The June 29th national day of action is an important sign of the level of frustration and discontent among Indigenous people in Canada and is a significant step in bringing these issues to working people in Canada. On this day, coordinated actions will be taking place all over Canada, bringing awareness to the conditions that Indigenous people live under today.

In this era of war and occupation that we are living in, as the government of Canada has stepped up its brutal role in the occupation of Afghanistan, here at home it has stepped up its attacks on Indigenous people. One look at Caledonia, where brutal force was used by the state against Six Nations people who, to this day, continue to make a stand against colonial theft of their land, we can see that Canadian ruling class is aggressively pursuing its colonial status at home. Not only through the flashpoints at Six Nations reclamation site, the CN rail blockade near Deseronto, the long-running Grassy Narrows blockade in Northwest Ontario, and the growing resistance to the 2010 olympics to be taken place on unceded Inidgenous territory, but also by bringing the war home through the racist profiling of Indigenous people . The Canadian Armed Forces manual lists Indigenous resistance among the so-called ‘terrorist’ groups. Although this reference was removed, this is a clear indication that Canada is demonizing Native people who stand up for what is rightfully theirs, as a dangerous group of people who need to be dealt with by brutal military force.

The anti-war movement needs to first and foremost acknowledge the war and occupation that has been taking place on what is now Canadian soil for hundreds of years. Not only as a painful and bloody history, but as policy of war by the government of Canada against Indigenous people that continues to exist today. Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) supports this day of action and supports the crucial unity of Native and non-Native people to fight against colonial attacks and for their self-determination that they been denied for so long.



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