CPTnet
12 May 2017
CANADA AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES SOLIDARITY: Walking
for Indigenous Rights.
by CPT Canada
The black and white Pilgrimage for
Indigenous Rights flag waves beneath the sky-scrapers in down-town Toronto. A
group of approximately 30 people have been walking for nearly a week. Battling
rain, cold, sun and traffic, and ranging from 11 months to 86 years, the
walkers bring on looks and questions from folks passing by. Toronto is not
foreign to demonstrations or actions, yet there is something different about
this group. Its steady focus and determination draw the attention of a local
freelance journalist who spontaneously joins the walk for an hour. “What are
you folks walking for he asks?”
The Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights,
organized by CPT Indigenous Peoples Solidarity and Mennonite Church Canada, is
a 600km walk from Kitchener to Ottawa in support of the full adoption and
implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP). While the Canadian
government signed onto UNDRIP in 2016 there has been few changes in regards to
federal policy or material conditions on the ground.
“There can be no reconciliation without
justice,” Leah Gazan, Indigenous activist and professor from the University of
Winnipeg, tells the attendees at the evening’s teach-in. In 2015, following the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a list of recommendations were put forward
to the Canadian public. These recommendations were considered to be the basic minimum actions that are required
for reconciliation. On that list is the adoption and implementation of UNDRIP
and yet while the country talks about the importance of reconciliation, without
UNDRIPs implementation, reconciliation becomes hollow words without action.
Taking up the call of the TRC, the
walkers on the Pilgrimage hope to build relationships, advocate and educate
people on the importance of full adoption and implementation as a legislative
framework. Joining them on their journey has been MP Romeo Saganash whose
private member’s bill C-262 also calls for the implementation of UNDRIP.
Speaking at the opening celebration Saganash commended the walkers, “I am
appreciative of those going on this walk…Yet we are still not at a point I can
talk about reconciliation…Bill C-262 is for all of us, Indigenous and
non-Indigenous. This is about us. This is about all of us. We are in this together.”
