Attawapiskat chief to go on hunger strike until Harper agrees to treaty meeting

OTTAWA — Attawapiskat First Nations Chief Theresa Spence said Monday she was ready to die in her campaign to get a treaty meeting with the prime minister.

“I’m willing to die for my people because the pain is too much and it’s time for the government to realize what (it’s) doing to us,” she said Monday on Parliament Hill, where she announced her intention to go on a hunger strike until Stephen Harper and a representative of the Queen agree to a meeting.

“If that’s the journey for me to go, I’ll go.”

Monday marked a day of protest for people of the Idle No More movement, which seeks to force action on the issue of land treaties. One of the driving forces behind the movement is the imminent passage of the omnibus budget bill, Bill C-45, which makes changes to protection of lakes and rivers, among other changes.

“The way all these things are coming from the government, it’s crippling our people. It’s not our way,” Spence said.

Spence said that it was not the prime minister’s right to take control away from First Nations leadership.

“That’s not his role. His role is to work together (with First Nations) and build a future together.”

Spence said that she was driven to go on hunger strike after chiefs at the annual Assembly of First Nations, held last week in Gatineau, raised concerns about the state of the treaties and decided to take those concerns to the Hill.

The group tried to walk into the floor of the House of Commons to demand they be heard, but were stopped at the door by parliamentary security.

One of the supporters at Monday’s press conference was Cliff Summers, a Mohawk of the Oneida nation who has lived in Ottawa for 12 years.

“There was a decision by a lot of the grassroots people that we have to take a stand and we have to take action, because inaction is what’s killing our people,” Summers said of the Idle No More movement.

Spence plans to begin her hunger strike at sunrise ceremony Tuesday morning on Victoria Island.

The conditions at Attawapiskat first came to national attention a year ago when it was revealed that dozens of residents of the Northern Ontario reserve were living in atrocious accommodations as winter approached.

Original Article
Source: edmonton journal
Author: Cullen Bird