National Farmers Union backs Idle No More’s call for national day of action on July 1:
As Canada readies to celebrate 150 years since Confederation, the National Farmers Union is putting its support behind Idle No More’s “UNsettling Canada 150” call to action.
The Idle No More movement is calling for a national day of action in support of Indigenous self-determination over land, territories and resources on July 1 — the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
In a statement released this week, the NFU — a voluntary advocacy and support organization made up of Canadian farm families — called on the federal Liberal government to fully implement the calls to action laid out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
It also expressed its support for Idle No More’s demands for governments to resolve land-claim disputes and violations of treaty rights, and to “rein in extractive industries whose projects threaten the well-being of Indigenous peoples in their territories.”
“We know as farmers that we need to be having difficult conversations about how we have come to the land on which we are farming,” said Maureen Bostock, a member of the NFU’s international program committee.
“We need to figure out how to move forward together, given that non-Indigenous farmers have benefited from access to lands acquired through deceitful, coercive or violent means.”