'In its rightful place': Teepee moved from far corner of Hill nearer to Peace Tower

A teepee set up on Parliament Hill by a grassroots Indigenous group has been moved from a far corner of the lawn to the west side of the Canada Day stage in Ottawa, closer to the Peace Tower.

The teepee was originally set up on the far southeastern corner of the Hill early Thursday morning after a standoff with RCMP, who at first would not let the grouponto it.

Nine people were arrested and temporarily detained. They were released with trespass notices banning them from the Hill for six months.

• 'A state of crisis': Indigenous group calls for change as Canada Day nears
• Teepee erected in ceremony on Parliament Hill after opposition from police

SophieGunner-Sagapabuckskumof Moose Cree First Nation, whowas there early Thursday morning when the teepee was set up and called police resistance to it"not pretty,"said she's glad.

Indigenous rights activists clash with police on the Hill

7 years ago

Duration 1:03

Several arrests made as activists attempt to raise teepee

"It all came together like a miracle. It was not a coincidence,"Gunner-Sagapabuckskum said. "It's like a miracle happened for us. It's a road for us to go forward now, to go forward in all the things that happened to our people. That's what it represents. That dooris open now and we came through.

"We're being acknowledged. Last night [Wednesday night], I said we need to be seen, we need to be heard, we need to be acknowledged, we need to take our rightful place on Turtle Island. And this is what we're doing."

Contrary to some mediareports suggestingthe teepee has to be removed from the Hill by 4 p.m. ET Saturday, a spokesperson forthe Parliamentary Protective Service insistedThursday there wasno ultimatum or timeline to take it down.

'Declaring a state of crisis'

At a news conference at the National Press Gallery Thursday, Jocelyn Wabano-Iahtaildeclared a state of emergency, sayingIndigenous people have beenkilled for centuries, and that their teachings and way of life aren't being taken seriously in attempts at reconciliation such as the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

"Recognize me as a human being, because that is the fundamental problem, a crisis situation that we're facing here on Turtle Island, that the settlers don't view us as human beings. We're still fighting. What you take for granted, we're still fighting for that right," Wabano-Iahtailtold reporters.

"We're declaring a state of crisis in what's happening here in what you know as Canada, that there is a hunt taking place on our Indigenous human beings."

She called the inquiry "colonially co-opted"anddiscriminatory.

• Frustrated families vow to 'blockade' missing and murderedinquiry

"You don't get to tell us how that inquiry is going to look like. It's not your children you're burying. That's white privilege that you've been honoured with. It's not you that are dying. We've been dying for 524 years, that's why we're here," Wabano-Iahtail said.

Gunner-Sagapabuckskumsaid they were treated violently by RCMP.

"What we encountered ...was not very pretty. We were bringing in the teepee poles and the police just came forth and tried to stop us. And I told those men, hold those teepee poles up, don't let them go, we can't let this go, we can't, we just can't," she said.

"That teepee is our mother. The skirt of that mother is that teepee that you see outside there. And we brought that teepee there to help the water protectors while they do their fasting.What is wrong with that? We are not a violent people. We don't believe in violence, and right away we encountered violence. That's the same way our elders and our ancestors were treated by RCMP."

Trudeau responds to the teepee activists have set up on Parliament Hill

7 years ago

Duration 2:39

The Prime Minister was speaking to reporters in Charlottetown

Speaking from Charlottetown, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that it's important for peoplecelebrating Canada 150 to "reflect upon the experiences and the importance of folding in and hearing the stories and experience of Indigenous Canadians.

• 'A broken relationship': PM speaks about Indigenous issues

"We recognize that over the past decades, generations, and indeed centuries, Canada has failed Indigenous peoples. We have not built the kind of present, the kind of future for first peoples, for First Nations, for Inuit, for Mtis people across this country. We need to be doing a much better job of hearing their stories and building a partnership for the future."