"What you risk reveals what you value." Jeanette Winterson

Academics in Solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence & Idle No More

March, 2014

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“Academics in Solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence & Idle No More”

In collaboration with Dr. Catherine Taylor I launched “Academics in Solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence & Idle No More: Supporting Decolonizing and Indigenous Rights.”  This international solidarity social media campaign involved circulating a letter of support for Chief Theresa Spence. Our FB page garnered over 2000 likes, 29,000 hits in a short time, with people all over the world expressing support for Chief Spence.  The WordPress blog & Twitter gathered over 2100 signatures. The letter was published in the The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, The Future, and The Idle No More Movement, edited by The Kino-nda-niimi Collective, a group of Indigenous writers, artists, editors, curators and allies. Lead editors include Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Leanne Simpson, Tanya Kappo, Wanda Nanibush and Hayden King, Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

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The Winter We Danced is a vivid collection of writing, poetry, lyrics, art and images from the many diverse voices that make up the past, present, and future of the Idle No More movement. Calling for pathways into healthy, just, equitable and sustainable communities while drawing on a wide-ranging body of narratives, journalism, editorials and creative pieces, this collection consolidates some of the most powerful, creative and insightful moments from the winter we danced and gestures towards next steps in an on-going movement for justice and Indigenous self-determination.

 

I began work on Academics in Support of Chief Theresa Spence in December, 2012.

On December 11, 2012, Chief Theresa Spence began a hunger strike, calling the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and the Right Honourable Governor General David Johnston to “initiate immediate discussions and the development of action plans to address treaty issues with First Nations across Canada.” Chief Spence wished to raise concerns about the disregard of First Nations peoples by the Government of Canada, such as the continued failure to address poverty experienced in Indigenous communities, especially those living in rural and isolated communities. Chief Spence also wanted to discuss recent bills that were passed in the legislature without First Nations consultation, including the omnibus Bill C-45 which included changes that removed all environmental protection from the vast majority of Canadian waterways, along with many other attacks on the environment. In addition to endangering the future of all Canadians, these changes violate Aboriginal and treaty rights by permitting the destruction of hunting and fishing economies. These concerns and others are clearly expressed in the Idle No More movement manifesto, which I encourage all Canadians to read and discuss in their communities.

To take action, Catherine Taylor, Robin Jarvis Brownlie and myself created an open letter to the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and the Right Honourable Governor General David Johnston on December 21, 2012, which quickly gained support over social media.

Pictures below are from an Idle no More protest in Winnipeg at Portage and Main on December 31, 2012.

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