Indigenous Leaders in Empathetic Concert with Israel/Jews
"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
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| 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.
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| 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."
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| 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
Labels: Alberta Metis, Conference, Dr. Sheree rotter/New Zealand Maori, Indigenous-Jewish Friendship, Judge Harry S. LaForme/Anishenabe, Karen REstoulee/Ojibwe, Ryan Bellerose/Alberta Metis
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, June 13, 2026
