Bump 

Well that took a little while to get organised! Brilliant, if belated!

Might not the Moderator might have co-signed?

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says she won’t allow authorities to take her to the hospital if the hunger strike takes a turn for the worse.

You can see more at:

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/12/20/shes-my-role-model-says-daughter-of-attawapiskat-chief-spence-now-into-9th-day-of-hunger-strike/

Chief Spence, who is into her ninth day of a hunger strike, said she’s aware the RCMP is keeping an eye on her situation, but she won’t allow anyone to take her away from the teepee on an island in the Ottawa River where she is staying until Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston agree to meet with First Nations chiefs to discuss the treaties.

She said the people who have volunteered to take care of her will stop any attempts to force her away, even if she’s on death’s doorstep.

“I got my helpers here to protect me. They are the ones who are going to look after me,” said Spence, 49, in her second interview with APTN National News since her hunger strike began. “I’ll be here, I am not going anywhere. My ancestors are here, my drummers, the grassroots people are here.”

The interior of Spence’s teepee has changed over the past few days. The fire pit has been replaced by a wood stove and blankets now hang against the canvas walls, but the floor is still covered with spruce branches.

The teepee sits on Victoria Island in the shadow of Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court.

Spence holds an eagle feather as she speaks and is flanked by two of her closest supporters, Danny Metatawabin, from Attawapiskat, and Angela Bercier, a student from Long Plain First Nation who is in Aboriginal studies at the University of Ottawa.

The hunger strike is taking its toll. Spence said she is surviving on water, medicine tea and fish broth, but is feeling weak and shaky. “I am able to walk around short distances. I don’t have headaches, I am getting thirsty a lot, but my mind is still good,” said Spence. “Being around people, it helps me to talk and communicate.”

Spence said her will remains strong, despite indications from the Prime Minister’s Office and the governor general that the meeting she wants won’t happen. “I am not going to give up. I am here for my people, for our rights, the government needs to really open its heart,” said Spence.

She also issued a woman-to-woman call to Harper’s wife, Laureen Harper, to convince her husband that he should meet with the chiefs.

“This is about children, for our children to unite together, to walk together. We need Mrs. Harper to talk to her husband, tell him to set up that meeting,” she said. “It’s for the children. She has children and I have children.”

How many are on solidarity hunger strikes without knowledge of how to prepare for one, how to be on one....?

How many Canadians will Mr. Harper allow to die rather than meet with her?

Mike, the General Council Office worked to get this out as soon as possible. The Moderator and the General Secretary are both on holiday so weren't available to sign it.

Good to see this concrete sign from a church that has congreagations across the country. 

There is so much support for the Idle No More initiative - it seems obvious that our aboriginal friends and neighbors are speaking truth with straight tongues. .

Okay, Aaron… 

This is why and how we are making ourselves obsolete. We need more than a week to say, "I am concerned"... we have to arrange wording, weigh the impact, talk about it, get it organized...

Some tweeted and posted on Facebook the morning she started her hunger strike.
Charlie Angus spoke with her before she went into the tent talking about his concern...
The opposition parties have been talking...
Unions, other groups, all have said their thing....

We say something when we are lucky that unlike many aboriginals she is not diabetic and could be already dead from ketosis.

We sometimes, by our actions and inactions, make ourselves irrelevant to folks.

BTW there are countless others on hunger strikes, Theresa Spence is not alone....

I was going to post CBC up to date videos on the marches but this link leaped out at me instead altho' its not about Theresa Spence. Its another sad story, there's always another, always one more. There is hope for this Native community.

Sorry for derailing.  That story touched me.

Here's the CBC videos I came here to post:

That wasn't a de-rail, Stardust: it was an illustration of the widespread deprivation that's driving Theresa Spence's action, and the actions of all who want tthe truths out in relaton to issues of native and aboriginal poverty and injustice.

Pushing people to the edge of health limits has been as a singularly cruel weapon of war, extermination or social control for centuries. It's one of the oldest and most effective tactics of war. Around 400 B.C., the Spartans ended the Peloponnesian wars by starving the Greeks into submission in their siege of Athens. Two centuries later, after Rome defeated Hannibal's army, Roman troops ploughed Carthage with salt to render it infertile. It was the philosophy and demand of Cato: "Carthago delenda est!"… "Carthage must be annihilated!"  

It's how sieges have long been won. It was used by theTurks as a tool of its Armenian genocide and to exterminate the Ottoman Greeks, it was used by the British in Ireland and India, it was the idea behind Nazi ghettos and it crushed the Nazis at Stalingrad, it was used by Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot… it's cheap and its lethal. It's extremely cruel… it forces people to watch their loved ones slowly dying, losing hope and committing suicide. Starving children stop crying after a while. Then they die. Genocide? Ethnocide? If those words are too ugly  for the intention, something like them has has long been the undeniable effect of Government policy in Canada.

Something tantamount to genocide is happening now in relation to Canada's bothersome, conscience-nagging native peoples and a good many Canadians seem to be in total denial, blaming the victims for failing to make do, for failing to improve themselves and start making good middle-class livings like the right-thinking white majority. Rather, members of that white majority need to examine themselves and their government for callous neglect, deliberate marginalisation and racism.

It really is time to change this. The proper role and place of indigenous people is a  is a Canadian Constitutional issue. The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a blue print and sets out a strategy. Canada has signed this declaration but done nothing significant about it.

This is, I think, a truly wonderful and compassionate thing that the UCCanada has done. I'm all for ending colonization and abuse and all like that. I won't pretend to know as much about the issues involved as some of you here do. My denomination, for example, did not participate in the residential school system.

That said, you must be wondering where we Fellowship Baptists officially stand on the issues involved,

Hummm...

Personally, Jae, I don't give a flying hoot what your silly Baptists think about the whole thing. You're on the irrelevant edge of soon-to-be-gone "social control religion".

I wish I knew what us regular people could actually DO to help this situation, instead of sitting back and wondering what it says about Canada when we see exactly how cruel, callous, cold and heartless our Prime MInister has been proven to be.

"We" voted him in. "We" want a booming economy over every other possible priority, including justice and deomocracy.

"We" put the precious "economy" first even though we see that it's devastating the planet, centralising wealth and power, eroding democracy and imposibng injustice far and wide and on our own doorstep. 

"We" should be telling everyone who'll listen, and a goodnumber who won't, how seriously dangerous this "economy is everything" frame of mind is… and that "We" are ready to take a hit in order to address poverty and justice in this country, sustain the environment as best we belatedly can, and re-build some halfway decent values — even to put compassion front and centre into public planning and government because without compassion is has no value to any of "Us".

http:// https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=491415714243833&set=a.491415604243844.133888.435022309883174&type=1&theater

TODAY

TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2011 – The living conditions some people in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat are being forced to endure are deplorable and dangerous to their health according to the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO).

RNAO issued an open letter today to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty imploring them to intervene in what nurses describe as a housing crisis.

On Oct. 28, the chief of the First Nations community, Theresa Spence asked that her community of more than 2,000 people be evacuated before the onset of winter because lives, especially those of children and elders, were at risk.

The Member of Parliament for the area, Charlie Angus, visited the community and reported that five families were living in tents, while another 19 families were living in sheds without running water. He also noted that 35 families live in houses that require substantial repair and another 128 families live in houses condemned from black mold and failing infrastructure. Angus also observed overcrowding and a lack of proper indoor plumbing and electricity.

“These conditions are deplorable and life-threatening. A lack of proper water and sanitation is an invitation for disease and sickness. People need warm, safe shelter to be healthy and First Nations people deserve better,” says RNAO president David McNeil, adding that “elected leaders need to address immediately the emergency in Attawapiskat and other First Nation communities.”

Although the federal government has agreed to spend $500,000 to renovate housing in Attawapiskat, Angus says the amount is only enough to repair three or four houses.

“As a nurse and as a Canadian, I am ashamed that federal and provincial officials are pointing fingers at each other and refusing to take responsibility,” says RNAO executive director Doris Grinspun, referring to the lack of action since the state of emergency was declared at the end of October.

Grinspun says the situation in Attawapiskat and other First Nations communities is even more alarming given that National Housing Day was marked on Nov. 22 and that Canada is the only major industrialized country without a national housing program.

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario is the professional association representing registered nurses in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses’ contribution to shaping the health-care system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve.

For more information about RNAO, visit our website at www.rnao.ca. You can also check out our Facebook page atwww.rnao.ca/facebook and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rnao.

-30-

Mike, thank you for posting the link but it didn't work for me.

What is this "Idle No More"?

Rich blessings.

Sorry about that: I have no idea why the link above doen't deliver.

Try this one:

http://www.globalnews.ca/first+nations+idle+no+more+protests+continue+across+canada/6442776792/story.html

It really comes back to the need for a very different way of thinking about Canada's relationship with aboriginal peoples that's based on justice, respect, awareness, understanding, compassion, repentance… and restoration.

We are ALL "Treaty People" by virtue of living here and enjoying Canada's resources. We have not bee honoring our own part in all this: it's a national issue that's exemplified but not contained by concerns about Arrawapiskat. It is one that makes a hypocritical joke of Christmas/"holiday season" piety and pleasantries.

This also gives some background:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/12/20/f-vp-rice-idle-no-more.html

I sent an email to Harper telling him I support idle no more and asking him to meet with Theresa Spence.

He needs to be overwhelmed by the number of Canadians requesting this.

and no I certianly didn't vote for him. He became our prime minister despite my votes.

Thank you Mike for the two new links. I watched the videos. I appreciate your words about how we are all treaty people.

Tabitha, I have also just sent a message to Prime Minister Harper through http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp urging him to meet and speak with Chief Spence.

Rich blessings.

I know how you feel Tabitha: I personally didn't vote for him either but somehow many Canadians (something like 30 oer cent of the vote) did…

…and that is perhaps because we aren't proud enough of a free, independent, democratic, compassionate and JUST Canada… or not vocal and attentive enough. Maybe we don't talk enough about how badly we want THAT sort of Canada, a tolerant Canada that is a "good" place to live, where we don't abandon responsibilities or shy away from taking care of our neighbours when they need a bit of help… a Canada that isn't entirely given to self-justification on the basis of economic performance.

I'm confident that many — probably most  — Canadians WANT to embrace such a vision but feel powerfless, frustrated and afraid… we have to act, speak and reach out more. We all know we live in an unforgiving climate… we all know we need each other sometimes. We musn't let trivialities like power ot prejudice trample that heritage.

This is a clip from our local Idle No More event that the local TV station broadcast. (I can't seem to embed)

http://youtu.be/RdRDo_WKCt4

I have decided to be an ally with my FN friends, and to spread the word when I can. Jae, I encourage you to learn more. The corner of Yonge and Dundas was shut down yesterday by a rally and round dance. There are some cool videos on YouTube of that event.

Thank you for the encouragement Northwind.

If I had known it was going on yesterday I would have been there. If anyone learns of any more Toronto events, please let me know so that I can do my best to attend.

To be truthful, my desire to attend comes from two places. One is that I would like to show some support for the movement. Two is that I'm studying Qualitative Research Methods right now, and could write about the experience for class.

Rich blessings.

My heartfelt  thoughts are with Theresa Spence and all who are working so hard with her  on behalf of justice for her cause. In particular the issues of protected water she is raising  should be of importance to all Canadians. Regardless of past grievances  I trust that our PM Harper will be a big enough man to meet with her soon and discuss matters.

Here are some  videos:

So I just 'like" my MP on facebbok and sent him a messages encouraging him to ask Harper to met with Spence.

It's not much but it feels better than doing nothing.

That is good that you can do that. My MP has put walls up. You have to friend him on FB. He blocks people on Twitter who disagree with him or ask him questions. He is a puppet for the CPC. He spoke in the clip I posted above.

I can't post on his wall but I can send him a private message.

At least it's something.

Standing with Chief Theresa Spence:

 "May the Great Spirit watch over her and protect her from harm."

 Beautiful flute music:

Chief Theresa Spence hasn't eaten in over 11 days. The weather has taken a big turn for the worse and her tent home on Victoria Island is far from ideal. With Christmas week upon us, there is a real danger that the war room gamers in the Prime Minister's office will think they can simply wait this one out. It would be a terrible miscalculation. Make no mistake, as Ottawa shuts down for the holidays, this hunger strike is entering a very volatile and high stakes phase.

http://www.firstperspective.ca/news/2719-harper-act-now-before-chief-theresa-spence-dies

Well, isn't our Prme Minister the grinch of the year? No, he's worse than that. 

But — if comments of news streams are anything to go bay — a great many Canadians are full of racist venom this Christmas.

COME ON!!!!!! Where's the compassion? The commitment to justice? The "good will to ALL"?????

NEWS:

By Teresa Smith, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence remains steadfast in her resolve to starve herself to death unless Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees to sit down and talk.

“I am still strong and will not give up!” she said on Twitter Sunday, the 13th day of her hunger strike.

As the sun set Sunday evening, her supporters were keeping the fire burning bright outside her teepee on Victoria Island, in the Ottawa River within sight of the Peace Tower.

All day, people had been steadily streaming into the little encampment, bringing fresh food, supplies and messages of support for Spence. Many said a silent prayer as they spread sweet grass on the fire. Others took up the drum to sing their prayer.

Every hour, the bells from Parliament Hill rang out, reminding Spence’s supporters that the meeting she is hoping to get with Harper, other First Nation leaders and Governor General David Johnston still hasn’t happened.

While she has refused solid food, Spence has been drinking lemon water, some fish broth and taking medicines prepared for her each day by a friend.

Her body may be weakening, but she says her spirit is kept strong by the words of encouragement from supporters and the movement she sees gaining momentum from coast to coast.

Meanwhile, indigenous groups and their supporters are protesting in solidarity with Spence — some even doing one-day hunger strikes — in what has become known as the #idlenomore campaign.

Dozens of demonstrators from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation continued a three-day old blockade of CN rail tracks near Sarnia, Ont. They say they will continue to block the commercial-rail corridor until Harper meets with Spence.

On Saturday, a similarly peaceful protest closed the Trans-Canada Highway near Espanola, in northern Ontario, for about three hours.

Out west, thousands participated in a round dance outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, continuing a two week long trend which has seen thousands of indigenous people and Canadians alike participating in flash mobs, protests and sit-ins in big cities and small towns across the nation, often posting pictures and videos online with the hashtag #idlenomore.

Many Twitter users are also rallying around Spence’s effort to get a meeting with the prime minister to discuss — and make a concrete plan to fix — the inequalities faced by Canada’s aboriginal peoples.

In a nod to a movement that has been organized, energized and spread through social media, Spence herself signed up for Twitter early Sunday morning, with two of her main supporters and spokespeople tweeting her words.“I am on my 13th day and not stopping until the meeting takes place. Grassroots pple keep making noise.”

By Sunday afternoon, her online directive had been re-tweeted 200 times, and she had more than 2,600 followers.

For those who said the movement might fade if Canadians stop paying attention during the holidays, Spence tweeted “I believe otherwise. Grassroots and leaders don’t be silent no more.”

Medical studies cite hunger strikers who stay minimally hydrated, like Spence is doing, have survived anywhere from 28-40 days.

I hope we all include prayers for Theresa Spence and Canada's aborginal peoples at our services tonight… and every time we get together…

Mike

I've been reading general comments too and it often sounds like nobody gives a damn, so many of them are plain down  ignorant. At the risk of sounding racist myself ( maybe so ....?... I'm Irish Scotch) see my next paragraph.

I know all people who hold citizenship in Canada are Canadians.

Yet, I can't help but wonder if those of us who are mostly the original settlers after the Natives ....Scotch, Irish, English, and French .....???..perhaps have a better understanding regarding our Native peoples?

  I'll get my knuckes rapped I know ...yikes....!!...but still its a thought.....I wonder as I wonder....? Canadians  welcome everyone  and yet sometimes we as Canadians (especially  our Natives)  get chewed up and spat out. Sorry if I get my Irish temper up ....... I read that the Natives actually own the land we call Toronto!

Here's a note about Harper to feed my ugliness today  perhaps. I can't help it. He's busy spending 28 million to honour the war of 1812. I'm not saying its unimportant but I haven't met too many people who are deeply interested in it. I haven't researched this article. I do know that food and transportation costs in the far north are a really hefty price.

Quote:

Stephen Harper’s devious, dishonest, and divisive personal role in the housing fiasco in Attawapiskat is a case in point. After the Red Cross intervened in the native community in November of 2011, which brought international condemnation down on Canada, the PM attacked the probity of the band leadership.

Harper purposely and falsely left the impression with Canadians that the Conservatives had given every person in Attawapiskat $50,000. As NDP MP Charlie Angus pointed out at the time, what the PM didn’t say was that the money was spread out over six years.

So when the real calculation was done, each resident of Attawapiskat received $8,000 per year — or less than half of what is spent per capita on other Canadians on things like health and education.

Chief Spence can be forgiven if she needs the prime minister’s ear for a few moments. How can there be $28 million to market an ancient war and no money to provide clean drinking water for aboriginal communities?

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/12/20/hollow-talk-and-half-lies-how-harper-deals-with-the-plight-of-first-nations/

All the racist comments confirm for me that this movement is very needed. I certainly hope Chief Spence does not die, for a variety of reasons. If she does die, the anger we see now will grow. I read a Tweet that said if she dies the FN people will have a martyr and will rise up. Harper will use that to squash all dissent. (The tweet said it better)

I hope Harper comes to his senses and talks to Chief Spence, even if it is because it is politically wise for him to do that.

I agree Northwind

Something has to done NOW ! Mr. Harper speak to Theresa.

Update:

I'm quite worried that this movement may turn violent regarding the plans to blockade Canada /  U.S. borders on Jan. 13th. aside from the hunger strike. Sometimes the news is rather complicated to follow re the band money, land claims etc. so I'm sure no authority regarding solutions to present day circumstances. Does anyone know if Harper welcomes violence......?...... although it seems like such a stupid question ?  Its turning serious and ugly, people can die.

Edit - blockade  on Jan. 5...not 13.....sorry....

I loved the MacLeans article. Of course the comments were predictable, and people did not get it.....

This is what a friend of mine posted on FB:

I will be saying prayers for Chief Theresa Spence and all our First Nations communities, as well PM Harper to develop an understanding of Canadian legislation, Indigenous rights, and human rights, and all Canadians to become informed about our Indigenous reality in society.

Amen

Amen

My guess stardust would be that it would depend on what you call "better understanding."

If I'm not mistaken it was the original settlers to Canada who abused the Natives the most. Someone can please correct me if I'm wrong on that. I don't know how that gives our forbears any greater understanding (I'm Scottish-Irish myself). 

Rich blessings.

We continue to abuse Indigenous people when we categorize them all into one group. We continue to abuse them when we say they are lazy, entitled, or whatever. If you look at any comments section of any article about things like Idle No More you will see racism is alive and well. There is such a thing as systemic racism and oppression, and that does continue on.

Mc jae

 I'm speaking about the present time in the now.   I know its wrong to stereotype or sweep any peoples  with a broad brush  (being judgemental). I'm shocked at the name calling towards our Natives in reading comments sections, like Northwind says. Who is making these sometimes  hateful statements? Is it people who are not very  well informed or am I being naive?

I disagree regarding your analysis, Stardust.  I am sure that there are many United Empirists who aren't impressed by Idle No More.

There are issues, many issues, and the challenges are long & deep with few simple solutions.

Staging a hunger strike over Christmas when the house is out is just bad timing / politics.

I don't get why someone would do that...call me naive.

If the thought was that people would get press over the Christmas season when the news is down, that is also not smart...as the general population doesn't want to tune into their badness during the time of christmas.

MADD does well at this time of year, as it is a feel good "save our kids -- don't drink & drive" at a time when historically drinking & driving was big.  They do it at logn weekends as well.

...

so.....Idle No More has some great items going to try & change / educate people; however, the timing is a real challenge.

ps.  throw in Newton & other items, and the gun issue in the States is going to take most of the panel discussions

Or maybe, the timing is brilliant...politicans are out....so decisions are independent, driving undercurrents of communication, guilt for those who haven't paid attention or given adequate news coverage, news is low in general...teenagers/youth are off, traditionally catastrophes which occur in this time frame get lots of air time.

Well Pinga If not now when?

Theresa Spence did start her hunger strike before holidays-when the MPs and Harper were in Ottawa. He could have responded then and it would been over by Christmas.

The Idle No More was spontaneously started by 4 young women in Sask.

Perhaps the thought was that over the Christmas holidays-out of the usual routine-folks would have time for this.

Yes the issues are complicated and do not have simple solutions. The issues do ask for our time and thoughtfulness.

Next Big event is Jan. 1st. though Theresa Spence is asking for the healing women today.........

The timing is not brilliant.  Nor is there any reasonable discussion about guilt, because guilt through colonisation does exist.  Only those who do notwant to deal with the political games argue about guilt. 

Chief Spence's hunger strike is a pacifist way to deal with political injustice.  And centuries of oppression.  And political squabbling between provincial and federal governments.

Do not for one second think that this is about timing; it is about reaction, desparation, and a last attempt at being heard.

That anyone thinks that this is staged at aparticular time is an outrage.  The way Bill C-45 was pushed through is an outrage - most Canadians probably did not understand the implications, and that was just fine for toe Tories driving the omnibus.

What Loyalists and colonisation did to First Nations peoples must be addressed NOW.

Political conservatism has a cost, and it has been a human cost for centuries.  Time to pony up.