Idle No More fight continues after tough 12 months

The other day, during one of our famous Winnipeg winter storms, I watched dozens of parents pull their kids to school on plastic sleds and overpriced toboggans and I thought to myself, those kids have legswhat the hell are they doing being pulled to school by their parents.

These kids werent babies. They werent even toddlers. They were grade school kids. Grade school kids withlegs.

The hardest thing we face in our communitiesdaily is notdragging ourkids to school in sleds and toboggans.- Ryan McMahon

I heard the parents joke about the fact that dragging their kids to school was the toughest thing theyd do all day. I dont have an anger problem, in general, butI walked home that dayfuming.

Im not sure what triggered the anger. My thoughts on parenting asideit really bothered me that I felt so angry.

It bothered me that I had such a reaction to such a small thing. I smudged on it. Slept on it. Prayed on it.

A day or so later it came to me.

I am tired.

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So many indigenous peoplein Canada are tired. The hardest thing we face in our communities daily is notdragging ourkids to school in sleds and toboggans.

Elsipogtog. Lubicon Cree Nation. Attawapiskat. Northern Manitoba. The fight for our women. The fight for our children. Poverty. Addictions. These are just some of the hardest things we face in our daily lives.

The list grows daily. The answers elude us. The frustration grows. The support wanes. The players change. The teams stay the same. And we fight. And fight.

Its been a long year. An intense year of focus. Growth. A year of being Idle No More.A year of rebuilding. Its been beautiful. And ugly.Every day is a struggle. We live in crisis. We work in crisis.

AttawapiskatChief Theresa Spence gave us the strength to demand a better deal. To sit at the table with allpartners in this relationship. Her demand was simpleindigenous communities, government andthe Crown together at a table. It easily could have happenedbut it didnt.

The takeaway from a year in the movementwe need to do things differently. We can do things differently.

The conversation has changed this year. Our youth are more engaged on the ground. Our women are taking their rightful places at the front of much of the grassroots planning.

As hard as the fight is,its given us much to focus on.

The land is my god

Let me put it this waythe land is my god. All the land gives me, from my traditional territory, is what I use to keep me well.

The land, water, plants andanimals are all present at my ceremonies. We dont separate ourselves from the land.

Why do we fight for the land? For practical reasonsyes. Dirty water kills us. Poisoned fish killus. Clear cutting destroys ecosystems.

But its also bigger than that. My religious beliefs depend on the land, use the land and without that,I cannot beAnishinaabe.

Treaty relationship and Indian Act

Treaty is not honoured today in this country and it cannot be honoured inside the Indian Act system. We must not settle for anything less than treaty enforcement.

We will continue to lead ourselves out from under the Indian Act. The colonial relationship has to change. Its fundamental. We need Canadians to demand it. We need indigenous peopleto demand it.

This outdated, racist and oppressive legislation was meant to kill Indian people in this country. Law andlegislation was never written for idigenouspeopleto flourish. It was meant to kill us.

We dont want the Indian Act tinkered withwe want it gone.

Decolonize everything

We need to remind ourselves that we dont need permission from any government or politician to beAnishinaabe, Nehiyaw, Mohawk, Mikmaq, Metis, Inuit. We can live this way everyday.

Not all of us understand what this means. It means language, culture, ceremony and teachings. It means returning to ourselves. It means calling for an end to the violence in our communitiesviolence experienced in multiple ways by our women, children, men, and elders in our communities.

We must restore the love and support in our relationships.

'I vow to continue to fight'

The largest indigenous movement in this country is in front of us. Yes, its still a movement. Were still working. Were still pushing. Were still asking people to join the fight.

We have a lot to do. Most people have more questions than answers. Some of the answers are there. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal People and theUnited Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoplesare decent places to start to look for answers.

I vow to continue to fight.I will take my place in the circle and fight.

Im going to continue the fight with a sled in my hand though. Im going out to buy one today. I want my daughters to feel the privilege and entitlement those other kids have if not for just a few minutes a day. They deserve it. And hopefully when theyre my age the fight wont be as hard.