Campaigners gathered on Cornmarket last Saturday in solidarity with the Idle No More movement, a Canadian campaign created to protest a bill threatening the sovereignty of First Nations people over their lands and waters.
The protest, organised by UK Tar Sands Network and Lush Oxford, saw campaigners make placards and sign a petition to be delivered to the Canadian government at its London High Commission.
During the protest, campaigners were encouraged to create their own signs, with resulting slogans such as “Idle No More: No more destruction of our Mother Earth and disrespect of her people.”
The petition signed by protestors is to be delivered to the Canadian High Commission on Thursday 17th January by Clayton Thomas-Muller, who belongs to the Mathais Colomb Cree First Nation in Manitoba and runs the tar sands campaign of the Indigenous Environment Network.
A spokesperson for Lush was enthusiastic about the protest’s success, telling Cherwell, “Lots of people passing by stopped and stayed for about an hour or so to show solidarity, and pretty much everyone that stopped signed the petition. Every single customer who came through the shop has been told about it.”
Idle No More is a grassroots campaign founded in late 2012 by Saskatchewan residents Sylvia McAdam, Jess Gordo, Nina Wilson and Sheelah Mclean, established as the passing of Bill C-45 by the Conservative Harper government became imminent. The bill contains alterations to, amongst others, the Indian Act, the Navigation Protection Act and the Environmental Assessment Act, which campaigners argue will threaten indigenous sovereignty and environmental protection in their native lands.
Campaigners stress the potential impact on waterways, many of which pass through First Nations territories. The new bill means pipeline and power line projects will no longer be required to prove their project is not destructive if it does pass through a listed waterway.
On the 4th December 2012, First Nations leaders were denied entry to the House of Commons in order to discuss the bill, which passed on 14th December.
Though not affiliated with the Idle No More movement, Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat First Nation is also protesting the government’s treatment of the First Nations, starting a hunger strike on 11th December which she has vowed to maintain until Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston arrange a treaty meeting with First Nations leaders.
Trinity student Ibaad ur Rehman Alvi commented, “It’s great to see the Idle No More campaign supported here in Oxford. The treatment of First Nations people by the Canadian government has been shocking and I hope steps are taken to address these issues soon.”
