Dear Editor
In 2013, there are a number of events scheduled in North Battleford that celebrate 100 years of colonialism and consequently promotes the historical erasure of the ongoing genocide that is taking place in our community. This denial of the atrocity of colonialism has been made easier by the apartheid-like existence the settler population continues to live. When we live on stolen land and benefit enormously from it, our entire middle class existence status and power is predicated on the theft of indigenous lands, resources and dispossession of indigenous peoples, our conscience unaffected by the daily horror experienced by indigenous people in North Battleford.
Throughout the last 100 years in North Battleford, the settler population has been complicit and sometimes active participants in the violation of treaty obligations, the ravages of the Indian Act, the terror of residential schools, the outlawing of ceremonies, the degrading Pass Laws, the policies aimed at preventing Indigenous agricultural development, forced segregation, racial profiling, police brutality and much more. Today, the nightmare continues with indigenous youth pulverized in the justice and child and welfare systems and in the marginalization of indigenous people in their traditional territories.
A powerful symbol of indigenous marginalization and impoverishment is the huge RCMP detachment in North Battleford. This only underscores the true role, intent and purpose of the RCMP. They are present as an occupying force to intimidate, to subjugate and to ensure marginalization of indigenous people. This was strikingly obvious Dec. 10 when the Idle No More march in North Battleford, was greeted with scores of RCMP vehicles and officers photographing and video taping the action.
The Idle No More movement has made it abundantly clear this system built on theft, dislocation and destruction of indigenous lands and their way of life will not continue. At its core, the settler system is one founded on white supremacy, greed, competition and the cult-like belief in the false promises of progress and modernity. In its wake, however, we have produced a spiritual wasteland in which relationships, friendships and empathy have become obsolete. Similarly, we have laid waste to Mother Earth solely to get wealthy. This system is only going to get worse as corporations and governments thirst after the vast mineral wealth still in the ground. Perhaps, we should follow Arundhati Roy, the Indian author and activist, who has eloquently called for "keeping the bauxite in the ground."
The Idle No More movement has crystallized the imperative of taking action now, to defend Mother Earth and to preserve a future for our children, grandchildren and the "seven generations and beyond." We must stand behind and shoulder to shoulder with our indigenous sisters and brothers in the Idle No More movement in the abundant and diverse actions they undertake. We must remain steadfast, determined and clear, that this struggle is much more profound and deeper than about Stephen Harper and Bill C-45, but rather it is a struggle to end this genocidal project once and for all.
Through standing up and demonstrating courage and commitment like Chief Spence, our participation in this struggle can and will give birth to a new future based on relationships, respect and responsibility, towards Mother Earth, towards all of creation and towards each other. North Battleford, which side are we on?
Reid Stewart
North Battleford
