On 21 January 2013 22:08 from Facebook
Message from Lillian R. Howard
Going into 30 days...My thoughts, love and prayers are with Chief T. Spence and R. Robinson. Please keep Chief Theresa Spence and elder Raymond Robinson in your prayers♥ Candle Light Vigil at 5 pm on Thursday meet at Vancouver Public Library♥ From: Salish Idlenomore -This ceremony will also honor Residential School Survivors.. our Ancestors, Our Parents, Ourselves, Our children with an honoring song, prayer ceremony.
Update: January 19, 2013
Message from Lillian....
I am in my 27th day of drinking water and fish broth. I will have herbal tea a couple of times a day. It has been challenging and it certainly is not easy to be without solid food for this length of time. Physically I am doing fine. The prayers, drumming and singing and dancing keep my spirit strong. Each day I pray for Chief Theresa Spence and Raymond Robinson; I pray for the Aboriginal leadership to unify and to work together in solidarity for the children of today and for future generations; I pray for the children, youth, for the women who continue to face violence, for the homeless and marginalized in our communities across the country; I am in prayer with thousands of others for Prime Minister Harper and his government to repeal BILL C-45 and that the other BILLS this government is proposing will not go through; and praying that the people of Canada will help protect the lands, water, natural resources and environment from further destruction. Chuu ~ Lillian
Original story
Long-time Mowachaht activist Lillian Howard has put her life on the line in support of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and the Idle No More movement.
Howard, who now lives in East Vancouver, has been on a hunger strike since Dec. 23. She spoke with Ha-shilth-sa on Friday morning, as members of the Assembly of First Nations, minus representatives from Ontario, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, began a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and selected Cabinet members and officials on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Howard said when Chief Spence launched her demand for meaningful discussions with Ottawa, it brought back memories of her own days as a firebrand political activist and organizer.
“I am familiar with the community she is from. When I heard the tragic stories of her community, it brought back memories of those same conditions we faced in coastal communities in the 1960s,” Howard said.
Living in the shadow of the Tahsis pulp mill, after the Mowachaht were forcibly re-located in the 1960s, Howard committed herself to the betterment of her people at an early age. Serving as an elected Mowachaht councillor in her twenties, Howard later served as West Coast chair of Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council in the 1990s, and has provided her skills and leadership to any number of First Nations causes and organizations in the years since.
But it was the Harper Government’s omnibus Bill C-45, which poses a threat to all of Canada’s traditional First Nations territories, that pushed her to the point of risking her own health and indeed, her own life.
“I said ‘Enough is enough!’”
On the evening of Dec. 23, Howard began a diet of fish broth and water, in line with Chief Spence’s fasting regimen.
“For the first two weeks it was just fish broth and water. Now I’m starting to take some herbal teas,” Howard said.
Howard said she has prepared much of her own broth from her own supply of fish, and her brother-in-law from Kyuquot has brought in more fish, plus deer and moose broth. On Friday, her 19th day of fasting, Howard said the physical effects were beginning to mount up, and conserving energy had become a priority.
“I’m beginning to feel, on some days, my energy gets drained. In the past week, the weight loss has started to happen and I’m feeling drained, or tired,” Howard said, adding, “Sometimes, my energy will pick up.”
As of Friday, Howard said she had participated in every Idle No More event in Vancouver, but she realized she would likely have to dial back her public activity in the coming days.
On Friday afternoon, however, she said she would take part in the Idle No More March from the Native Education Centre at Fifth Avenue and Main Street, to City Hall at Twelfth Avenue and Cambie Street: 12 blocks, mostly uphill, followed by a rally and speeches.
The City Hall event was to be followed by an Idle No More flash-mob at the Vancouver CTV studio at Robson and Burrard Street, just in time for the 6 p.m. news broadcast.
“I’m still getting around but I’m being very selective what I do, she said. “I’m conserving my energy and I have people around me looking after me. I’m in good spirits – strong spirits. I’m a strong Nuu-chah-nulth woman.”
In Ottawa, talks did go forward with some First Nations leaders. Most notably, Chief Spence herself boycotting the meeting. Howard had predicted the meetings would not take place at all.
“Given that it’s Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government, and his track record, I wasn’t expecting any positive outcomes,” she said.
Howard said despite the federal government’s attempts to play divide and conquer with Chief Spence, the AFN and Idle No More, the message remains constant: Canada’s aboriginal people are demanding more control over their own lives and most critically, their living conditions.
In early evening in Ottawa Chief Spence attended a ceremony at Rideau Hall with Governor General David Johnson, but left early because she felt like the event was a “show.” She said she would not end her hunger strike.
Related: Idle No More
http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2013-01-12/national-chief-shawn-atleo-summary-meeting-yesterday
http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-12-31/watts-works-raise-awareness-idle-no-more-events
http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-12-30/nuu-chah-nulth-aht-stand-solidarity-chief-theresa-spence
http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-12-23/idle-no-more-hits-west-coast
Galleries:
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/idle-no-more-whaling-shrine-port-alberni-dec-31
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/idle-no-more-port-alberni-dec-21-11-am-1215-am-harbour-quay
Youtube:
