‘Urgent’ invitation issued to Harper to curb protests,
Hunger striking chief’s ‘life is on the line’ as native leaders seek end to impasse
An “urgent” invitation from Canada’s aboriginal leaders to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a means to end two hunger strikes and calm escalating Idle No More demonstrations was deflected by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence Thursday.
Harper’s office didn’t say if the prime minister would accept the invitation to meet Jan. 24, but even if he did, it wouldn’t end the hunger strike by Spence, who since Dec. 11 has vowed not to eat solid food until she gets a meeting with Harper.
“She remains strong and she remains steadfast in what she is setting out to do,” said Stan Louttit, grand chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, which includes Attawapiskat.
“I think what is required for the life of these individuals here, for the life of the chief, is that there needs to be a meeting with the prime minister soon, within the next two or three days. Her life is on the line,” Louttit said Thursday.
Even if a meeting takes place, it isn’t clear whether that would address concerns from Idle No More, which has seen aboriginal and nonaboriginals voicing displeasure with a government they feel hasn’t addressed First Nations issues in a meaningful matter. The movement’s founders say the traditional native leadership doesn’t speak for them.
Experts say the growth of the movement, with demonstrations expanding in Canada and taking place overseas, suggests that it has moved beyond the ability of First Nations chiefs and the federal government to address it before it spirals out of control.
“The larger chess board is a complicated one where both sides have to watch what moves to take. This is really an issue that could very quickly escape the control of First Nations leadership and the prime minister,” said Maxwell Cameron, director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia.
Near the middle of the chess board is Spence, who has spent her days in a teepee on Victoria Island, nestled between Ottawa and Gatineau.
A long lineup of people waited in sub-zero temperatures to talk with Spence on Thursday, including opposition MPs.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo visited Spence as well on Thursday, the 10th day he has been there.
Spence has survived on water, fish broth, medicinal tea and some vitamins. An elder from Manitoba, Raymond Robinson, has also given up solid food for the last 24 days and joined Spence in Ottawa this week. Neither will eat solid food until a meeting takes place with Harper (Spence has rejected offers to meet with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan).
“She’s pretty adamant about that. She’s not going to stop the fast until they have the meeting, not announce the meeting,” said Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, the Nexen chair in aboriginal leadership from the University of Toronto, who visited Spence with Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett. “The 24th is too far into the future for her to hold on.”
Spence spokesman Danny Metatawabin said Spence couldn’t last another 72 hours on her hunger strike and that a meeting with Harper had to happen within that time.
In a written statement on Wednesday, Spence’s spokespeople said the situation “is becoming more volatile” with each passing day that Harper doesn’t meet with the chief of Attawapiskat, a small reserve in northern Ontario.
The statement added that chiefs who met in Ottawa last week plan to launch “countrywide economic disturbances” by the middle of the month if Spence’s request for a face-to-face with Harper went unanswered.
In response, the government said it wanted to see an end to “illegal blockades” and expected “the rule of law to be upheld.”
Blockades of rail lines have taken place in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec under the Idle No More banner, and border blockades are being called for on social media.
“Since December 16, we’ve seen increased awareness, attention but also escalation in terms of protests as well as the weakening health of Chief Spence and others including Elder Raymond Robinson (an elder from Cross Lake, Man.) undertaking hunger strikes,” Atleo wrote in his invitation to Governor General David Johnston and Harper.
“Immediate acceptance of this urgent invitation will both respond to the health of Chief Spence and Raymond Robinson and enable those currently demonstrating for such a meeting the opportunity to return to their communities and to their responsibilities. Importantly, we can then support and enable focused dialogue and work led by each First Nation, within every treaty area on the matters of greatest importance.”
Native chiefs are scheduled to meet on Jan. 24, the anniversary of a landmark Crown-First Nations gathering last year.