Coast Mountain News Thursday, January 3, 2013
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Vol. 29 | No. 01 Thursday, January 3, 2013
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin CoastMountainNews.com
Family work party at Tweedsmuir
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin Page
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The Nuxalk community takes part in the national 'Idle No More' movement
Nuxalk community rallies in support of national ‘Idle No More’ movement CAITLIN THOMPSON On December 20, the Nuxalk and Ulkatcho communities united in the latest wave of the ‘Idle No More’ movement that is sweeping across our country. It has seen drumming flash mobs dominate shopping centres, rallies disrupt public spaces, and freeways paralyzed by determined marchers. In just a few weeks, a small campaign launched against the Conservative govern-
ment’s omnibus budget bill by four First Nation’s women in Saskatchewan has expanded to include First Nations across the country. Harper’s omnibus Bill C-45, passed into law last December, is a massive 400-page bill that changes some 60 pieces of legislation. It has been heavily criticized for the sweeping changes it will bring to areas such as environmental protection, the Fisheries Act, the Indian Act, and Navigable Waters
Protection Act. Proposed amendments brought forth by the Official Opposition and First Nations Chiefs were ignored, and the bill was fast-tracked through parliament. The multitude of issues that have ignited the Idle No More movement have been simmering for decades, but Bill C-45 is turning out to be the tipping point for protesters, who claim it eliminates treaty and aboriginal rights set out in the
Constitution. Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who has been on a hunger strike near Parliament Hill since December 11, has received international attention. She is demanding a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss aboriginal issues, which so far has not been granted. Chief Spence has publicly stated many times that she is willing to die for her people. National Chief of the
Assembly of First Nations Shawn Atleo says that the relationship between First Nations and the government is reaching a “moment of reckoning.” Atleo said that the ongoing hunger strike by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and the growing Idle No More movement are signs of the frustration and anger over treaty rights and the poor conditions on reserves. The Minister of Aboriginal SEE STRIKE ON PAGE 3