Chief gains outspoken ally in bid to meet Harper

OTTAWA – Theresa Spence gained an unexpected and passionately outspoken ally Thursday as a former lieutenant-governor of Ontario called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to “show that he’s a leader” and meet with the Attawapiskat chief as she enters the third week of her hunger strike.

Harper need not fear meeting with Spence to negotiate better living conditions for Canada’s aboriginals would show any weakness, said James Bartleman, who served as Ontario’s lieutenant-governor from 2002-07 and is a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation.

“If he was to do something like that, he would be doing something that he could be proud of for the rest of his life, but if he doesn’t do that, I would say ‘shame on him,’” Bartleman told Postmedia News on Thursday.

“If she carries on like this, I would think she would die.”

Spence’s strike has become the focal point for Idle No More, an aboriginal rights movement that has garnered momentum among Canada’s First Nations peoples and received support from federal opposition parties, unions, religious groups and academics.

Spence insists she’ll starve herself to death if the prime minister doesn’t meet with her. She had also sought a meeting with Gov. Gen. David Johnston, but he has said the issue is best left to elected officials. “I would hope that Prime Minister Harper would show that he’s a leader. It is not a sign of weakness to go and see someone who is suffering and talk to them,” Bartleman said.

Bartleman said he appeals to Canadians to try to get the Conservative government to pay more attention to native issues. Bartleman, 73 — who spent much of his childhood living in tents and shacks on the outskirts of cottage country in Ontario — was very much affected by the “appalling,” “desperate” conditions he saw aboriginal children living in during his travels north, and used much of his time in office to help aboriginal communities.

Now that he’s retired he says he has a responsibility to speak out about the injustices he sees in the country — “particularly when they’re so flagrant,” Bartleman said.

Spence began her hunger strike on Dec. 11.

Since she pitched her tent on Victoria Island, the encampment has seen heavy rain, sleet and nearly a metre of snow.