Last week, the nationwide movement came to Convo Mall
On Monday, April 8, an Idle No More rally was held at the SFU Burnaby campus. The peaceful rally invited SFU students and the community to meet at Convocation Mall and Freedom Square between 11:00am to 3:00pm. Attendees were offered complimentary bannock with jam, as well as tea and coffee, while speakers expressed their concerns on Aboriginal economic and social issues.
Since the Idle No More movement began, small meetings and peaceful rallies have been taking place across Canada to raise awareness on issues.
“Basically, students were letting us know that they wanted to have an Idle No More protest at SFU to support the Idle No More movement, which represents Aboriginal rights, gender equality, women’s rights, human rights, and environmental protection,” Lindsay Wainwright, organizer of the event, told The Peak.
Wainwright expressed her appreciation of seeing many different SFU organizations coming together in support of this event. Supporters included SFU’s Women’s Centre, First Nations Student Association, Office for Aboriginal Peoples, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, and the Indigenous Student Centre.
The event was open to the public, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. Guest speakers told traditional stories and emphasized the importance of preserving and protecting Indigenous rights, and enjoyed listening to traditional drumming and singing.
“[Idle No More] is to just raise awareness on campus and abroad,” Wainwright added.
Idle No More is a nationwide grassroots movement that began, according to their official website, with four Saskatchewan women who had concerns regarding Bill C-45, introduced in October of 2012.
Bill C-45 proposed many changes to legislation, including the Indian Act, Navigation Protection Act, and Environmental Assessment Act. The Saskatchewan women feared these changes could pose a threat to Indigenous peoples’ rights, and turned to Facebook to organize an event to raise awareness regarding this topic, calling it Idle No More. McAdams stated, “Bill C-45 is not just about a budget, it is a direct attack on First Nations lands and on the bodies of water we all share from across this country.”
The group’s mission statement reads, “Idle No More calls on people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water.” The website also reads, “Idle No More has come to symbolize and be the platform to voice the refusal of First Nations people to be ignored any further by any other Canadian government.”
SFU was one of the first BC universities to host an event to bring awareness to the Idle No More movement, when the Office for Aboriginal Peoples (OAP) held a teach-in on the movement in early January.
William Lindsay, OAP director, stated: “This event exemplifies how SFU Aboriginal students are leading community discussion about issues of importance. Such students are educated about the Idle No More movement, they are tech savvy and they have the core leadership skills necessary for putting something like this together. I am proud of them.”
