#IdleNoMore concerns Mennonites too

January 16, 2013 | Young Voices
Rachel Bergen | Young Voices Co-editor

The Idle No More movement is not just an “Indian thing.”

Thousands of people in Canada and around the world—including Mennonites—have rallied to stand in solidarity with this grassroots political movement opposing what supporters are calling imposed legislation without consultation, to the detriment of the Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.

Idle No More started last fall when four Saskatchewan women expressed their frustration about Bill C-45, a federal omnibus budget bill, and held a meeting to raise awareness. Their slogan became #IdleNoMore and it stuck. The movement has come to encompass rallies all across Canada, roadblocks, a high-profile hunger strike by Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario, countless social media interactions, and at least 45,000 Facebook group members.

The Mennonite church has a longstanding relationship with first nation commu-nities in Canada, including advocating for their rights. Many Mennonites have become more vocal as of late, whether by following and participating in the movement on social media, taking part in—or hostin­g—rallies, or praying.

Jared Redekop, 26, who attends Winnipeg’s Home Street Mennonite Church, is one of them. His Facebook wall is peppered with articles about Idle No More, memes and supportive slogans, where he engages in dialogue with his Facebook friends. He has every intention of participating in an upcoming rally in Winnipeg, although he couldn’t attend the last one.

Redekop’s social media activity is “geared towards awakening people’s consciousness,” he says, and it’s because of his faith and belief in the importance of social justice that he is involved in Idle No More. “Mennonites were given so much when we came over here to North America. We need to reconcile what we’ve gained from all of this at their expense. For the most part, Mennonites have good voices. If we use our voices positively for helping out the oppressed, then we need to do that.”

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student Deanna Zantingh, 25, agrees. She has been prayerfully following the news about the movement and planned to attend a rally near CMU on Jan. 11 in solidarity. “There is a deep brokenness in the relationship between the host nations of this land and those of us who have since settled in it and thrive here,” she says. “To me, Canada is the perfect example of what goes wrong when we don’t love our neighbours as ourselves.”

Mennonite Church Canada staff have been involved as well. Vic Thiessen, executive minister of church engagement/chief administrative officer, and Steve Heinrichs, director of indigenous relations, were among 800 participants at a rally on Dec. 21.

“Vic and I joined the march, along with a number of Mennonites whom we saw, because we wanted to express not only our concern for the [omnibus budget] bill—which will negatively impact all of us—but solidarity with our host peoples,” says Heinrichs, who hopes more voices will join in the call for the government to have more openness with Canada’s first nations.

“As Christian settlers who have been welcomed to share the land, Vic and I want to see a radical change in settler-indigenous relationships,” Heinrichs says. “Something that is more respectful, more mutual, more faithful, something that lives into the ‘cousin’ relationship first envisioned by the [aboriginal] elders who signed the treaties.
. . . In order for this to happen, many will need to join indigenous friends and voice together our concerns.”

Janna and Terrell Wiebe, co-youth pastors at Springfield Heights Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, have been following Idle No More in the news with special concern for the Attawapiskat chief, who has been on a hunger strike since Dec. 10. “I think it’s about time that we have dialogue and peaceful resolution,” Janna says. “It goes to show what one person’s passion for her own people can make the world take notice [of]. I couldn’t do what she’s doing. It’s making people notice.”

And it’s making people notice in a nonviolent way. This is what is so awe-inspiring for Zantingh.

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