(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - The Idle No More grassroots protest movement that started in the province of Saskatchewan has stretched across Canada and is being joined by people in Alaska who are concerned about the threats to Alaskan waters and salmon from British Columbia’s aggressive industrial development plans.

Idle No More March in Ketchikan
Photograph by Weston Davis ©2013

Although not the first Idle No More march to be held in Ketchikan, Sunday's march also demonstrated the participants' support of the Idle No More movement. Sunday's march held in downtown Ketchikan was more than just another show of solidarity with Indigenous activists in Canada it is an over-all movement to educate and revitalize Indigenous peoples through awareness and empowerment. Another goal of participants is to raise awareness about British Columbia’s major industrial development plans and drastic changes to Canadian environmental laws which the group says poses serious risks to salmon, water quality and traditional uses in the Southeast Alaska and Northwest British Columbia’s transboundary region.

The Ketchikan Idle No More march resulted in the arrest of one participant Sunday afternoon when Ketchikan Police Officers responded to the group of people marching in the east bound lane of Tongass which was blocking the movement of traffic. According to information provided by the Ketchikan Police Department, officers advised the group to move to the side walk and to not impede traffic.  The group refused to leave the lane of traffic which resulted in officers arresting Kevin Clevenger, 37 years of age of Ketchikan, for Obstruction of Highway.  Clevenger was transported to the Ketchikan Correctional Center where he was set to be released on his own recognizance.  The rest of the Idle No More group, not without protesting their rights were being violated, moved to the side walk and continued their march.

The original Idle No More movement was sparked by changes to laws that protected all of Canada’s “navigable” waterways and that govern Indigenous land tenure. Recent changes to the Environmental Assessment Act, Fisheries Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act mean there will be substantially less federal oversight over decisions about major industrial developments, such as the many mines, roads and hydro-electric projects that are proposed on the BC side of the border. Many of these projects would have direct impacts on rivers that provide drinking water and salmon to Alaskans. The most recent changes are but part of a larger pro-industrial development agenda that is being implemented without meaningful consultation with the Indigenous peoples of Canada.

YouTube : Idle No More - Arrest - Ketchikan, Alaska
http://youtu.be/3vw6gIJzOqo

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

On the Web:

Idle No More Official website
http://idlenomore.ca/

FaceBook
https://www.facebook.com/IdleNoMoreCommunity

Source of News: 

Ketchikan Police Department

Rivers Without Borders
riverswithoutborders.org/

MiningWatch Canada
www.miningwatch.ca/

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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