This is a movement of Indigenous people.

• They are living in terrible conditions without clean water, adequate sanitation, housing, education or hope 
• Things are getting worse, not better: “Since 2008, the Harper government has cut aboriginal health funding, gutted environmental review processes, ignored the more than 600 missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada, withheld residential school documents from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, abandoned land claim negotiations, and tried to defend its underfunding of First Nations schools and child welfare agencies.” (Jeff Denis, Assistant Professor of Sociology at McMaster University, published in The Toronto Star, December 20, 2012)

I don’t know if you’ve been following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but I fear that if we don’t change our attitudes and the current government’s policies, there’s going to have to be another one 40 years down the road, focussed on the injustices of today. 

We need to put pressure on our government to change the policies and attitudes that are in place. We need to learn from the past. We need to challenge the status quo. We all need to speak out, Indigenous and non-indigenous alike. There is a movement going on. We need to get behind it and help agitate for change.

Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat is on the 12th day of a Hunger Strike trying to get the Government of Canada to meet with her and approach Native Peoples with respect. 12 days. Think about that. Please, help her. This is deadly serious. She is desperate enough for change that she is willing to die for it.

Surely, you can take a moment, even on Christmas eve, to sign a petition like the one here:

Get involved with Idle No More (Like them on Facebook, go to a rally, etc.)

Please tell your friends and encourage more people to get involved. Forward this blog to people. Write to the prime minister and your MP. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper.

We need to change the culture of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians and the Canadian Government. This is our Civil Rights movement, folks. It’s high time to stand up and say that we do not want people living in sub-standard conditions as a result of Canadian Government policies. We do not want members of Indigenous Nations living in Canada to be treated with contempt by the Canadian Government.

Thank you for caring.