Protesters tackle Tory convention

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Some 400 marchers representing off-reserve Natives converged on the Progressive Conservative convention June 12 to hear leaders, Elders and young people rip into the Conservative government.

However, few, if any, of the Tory delegates took much notice of the demonstration. Some made unflattering gestures at the protesters; another imitated an Indian war cry. Most of the delegates were too busy trying to get food and beer at the Kim Campbell hospitality tent to listen as speakers called them fat cats and plantation owners.

Addressing the marchers from a flatbed truck filled with Elders and veterans, Native Council of Canada leader Ron George described the delegates as a collection of the elite planning how to get richer and, in the case of Native people, how to keep the Indian Act alive. He said the demonstration was just a start and that it was time for Native people to stand up and be counted.

It is time for them to understand that most Native people live off-reserve, pay taxes and vote, he told the marchers.

In an interview after his speech, George said he did not know what effect the demonstration would have on the Conservative politicians as he thought they had no conscience.

"It's a country of the rich, a government of the rich," he said. Pointing to the Campbell tent he added, "They're sitting in bed with the damn corporations that are raping this country."

Edna, a marcher from the Okanagan in B.C., said that she was in Ottawa representing all her relations who could not make it.

"This is just a small part that I could do to be heard," she said.

The march would have an effect on the Conservatives, she thought, and there should be more actions like it.

"We're not going to be silent anymore, we are going to be in the forefront."

Speaker after speaker told the demonstrators that it was time the rest of Canada heard their voices and their stories.

Jean Yves Assiniwi, an NCC constitutional advisor, said the government and the people of Canada understood that most Native people live off-reserve,"and for the most

of us we can't go back."

"You see this," said one Elder holding out his status card, "this is my slave number. Bill C-31, that's another slave number." He went on to call the government plantation owners and the workers at Indian and Northern Affairs overseers.

Drumming and chanting, the demonstrators marched through the streets of Ottawa following a route blessed with tobacco. All along the route people came out of their homes and stores to watch. Some cheered and raised fists in supports, but most just watched.

The mood among the marchers was closer to a celebration. People walked along singing, holding babies and eating ice cream.

At the convention site the only ones paying much attention to them was the national news media and close to 50 officers from the Ottawa police force, including the full riot squad hidden away in the administration building of the Ottawa Civic Centre.

Later in the afternoon the NCC demonstrators were joined by marchers from the Ottawa and District Labor Council and environmental groups. Ron George called on the Native marchers to support these groups as they were fighting for all Canadians. The demonstration ended with both groups linking hands to form a circle in front of the convention site.