Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Solidarity Fast on January 11, 2013

Solidarity Fast

KAIROS invites you to participate in a 24-hour fast in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence on Friday, January 11th. This coincides with the date of the meeting between the Prime Minister and First Nations leaders, including Chief Spence.
On Friday, January 4, the Prime Minister announced he would meet with First Nations leaders on January 11 - the one month anniversary of Chief Spence’s fast to bring attention to the Treaty relationship between First Nations and Canada.
As she prepares for the meeting, we call on our network to join in a Solidarity Fast.
- If you are medically able, we ask you to please forgo solid food for 24 hours in the same way that Chief Spence has for the past few weeks. Consume clear liquids only – water, herbal teas, and broths.
- If you are not medically able to fast for 24 hours, but can forgo one meal, then please do so and make this your Solidarity Fast with Chief Spence.
- If you are not medically able to miss a meal, please consider what you can do as a symbolic action of solidarity.

Blanket Gift
KAIROS Eexecutive Director Jennifer Henry
presents solidarity blanket for Chief Theresa Spence

You can begin your fast by reading from Isaiah 58: 6-12, or another sacred text from your tradition.
Is this not the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:6
Isaiah 58 tells us that the true fast is to take action for justice.
Please contact the Prime Minister, the Governor General, and your Member of Parliament before January 11, with the following points:
- Express your support for this meeting as a response to Chief Spence`s call.
- Explain that you will be fasting (or taking some other action) in solidarity with Chief Spence while the meeting is convened.
- State your respect for Treaties and your belief in the nation-to-nation relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples in Canada.
- Indicate your hope that this meeting will be a critical first step in a just and equitable relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.
- You may also wish to remind them of the Government’s promise, made in the 2008 Apology to Survivors of Indian Residential Schools, to “[forge] a new relationship between aboriginal peoples and other Canadians, a relationship based on the knowledge of our shared history, a respect for each other and a desire to move forward together …” adding that this is a commitment that you also hold sacred.

Contact information:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Phone: 613-992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
His Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston
Governor General of Canada
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0A1
Phone: 613-993-8200 or 1-800-465-6890
Fax: 613-998-8760
Email: info@gg.ca
For more info you can visit our website at http://www.kairoscanada.org/solidarity
Click here to join our Facebook Solidarity Fast event page.
Please let us know how you will be participating by emailing Katy Quinn, Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator at kquinn@kairoscanada.org.
This call is consistent with KAIROS' ongoing education and advocacy work on implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and participation in the Truth and Reconciliation process.
Thank you!

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