Idle No More

A puzzling bit of nomenclature.  What could it possibly mean?  A grassroots movement among aboriginal peoples of Canada to finally call an end to their insistence on remaining on remote reserves where employment is not to be found?

Determining to relocate, to surrender the misbegotten fantasy of living on the land as their forefathers did, which cannot support them through traditional hunting and fishing in a population that now much prefers federal taxpayer handouts leaving them free to pursue leisure activities like watching television, drinking alcohol, neglecting the welfare of their children. 

In favour of joining other Canadians in a practical world of work and a normal family life.  Now that would be hugely advantageous to the future of aboriginal children.

Living closer to urban centres where employment is available, and health care more accessible and where young people are given an education that will prepare them to take their place in the larger extended community of Canadians would produce a huge boon to First Nations youngsters.  But Idle No More, which has rejected affiliation with the Assembly of First Nations chiefs, insisting that they are a grassroots movement planning to accomplish far more than the Assembly ever did, has used the media and social networking to organize protests, blockades and rallies.

Is this what is meant by Idle No More?  Being employed in social protests as opposed to being gainfully employed, independent and responsible for their advances in life?  One is entitled to wonder whether this is indeed so, given that one of the Idle organizers' chief complaints is Bill C-45, which is geared toward freeing up legislation to enable shortcuts in aiding exploration and mining concerns to lease land from First Nations and to also employ their members, creating employment opportunities now lacking on reserves.

Idle No More is protesting the federal government's considered move toward aiding First Nations in finding employment.  This is a monumental misfit of a name for a movement that bills itself as a struggle to advance the future of First Nations peoples.  The current situation is grim and miserable, with aboriginal children committing suicide at roughly twenty times the rate of the general population.  Where drug addiction is endemic, and adolescent and pre-adolescent kids sniff glue and choose not to attend school.

And then there is publicity-eager Theresa Spence, Chief of the Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario who has traded in her inept and corrupt management of her band's fiscal affairs for the kind of notoriety that has gained her huge admiration from those who believe she is sacrificing herself in the most noble of causes; seeking to further the fortunes of her people.  It would not be a miracle if she survived her 'hunger strike', but a miracle if she did not survive it.

Her histrionics and imperious demands, denunciations and complaints strike a chord in the collective guilt symphony of the Canadian public.  A stream of supplicants have made the pilgrimage to Victoria Island in sight of the Parliament Buildings, to seek her forgiveness, to offer condolences and admiration, and to urge her to please, please, eat something, Dear Theresa.  Even Chief Shawn Atleo, who has been upstaged along with his national representation by this humble little chief, has appeared at her side, promising a meeting with the Prime Minister.

That meeting, to the chagrin of many who believe this entire charade to represent utter nonsense, when saner heads should be engaged in seeking a real and meaningful solution to the fact that billions of dollars shovelled out the door to the Assembly of First Nations by Aboriginal Affairs has done nothing whatever to alleviate the dysfunctional misery of First Nations, living in honour of their ancestors in a modern world that requires them to honour their ancestors by adapting to the modern world, instead - will soon be taking place to assuage the tantrum of an egotist.

And then what?  What will an impromptu meeting between the Prime Minister, the Governor General and First Nations Chiefs accomplish precisely?  When John Duncan, the Minister of  Aboriginal Affairs should be meeting with the Assembly Chiefs and together hammering out solutions to a shamefully intolerable situation where resistance to change is the order of the day.  There are some sounder heads being heard from, but not loudly enough in the clamour of blame and shame.

"We've got to get past this stage. There is no magic policy bullet that's going to come out of some meeting with the prime minister or the Indian Affairs minister. We're dealing with issues here that have bedevilled the very best of the aboriginal leadership for years.
"We have to get down to brass tacks here. To get anywhere, you need to be tightly organized. You have to formulate a serious following. You need a strategy that you're following, with a concrete agenda. And you have to be able to articulate real and achievable goals. You've got to be very suspicious of national visions, or visions of any kind.
"You're not going to get anywhere by throwing around big words like 'sovereignty' and 'colonization' and telling white people they need to decolonize themselves."

These are the words of Ernie Crey, former vice-president, United Native Nations, aboriginal fishing rights activist, co-author of Stolen from Our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Aboriginal Communities.  Could be Idle No More should be conferring with him.