Commentary: The “Idle No More” Movement in Eastern Canada

Abstract

Th e Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and other Indigenous nations in Atlantic Canada were never idle; they have resisted colonial oppression for centuries. Prior to Confederation, they signed peace and friendship treaties. Post-Confederation, they petitioned the Crown to protect their treaty rights. 2 Th roughout the 1980s, Grand Council members made appeals to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. 3 Th en, the explosive Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Marshall affi rmed Mi’kmaq treaty rights, a decision that sparked racist public outrage. 4 In response, Indigenous peoples and allies across Canada marched and organized protest fi sheries, but even now, fi ft een years later, the struggles for sovereign resource management and appropriate accommodation are yet to be resolved. Today, in a signifi cant return to matriarchal roots that were largely marginalized by colonialism, Indigenous women and their allies are on the front lines of political and cultural activism, shining light on critical social justice issues through peaceful protest. Th is comment explores the advent and actions of Idle No More in Atlantic Canada and pays particular attention to the role of women. Despite Supreme Court recognition of treaty rights, Indigenous nations of eastern Canada, in order to bring attention to the denial of hunting and fi shing rights and, more generally, of self-determination, have had to organize protest moose hunts, create blockades to protect sacred territories against unethical development, and shut down highways. 5 Th ese actions represent only a small sampling of all those that constitute the Idle No More (INM) legacy of resistance to injustice. Idle No More activities protect