PEACE ARCH (NEWS1130) – The nationwide “Idle No More” protest movement is continuing to gain strength, as First Nations groups blast the Harper government and its policies on aboriginals.
A protest is planned for a busy Lower Mainland border crossing this weekend. A one-hour “Idle No More” demonstration is set to happen tomorrow at the Peace Arch at 1 p.m., with a caravan leaving Hastings and Commericial at 11:30 a.m.
Grand Chief Stewart Philip with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs maintains they do not aim to block the crossing. “The fundamental principles of this particular action are based on peace, respect, and honour with respect to [Attawapiskat Chief] Teresa Spence, the sacrifice that she’s making.”
“So there is no plan to obstruct traffic or to establish a blockade,” he emphasizes.
Supporters from south of the border will join in a prayer ceremony, drumming songs of welcome for each side.
Protesters concerned about the federal government’s Omnibus bill C-35 gathered yesterday at UBC and at the Commercial-Broadway Skytrain Station, carrying placards and beating drums. This follows a protest on Wednesday at Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver.
Phillip says they’re just getting warmed up. “I don’t think there’s any question that the movement continues to grow exponentially by the hour.”
“There are so many ‘Idle No More’ actions, not only throughout Canada and the United States but also around the world.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has agreed to meet a delegation of First Nations leaders next Friday. It comes as Spence enters the 24th day of her hunger strike. She is expected to continue her hunger strike until that meeting.
Weather Guarantee
News1130 Apps
Tell us what you think!
Insiders Club
You may want to learn about others, as all people in Canada learn about about European-Canadian culture, religion, language, etc. Not learning about historical wrongs, ignorance and stupid decisions, along with culture, religion, language, etc, makes you sound like a racist.
Haters, hate on this: On Being Stephen Harper Or How Listening to His Speeches is Like Committing Intellectual Suicide
Heterosexual white males are the ones who should be out there banging on drums. They are the only category of people for which it’s clearly legal and acceptable to discriminate against despite the fact that they are clearly the minority in many parts of the Lower Mainland. How many employers out their ‘especially encourage’ applications from gays, lesbians, women, visible minorities, Aboriginals, etc? Can you imagine if an employer in Richmond ‘especially encouraged’ applications from white males? The visible minority is the new majority. The pendulum has already swung to the other side in the Lower Mainland. Why is it acceptable to continue to discriminate against white males?
Does “Idle no more” mean that they are finally going to go get jobs, like the rest of Canadian citizens do, to survive, instead of begging for handouts funded by taxpayers? I’m surprised that they are under an impression that anybody cares about their “message” – all they need to do is look at the success off the “Occupy” movements, which achieved exactly nothing, and were held on a much, much larger scale, with pretty much the same message. You do hold the future of your children in your hands – go get a job, and provide for them.
What exactly are they protesting. They don’t pay taxes, the justice system goes easier on them (see the kid that beat up the bus driver who got a lighter sentence because he was First Nations) and the government spends Billions and Billions of dollars on First Nations. You watch First Nations leaders on the news refer to themselves as a separate Nation, well if that’s the case why is the rest of Canada footing the bill for their Nation. Just like Idle all you want said, the vast majority of the blame lies within the First Nation communities themselves. They are paid millions of dollars by the government, not to mention many of them have companies paying them millions to use “their” lands yet somehow they are still complaining about living conditions. If they are so tired of living in these conditions go out and get a job, go get educated and take some responsibility for your life. You can only blame the past for so long. When people are just given a free ride they don’t respect the stuff they own because they didn’t have to work for it. Stop giving them handouts and start to demand that they stand on their own two feet.
What a crock ! The Indian Chiefs are to blame for their own peoples problems..
Chiefs get hundreds of millions of dollars per year to run a couple hundred people on their reserves.
The Cheifs all have mansions,expensive vehicles..and spend millions of dollars on themselves while letting their members starve and live in filth,we cant help these people any longer as they dont want help they blame us for the problems their Cheifs created !
Let them Idle,nobody cares anymore,as we all work long hard days to support our families with NO government help,these Indians should live in the real world and work hard every day and not rely on a government cheque,and then they will realize to stop sniffing gas,as they have it too good !!
Wow where do you get your facts?? The world has passed by your resources and is falling apart!! Do you contribute in other ways besides anonymous comments on news that concerns most literate human beings? not only first nations? for the record, the chief on my “reserved land” volunteers, does not take a salary and does not live in a mansion.