IQALUIT
A temperature of -37 C and after-work rush hour traffic didn't stop about 35 Idle No More demonstrators from slowing traffic at Iqaluit's Four Corners intersection last Wednesday evening.
Dorcas Young, left, Eva Young, and Joamie Eegeesiak hold signs as passing vehicles honk in support. - Peter Worden/NNSL photo
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"I think it turned out very well considering the temperature," said event organizer Courtney White with a laugh. "We had to keep moving."
Spirits were high at the demonstration and as people laughed and cheered, they waved placards and drums with serious messages.
"Our land claim agreement has been breached," said White, explaining that Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), the legal representative of Nunavummiut beneficiaries, has an ongoing lawsuit from 2006 it filed against the federal government in respect to the settlement of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in 1993. "We're still waiting for the government to execute their end of the bargain when we've given them everything they've asked for from us."
"I think it's a time that we can come out and there's so many other people standing up for their treaties that it will make a bigger statement if we have them to stand side-by-side as allies in Canada," she said.
Several cars honked in support and White said the local Idle No More group, organized using social media, received lots of local moral support. Across the territory, several communities' public announcement Facebook pages urged people to show their support with "Buy nothing" days. One area of support White said she would have liked to have seen was from federal employees who she said were forbidden from protesting.
"I know a couple people there wanted to," said White, claiming Indian and Northern Affairs Canada employees could lose their job. "To me it's just pushing it away, trying to ignore it."
"These kinds of actions are not so common in Nunavut," said Lakuluuluk Williamson-Bathory, another organizer who called the turnout great by Nunavut standards. "The reason why we felt it was really important to have an action here is because Idle No More is not just a First Nations thing; it's a Canadian thing.
"As Aboriginal people, it's important to show solidarity with a Canadian movement and to make sure that it becomes something for Canadians to say with pride. Canada was built on agreements with Aboriginal people."
Lakuluuluk Williamson-Bathory said that if Arctic sovereignty is important for the Harper government, it is more important to sustainably maintain the presence of people in the Arctic rather than concentrate on military capabilities.
"Inuit know sovereignty actually lies in investing in people who live there already," she said, adding, like White, that the Idle No More movement is relevant to Nunavummiut and that it was important to be on the streets in public demonstrations and be involved in political conversations. "Of course it's not possible to change a fundamental relationship overnight but for the near future I think it's important to keep raising awareness ... It's going to be an ongoing process but it has to be a continuous one."
"I'm still learning about it," said Janet Merkosak, a student in the interpreter translator class at Arctic College who came out to watch the demonstration. "I'm here to learn more about the bigger picture."
The cold air eventually whittled down the demonstration, but not before the protesters walked around Iqaluit's ring road and returned to the Four Corners, all under police friendly escort.
"It was nice to see Iqaluit come together as a community and stand up for our land and the future of Iqaluit and we really do appreciate the support of RCMP and bylaw," said White.
RCMP Supt. Hilton Smee said the peaceful protest was conducted well.
"We had no issues with the protest. We were there to protect public safety and worked very well with the organizers," said Smee.
