A Commentary by Robert Nunn
The Idle No More movement is spearheaded by a new generation of
young, educated, articulate First Nations women and men.
Flags of the Idle No More movement. File photo by Doug Draper
We’re going to hear a lot more from them in the coming months and years. And we members of the settler culture must learn how to open our eyes and
our ears to their message. From our standpoint the movement could
justly be called “Deaf and Blind No More” – deaf and blind no more to our treaty responsibilities.
The treaties were nation-to-nation binding agreements. They called for mutual
respect and we have failed utterly to keep up our end of the treaties.
The paternalistic Indian Act has tied up generations of First Nations
people in knots. The reserve system has condemned First Nations to
powerlessness and poverty. The residential school system sought to
“take the Indian out of the child,” with disastrous consequences.
Deaf and blind no more to our debt to First Nations for long-held
core values that we have absorbed by osmosis over generations. Idle
No More reminds us of one of those core values in particular: our
stewardship of the land and water.
The movement was mobilized by anger at two pieces of omnibus budget legislation whereby the Harper government weakened environmental assessment laws and severely reduced the nation’s responsibility to ensure the health of its waterways. Most Canadians share this core value.
Idle No More deserves to be supported by the majority, for reminding
us to stand up for that shared core value under attack, and for
reminding us of our treaty responsibilities to deal justly and fairly
with our treaty partners.
From their website: “Idle No More urges the government of Canada to
repeal all legislation which violates Treaties, Indigenous sovereignty and subsequently environmental protections of land and water.”
Robert Nunn is a resident of Niagara, Ontario, an active member of Niagara Quakers and a retired Brock University professor. This is his first guest appearance as a contributor of posts to Niagara At Large.
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Your so right Robert. The Quakers were early allies of the Five Nation in defense of these treaty rights.
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I am not a supporter of Idle No More. But I do agree, major changes are needed – both in the way government deals with First Nations people and in the way First Nations people deal with each other.
If the reserve system is to stay, each member of a band/tribe living on that reserve should be given ownership of the home they live in and piece land it sits on. They must be responsible for the upkeep, maintenance etc and pay appropriate taxes to the band council. The governance should be modelled along that of the municipalities in each province. The council should be subject to the same laws, rules, regulations as any other council – municipal, school board etc.
Gee … does it sound like I am saying it is time for First Nations to become equal partners? Yes it does.
The old treaties etc do not work. They result in the paternalistic hand-out welfare mentality that seems to pervade today.
First Nations people were very self-reliant a few centuries ago. Why can’t they become so now?
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For the many people that say, “The way to fix the native problem is to wave the magic culture wand and make all the Natives better by making them regular Canadians!” I wish to make it clear that this is an argument in support of the governments track record of negligence regarding First Nations.
It is a veiled for of racism to claim that finishing colonialism is the solution to the “Native Problem.”
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Notwithstanding what some of my earlier comments may have implied, I couldn’t agree more with Robert Nunn. I don’t think I could agree less either. I still submit that there needs to be higher levels of accountability respecting various aboriginal bands’ funds. And, I believe band members need to take a harder look at how some of their leaders lead. The Government’s (our) relations with aboriginal peoples have been a disaster on virtually every level since day one.
Idle No More is a hopeful movement. It lacks a charismatic leader — an aboriginal Martin Luther King Jr. if you will — to carry the movement forward more dramatically. Notwithstanding, the movement is drawing attention to issues that ought to be concerns to every Canadian. The Harper government has been most unscrupulous in its employment of the recent Omnibus Bill whereby, as Robert Nunn points out, it “weakened environmental assessment laws and severely reduced the nation’s responsibility to ensure the health of its waterways.”
We all share the same air and water. Canada is our nation – or surely ought to be. Yet most people do little or nothing to protect either. We are like the proverbial frog in the tub of warm water. He gets so comfortable where he; he fails to take action before it’s too late and he’s cooked!
Mr. Nunn is also right on in his recognition of our government’s historically dismal record honouring treaty obligations. These treaties were made nation-to-nation and ought to be honoured in the same way. That is the right and just thing to do.
In the end, though, there must be accountability on all sides.
All of us should be “Idle No More.”
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Further to my previous comment … there is an interesting item in the Victoria Times-Colonist this morning about one of the local bands on Vancouver Island disagreeing with Idle No More tactics …
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/blockades-not-the-route-to-change-says-huu-ay-aht-first-nation-chief-1.68639
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Idle No More is a movement, not a tactic, and certainly not all participants and supporters agree with all tactics. Many band members are justifiably concerned about the actions of their leaders — and are afraid to speak out. It is the Indian Act that has put this system in place, and the system itself is broken. Idle No More is raising awareness of that fact. When we call for accountability, however, let us also make sure that that includes accountability at the government level.
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I do hope the movement can continue, despite all the worrisome controversy. But others have run out of steam, I believe, such as the “Occupy” movement, and of course, the infamous G-8? mess in Toronto two years ago. Activists are continually beating their/our heads agains the Brick Wall of totalitarianism, which is what the Harper Government represents, not even close to any kind of democracy. Just one woman’s opinion here. The Omnibus Kill the bill should be called, as it would relegate aboriginals to 19th century reservation-style life, and meld the Environment ministry within another ministry, thereby muting any efforts at Clilmate Change, (Caps intended) and the Heritage Ministry has just become a joke among historians, archivists, conservationists. Of which I admit I am one. Gutted the National Archives and Library, stopped all Interlibrary Loans, gutted the care of lakelands in Canada, and on and on.
The Omnibus Kill hides idealogical corporatism at its worst.
No apologies for the rant. Well said, Rob Nunn.
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If Aboriginal Affairs were a Band office it would be placed into third party. Just because there are dysfunctional Conservative Senators does not mean all Conservative Senators are dysfunctional. It follows then that just because there are some corrupt and greedy Chiefs and councils it does not mean every Chief and Council is corrupt and greedy. Far from it. Also why are so many comments focused on money and treating First Nations as problems in need of assimilation or is it annihlation. When allegations of corruption surface it may surprize some to know it is First Nations citizens who first bring it out into the open. They often do this at personal risk to themselves and the loss of their jobs with the band. In the United States such betrayal of trust would be subject to a Tribal Court with enforcement powers. No such mechanism exists in Canada. On reserve policing, education and child welfare is underfunded by an estimate of 22% less than the provinces.Yes there are social problems but no people in history have destroyed them selves. There is a history here. If yoiu are literate please read up on it.INM is now an international movement that includes growing numbers of good hearts. A very significant part of the movement is the environment, something that affects us all.
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