Idle No More Calls for Mass Action on October 7th! – Idle No More

Our collective movement “Idle No More” has been growing in leaps and bounds over the summer season! Our #SovSummer campaign launched on June 21’s National Aboriginal day was lifted up by hundreds of Indigenous-led community actions across both Turtle Island and Mother Earth!  We have amassed a database of over 120,000 Idle No More supporters through the new website along with a growing list of hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and many more taking action in the streets and out on the land.

Idle No More organizers recently attended and participated in an important meeting of sixty Indigenous land defenders and their allies representing front line struggles from across Canada. The meeting named by organizers “Building Unity to Action” took place on August 17, 2013 in Toronto, Ontario on the traditional Anishinaabe Territory of the New Credit First Nation. This was a strategic & tactical planning meeting organized by Idle No More-Toronto and Defenders of the Land to crystallize a plan for fall action. One of the primary outcomes of this historic meeting was consensus by all participants to collectively put out a call to all Native and non-Native supporters to join in a mass day of action on Oct 7th, 2013. This day marks the 250th Anniversary of the British Royal Proclamation, which lead to the founding of this country they call Canada – a country founded on indigenous lands.

If you believe in the spirit of Idle No More and the 6 calls for change of #SovSummer then we ask you to stand up and be counted this October 7, 2013! We encourage local autonomous groups to join in this call for a national day of action with messages and tactics that are appropriate to your local struggles.   We must collectively send a clear message that our movement will not stop intervening in Canada’s attempts to conduct business as usual, until our right to free, prior, and informed consent is universally upheld, until provisions of Bill C-45 are repealed, until justice is served in the dealings over our murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and until our lands and our treaties are respected!

Organize an event in your community and read below about recent and upcoming Idle No More actions and events near you! Don’t forget to add your event for the October 7 day of mass action and be counted! Stay tuned for announcements by signing up to get involved and following us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Take Action!  

  1. September 5 – Livestream on Mi’kmaq Anti-Fracking blockade in N.B. Watch interviews with some of the key organizers in the coalition of Mi’kmaq, Maliceet, Acadians and English-speakers that has formed against fracking. Learn more and watch the livestream.

  2. September 21 – Draw the Line against the KeyStone XL! On September 21st many groups across the US including regional Idle No More solidarity groups will be organizing actions to show President Obama that it’s time to draw the line, and stop Keystone XL for good.  Learn more and organize a local action in your community!

  3. October 4 – Join the 3rd Annual Families of Sisters in Spirit Vigil 2013. Families of Sisters in Spirit  believes that no decisions can be made on behalf of Indigenous women, families, communities and Nations without our free, prior, informed consent. This demands our DIRECT leadership in any/all processes. Help FSIS bring as many families as we can to Ottawa to have our voices heard!! In our own words! In our own ways!  Learn more and join the action!

  4. October 7 – Call for Unified National Action – Everywere! Idle No More put out a call to all Native and non-Native supporters to join in a mass day of action on Oct 7th, 2013. This day marks the 250th Anniversary of the British Royal Proclamation, which lead to the founding of this country they call Canada – a country founded on indigenous lands.  If you believe in the spirit of Idle No More and the 6 calls for change of #SovSummer then we ask you to stand up and be counted this October 2013. Organize an event in your community.

  5. October 12-20 – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, Visits Canada.  James Anaya, who recently called on all countries to respect treaties with Indigenous Peoples, will be visiting Canada in October to examine the human rights situation of Indigenous peoples. Anaya, whose request to visit Canada was ignored by the Harper government for over a year, will be issuing a report on extractive industries and Indigenous Peoples in September.

 

Updates from the Frontlines

  1. 9596635452_7a8e1c217c_n.jpgHundreds of Grassy Narrows Indigenous Nation supporters, including a massive 80 person strong marching band, paraded to Premier Wynne’s house on Sunday, Aug 25th. Their banners read “You wouldn’t live with mercury in your home, why must Grassy Narrows?” Take action to support Grassy Narrows through phone and email.  “The government has taken away our forests and given us back disease and sickness and death,” said Judy Da Silva, a Grassy Narrows Clan Mother.  “Wynne promised to help us, but she did not take that commitment seriously.  It is time for Ontario to listen to our people when we say no to logging that brings more mercury poison into our rivers and our bodies.”  Check out photos from the march and read more about Grassy Narrows here Photo Credit – Kevin Konnyu

  2. Idle No More in solidarity with Saami struggles for clean land,water and sovereignty. Over the last couple of months, Gállok – an area of huge cultural importance to the Indigenous reindeer herding communities Sirges and Jåhkågasska, situated close to Jåhkkåmåhke on Lule Saami lands – has become the physical base of an on-going anti-mining protest that has become a pan-Saami protest against neo-colonialism on Saami lands. Read the full article.

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  4. Idle No More congratulates all of the hard working people who have launched Canada’s biggest and most progressive union – UNIFOR.  Idle No More organizers look forward to cross-movement collaboration with UNIFOR and to the building power of social unionism and social movements across Turtle Island.  We also thank Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein for recognizing Idle No More in her speech at the launch of UNIFOR.  Watch the speech.

  5. Dakota Sovereignty Challenged.  Sovereignty is being challenged by both the Canadian and the Dakota governments. The question has been asked of the Dakota, “How are the Dakota Sovereign?” The Dakota have also asked Canada the same, “How is Canada Sovereign?” To answer the question as to how the Dakota people remain sovereign; 1. We have retained our language 2. We have retained our people 3. We have retained our laws 4. We have retained our land 5. We have retained our government Dakota sovereignty is Creator given, Canadian sovereignty is man made.  Learn more.

  6. Indigenous Action Alliance forms and joins call to support Indigenous Communities impacted by Tar Sands Giga-Project.  Emerging from the 4th Annual Unist’ot’en Action camp grassroots members of the present nations have formed an alliance against industrial exploitation within their respective sovereign territories.   Read full article.

  7. We Stand Together With Hupacasath First Nation’s Court Challenge Of Canada-China FIPA.  Over 100 people gathered outside the Parliament in Ottawa on August 11th to show their solidarity with the Hupacasath First Nation. Representatives from Idle No More, unions, the Green Party, the Sierra Club, and many others shared powerful speeches voicing their support.  Read full article.

  8. Thunderchild Band Members Protest Oil Drilling Plans. A group of band members from Thunderchild First Nation, a reserve located near North Battleford, Sask., has been camping out on Sundance grounds. The reserve’s chief has approved the oil drilling, but band members say they are opposed.  Read full article.

  9. Provincial and Territorial Premiers Join INM in Call for National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. Amidst Harper’s continued inaction, all of the premiers have voiced support for one of INM’s six calls for change. We celebrate this victory and recognize the need to  keep the pressure on to ensure that this national inquiry is guided by and accountable to the Indigenous women who are most impacted by this issue. Read full article.

  10. Idle No More “Stop The Logging” Campaign: No Consultation & No Consent. This walk was organized to focus attention on the ongoing extraction of resources on Treaty Six Territory without consultation or consent.   View the original event description and stay tuned for more info.

  11. “If You Build It, We Will Come”: Utah Activists Shut Down Road Project of Tar Sands Mine. The US Oil Sands stock price dropped 13% the day of a mass action against the first tar sands mine in the US that saw Utahns and Indigenous peoples disrupt road construction. Get more information and watch the video. Check out the recent Healing Walk in Utah August 16-19.  #Summerheat #FearlessSummer

  12. Idle No More Solidarity SF Bay led a March of Over 2,500 People to Chevron in Richmond, California.  The march commemorated the 1 year anniversary of the Chevron refinery explosion and fire that sent 15,000 people to hospital.  The morning began with prayers by Dr. Melinda Micco (Seminole) and Wounded Knee Ocampo (Miwok) of the American Indian Movement, as well as a teach-in on the effects of fossil fuel on indigenous people.  Read moreWatch the video.  


Idle No More in the Headlines

  1. Al Jazeera – Canada’s Dirty Dividends: Clayton Thomas-Muller, Chris Severson-Baker, and Dinara Millington talk about the costs of the Tar Sands for the environment and people.

  2. CBC – Thoughts on CSIS and INM: Alex Wilson, an INM organizer, talks about the monitoring of INM by CSIS and the federal government.

  3. Indigenous Waves – Russell Diabo on Sovereignty Summer, Termination Tables & politics as usual.

  4. Idle No More: They’re back New protest staged at Memorial Park: After seven months of silence and working behind the scenes, the Idle No More movement returned to the public domain Wednesday evening. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/idle-no-more-theyre-back-219729001.html

  5. National Post-Canada’s spy agency kept close watch on rapidly growing First Nations protest movement: documents – A federal department and the country’s spy agency closely monitored the activities of the aboriginal “Idle No More” movement in late 2012 and early 2013, with the intelligence agency claiming it was doing so not over fear of protests getting http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/11/canadas-spy-agency-kept-close-watch-on-rapidly-growing-first-nations-protest-movement-documents/

  6. Global-Idle No More movement looking to reignite its voice: WINNIPEG — After lying low for nearly seven months, Idle No More protesters are revitalizing their movement in Winnipeg and latching onto a local movement. http://globalnews.ca/news/781318/idle-no-more-movement-looking-to-reignite-its-voice/

  7. National Post-  Can 13-point aboriginal declaration serve as real roadmap for Idle No More demands  http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/04/can-13-point-aboriginal-declaration-serve-as-real-roadmap-fors-demands/

  8. Snooping Idle No More –  When Native protesters were talking last year, CSIS was paying close attention http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/09/02/the-spooks-werent-idle-either/