What is Idle No More? "I'm doing this for the children, not just First Nations children but Canadian children."

The hunger strike of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, surrounded by supporters in a tipi on Victoria Island in the Ottawa river not far from Parliament Hill, has sparked an outpouring of solidarity and hundreds of support actions across the country (see our report here). The name this solidarity movement has taken on is Idle No More.

Chief Spence is carrying on, subsisting only on water, medicine tea and some fish broth every day, bearing icy cold weather and record snow storms pounding Ottawa. Spence has stated that she will stay on Victoria Island and die for her people, preferring to "meet her ancestors" if a meeting with Prime Minister Harper and all the leaders is denied her. The bottom line for her is the question of respecting the treaty relationship that First Nations people have with the Crown.

So far, the Prime Minister's Office has refused a meeting and referred the issue to Minister of Aboriginal Affairs John Duncan. Cheif Spence has declined a meeting with Duncan. She is now in the third-week of her hunger strike.