Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, December 22, 2012

First Nations groups hold day of protest against Tory government policies

OTTAWA—Chief Theresa Spence was not on Parliament Hill but the few hundred supporters who turned out in the slush and the snow to amplify her demands tried to cheer loudly enough for her to hear them.

“I’ll be honest with you. She is getting weak, but strong in spirit,” Danny Metatawabin, an elder and close supporter of Spence from Attawapiskat, the Cree community she leads in northern Ontario, told those gathered in Ottawa on Friday afternoon.

The protest was organized by a grassroots movement calling itself Idle No More, over what it says was a lack of consultation with Aboriginal Peoples over elements of the recently passed omnibus budget implementation Bill C-45.

The movement gained momentum when Spence, who made headlines last year for her battle with the Conservative government over poor housing conditions in Attawapiskat, launched a hunger strike Dec. 11.

Spence remained on Victoria Island — about a kilometre away across a narrow stretch of the Ottawa River — while her supporters leaders repeated her call for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston to meet with aboriginal leaders from across the country.

“We will stand united,” Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told the crowd. “We will need your strength to bring about the change that we so deeply thirst for. Canadians, we are counting on you to stand with us and to do this now.”

In Toronto, supporters of the movement gathered at Yonge-Dundas Square.

There were no speakers. The crowd of a few hundred young adults and parents with children formed a drum circle. Some danced, locking arms and circling the crowd as others sang along.

A spokeswoman for Harper noted the prime minister and Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan met Atleo on Nov. 28 to review progress since a First Nations-government summit in January.

“The Government remains willing to work with Chief Spence, and all chiefs, to deliver better outcomes for First Nations communities. Minister Duncan has repeatedly offered to meet with Chief Spence but has not as yet received a response from her,” Julie Vaux wrote in an emailed statement.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Joanna Smith 

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