I love a good demonstration. There is joy and a rarely felt sense of community power when thousands of people march together chanting and singing with others in common cause. It’s been a long time since I felt that in a demonstration, but I did last Wednesday. Five First Nations from Northern Ontario joined together in a Land Alliance to demand no mining on their land without their consent and thousands of others marched with them in solidarity.
One hundred and fifty people who have travelled thousands of miles from their communities to Toronto led the march from Grange Park down University Avenue to Queen’s Park to demand a say in what happens on their lands. From elders in walkers to babies in arms, from old veteran protesters like me to school children whose teachers brought them with their hand made placards, we marched in a procession as diverse as the city itself.
I brought 60 students from my class in social movements at Toronto Metropolitan University, most of whom had never been on a march before. They loved it and many are determined to do it again. It wasn’t the speeches; it was the feeling of being there with so many others. The making common cause with the brave and tenacious people of Grassy Narrows who have been fighting the impact of the mercury poisoning in their rivers and fish for 40 years felt important and good. It was the experience of stepping out of the classroom into an actual movement for change. Social media, books, even films cannot compare.
The march stopped at University and Dundas for about 20 minutes blocking traffic, including street cars, in all directions. This was reminiscent of Idle No More, a powerful Indigenous movement a decade ago that organized dance circles in the Eaton Centre and on Dundas Square. There were too many people for a dance circle this time, but we chanted and sang, stopping traffic long enough for the people in cars to think about our message and for us to see each other. Some of my students were nervous about stopping traffic and they discussed whether it was justified especially given the location near hospitals. I assured them that there had been arrangements for ambulances to get into hospitals around the protest. Still some were uncomfortable but they stayed and marched and chanted.
The five First Nations making up the Land Alliance are Grassy Narrows, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), Muskrat Dam, Neskantaga and Wapekeka. All except Muskrat Dam were at Queen’s Park on Tuesday asking to meet with the Premier. He refused to meet with them but sent his Minister. They refused to meet with anyone but Ford. They set up a meeting table on the grounds of Queen’s Park making news that helped build support for the march on Wednesday.
Chief Rudy Turtle of Grassy Narrows told media, “There are about 5,000 mining claims in our traditional territory alone, and we weren’t told properly. Actually, Ontario gave permission without any free, prior and informed consent from us.” There are so many claims because of the rush to mine lithium present especially in Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario. With this kind of exploitation, the lands and therefore the lives of these First Nations could very well be destroyed.
The Land Alliance protest capped off a very good week in the province of Ontario. On September 21, Doug Ford finally backed down on developing the Greenbelt after two government watchdog reports showed crass corruption in awarding contracts to developers.
After two resignations Ford finally pulled back the decision to develop that part of the Greenbelt supposedly for housing after several polls showed a big drop in his support, even among Tory voters.
In an extraordinary statement Ford not only backed down but apologized. “I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise. And for that I’m very, very sorry,” Ford said. “It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt. It was a mistake to establish a process that moved too fast. This process, it left too much room for some people to benefit over others. It caused people to question our motives. As a first step to earn back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes we made and won’t make any changes to the Greenbelt in the future.”
On Monday September 25, there was a large protest at Queen’s Park with significant union participation to stop Ford’s privatization of health care. Buses came from all around Ontario. Here and in the Global March to End Fossil Fuels on Saturday September 16, the crowds were big but not as diverse as they should be. Most remarkable was how intersectional the protests were talking about climate, health, workers’ rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and so on. During the same period the right-wing attack on the 2SLGBTQIA+ students through protests at schools around the province were in the bigger cities massively outnumbered by the anti-protest marches.
There is a feeling that the fight back against the right-wing turn, begun most dramatically with the education workers strike last Spring, is getting stronger in Ontario and will hopefully continue.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
