Miles Morrisseau
ICT
KETTLE and STONY POINT FIRST NATION, Ontario — Indigenous Solidarity Day across Canada is an unofficial national holiday that is treated as official by many throughout the country. Most First Nations administrations and schools will be closed as well as many Inuit and Métis communities’ schools and services.
The holiday is now part of the month-long Indigenous History Month and things are often kicked off in a big way, with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Networks annual Indigenous Day Live, which in 2024 will air most of the day on June 21.
June 21 is Indigenous Solidarity Day, also known as Aboriginal Solidarity Day or, most recently, Indigenous Peoples Day, which came into national consciousness in the historic summer of 1990.
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On June 21, 1990, the late Elijah Harper, Oji-Cree and member of the Manitoba Legislature, stood alone and voted against the Meech Lake Accord. Indigenous peoples across the country were enthralled as the governing body voted eight times over nine days in an attempt to approve the accord, which required unanimous consent from each of Canada’s 10 provinces.
The accord was a hard-negotiated amendment to the Canadian constitution that would bring the francophone province of Quebec under the country’s constitution. However, First Nations were still waiting for a similar amendment to officially acknowledge their place in Canada.
Most of the provinces had relented, unanimous from every party. In Manitoba however the agreement stopped. Beginning on June 12 after everyone in the chamber from all three parties said “Yes,” Harper, the quiet representative from Rupertsland, with eagle feather in hand, would say “No.”
Harper’s single vote stopped the accord in its tracks.
Everyone was watching, listening, reading and following the news of this single person standing against the wishes of all the Canadian powers. I covered this moment in history as the National Native Affairs Broadcaster for CBC radio and stood excited as everyone else. I waited on the steps of this old building that was actually the largest Masonic Temple in western Canada. Thousands of Indigenous People gathered on the grounds at the legislature and thousands more watched on the recently launched 24-hour news service CBC Newsworld.
It was a celebration, a carnival atmosphere as people had arrived by the busload and were waving flags and placards on an absolutely gorgeous summer day without a cloud in the sky. When the news came out that Harper’s “No” was cast, it was like an explosion of cheers and hugs spread across the hundreds on the steps to the thousands on the lawn and across the country.
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With this simple vote, Harper brought centuries of colonial and historical ignorance to an end. It was now clear that the Indigenous People of Canada would not be ignored, you must get our consent and you will listen when we say “No!” Enough is enough.
It was a glorious day to be Indigenous. When the power of the many is exercised as the power of one. Solidarity was put to an even further test when less than a month later the Surete Du Quebec attacked a peaceful protest on the Mohawk territory of Kanehsatake that was blocking the expansion of a golf course onto traditional lands, sacred trees and a burial ground. The resulting standoff that became known as the Oka Crisis galvanized Indigenous solidarity as the police were replaced by the Canadian Army and the potential for armed conflict was palpable for 75 days.
It was women, the clan mothers who kept the peace, who held the warriors back when they faced an armed force that constantly used provocation hoping to trigger any response that would justify a full-scale attack.
Ellen Gabriel was put forward as the spokesperson for the people behind the barricades. Her calm but powerful representation of the situation for the people living under siege in real time and the long history of life under an oppressive colonial government educated Canadians who only knew what little was taught in Canadian schools.
I caught a call one day from a senior producer in Thunder Bay who asked me if the Mohawks were a special kind of Indian. I asked what he meant. He said, “They have their own culture and way of life and government. Around here, we just have Indians.”
At the end of the siege, the Mohawks walked out of the treatment center where they had made their stand and attempted to go home. They were arrested and the crisis that threatened to bring militant action to one of the world’s most peaceful democracies had come to an end. It wasn’t Canada that brought peace, it was the Mohawk Warriors.
The golf course expansion was cancelled and the beginning of a hard look at the true history of Canada began, including the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which was launched just over a year later in August 1991.
On July 11, 1991, a long summer of celebrations reached a zenith when people gathered at the pines in Kanehsatake to share the stories of victory and their dreams of what the future could bring. Elijah Harper and Ellen Gabriel shared the stage and the connection between those who stand against the system and those who bring about change from inside the system were united.
When the federal government began funding celebrations the day was rebranded, first as Aboriginal Day and then Indigenous Peoples Day, the Solidarity was taken out and left out.
But not for all of us. For some communities and some people June 21 will always be Solidarity Day.
Happy Solidarity Day.
Updated: This story has been updated to include the 2024 events.
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