C-45: The Relationship Between Canada And Indigenous People

Past Relationship
The relationship between the government of Canada and Indigenous people has been a struggle to say the least. In 2012 bill C-45 was proposed, bill C-45 challenged Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous philosophy involving mother earth. Indigenous people believe that knowledge is rooted in the land because it contains languages, stories and histories of the people (King, 218). The land also provides all the basic needs for survival, food water and shelter but most importantly the land is home (King, 218). If these bills were passed the government would have been able to go on reservation land without any say from the reservation and extract their resources. One of the biggest problems were that several pipelines were going …show more content…
Chief Teresa Spence took part in a hunger strike stating that she would not eat until she was able to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She took part in her hunger strike for 6 weeks, through this time she was in taking less than 500 calories and was visited by several people who insisted that she stopped because her health was severely suffering. This solidified her point of why she was doing it because she is not the only Indigenous person dying because of a lack of basic needs. There was also numerous other acts of civil disobedience done by Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people across Canada. There were flash mobs, teach-ins, sit-ins, interruption of legislation and closure of highways (Mcmillin, young & peters, pg. 430). When these events took place there was a peaceful energy filled with prayers, singing, drums and chants. Through this movement they were able to raise enough awareness that Canada was aware but also other countries as