"In my view, Israel is the product of the greatest decolonization project in modern history, and this fact does not make it a colonial entity."

"Indigeneity is demonstrated by historical, collective-continuity with a distinct ethnic identify language, culture, rituals or traditions, economic, social, legal and religious and spiritual belief systems that predate subsequent invaders or colonizers." 

"The  Islamist strategists correctly believe that their ideology-driven false narratives appropriating Indigenous social justice language would resonate, and given traction with the academically ignorant and the academically sinister in Canada." 

"The Jewish people are not alone. I stand with them. Miigwetch. Shalom. Am Yisrael Chai." 

Justice Harry S. LaForme, Indigenous-Canadian judge 

Walk for Israel, Toronto, The Canadian Jewish News

 

"From my Maori perspective, a key point is that there was always a continuous Jewish presence in the land; they kept the fires burning, and that is what indigeneity looks like to us."

"Settler-colonialism has become a totalizing dogma: it overgeneralizes, homogenizes, and divides the world into saints and sinners, oppressed and oppressor."

"Jewish people really need to own their indigeneity for themselves. Even if you don't live in Israel, your people originate there, and you are part of an Indigenous people to that land." 

Dr. Sheree Trotter, fellow, London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism 

 

"Political movements [have co-opted] Indigenous identity [and the term is] increasingly being treated as a  universal political language, borrowed when convenient and deployed in conflicts that arise from very different histories."

"Increasingly, Indigenous identity is being treated as a metaphor, a brand in exercise, a political strategy. Indigeneity isn't any of that; it is a lived reality rooted in specific people and place."

Karen Restoule, Ojibwee, Dokis First Nation, director of Indigenous affairs, Macdonald-Laurier Institute 

A conference just recently took place in Toronto, a one-of-its-kind meeting between Indigenous representatives from across Canada and New Zealand and Canadian Jews. There was a consensus born of many commonalities as indigenous people traditionally under stress from colonialism and racist attitudes from the majority populations that culminated over centuries of colonialism. Israel's struggles for recognition and equality among peer countries, resonate with the never-ending struggles faced by Indigenous peoples everywhere. 

 

Barriers were set up at major intersections along the route. At one point during the walk, participants and counter-protesters were hurling insults at each other, separated by dozens of police officers and barricades. (Saloni Bhugra/CBC)

 

The conference was an opportunity for discussion, recommendations, mutual support and the recognition of strength in numbers facing off against the casual global attitude respecting the human rights of dispossessed peoples. The conference grew out of local Indigenous-Jewish programming when groups of Indigenous people marched alongside Canadian Jews and their supporters, in the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto's annual Walk with Israel event, when an estimated 60,000-strong celebratory-pride-assertive march took place. 

 

Judge LaForme is a member of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation, a proud Anishinabe. He was appointed a justice of the Superior Court of Justice in 1994 and in 2004, appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal; the first Indigenous lawyer to be appointed to a Canadian appellate court. An Ojibwe from Dokis First Nation, Karen Restoule also addressed conference attendees in the language of sisterhood and understanding of the deep links shared between them.

 

Dr. Sheree Trotter earned her doctorate in history from the University of Auckland; her doctoral thesis was on Zionism. She is currently a fellow of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. The conference, explained Avi Attali, vice president of Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, one of the event's sponsors, "allowed us to exchange views, to learn about each other's cultures and issues, and tried to seek solutions on how we can help each other in the future."

 

Conversations focused on building a shared framework for allyship, positioning dialogue and relationship-building as measures to aid in countering misinformation relating to both socially- and politically-estranged communities. "Radical activists have weaponized everything from international law to Indigenous language in their attempt to rewrite reality", explained Robert Walker, assistant director of HonestReporting Canada. "That only works in a vacuum. The time has passed to permit this shameless inversion of reality to continue unchallenged. First Nations and Jews are both indigenous peoples who have a right to reclaim the truth from those who try to twist it."

 

 Record turnout for Toronto pro-Israel march as violent antisemitism spikes across Canada, Times of Israel

 

"As someone who has been trying to build these bridges for  years, it is great to see so many people of like mind, people who understand that it's more than just a shared history of persecution, but also a shared history of love and veneration for our ancestral lands, that really helps bind us."

"And with Israel being a great example of a successful land-back movement, there is much we can learn from our Jewish friends."

"[This conference is] is a valuable first step in building bridges between the Indigenous Canadian and Indigenous Judean people [Jews]." 

Ryan Bellerose, Metis from Alberta