Idle No More

In Canada, the Idle No More Movement among "First Nations" (Canada's indigenous peoples)  is becoming more and more prevalent as Canada is passing new laws that nullify old treaties. The First Nations are protesting in public places by performing flash mobs and singing native songs. One chief has been starving herself for twenty-seven days until the prime minister of Canada schedules a meeting with her to revive the treaties.

These protests signify the bringing together of a community of people over a common cause. When I read about these protests I begin to understand the idea of community and imagined communities. The First Nation peoples drew their own borders before colonization, claiming their own territory. Once Northern America was colonized, those imagined communities disappeared and colonizers began to take their land and resources. These imagined communities meant nothing to the colonizers.

Now in modern times, the Canadian government is still trying to borrow resources and use native lands that they promised they wouldn't tamper with in their treaties. This signifies the continued abuse of treaties among colonizers and the colonized. As well, it shows that sometimes imagined communities aren't "imagined" by all and sometimes borders are abused.