Idle No More

Idle No More — The Movement And The Music

January 31, 2014 Ariana Miller, www.travois.com Create! Arts, Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

Idle No More began as a series of teach-ins protesting legislation that would erode indigenous sovereignty. To support the movement, many tribal members within the United States have also held rallies — most recently in California, Oregon and Montana in November 2013, with others occurred in Washington, D.C. and several other states across the country and around the world. Other shows of support have come from musicians, Native and non-Native alike, resulting in the compilation album “Idle No More: Songs for Life, Volumes 1 & 2.” I listened to the second volume. The Indian Handcrafts open the album with the fun and energetic rock piece, “Red Action.” Surprising is the fact that their big sound comes from only two band members, drummer Brandon Aikins and guitarist Daniel Allen, who both add their vocals to the mix. They have an equally big message that might be easily overlooked as one bops to the drumbeat: “It shouldn’t be surprising — the spirits here were born for uprising” and “What time is it? It’s time for red action!”

‘Got Land?’ Idle No More Day Of Action

January 26, 2014 Staff, www.indiancountrymediantwork.com Resist! Education, Idle No More

The grassroots Idle No More movement was already planning a national day of action across Canada for January 28 to teach people about the First Nations Education Act, which most Indigenous Peoples oppose. Now the organizers are exhorting everyone to dress for the occasion—in a “Got Land? Thank an Indian” t-shirt or sweatshirt. Idle No More has scooped up 13-year-old Tenelle Starr, the eighth-grade student from Star Blanket First Nation who persuaded school officials to let her wear a hoodie with the words “Got Land?” on the front and “Thank an Indian” on the back. Since that day, the shirt’s maker in Canada, Jeff Menard, has been swamped with orders. But now he might want to add another phone line. Idle No More is calling on everyone across Canada to don the slogan, which Menard sells on t-shirts and bibs in all sizes, in addition to hooded and non-hooded sweatshirts.

Native Drummers Attacked At Protest Over “Poop Snow”

January 23, 2014 Staff, www.protectthepeaks.org Resist! Environment, Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

When pressed on the fact that numerous people watched the attacker assault multiple people, he said he would include that in his report and let the city attorney decide if there was enough evidence to charge her with assault. Officer Radliff did not seem to believe one boy when he told the officer that the woman had hit him. In fact if he was surrounded by at least half a dozen people who witnessed the event insisting that she be charged with assault, it is unclear if the attacker would have even received a disorderly conduct charge. Though Officer Radliff did ultimately state “she was clearly disorderly.” Many witnesses to the attack were visibly shaken that she was allowed to just walk away with a ticket.

Mall Of America Threatens Arrest Of Idle No More

December 25, 2013 Reyna Crow, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Idle No More

Various organizers identified by the `Mall of America’ management team as being connected with the `Idle No More’ movement have received letters from the mall indicating the mall “…will utilize additional actions… including trespassing the organizers of the protest” (emphasis added) should a flash mob Round Dance recur there on New Year’s Eve this year. Idle No More Duluth organizer Reyna Crow was one of several people who received the letter on Christmas Eve. “The characterization of the Round Dance as a protest is not only incorrect, it is insulting”, says Crow, “If the Idle No More flash mob Round Dance that was held there last year is a `protest’, so are the Christmas carols and the other flash mob events that have been held there”.

Idle No More Returns To Parliament To Protest First Nation’s Bills

December 12, 2013 Staff, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

On International Human Rights Day and also marks Idle No More’s one-year anniversary of last year’s national day of action. In honor of this occasion, hundreds of First Nations protesters have taken to the steps of Canada’s Parliament to send a resounding “No” to the Conservative government’s First Nations Education Act (FNEA) and the federal Termination Plan to extinguish First Nations’ collective rights. On this historic day, we are choosing to launch IdleNoMore 2.0 – our call to the tens of thousands of supporters in our movement to join in a massive educational undertaking from coast to coast to coast on January 28th – and introducing our crowdfunding campaign, which will be available on December 11, 2013, atwww.idlenomore.ca/support. Defenders of the Land founder Russell Diabo, who spoke at today’s protest on Parliament Hill, said, “The FNEA is the latest bill in a suite of legislation amending the Indian Act to be used by the federal bureaucracy to impose greater control and management of First Nations for their assimilation into the mainstream society”.

Idle No More: New Generations Of Young Women Activists

December 11, 2013 Widia Larivière, www.yfa.awid.org Resist! Idle No More, Indigenous Rights, Women's Rights

It is very inspiring to be involved within the Idle No More movement for many reasons: it is mostly led by women, it gives strong voices to the grassroots population, it renews cultural and identity pride of Indigenous youth, and it brings the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada closer as they have to work together on common issues like the protection of the Mother Earth and democracy. Indigenous peoples in Canada have lived a long history of colonization and oppression. The impacts and traumas of this history still can be felt and seen today: they live marginalization, segregation and exclusion. For decades, high level government inquiries, federal audits and international human rights bodies have repeatedly and consistently pointed to an unacceptable gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the enjoyment of basic human rights. Despite living in one of the world’s wealthiest countries, Indigenous families and communities in Canada continue to face widespread impoverishment, inadequate housing, food insecurity, ill-health and unsafe drinking water. They also face different types of racism and discriminations. Indigenous women often face double discrimination: they are discriminated as Indigenous and as women. According to several studies and statistics, Indigenous women are 4 times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women. Also, the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada is disproportionately high. . .

Guide To Idle No More Movement, Treaties, Legislation

November 24, 2013 Mia Rabson, www.winnipegfreepress.com Educate! Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

Idle No More marches. Chiefs and the prime minister at odds over treaties. Liquid diets in teepees on the Ottawa River. It's easy to be confused about all that has happened in the last six weeks among Canada's aboriginal people. But that's not surprising because the issues at stake are among the most complex and most important our nation faces today. Many of them are the issues Canada has been facing for decades but have never been adequately addressed. Here is a short, by no means exhaustive, primer looking at the movement, treaties and the legislation at the centre of the debate. When did it begin? In November, four women from Saskatchewan held a "teach-in" in Saskatoon to educate people about the government's omnibus budget legislation, Bill C-45, which was introduced a few weeks prior. Additional teach-ins followed in Prince Albert and Regina to raise awareness of the bill. An Alberta woman then organized an information meeting on the Louis Bull Cree Nation, and turned to Facebook and Twitter to draw attention to the imminent passage of C-45. Those events slowly grew into additional rallies, protests and flash mobs at shopping malls as the movement gained steam on social media.

Canada Spied On Enbridge Energy Protesters Before Hearing

November 22, 2013 Shawn McCarthy, www.theglobeandmail.com Resist! Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Fracking, Idle No More, Indigenous Rights, Oil and Gas, Tar Sands

The National Energy Board worked with the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service to monitor the risk posed by environmental groups and First Nations in advance of public hearings into Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway project, documents released under Access to Information regulations reveal. In one e-mail, dated April 19, a member of the RCMP’s Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Team warns that the federal government’s efforts to exclude activist groups from regulatory hearings could result in protesters “targeting” NEB panel members. “These new hearing procedures have refocused protest activity from the content of the hearings to the conduct of the hearings,” Tim O’Neil, an Ottawa-based RCMP “research specialist” says. The e-mail – with the subject heading “Security Concerns – National Energy Board – was sent to a number of federal officials, including NEB’s chief security officer Richard Garber. Noting “sustained opposition” to oil sands expansion, Mr. O’Neil said it was “highly likely that the NEB may expect to receive threats to its hearings and its board members.”

Photo Gallery: Idle No More One Year Anniversary Nov. 10th

November 10, 2013 47 White Buffalo, www.47whitebuffalo.wordpress.com Create! Energy, Environment, Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

Looking back, looking ahead #INM1YR Nov10 Idle No More Revolution Idle No More is one of the largest Indigenous mass movements in recent history – sparking hundreds of teach-ins, rallies, and direct actions across the globe. What began as a series of teach-ins on November 10th, 2012 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to protest laws that would scale back on environmental protections and threaten Indigenous self-determination, has now changed the social and political landscape of Canada and beyond. We know that many communities will be holding symbolic celebrations on Nov 10th to honour the birth of Idle No More. Idle No More organizers hope that all of us as individuals and as groups do take a moment on Nov 10th to look back and look ahead. And if you are planning a celebration or action on Nov 10th then please add it to the events listing on the website and if you are able to, please join the webinar below!

Canada, Aboriginal Tension Erupting Over Resource Development, Study Suggests

October 31, 2013 Sunny Freeman, www.huffingtonpost.ca Resist! Fracking, Idle No More, Tar Sands, TransCanada

“Canada is a developed country and it is having an implosion of the sort that we’ve only seen in the developing countries,” said Rebecca Adamson, president and co-founder of First Peoples’ Worldwide, the group that conducted the study. “We’ve always seen this erupt when a government refuses to be clear in upholding indigenous land tenure.” The Indigenous Rights Risk Report studied 52 U.S. resource companies and 370 projects around the world, including 16 companies and 76 projects active in Canada. The aim of the survey is to assess how likely it is that conflict with indigenous communities could result in costly shutdowns.

How Idle No More Became A Movement

October 31, 2013 Heather Yundt, www.canadiangeographic.ca Organize! Idle No More, Indigenous Rights

“We were idle,” says Sylvia McAdam, “and we all decided we weren’t going to be idle anymore.” McAdam was chatting with Nina Wilson, Sheelah McLean and Jessica Gordon on Facebook last fall when they came to that decision. The impetus? Bill C-45, the 457- page federal omnibus budget bill that changes rules about, among other things, the leasing of reserve lands by First Nations communities, environmental assessment processes and the protection of waterways. That day, the four Saskatchewan women decided they’d had enough. Soon, with the help of others, they’d created the Idle No More Facebook page and Twitter hashtag. “Something amazing is happening,” McAdam says. “People are going back to their communities and saying, ‘I’m idle no more.’”

Groups Take Part In Idle No More Ceremonial Walk

October 31, 2013 Brandon MacLeod, www.m.bonnyvillenouvelle.ca Resist! Energy, Environment, Idle No More, Indigenous Rights, Tar Sands

The ongoing releases of bitumen to the surface at CNRL’s Primrose site and the likelihood that these incidents have contaminated groundwater aquifers below the surface has drawn the ire of many residents both living in the Lakeland area and elsewhere. However, groups including Idle No More, Cold Lake First Nations, Saddle Lake Cree Nation and Keepers of the Water believe not enough attention is being paid to the bitumen releases that have now spilt more than 1.8 million litres of oil to the surface over a six-month period, without a solution to the problems or a clear idea about the potential harm done to the environment and particularly the groundwater. In an effort to draw attention to the these incidents and what one activist called “the destruction of the environment for the profiting of a few”, more than 30 people took part in a three-day Idle No More “ceremonial walk” from Cold Lake First Nations to Bonnyville, to La Corey and back, completing “a full circle of solidarity."

Decolonization For Your Momma – A Tool For Idle No More

October 25, 2013 Clayton Thomas-Muller, www.lastrealindians.com Organize! Idle No More, Tar Sands

Clayton Thomas-Muller, co-director of the Indigenous Tar Sands (ITS) Campaign, has put together the following workshop format/tool for communities engaged in Decolonization work. It gives a framework for communities to start the process to engage in conversations to unpack oppression, “his” story, and to develop community based solutions to unlocking the potential of our peoples in today’s Movements. - Historically, Capitalism has been and is the motive for the Colonial and Imperialist policies that have disempowered and dispossess Indigenous people around the world...

30 Actions in Solidarity With Mi’kmaq Anti-Fracking Protest

October 19, 2013 Idle No More, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking, Idle No More

Our Mi'kmaq relatives need our support. Members of the Elsipogtog First Nation and supporters of the Anti-Shale, Anti-Fracking Nonviolent Action in New Brunswick (Canada) were under attack today because of state-initiated violence by the RCMP. Idle No More denounces this state violence and calls out to all of our supporters GLOBALLY to light your sacred fires or other peaceful actions to show support and alliance with the people of New Brunswick. Today, settlers and Indigenous protestors and Warriors were subjected to violent action from the RCMP for their participation in a legitimate peaceful nonviolent action defending their lands and asserting their sovereign duty to protect the land and the people. Stand in solidarity with the protestors by taking action below!

Climate Conference Ends With Idle No More Action

October 7, 2013 Cameron Fenton, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Environment, Idle No More

Today, hundreds of youth attending the PowerShift BC summit joined with local Idle No More organizers and frontline Indigenous organizers from BC and Alberta for a march and public civil disobedience training at the British Columbia Legislature. The action took place along with over 60 others across Canada, the US and beyond marking the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation. "Today we gather in mass numbers all across turtle island in solidarity and unity for one common cause - to commemorate the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in which land rights and title promises were made to the original peoples of this land, On this day we assert our rights to self determination and land title as per the CDN constitution," said Crystal Lameman of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation.

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