate and take something out of it, that made me feel good inside.”

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#IdleNoMore @ U Maine: Building multi-ethnic and multi-generational networks of women

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

“We have reached a nexus point where Indigenous land rights, environmental justice and human survival all collide.” “It is here, at this point of collision, that we have the opportunity to facilitate real change as the various collectives — like we’re seeing around this room — of effective parties are thrown together in a literal fight for human survival.” Sherri Mitchell, Director, Land Peace Foundation

The Maine Campus, Dominique Scarlett, February 18, 2013 — On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Women’s Studies program hosted “Idle No More: Building Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Generational Networks of Women,” the third in a series of their Women in Curriculum, or WIC spring lunch lectures, in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union.

Sherri Mitchell, the director of the Land Peace Foundation, and Maria Girouard, assistant coordinator for student development at the University of Maine’s Wabanaki Center, presented the lecture, which focused on the “Idle No More” movement, recent controversial Canadian legislation and the need for supportive allies within the movement.

“Idle No More” is a grassroots movement that protests legislative abuses to the rights of aboriginal and indigenous people in Canada, which consist of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

“We have reached a nexus point where Indigenous land rights, environmental justice and human survival all collide,” Mitchell said during the presentation. “It is here, at this point of collision, that we have the opportunity to facilitate real change as the various collectives — like we’re seeing around this room — of effective parties are thrown together in a literal fight for human survival.”

The movement was formed in late 2012 by a group of female activists who organized a series of “teach-ins,” a form of non-violent protest where participants engage in free discussion about a controversial topic, to protest the induction of Canada’s C-45 bill.

The activists believe the controversial bill weakens environmental protection laws — particularly those that protect navigable waterways, many of which surrounded land that belongs to the First Nations.

“We have one planet. The type of destruction that we are facing respects no boundaries, it knows no division,” Mitchell said. “Therefore, if we hope to survive, we must eliminate all divisions between us. We must be allies and work collectively to stop these archaic practices of domination in the greed-driven industry that is threatening our planet and destroying all life.”

Mitchell argued that several policy measures, led by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, violate the rights of the indigenous and aboriginal people of Canada.

“[Harper’s] goal is to completely get rid of all people that identify as indigenous or aboriginal in Canada so that nobody has that status, because there are certain protections that are afforded under the law as a result of that status,” Mitchell said.

She spoke of the implementation of a three-tier policy strategy that, through several proposed and passed policy measures, negotiates with First Nations to sign new agreements that terminate their status as First Nations, eliminate funding and remove all funding for legal consultation.

She spoke of the steps that everyone could take to become involved in the environmental, indigenous and aboriginal rights movements.

“Educate yourself about the issues, attend informational sessions, do the research, talk to people, seek advice from the group for which you’re being an ally [and] listen to their critique of what you’re doing,” Mitchell said.

UM Student union throws support behind #IdleNoMore

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Winnipeg Free Press, February 14, 2013 — The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) endorsed the Idle No More movement and pledged to provide resources and supports to local organizers, an UMSU news release said today following a teach-in at the U of M by the aboriginal student representative.

“Students recognize and understand that Indigenous people and communities continue to confront the systems of colonization and oppression established by successive Canadian governments,” UMSU president Bilan Arte said in the news release.

“As an organization committed to social justice and increasing access to higher education, it is natural for UMSU to support the Idle No More movement in its efforts to educate and inform the rest of the country on the issues facing Indigenous people in Canada.”

UMSU is the largest students’ association in Manitoba with more than 25,000 undergraduate student members.

Ryerson University professor Pam Palmater, key spokesperson for Idle No More, said in an interview with Postmedia News:. “We’re in this for the long haul. It was never meant to be a flashy one month, then go away. This is something that’s years in the making,”

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U of Toronto Student Torbold Rollo on #IdleNoMore

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Georgia Straight, Torbold Rollo, February 1, 2013 — IT IS SOMETIMES quipped that democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. This Darwinian image of vulnerable minorities falling prey to a “tyranny of the majority” is why few believe that democracy can be reduced to participation in elections. If democracy has value it is because it allows people to have a meaningful say in the rules that govern them. Anything that precludes or impairs this “voice” is anti-democratic by extension.

The Idle No More indigenous rights movement is a democratic movement par excellence. It seeks to challenge those mechanisms of Canadian governance that preside over the lives of indigenous peoples and in this sense their demand for self-government—what ancient Greek theorists called “autonomy”, from auto (self) andnomos (rule)—is a genuinely democratic aspiration. Canadians are coming to see this more clearly as the movement articulates its recommendations. (No surprise, then, that “Idle No More” was just voted “Best Democratic Moment of 2012” in a poll conducted by the research group on democracy, Samara.)

What exactly precludes and impairs the autonomy of indigenous peoples? The Indian Act stands out as the most glaringly anti-democratic impediment to self-government. Not simply because it shatters the 60 or so original indigenous nations along with their traditional governments and traditional territories into the 614 arbitrary “bands” now scattered across Canada on tiny “reserves”, but also because band leadership has no real say in political and legislative life on those reserves. Although they are elected, chief and council have no democratic authority to govern because they are constrained from above by the Indian Act rather than from below by their people. They are replaceable managers, in essence, not law-makers. Real authority resides in the enforcement of the Indian Act by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. The whole arrangement is insultingly arbitrary from a democratic perspective.

#IdleNoMore alive and well, University of Alberta forum hears

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Edmonton Journal, Alexander Zabjek, February 8, 1013 — The Idle No More Movement is not dead, dying, or dormant.

That was the message at a University of Alberta forum Friday that attracted more than 300 participants and nine speakers, including Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario.

Spence, via video link from her home community, was making her first major public appearance since ending her six-week fluid-only diet in Ottawa two weeks ago. Spence started her protest around the same time as Idle No More gained speed but the two protests were separate entities with separate tactics, although Spence often seemed to dominate headlines.

On Friday, however, Spence urged First Nations leaders to work with the Idle No More movement and other grassroots organizations. She said she was glad to be back in her home community and spoke relatively briefly, alongside Danny Metatawabin, her spokesperson during her protest,

“In retrospect, I see (she) really drew attention to Canada’s indigenous people, not just in Canada but outside Canada. People started to hear about this First Nations chief in Canada who is on a hunger strike in this country that is supposed to be such a great place to live,” said speaker Tanya Kappo, of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, after the forum.

Kappo was the first person to use the Twitter hashtag #idlenomore in December and has spoken extensively about the Conservative government’s Bill C-45 and the effect it will have on laws governing navigable waterways. She addressed the crowd with personal stories of activism, including the time she explained to her young son why she couldn’t in good conscience attend Alberta’s centennial celebrations.

#IdleNoMore UNBC students in action

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Rolling Stone, Brooke Jarvis, February 4, 2013— As members of Canada’s House of Commons returned to work last week in Ottawa, they found several hundred protesters waiting for them under a heavy snowfall on Parliament Hill. Many were dressed in traditional clothing of Canada’s First Nations….

Similar protests took place in Halifax, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver and other cities across Canada and in the United States. They were part of a “world day of action” organized under the banner of Idle No More – a native rights movement that has been heating up since October, when the Canadian government proposed a bill, known as C-45, that included provisions to undermine environmental protection and indigenous sovereignty.

C-45, which passed in December, changes the way that First Nations approve the surrendering or leasing of territory, making it easier to open indigenous treaty lands to development. The law also reduces the number of development projects that require environmental assessment and dramatically changes the nation’s Navigable Waters Protection Act – which, since 1882, has made it illegal to “block, alter or destroy any water deep enough to float a canoe without federal approval.” Now, only specifically enumerated bodies of water have that protection….

Shalane Pauls is a 24-year-old biochemistry student at the University of Northern British Columbia and a member of the Tsimshian and Tahltan nations. In the last few months, she has organized three Idle No More rallies. She is in the process of planning a teach-in to discuss what she calls myths about the movement, primarily claims that First Nations receive unfair government support. But the biggest myth, she said, is that water pollution only matters to native people. “It’s not just a First Nations issue,” says Pauls. “It’s a human rights issue. It’s a Canadian issue. It’s not just aboriginal children we’re looking out for; it’s the children of the nation.”

Idle No More has been subject to many of the same criticisms as other social movements: that its purpose isn’t sufficiently clear, that tactics will turn off potential allies, that infighting and tribal mismanagement mar the message. There’s no way to tell how long its momentum will last. Still, Pauls sees the movement as a turning point in the political involvement of Canada’s First Nations. “For so long, we haven’t been heard. And so, for so long we just sat, idly. But the title in itself really wakes people up. To be like, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be idle anymore – this is what I want to see, this is how I feel.’ There’s always going to be something worth fighting for.”

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Power of #IdleNoMore movement lies in direct action, says UBC prof

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Georgia Straight, Yolanda Cole, February 6, 2013 — THE IDLE NO More movement is undergoing a moment of “pause and critical reflection”, in the view of one participant.

But that pause is also accompanied by a “rise in our collective anger and frustration” with the federal government, according to University of British Columbia professor Glen Coulthard.

Speaking at an Idle No More “teach-in” event at the University of British Columbia on February 1, Coulthard addressed the potential impact of direct actions staged by the movement.

The political science and First Nations Studies faculty member argued that grassroots forms of protests such as blockades have historically led to changes on indigenous issues.

“Historically, I would venture to suggest that all negotiations, over the scope and content of aboriginal people’s rights in the last 40 years, have piggybacked off of the assertive direct actions, including the escalated use of blockades, spearheaded by indigenous women and other grassroots elements of our community,” Coulthard told a crowd of more than 300 students and members of the public at the First Nations House of Learning at UBC.

Coulthard, a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, disputed what he said is an assumption that official negotiations among leadership are the “most productive means to forge real change in the lives of indigenous communities”.

“I think that there’s a latent understanding that the negotiations aren’t about making the transformative changes that indigenous peoples need in order to live healthy, cultured lives, and if you look at the history of negotiations, they’ve always come in order to placate the transformative energy that has emerged in more grassroots forms of protest actions,” he said in an interview.

In fact, he argued, inquiries such as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the B.C. missing women inquiry wouldn’t have occurred if sustained direct actions led by indigenous communities hadn’t brought attention to the issues.

Coulthard noted it wouldn’t surprise him if Idle No More demonstrations escalate to “more assertive” forms of peaceful protest. Idle No More actions in Ontario have included railway and highway blockades.

“I think that it’s pretty clear that the federal government is maintaining its stance on the problematic pieces of legislation that have upset indigenous peoples so much,” he stated. “And if history has taught us anything, these cycles of anger and pent-up frustration will tend to be played out in activism.”

The demonstrations were initially sparked out of opposition to federal omnibus legislation that included changes to the Indian Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Coulthard noted that the movement has gained unprecedented sustained attention from the general population.

“I think it’s because Canadians, nonindigenous peoples, are seeing their own interests perhaps better represented by indigenous peoples, especially concerning environmental sustainability and the land,” he said in an interview. “These legislative changes are also violations of nonindigenous peoples’ aspirations with respect to the integrity of the land, having it shared more equitably.”

In Coulthard’s view, movements like Idle No More “have within their sights, now more than ever” a restructuring of the relationship between indigenous peoples and Canada. But he added that changes to that relationship are a “distant, long-term goal”.

“The impacts [of the movement] will be long-term, and they will eventually compel Canada to come to the negotiating table on equitable terms, honor its treaty obligations, and correct the colonial relationship between indigenous peoples and the state,” he said.

“The inequalities and the privileges that have built up are centuries old now, so it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Red More: Georgia Straight

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#IdleNoMore Teach-In and Demonstration at #UBC

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Well over 300 gathered this afternoon for an Idle No More Teach-In at the University of British Columbia. This followed a late morning and afternoon INM demonstration yesterday with 100+ in attendance at any given moment. Today’s Teach-In at the First Nations House of Learning was broadcast by CITR (101.9 FM), the student run (since 1974) radio at UBC. If you were unable to attend, I encourage all to listen to the podcast for today and view videos from yesterday’s demonstration, as these were truly memorable and significant events at UBC. On a campus that has become renowned for apathy, Idle No More is a welcome and extremely promising change of both outlook and power dynamics. If you’re on the Board of Governors at UBC, you are likely proud and anxious at this point: Proud in that students are waking up and organizing demonstrations and teach-ins such as Idle No More and anxious in that none of this bodes well for business as usual and continuos expansion into unceded Musqueam territory and lands endowed in trust about 100 years ago (Musqueam home from time immemorial to “Crown Land” in late 1800s into “Endowment Lands” in 1910). Thank you to all who organized and participated these past two days in Idle No More at UBC!

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#IdleNoMore Demonstration at UBC

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | 1 comment

Lee Brown Speaks wisdom to power at Idle No More Demonstration at UBC

Thank you to Idle No More student planners of the extremely important demonstration at the University of British Columbia yesterday (31 January). This was the first of many to come at a University that has grown irresponsible in its expansion throughout the unceded Musqueam territory on which it is settled. This was a refreshingly catalytic exploration of the varied and complex issues represented within the Idle No More movement for a campus waking up from a decade of messages from the University that an inactive and idle student body is the best student body.

The Idle No More Teach-In at UBC this afternoon at the First Nations Longhouse will work from yesterday’s demonstration to generate next steps for this decreasingly idyllic, but no longer idle, campus.

Most videos from the Idle No More Demonstration at UBC (31 January 2013) are accessible:

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#IdleNoMore Teach-in at UBC on Friday (February 1)

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | 1 comment

Idle No More Teach-in
First Nations House of Learning
University of British Columbia

First Nations Longhouse
Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
1pm-3pm

Distinguished Aboriginal faculty will provide a background to the movement, outline the aspects of Bills 38 and 45 that are seen as problematic and discuss ways that classroom dialogue around this issue can be incorporated in an informed and productive way.

Everyone is welcome including students, staff, faculty, TAs and community members.

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#IdleNoMore Demonstration at UBC on Thursday (January 31)

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | 1 comment

Idle No More Demonstration at the University of British Columbia
Thursday, January 31
10:30am – 5pm
meet in front of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology
for a march to the Student Union Building

The UBC Idle No More Demonstration is an educational campaign led by both First Nations and Non-Indigenous students.

We will meet in front of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology for a march to the Student Union Building for a day of music, dancing, guest speakers, and alliance building between the grassroots Idle No More Movement and the wider UBC community.

10:30 am Meeting at MOA for opening prayer with Musqueam community members and Doctor Lee Brown. 11:00 to 12:00 March around campus (route to be determined) lead by First Nations Studies students.

Drummers and Singers from the Coast Salish, Tsimshian, Nisga’a Tlingit, Haida, and Kwakwaka’wakw Nations will be sharing their songs and dances throughout the demonstration.

**We invite people from all Nations to come with their drums to join in on songs and share songs of your own**

12:00 to 4:30 Meeting in front of the SUB between Brock Hall and the Goddess of Democracy Statue

Order of Speakers

1.) 12:00/12:30 to 1:00 Professor Glen Coulthard, Yellowknives Dene First Nation
2.) 1:00 to 1:15 Karina Czyzewski (student)
3.) 1:30 Shannon Hecker (student)
4.) 1:45 Professor Charles Menzies
5.) 2:00 Professor Coll Thrush
6.) 2:30 Miles Richardson (Haida Gwaii, UBC Alumni, David Suzuki Foundation, British Columbia Treaty Commission)
7.) 3:00 Angela Code (Sayisi Dene and UBC Alumni)
8.) 3:30 Professor Bruce Miller.
9.) 3:45 to 4:30 Open Mic and performances (weather permitting).
10.) 4:30 to 5:00 Closing

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Questioning the independence of UBC’s Equity office

Posted on January 28, 2013 by E Wayne Ross | Comments Off

This open letter by UBC Professor Jennifer Chan, published today by the Ubyssey, appeals for changes to UBC’s consultations concerning its Equity Office. The Jennifer Chan v UBC and others [Beth Haverkamp, David Farrar, Jon Shapiro, Rob Tierney] racial discrimination case was heard by the BC Supreme Court on November 13, 2012. The case involves the David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education selection process in Fall 2009. See the Ubyssey’s feature article for background to the case.

Letter: Equity office revamp needs an independent perspective

The Ubyssey, January 28, 2013 — In December 2012, UBC called for a consultation to “seek input and advice from the UBC community on what organizational changes are needed to build inclusion into the structure of the university so inclusion at all levels and in all forms becomes the norm.”

One of the two co-chairs of the consultation, Ms. Nitya Iyer, who is a practicing lawyer and a former faculty in the UBC Faculty of Law, had been involved in at least two UBC equity complaint investigations. Former Associate Vice-President Equity, Tom Patch, who retired at the end of December 2012, had hired Ms. Iyer as an external investigator for these cases, both of which she dismissed.

Patch and Iyer were former colleagues at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. By all appearances, this posed conflict of interest for the investigations. Now, asking Ms. Iyer to co-chair a university-wide consultation on organizational structures that she has been involved in also raises issues of impartiality and vested interest.

She is asked, among other things, to review the UBC Equity Office for which she worked as an investigator. Further, former and/or current equity complainants may be unwilling to come forward in the consultation due to the fact that the person who headed and dismissed their investigation is now co-chairing that process.

Similarly, Dr. Gurdeep Prahar, who is the current acting head of the UBC Equity Office, was asked by Tom Patch to be a member of an investigative panel in at least one equity complaint proceeding.

For the consultation process to be credible and seen as independent and fair, a new co-chair who has never worked with/for UBC equity organizations is preferable. Otherwise, it risks being seen as compromised.

—Jennifer Chan
Associate Professor
Faculty of Education

#IdleNoMore World Day of Action

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Today (January 28) is the first #IdleNoMore World Day of Action, with events and protests planned around the globe and in at least 30 Canadian cities.

This day of action will peacefully protest attacks on Democracy, Indigenous Sovereignty, Human Rights and Environmental Protections when Canadian MPs return to the House of Commons on January 28th. As a grassroots movement, clearly no political organization speaks for Idle No More. This movement is of the people …

INM urges the government of Canada to repeal all legislation; which violates Treaties, Indigenous Sovereignty and subsequently Environmental Protections of land and water.

INM is grateful to many leaders who have supported this vision and the movement of the grassroots people. “The Treaties are the last line of defense to protect water and lands from destruction,” stated Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs.

Here in Vancouver, the rally and Gathering of Nations will begin at 12:00 at the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Department office, near the intersection of Melville and Thurlow (1138 Melville st).

At the University of Mannitoba, Buffy Sainte-Marie will speak at the University of Manitoba Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m. about the momentum of the movement as part of the university student union’s annual Week of Celebration. Students and youth from First Nations in Manitoba are walking this weekend along Highway 59 to rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Monday at 5 p.m. Sainte-Marie is expected to join the rally and round dance at the Manitoba Legislative Building today. Read more: Winnipeg Free Press

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Mi’kmaq students stage #IdleNoMore rally at CBU

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Chris Hayes, Cape Breton Post, January 25, 2013 — Dancing a round dance of friendship and speaking out against legislation by the federal Conservative government, Mi’kmaq students at Cape Breton University held a rally on Wednesday in support of the national grassroots Idle No More movement.

The students, who are in a Mi’kmaq governance class, wanted to raise awareness about legislation by the federal Conservative government they describe as a threat to their treaty rights and, in a wider sense, to all Canadians.

Class member Janine Christmas said the legislation is being pushed ahead without consultation with First Nations.

“These are things that not only affect our treaty rights and communities but also all Canadians,” she said.

Students wearing Idle No More T-shirts passed out information sheets to a crowd of CBU students and faculty at the rally about federal omnibus legislation called Bill C45, which was described as the bill causing greatest concern to First Nations across Canada.

A definition of aboriginal fishery in Bill C45 doesn’t recognize a moderate livelihood fishery and the bill drops protections that were in the Navigable Waters Protection Act for a list of federally protected lakes and rivers, reducing it in Nova Scotia, for instance, to just the Bras d’Or Lake, Great Bras d’Or and the LeHave River, the handout said.

The omnibus bill, which is about to be proclaimed by the Governor General, also changes how the federal government does environmental assessments in a way that could limit the role of First Nations people and alters the Indian Act when it comes to how bands may lease reserve lands to third parties. The new way of leasing land will be by “simple majority” voting.

The handout at the rally said there was no consultation on the changes to the Indian Act and chiefs feel the way they came about calls into question the honour of the Crown.

Christmas suggested a lower threshold could ease the way for the development of pipelines and power lines that are a threat to the environment and health.

First Nations have concerns about other federal legislation, she said.

The rally began with a smudging ceremony and honour song by the Stoney Bear Singers.

Judith Sayers on #IdleNoMore: ‘A real need to join the people’

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Globe and Mail, Rob Mickleburgh, January 21, 2013 — As a former chief of the Hupacasath First Nation, a past executive member of the First Nations Summit and currently a visiting professor of business and law at the University of Victoria, Judith Sayers has long been one of B.C.’s most prominent natives, with a reputation for seeking solutions over confrontation. But there she was last week, part of the Idle No More highway blockade near Victoria. Afterward, Ms. Sayers talked with The Globe and Mail about her support for the burgeoning movement, and her unhappiness with current native leadership.

How was the protest?

I didn’t plan to go, but I was checking Twitter and felt a real need to join the people. It’s such a good feeling to be with people of one mind, walking, hearing the drums and the singing, and just listening to people.

What brought you to Idle No More, which is very much outside the formal channels you’re used to?

Well, those formal channels aren’t getting us anywhere. I have always said we need leaders who are going to put our issues on the front page, make them election issues. None of us, including myself, have been able to do that. I see this movement able to do that. It’s amazing. Our people have never really taken this kind of initiative before. It’s across the ranks. All of the issues have come to a boiling point.

Students and young people behind #IdleNoMore

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

What’s behind the explosion of native activism? Young people

JOE FRIESEN
The First Perspective

The First Perspective, Joe Friesen, January 20, 2013 — Erica Lee is a 22-year-old Cree woman raised by a single mother in a rough part of town. She’s the first of her family to finish high school, the first to go to university and, as an organizer of the Idle No More movement, she represents a sea change in Canadian life and politics.

When she was in high school in Saskatoon, Ms. Lee’s history teacher was a woman named Sheelah McLean, one of the four founders of Idle No More. Together they embody one of the movement’s most intriguing aspects: It has been led and organized almost entirely by young, university-educated women. But Idle No More is also shaped by a collision of demographic and historic forces: a very young population, rising levels of income and education and a community that has suffered decades of injustice. It reads like a recipe for a resistance movement.

So why is it taking off now and not five or 10 years ago? A critical mass of educated young people.

“One of the things I look at is the number of aboriginal students in university and college. In the early 1970s, the number was counted in the low hundreds. If you look now, you’ll find the number is around 30,000. It’s a staggering number, a wonderful indication of a major transformation,” said Ken Coates, Canada research chair in regional innovation at the University of Saskatchewan.

Prof. Coates describes Idle No More as part of a revolution of rising expectations. The number of aboriginal university graduates increased by a third between 2001 and 2006. Over that same period, incomes rose and employment grew. Forty-four per cent of those 25 to 64 now have some form of postsecondary credential. More and more young aboriginal people are connected to the mainstream economy, and more communities are finding some measure of prosperity through economic development. There’s a long way to go to achieve equality with the rest of Canada, but there are signs of progress.

“The whole balance in the first nations community is radically different than it was before,” Prof. Coates said. “They have companies, they have success, they have graduates. All these elements, which Canadians are not used to seeing, have made it so that first nations people are saying, ‘Why shouldn’t we aspire to more?’ ”

Ms. Lee is a fourth-year student in political philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan. She has been active in Idle No More since its first rally in a Saskatoon community centre, where she spoke to a humble gathering of 100 people. At the time, she thought it was no different than the other political activities she’d taken part in. The crowd was familiar, many of them veterans of the local activist scene, and there were no signs that this time was different. But within weeks, the movement started to take off.

Gyasi Ross : : The #IdleNoMore Movement for Dummies (or, ‘What The Heck Are All These Indians Acting All Indian-Ey About?’)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Stephen Petrina | Comments Off

Gyasi Ross, Indian Country Today Media Network, January 16, 2013 — Lately, Native people have taken to the streets malls in demonstrations of Public Indian-ness (“PI”) that surpasses the sheer volume of activism of even Alcatraz and the Longest Walk. There’s a heapum big amount of PI going on right now! Many people, non-Native and Native alike, are wondering what the heck is going with their local Native population and how this so-called #IdleNoMore Movement managed to get the usually muffled Natives restless enough to be Indian in public. I mean, like Chris Rock said, he hasn’t ever even met two Indians at the same time. He’s seen “polar bears riding a tricycle” but he’s “never seen an Indian family just chillin’ out at Red Lobster.”

Yet, now people can’t seem to get away from us.

And that’s cool—but isn’t that what pow-wows and November is for? People (non-Native and Native alike) can only take so much PI, right? Is that what the Idle No More Movement is—an extended Native American Heritage Month, where non-Natives have to act like they’re fascinated by Native culture?

In a word, no. It is much more. Please consider this a fairly exhaustive explanation of the Idle No More Movement, what it is not and what it is. If for some reason you cannot read the next 1000 or so brilliant words, I can be summed up thusly: the Idle No More Movement is not a new movement. Instead, it is the latest incarnation of the sustained Indigenous Resistance to the rape, pillage and exploitation of this continent and its women that has existed since 1492. It is not the Occupy Movement, although there are some similarities. It is not only about Canada and it is not only about Native people. Finally, and probably most importantly, it (and we) are not going away anytime soon. So get used to it (and us).

#IDLENOMORE MOVEMENT: WHAT IT IS ABOUT

“The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors.”
Chief Plenty Coups, Apsaalooke

“…you have come here; you are taking my land from me; you are killing off our game, so it is hard for us to live.”
Tasunke Witko (Crazy Horse), Oglala Lakota

As the above quotes display, the Indigenous Resistance to the raping and pillaging of the Earth is not new. Likewise, Indigenous peoples’ efforts to protect the mothers of our Nations—the women—are not new either. The Idle No More Movement is simply the latest chapter in that resistance.

Comments Off on Gyasi Ross : : The #IdleNoMore Movement for Dummies (or, ‘What The Heck Are All These Indians Acting All Indian-Ey About?’)

Posted in Advocacy, Equity, Government, Human Rights, Idle No More, Solidarity, Student Movement, Students

Tagged Equity, Idle No More, Organizing, Protests, Students

Category Archives: Human Rights

Conestoga students kick off final weeks of term with #IdleNoMore powwow

#IdleNoMore Lecture Series at U Saskatchewan

Idle No More Discussion Series
What’s it all about?
University of Saskatchewan
Weekly, February 25 – April 3

#IdleNoMore Teach-in Week (March 2-8) at UNBC

Idle No More Teach-In Week at UNBC
March 2-8 2013

#IdleNoMore @ Douglas College

#IdleNoMore @ U Maine: Building multi-ethnic and multi-generational networks of women

UM Student union throws support behind #IdleNoMore

U of Toronto Student Torbold Rollo on #IdleNoMore

#IdleNoMore alive and well, University of Alberta forum hears

#IdleNoMore UNBC students in action

Power of #IdleNoMore movement lies in direct action, says UBC prof

#IdleNoMore Teach-In and Demonstration at #UBC

#IdleNoMore Demonstration at UBC

#IdleNoMore Teach-in at UBC on Friday (February 1)

Idle No More Teach-in
First Nations House of Learning
University of British Columbia

First Nations Longhouse
Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
1pm-3pm

#IdleNoMore Demonstration at UBC on Thursday (January 31)

Idle No More Demonstration at the University of British Columbia
Thursday, January 31
10:30am – 5pm
meet in front of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology
for a march to the Student Union Building

12:00 to 4:30 Meeting in front of the SUB between Brock Hall and the Goddess of Democracy Statue

Questioning the independence of UBC’s Equity office

Letter: Equity office revamp needs an independent perspective

#IdleNoMore World Day of Action

Mi’kmaq students stage #IdleNoMore rally at CBU

Judith Sayers on #IdleNoMore: ‘A real need to join the people’

Students and young people behind #IdleNoMore

Gyasi Ross : : The #IdleNoMore Movement for Dummies (or, ‘What The Heck Are All These Indians Acting All Indian-Ey About?’)

#IDLENOMORE MOVEMENT: WHAT IT IS ABOUT

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Category Archives: Human Rights

Idle No More Teach-In Week at UNBC March 2-8 2013

Idle No More Teach-in First Nations House of Learning University of British Columbia

First Nations Longhouse Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 1pm-3pm

Idle No More Demonstration at the University of British Columbia Thursday, January 31 10:30am – 5pm meet in front of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology for a march to the Student Union Building

12:00 to 4:30 Meeting in front of the SUB between Brock Hall and the Goddess of Democracy Statue

Letter: Equity office revamp needs an independent perspective

#IDLENOMORE MOVEMENT: WHAT IT IS ABOUT

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Idle No More Teach-In Week at UNBC
March 2-8 2013

Idle No More Teach-in
First Nations House of Learning
University of British Columbia

First Nations Longhouse
Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
1pm-3pm

Idle No More Demonstration at the University of British Columbia
Thursday, January 31
10:30am – 5pm
meet in front of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology
for a march to the Student Union Building