The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement

The Kino-nda-niimi Collective eds., The Winter Danced: Voices From the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement. Winnipeg, Manitoba: ARP Books, 2014. 440 pages. ISBN 9781894037518. $19.95 paperback.A nation waits with baited breath, while another nation breathesAnd, if you were here, I wouldn't have to say it you'd just seeFrom Come my Way by Tara Williamson (31)Williamson's protest song, shared early in The Winter Danced, stirs powerful ideas and emotions on critical themes, making it difficult to contain my initial expectations for the over one hundred stories, articles, poems, songs, photographs, editorials, paintings, and other contributions brought together by the grassroots Kino-nda-niimi Collective on the Idle No More (INM) movement that began in late 2012. The first line cited speaks to the disconnect that exists between colonial nations that take for granted their ability to breathe naturally and without reflection from their place of privilege, while Indigenous nasince tions wait in anticipation so that they can once again breathe fully and freely. Personifying the nation draws our attention to issues not only of inequality and injustice, but of survival. The second line proves equally compelling if not overwhelming. The moral issues and practical challenges that Indigenous peoples steadfastly raise are so plain for all to see that we need only open our eyes. As the patience of Indigenous nations is stretched beyond limits, the problem is not that lack persuasive arguments; even though debates on sovereignty, rights, and treaties have their place, generally reinforcing what Indigenous peoples have been saying all along, they should be unnecessary. Instead, establishing emotional connections between peoples and tapping into our moral intuition should generate the level of understanding needed for positive transformation to occur. Only if we all committed to being present and bearing witness, open eyes, hearts, and minds might eclipse settler apathy and self-interest. Speaking to this powerful potential, using the example of round dances in malls filled with Holiday shoppers, Tanya Kappo says, They had no choice but to stop and wonder, and to see us, really see us. And it was amazing (71).The first recurring theme I wish to discuss relates to INM's environmental dimension. INM was sparked by four lawyers and academics - all women (repeatedly reinforced to highlight their leadership role) - using social media and information sessions, who successfully informed the masses about the full social, political, and environmental implications of the Conservative government's Bill C-45 for Indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. The Bill sought drastic cuts to environmental protection primarily for bodies of water and modified the Indian Act so that reserve land could be bought and sold - all in an effort to make it easier to extract resources from Indigenous territories. Many contributors see Indigenous nationalism as our last hope for environmental salvation. Clayton Thomas-Muller writes, We are the keystones in a hemispheric social movement strategy that could end the era of big oil and eventually usher in another paradigm from this current destructive time of free market economics (369). Pam Palmater similarly links the two when she says Nations, with our constitutionally protected aboriginal and treaty rights, are Canadians' last best hope to protect the lands, waters, plants, and animals from complete destruction - which doesn't just benefit our children, but the children of all Canadians (40). Jeff Denis, a settler ally, echoes this: When corporate profit is privileged over the health of our lands and waters, we all suffer. ... In standing against it, the First Nations are standing for us too (219).The theme of Indigenous stewardship over the land is intimately tied to longstanding concerns regarding self-determination. Canadian governments continue to pursue assimilatory policies; the 1969 White Paper's spectre haunts us still despite the best efforts of governments to mislead otherwise. …

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.