Pressure mounting for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to meet Attawapiskat chief on hunger strike

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper is facing a growing chorus of calls for him to meet an aboriginal chief on a hunger strike.

On Thursday, New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said the hunger strike by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has entered a deadly serious phase.

Angus, who stood by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence as she began her fast Dec. 11, says he’s now reaching out to area chiefs to see what steps can be taken to solve what’s at risk of becoming a national crisis.

“This is much bigger than Theresa Spence, it’s much bigger than any individual community,” Angus said.

“This is across the country now, it really needs the prime minister to take action.”

Spence launched her protest with a vow to “die” unless the Conservative government started showing more respect to First Nations concerns and aboriginal treaties. She is demanding a meeting between the Crown, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders to create a new relationship.

Her remote northern Ontario reserve was catapulted into the spotlight late last year after Angus wrote about the dire housing and economic conditions.

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Though she has declared a hunger strike, for the last 2 ½ weeks Spence has subsisted on some soup and tea.

She has welcomed a steady stream of family, friends and other opposition politicians into her teepee on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River, just across from Parliament Hill.

The island is considered by the Anishinabe as traditional territory.

James Bartleman, Ontario’s former lieutenant-governor and a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, wrote a letter urging Harper to meet Spence that appeared in the Globe and Mail on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Liberal leadership contender Justin Trudeau visited Spence. His visit was followed by the issuing of a letter by fellow leadership contender Marc Garneau who said Harper shouldn’t be worried about setting a precedent by agreeing to a meeting.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan has expressed disappointment that Spence will meet with other politicians but not him.

“Given your willingness to accept meetings now I am hoping that you will reconsider my offer, as a Minister of the Crown, to meet or speak with you,” Duncan wrote Spence late Wednesday.

Duncan is offering to set up a joint working group with senior federal and First Nations representatives.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: CP