Aboriginals stage protests across Canada

Source : thestar.com

VANCOUVER—With rallies at city halls, teach-ins and panel discussions on campuses, and blockades along Canada’s transportation routes, First Nations activists and their supporters gathered across the country Friday to signal their ongoing push for better relations with the federal government.

While some saw the day as hopeful and important historically, others viewed the meeting in Ottawa between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and native leaders as insignificant and unproductive.

“Is it a good day for us? Many of us are here because we hope it will change what has happened in the past and make our future better,” said Chris Small, a member of the Cree Nation from Alberta who was part of a 400-person rally Friday at Vancouver City Hall.

“When I see how many people are out here I feel like it’s going to make a difference, but tomorrow I think I’ll feel differently.”

Passengers travelling between Halifax and Truro, N.S., on board the CN Rail Line had to be bused to their destinations after protesters blocked the track. In Alberta, about 70 Sturgeon Lake First Nation residents halted traffic for about an hour in both directions on Highway 43 near Edmonton as they marched along the shoulder of the highway.

But major blockades that had been threatened, including Highway 63 — the key route in Alberta for oilsands operations — and the Port of Vancouver, which is the entry and exit point for imports and exports from Asia, didn’t materialize.

In Wolfville, N.S., rally organizer Marke Slipp said the police were helpful in a march involving 60 to 70 people. Slip said First Nations members from the Annapolis Valley reserve were joined on the march by university students and the province’s activist population.

“The mood was very sober with a certain amount of joy, too,” Slipp said. “Natives have been treated very poorly by the crown and by the government for hundreds of years and for the past 140 years by the Canadian government. It’s time to change that.”

Panel discussions at the University of Winnipeg on a cold and wintry Friday drew dozens of supporters and students to the campus event.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about what is happening with the meeting in Ottawa. Is it the start of something that will grow or is it the end of the discussion with the Canadian government?” said Rodi Fong, office assistant with the Wii Chiiwaakanak Learning Centre on campus.

Angry Canada natives say could block resource development

Source : Yahoo! News

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian native leader said on Thursday that anger among the country's aboriginals is such that they could block resource development and bring the economy "to its knees" unless the Conservative government addresses a series of grievances.

Native leaders are due to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday to discuss the poor living conditions facing many of Canada's 1.2 million aboriginals.

Activists have already blockaded some rail lines and threatened to close Canada's borders with the United States in a campaign they call Idle No More.

"We have had enough. Our young people have had enough. Our women have had enough ... we have nothing left to lose," said Grand Chief Derek Nepinak from the province of Manitoba.

Native leaders say they want more federal money and a greater say over what happens to resources on their land.

"These are demands, not requests ... the Idle No More movement has the people, it has the people and the numbers that can bring the Canadian economy to its knees. It can stop Prime Minister Stephen Harper's resource development plan," Nepinak told reporters.

"We have the warriors that are standing up now, that are willing to go that far. So we're not here to make requests, we're here to demand attention," he said.

Aboriginal bands are unhappy about Enbridge Inc's plans to build a pipeline from the oil sands of Alberta to the Pacific province of British Columbia and say they will not allow the project to go ahead.

Nepinak and other chiefs from Manitoba also said they want Governor General David Johnston, the official representative of Queen Elizabeth in Canada, to be present at the meeting with Harper on Friday. Johnston has already said he will not be there.

Successive Canadian governments have struggled for decades to improve the life of aboriginals.

Ottawa spends around C$11 billion ($11.1 billion) a year on an aboriginal population of 1.2 million, yet living conditions for many are poor, particularly for those on reserves with high rates of poverty, addiction, joblessness and suicide.

As part of the Idle No More campaign, protesters blocked a Canadian National Railway Co line in Sarnia, Ontario, in late December and early January.