Chief Donny Morris-"All of You are Becoming Indians"

>
>
> Indigenous people defending their land and our environment
>
> by Judy Rebick and Judy Finlay
> ZNet
> May 25, 2008
>
> On Monday May 26, Indigenous people will gather from across Ontario,
> including the remote North, on the lawns of Queen's Park to insist
> that governments and industry recognize their right to say no to
> mining and forestry on their lands. Travelling by bus and even by
> foot, they are coming to participate in four days of sacred
> ceremonies, teach-ins, drumming, music, readings and a mass rally that
> they are calling a Gathering of Mother Earth Protectors.
>
> In a sign of what is to come Aboriginal people are not only standing
> up for their rights, they are defending the environment against
> unbridled industrial development. Across the Americas, from Brazil to
> Bolivia to the Boreal Forest in Northwestern Ontario, Indigenous
> people are leading the way to a more sustainable future and a more
> democratic political system that roots out the vestiges of
> colonialism. Here in Toronto environmentalists are joining with
> unions, students, churches, urban Aboriginal, children's rights,
> anti-poverty and immigrant groups to support them. All of us are
> working under the leadership of three Indigenous communities who have
> put themselves on the line to demand respect for their inherent rights
> and changes to the law to protect the environment. They are
> Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, known as KI, Ardoch Algonguin First
> Nation and Grassy Narrows and they are willing to go to jail if
> necessary to protect the land for future generations.
>
> Two of the three communities sponsoring the events have leaders in
> jail for contempt of court because they refused drilling on their land
> without permission. Retired Ardoch Algonquin chief and university
> professor Bob Lovelace was sentenced to six months in jail three
> months ago. He started a hunger strike last week and now is suffering
> solitary confinement.
>
> Six leaders from the community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, known
> as the KI Six, were also thrown in jail for peacefully opposing
> mineral exploration on their lands in the Boreal Forest (located 600km
> north of Thunder Bay). This isolated community has been completely
> devastated by the jailing of most of their leaders.
>
> In an interview from jail with 'Indian Country Today' Bob Lovelace
> said: "You know, the longer I sit in here, and the longer I think
> about these things, it irks me that really great minds of this
> generation have been wasted and just squandered on a relationship
> where colonialism runs the show."
>
> While jailing of Indigenous activists is nothing new, this is the
> first time that a Chief In Council, Donny Morris of KI, the official
> leader of the community as recognized by the Indian Act, has been
> jailed for following the laws protecting Indigenous rights.
>
> The excuse given by the Ontario government is the archaic Mining Act
> that places industrial development over everything. Mining companies
> are given automatic license to explore wherever they want without
> First Nations approval, without an environmental assessment, without
> even the permission of the owners of private property. Premier Dalton
> McGuinty under pressure from growing public support for Bob Lovelace
> and the KI Six has said he will amend the Mining Act. But requests for
> a moratorium on drilling so that the leaders can be released from jail
> have gone unheeded. In a sign of the pressure that the mining company
> Platinex is feeling they agreed to stop drilling until the appeal so
> that the KI 6 could come out of jail until their appeal on May 28th.
> The KI 6 will attend the rally.
>
> In an interview from jail Chief Donny Morris said, "When you think of
> when the settlers first came, they tried to slaughter us. Why? For the
> mineral riches on our land like gold and now it is happening again. I
> have been thinking about what it means that non-Indians are organizing
> all this support for us. I am thinking about that a lot here. I
> haven't seen this kind of thing in the past. It's like all of you are
> becoming Indians. The Canadian government tried to assimilate us for
> generations and now it is the opposite that is happening. You are all
> starting to think like us about the earth."
>
> Grassy Narrows, who have been waging a decades long battle to protect
> their land from clear cutting and their water from mercury poisoning,
> are joining the other two communities in sponsoring the Gathering.
> Twenty-two young people from Grassy Narrows will arrive in Toronto on
> Monday at the end of an 1800 km walk from Kenora they are calling the
> Protecting the Earth Walk.
>
> The four days of activities will start with a welcome rally late
> Monday afternoon at Queen's Park and culminate in a march to recognize
> the Aboriginal Day of Action called by the Assembly of First Nations.
>
> [Judy Rebick and Judy Finlay are both professors at Ryerson University
> with a long history supporting social justice and equality for women
> and children.