Our panellists include: Lia Grainger, a This Magazine reporter who visited nine camps across Canada and the U.S.; Krystalline Kraus, an indigenous activist with Idle no More and Occupy Toronto; Humberto DaSilva, a labour activist and organizer with Occupy Toronto; Nora Loreto, a Québec City-based activist who wrote about Occupy Sandy efforts and visited Occupy camps across Canada; and Emmay Mah, an organizer of the People’s Climate March in Toronto who has worked in the non-profit sector on issues such as HIV, child rights and Aboriginal health..

They will discuss Occupy’s effects today: the gains it has made challenging the one percent, ongoing displays of protest and activism, plus its role in inspiring other, modern movements. Panellists will also discuss threats to Occupy’s success and how we can sustain momentum.

The event starts at 5 p.m. and light refreshments will be provided after the talk. Donations are welcome. Location: CSI Spadina, Alterna Room.

-Slavoj Zizek

As we all move slowly into the second week of October, grabbing thicker jackets on our way out the door, wearing chunkier socks, drinking hotter beverages, we can see that in nature things are starting to change—leaves are rustier, grass is sparser and the last, desperate bees try for warmth indoors. Fall has this kind of grey realism about it—people mean business now. And as fall begins, the fall of corrupt institutions, kleptocratic governments and social inequities are given a chance to follow suit. After all, they have—as the leaves—worn out their welcome.

October has always been a month of protests: In 1917, the Bolsheviks led a revolt on Petrograd, beginning the first Socialist state; in 1969 the “Days of Rage” protestors took to the Chicago streets to voice their opposition to the Vietnam War; in 1990, Germany officially reunified after its Berlin wall came down; and, less commendably, in 1970, the FLQ kidnapped James Cross and Pierre Laporte in Montreal, executing Laporte.

However they manifested themselves, whether they were ultimately good or bad, the undercurrent in each of these protests was the same—something is wrong, and so something needs to change. Let’s kick off October by looking at this week’s protests (by no means is this a comprehensive list; it’s merely a smattering; feel free to add, in the comments section below, anything that I’ve missed!).

Idle No More

On Monday, Idle No More called a Global Day of Action to remember the October 7^th signing of The British Royal Proclamation in 1763, which legally mandated Canada to recognize Indigenous land rights. Groups across Canada convened to make their voices heard, and many people added videos to the Idle No More website showing support.

Shawn Atleo discusses the day’s significance:

250 years later, Indigenous peoples continue to struggle for sovereignty, especially against large-scale projects such as…

The Pipelines

Idle No More’s October 7 protests, in addition to remembering the Royal Proclamation, took aim at Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline, as well as the 14 other new or expanding oil and gas pipeline projects in Canada.

Torontonians meanwhile took to a concert near Finch station on October 6 to call attention to Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline, because, as you can see here, the pipe runs right through Toronto, (something Enbridge would rather we didn’t know).

Also, on October 9, protestors in Montreal disrupted the National Energy Board hearings on the Line 9 project, interrupting those speakers who supported the pipeline. Young protestors launched loudly into stories about a fictional “Mr. Enbridge”, making it difficult for the pipeline to be promoted.

Quebec had more than a pipeline to oppose though, as protestors continued to show their indignation over the misguided…

Charter of Values

On Sunday October 6, around 200 demonstrators in Quebec City gathered to again remind us all how ill-considered the Quebec Charter of Values—that proposed ban on noticeable religious symbols on public sector workers—really is. Adil Charkaoui, the Muslim leader who also organized September’s 5,000-strong protest in Montreal, led the demonstration.

Here’s a video from the protests (okay, this video is not October, it’s the September 29 protest. But hey, it’s the same astrological sign, so let’s watch it.)

Where and how people publicize their religion continues to be a source of contention, but I think we can all agree on when religion is used incorrectly. I speak of course about…

Westboro Baptist Church

Get Shot, a U.S. punk band, protested the WBC’s draconian anti-gay dogma this week in a rather unlikely way: They filmed a porno. Laura Lush, the group’s bassist, was filmed stripping and masturbating on the organization’s front lawn in Topeka, Kansas. She said, in a comment on Facebook, “As a bisexual woman and the bass player of a ridiculous punk band, I wanted to spread my legs and cause controversy.” The video, should you wish to see it, is somewhere on this site (NSFW).

And in other nude protest news…

Spain’s Anti-Abortion Plans (link: NSFW)

Activists for the feminist group FEMEN broke into a Parliamentary session in Madrid on Wednesday to voice opposition to the conservative government’s proposed abortion law reform, which would limit women’s access to abortions. FEMEN (NSFW link) is known for their topless protests, having staged them in such enclaves as the Vatican, the London Olympics, and a “Topless Jihad” in front of the Great Mosque of Paris.

As I said above, if you have any more to share, or if you have a burning opinion you just can’t hold onto much longer, feel free to drop in the comments section below!

Here is what we celebrate on Canada Day: On June 30 1867, midnight struck and church bells in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick rang; Manitoba was added three years later. And, here are just a few founding facts we tend to skip over: Canadian explorers found the land to have great potential for farming, so out went the original tenants, the Metis, and in came our nation. What is now Canada’s Maritimes was previously occupied by Mi’kmaq. Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis founded Halifax, and put a bounty on the scalps of Mi’kmaq’s people, children included. Until two years ago, a Halifax school was named after him.

Canadians with privilege don’t like to think about aboriginal issues. The refrain usually goes something like this: it isn’t our fault about what happened back then. However, it is our responsibility to acknowledge what happened instead of continuing to ignore the  challenges aboriginal communities still face because of the devastation they were forced to endure, all in the name of Canada’s quest to become a great nation. We need especially care because our federal government keeps locking this issue away—inside of residential schools and the prison system (apparently, it is no longer civilized to murder, rape, and scalp).

The people of Attawapiskat still need homes and the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation’s right to go on their own land is being revoked. Instead of acknowledging these human rights issues, the federal government discredits them in the public’s eye. And the mainstream media stops paying attention when the issue is no longer hot, when Idle No More isn’t hip any longer.

National Aboriginal History Month (started in 1999) goes unnoticed the same way as Celery Month. June 21 is National Aboriginal Day. Though it started in 1996, I’ve rarely heard of celebrations for it—at least ones that are as widespread and on the same scale as Canada Day. According to the Canadian Charity, Evergreen, “1.3 million people self-identify as having First Nations, Metis or Inuit heritage or, Aboriginal ancestry.” That is a big demographic to simply ignore, on Canada Day, or any other.

Read: White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special: Native people apologize back!

Unfortunately in Canada, blockade stories typically begin and end like this. With Indigenous peoples ‘costing’ everyone else a lot of money. And, with the deeper issues remaining unexamined. As the political and social reaction to Idle No More demonstrates, however, the messier truth is this: That blockades are becoming indigenous to Indigenous politics itself in Canada. And much of the blame for this actually lies with non-Indigenous Canadians, for allowing their governments to continue to blockade ideas for positive change that emerge from within communities.

Yes, as all the best economic moralists will tell you, many of the problems Indigenous peoples face today have been created in their communities. John Graham, a former Indian Affairs bureaucrat and a consultant who’s worked with Indigenous communities for more than 25 years, argues poor governance continually blocks social and economic progress. The root causes, he argues, are the colonial imposition of the Indian Act, but also Indigenous governments that have grown too large, too politicized, and have demanded too much control over aspects of their lives—from healthcare, to education, to potable water.

“In some senses Aboriginal people have lead a charge, which has from a policy point of view resulted in these very large governments,” Graham says. “That’s very much part of the problem. They’re too large, with very few checks and balances.” While these governments are too big in a per capita sense, they’re conversely too tiny in a skills and capacity sense. Thus, in many communities (they’re not all reserves, by the way, as most media seem to think), “you can point to functions that they’re far too small to take on,” Graham says.

But concentrating on the Indigenous side of the issue allows federal and provincial blockades to progress to remain dirty little secrets.

Federal blockades?

Consider the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which, as I’ve written, was the result of urgent demands for change from Indigenous peoples during the 1990s. The Commission was a consensus of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants that proposed scrapping the flawed systems we still have and implementing a 20-year investment in bold, new ideas. Unlike the status quo, the RCAP promised real economic and moral benefits for all Canadians.

But thanks to a blockade from Ottawa, the RCAP was never adopted and only rarely discussed afterwards—aside from when the Royal Bank of Canada argued it would save us all a lot of money. That it has hardly been mentioned in most Idle No More reportage, even as commentators criticize the movement for lacking a list of demands or a way forward, well, that’s only the latest insult.

It isn’t the big government blockades that do all the damage and cost us all a lot of money, though. We must also consider, as Graham does, the smaller innovations within individual communities that continually get turned down. “Underlying all of this,” Graham says, “you’ve got these very powerful central agencies like the Department of Justice and Finance that are essentially huge brakes on doing anything innovative. If you move outside their boxes you get nowhere.”

Though many Canadians believe Indigenous people need Ottawa to improve their lives, Graham points to the successful Tripartite Health Agreementin British Columbia—which transfers money and control over health care away from Ottawa and to several different First Nations governments, as a joint regional body—as an innovation from within, rather than from on high. While it’s set to make meaningful change in B.C., many other ideas like it, he says, continue to be stifled.

They’re blocked for being too far outside the box.

That box is something to consider when talking to Matthew Wildcat, a PhD candidate in political science and a Nehiyaw citizen who grew up in Maskwacis (Hobbema), Alberta. Innovations will come from Indigenous communities, Wildcat says, but to work, they’ll require support from all Canadians.

“It’s only going to be through some larger conceived political body that change is going to be made,” Wildcat says, noting that ongoing calls to reform the band council system are simply attempts to repair a bad and broken idea. What’s needed is something completely new, he argues.

Something transformative and innovative.

Yet we continue to focus on the band council as the place where reforms must be made. Some of the blame for this, Wildcat says, partially lies with band councils themselves, which have formed a “fortress mentality.” This defensive mindset, Wildcat argues, is the natural result of ongoing efforts by Ottawa to strip First Nations of rights, privileges, land, and powers.

Instead of continuing to chase our tail by talking of reforming band councils, Canada will need to have a wide-scale conversation amongst all parties, Wildcat says. And therein lies the main blockade. “What’s preventing these conversations is the unwillingness of Canada to treat Indigenous people as partners in this shared relationship,” he says.

Perhaps when you read words like First Nations and partners, the fear of cost pops into your mind. But consider what the status quo is costing you. Last year, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimated that, were the Canadian economy able to “fully engage” Indigenous peoples over the next 20 years, the GDP would swell by $401-billion, tax revenues would grow by $39-billion, and government expenditures would shrink by $77-billion.

While the chamber likely sees Indigenous issues as simply a barrier to industry’s access to needed wage labourers, the broader point stands: The cost of allowing the status quo is not just moral but economic. And the solution is to address where the problems really lie rather than cast more blame.

Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, author of Finding Dahshaa, and a longtime land-claims negotiator, says problems in Indigenous communities can only be solved from within. It’s a lesson that international aid’s failure in Africa has taught the world, she says, but one Canada purposefully refuses to learn.

“Canada doesn’t fundamentally recognize that Indigenous people have a right to a different culture,” Irlbacher-Fox says. “At the end of the day, they can’t let change happen because it’s all about the land. They need Indigenous people to be dysfunctional [in order to take land], and they work hard to keep it that way.”

What’s clear when it comes to Indigenous issues in Canada is that the blockades will continue. But what must become clearer is that they’re being built and maintained on both sides of the divide. If Canadians want to move forward, they might start to consider just how much this tit-for-tat blockade business is costing all of us.

Tim Querengesser is an award-winning writer and a candidate for an M.A. in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, based in Toronto. He reports on Indigenous issues, the North, politics, business, environment, and popular culture. Tim’s work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Up Here, Canadian History, Adbusters, Alberta Views and the National Post, among other publications.