Idle discussion

Idle discussion. Wasauksing Coun. John Beaucage addresses the crowd at KAIROS meeting, Monday. Roland Cilliers/North Star

PARRY SOUND - There aren’t many topics of discussion more controversial than religion, politics and First Nation treaty rights.
Every one of those traditional flashpoints for argument was discussed Monday afternoon at the KAIROS group meeting which was held at St. James Centennial United Church.
The meeting attracted roughly 40 people, the highest attendance ever for the local group, to a discussion on the Idle No More movement with John Beaucage, former chief and current councillor at Wasauksing First Nation.
Beaucage provided a short history on First Nation relations with European peoples, starting with first contact and continuing to the present day. He said he was happy with the response he received and the many questions that followed his talk.
“I think it showed a real need to understand and to just get a picture of what First Nation people have been going through for the last 150 years and to be conduits of that kind of knowledge outside,” said Beaucage. “I hope these 30-some-odd people start letting that understanding spread around, because part of the problem is that there’s a lot of ignorance, and not necessarily mean-spirited ignorance, but people just don’t know. I think the more people understand the better off we all are.”
Beaucage spoke for close to an hour-and-a-half on a wide range of topics including native spirituality, the damage caused by residential schools, the very first treaty signed with the First Nations and how all of that relates to the Idle No More movement.

Indian Act

He took particular aim at the Indian Act calling it a piece of legislation that forced assimilation of native people.
“It reduced us to being the same as children. It was thought we couldn’t make the decisions for ourselves in the same way Europeans could, so the Indian Act was set up so there was a whole department there to make decisions for us,” said Beaucage.
The Idle No More movement’s stated goal is to honour and fulfill Indigenous sovereignty and protect the land and water. At the forefront of the movement is the chief of Attawapiskat Theresa Spence who is currently in her 28th day of a hunger strike with the goal of meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Beaucage said the Idle No More action is focused on native issues, but there is a lot about it that affects all Canadians.
“It’s focused on Chief Spence in Ottawa and on treaty implementation, but it also has a focus on poverty. While First Nation people, on a demographic basis, are some of the poorest in Canada there’s other poor people out there, many poor people, so it crosses many racial lines,” Beaucage said. “There is a widening of the gap between the haves and have nots and I think sometimes we have to sit back and look at ourselves and our communities and see if there needs to be a tweak.”
He encouraged those at the meeting to not be intimidated by the seeming difficulty of effecting change.
“If you take a flower from a field full of flowers it may seem inconsequential, but you have changed that field forever. If you plant a flower you have also irrevocably changed that field forever. So even the smallest acts of kindness and generosity can stretch out and what we need is a true and just society,” said Beaucage.
KAIROS Canada, an organization that aims to unite religious organizations with the goal of being a force for positive social change, has come out in support of the Idle No More movement. They have called on their members to take part in a solidarity fast with Spence.
Les Kovacs, local KAIROS Parry Sound organizer, said the local group wanted Beaucage to come and speak because they wanted to learn more about the issue from an informed source.
“I hope people take away the information they heard from John, and then I hope they go and do some research on their own to educate themselves. I hope they keep contact with the people, and, if they are so inclined and think it’s appropriate, to join one of the actions,” said Kovacs.
Exact details were not yet available, but a local organizer said a march through Parry Sound is planned for Friday. A second protest is planned for Saturday during Tony Clement’s New Year’s Levee at Wellington’s Pub & Grill.
Kovacs told those assembled that if they wished to attend the protest it would be completely alright if they held a KAIROS Canada sign.

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