Dear Colleagues, 
Please consider sending ('signing') this open letter to PM Harper and Governor General David Johnston .  
Also welcome: Emails from colleagues in countries outside Canada. 
Please circulate widely.

TO SIGN, send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] and include the following information:  i) your name ii) position, and iii) departmental/university affiliation


Winnipeg, MB ­ Friday, December 21, 2012
Open Letter to the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and the Right Honourable Governor General David Johnston:

We, as academics teaching in universities, witness the courageous and
honourable actions of Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence
to defend the land and Indigenous peoples of Canada. Chief Spence has
said that she is willing to die for her people, and we will not stand
silent while she starves to death on the doorstep of our Parliament.
We call on our government to meet immediately with Chief Spence and to
initiate a comprehensive plan to address the urgent situation in 
Aboriginal communities across this country.

On December 11, 2012, Chief Theresa Spence began a hunger strike,
calling the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper
and the Right Honourable Governor General David Johnston to initiate
immediate discussions and the development of action plans to address
treaty issues with First Nations across Canada. Chief Spence wishes
to raise concerns about the disregard of First Nations peoples by the
Government of Canada, such as the continued failure to address poverty
experienced in Indigenous communities, especially those living in
rural and isolated communities. Chief Spence also wants to discuss
recent bills that were passed in the legislature without First Nations
consultation, including the omnibus Bill C-45 which included changes
that removed all environmental protection from the vast majority of
Canadian waterways, along with many other attacks on the environment.

In addition to endangering the future of all Canadians, these changes
violate Aboriginal and treaty rights by permitting the destruction of
hunting and fishing economies. These concerns and others are clearly
expressed in the Idle No More movement manifesto, which we encourage
all Canadians to read and discuss in their communities.

We have been saddened and ashamed to witness the way that Chief Spence
has been ignored by our government. We have been deeply disappointed
to observe the refusal of both the Prime Minister and the Governor
General‹the Queen¹s representative‹to meet with her or acknowledge the
importance of her concerns.

We stand in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence's attempts to change
the abusive manner in which the Canadian Government has ignored,
threatened, and bullied Indigenous peoples. As teachers interested in
contributing to a just and sustainable future where the rights of all
Canadians are respected, we recognize that Canada¹s history is one of
exploitation, dispossession and marginalization of Indigenous peoples,
denial of their rights and sovereignty, indifference to their
suffering, and in many cases the destruction of their land. We also
recognize the strength, resilience, and profound respect for Mother
Earth that exist in Indigenous communities and welcome this current
mobilization against the government-sponsored destruction of the
environment.

We urge all people of Canada to enter into respectful dialogues about
Aboriginal rights and treaties, and to take meaningful action in your
communities to ensure the honouring of our treaties, respect for
self-determination, and the protection of our environment for the
generations to come.

See here to learn more about the Idle No More Movement:
http://idlenomore1.blogspot.ca/
To leave, manage or join list: https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=sdoh&A=1