Carleton students, faculty members, and community activists walked out of class as part of a national student walkout in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en First Nations, braving the cold and wind during the hour-long walkout.
The rally on March 5 was one of 17 walkouts organized at universities across Canada, amidst weeks of turmoil between RCMP officers and First Nations groups opposing the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project.
Dominique Van Es, a member of the White Fish River First Nation and administrative coordinator for the Mawandoseg Centre, said the rally was a way to raise awareness on campus about Indigenous issues.
“It’s very easy to have Indigenous issues very much, ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’” Van Es said.
“It’s important for us to show support and solidarity to Wet’suwet’en First Nations, especially because we are on unceded and unsurrendered territory as well, and I think it would be very inappropriate if we didn’t,” she said.
The rally comes after hereditary chiefs reached a tentative deal with federal and provincial cabinet ministers on March 1, following weeks of rail blockades that garnered both backlash and support.
“It’s not that [people complaining about rail blockades] are inconvenienced, it’s that they have a deep-seated hatred for Indigenous people,” said Geraldine King, a faculty member in the school of Canadian and Indigenous studies.
“Nobody is talking about hundreds of years of not just inconvenience but incredible violence that’s ongoing,” King said, adding awareness should extend beyond the classroom to address the violence Indigenous people face in response to protests like the Tyendinaga rail blockades.
“There’s been a lot of miseducation from the Canadian government as well as media about what’s actually happening with Wet’suwet’en,” said treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Students Trina James, who participated in the walkout.
“The biggest thing that’s important to me is showing solidarity to not just Indigenous students at Carleton, but to Indigenous students across the country,” James added.
Markus Williams, a member of the Mi’kmaq First Nation, said the acknowledgement of Indigenous presence is key to supporting Indigenous groups.
“There were people here before the first settlers, of course. There were Indigenous people here,” Williams said.
“I feel like colonization kind of poured concrete over that and kind of erased us,” he added.
“We’re still here, we’re still fighting, and nothing has changed.”
Non-Indigenous people also play an important role in showing solidarity with Indigenous people, said Kathleen Weary, next year’s Carleton University Students’ Association president.
“The legacy of the way Indigenous people have been treated in Canada has been really shameful,” she said. “This is a way for someone like me, who is not Indigenous, to try to show support.”
Sagaki Armitage-Smith, a Carleton student with roots in both Kitigan Zibi and Ganawake communities, said Indigenous land rights must be acted upon, not just recognized.
“Indigenous peoples are so gracious to let an institution like Carleton be on unceded territory,” she said.
“We’re willing to cooperate with governments and officials and help Canada out, but you can’t take advantage of us.”
Featured image by Tim Austen.
