Several members of Sulong UBC were among the 100+ demonstrators gathered for a protest against the G7 leadership on National Indigenous Peoples Day on Saturday afternoon, taking over some of downtown Vancouver’s busiest streets to call attention to various anti-imperialist issues a week after world leaders met at the high-stakes summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.
Sulong UBC — whose name means “onward” in Tagalog — is a campus group that participates in the Philippine national democracy movement and advocates for anti-imperialist causes.
Saturday’s rally was organized by the Canadian chapter of International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) — an international advocacy group also dedicated to anti-imperialism — which convened a variety of local groups representing those “excluded from the halls of privilege” to speak to the “economic, political and social crisis” unresolved by world leaders, according to a press release distributed a day prior. The press release described the G7 as the “genocidal 7” and called for increased investment in social services over military spending.
Sulong UBC member Lyra Valina told The Ubyssey she showed up because she believed the G7 “has no interest [in] the people,” and fails to focus on issues such as health care, poverty and housing.
Valina also said the previous week she had travelled to Calgary to participate in larger protests while the G7 summit was underway — which also happened to be her first time protesting.
Valina said she became politically active following the Lapu Lapu Day attack in April, describing it as a “breaking point,” and that she had already been interested in connecting with her culture and participating in ways to support marginalized peoples. For her, Saturday was about uniting around a “common enemy” — the G7 — and “putting an end to the war in Gaza and the entire Middle East.”
Programming started at 2 p.m. in Robson Square with chants of “Long live international solidarity” and “the people united will never be defeated.”
Among the opening speakers was Chief Namoks (John Ridsdale) of the Tsayu (Beaver Clan) of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. Chief Namoks, a longtime Indigenous rights activist, was explicit in telling audience members he was a hereditary chief, meaning his authority stems from ancestral rights rather than from the band council system of elected chiefs under the Indian Act.
“The name I carry is thousands of years old. This very regalia I wear is what my grandmother wore when she was Chief Namoks, who was alive when the first Europeans were allowed on our territory,” Chief Namoks said.
“You're here to tell your truth,” he told the crowd. “Don't let anybody tell you different. You have a right to be human. You have a right to be heard. You have a right to be here, and you have a right to look out for the future.”
Chief Namoks addressed economic reconciliation, saying it amounted to “bribery,” “selling out” and something a hereditary chief would “never accept.”
While the term “economic reconciliation” itself has variable meanings and the concept is contested, the relationship between the economy and reconciliation has taken centre stage in federal politics following the Liberal government’s introduction and passage of Bill C-5, which aims to expedite infrastructure projects deemed in the “national interest” by bypassing normal regulations. Critics — including speakers at Saturday’s rally — have rebuked the bill’s purported undermining of the constitutional duty to consult Indigenous nations.
At around 2:45 p.m., the march began through downtown. Demonstrators walked northwest up Robson Street, made a right turn down Burrard Street and then stopped on Dunsmuir Street outside the Bentall Centre, where the American military software company Palantir Technologies has an office.
After some speeches about the Philippines national democratic movement, demonstrators made their way down Thurlow Street and Hastings Street to stop outside SFU Harbour Centre, where a speaker criticized SFU’s field school program with NATO — the alliance formed to counter the Soviet Union after the Second World War — saying it was “a militaristic organization with a long history of war crimes.” Their speech also sought to draw connections between Zionism, imperialism, capitalism and the G7 in addition to NATO.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attended the G7 summit last week and welcomed Canada’s increased defence spending — something demonstrators were also critical of.
The group’s final stop was on Georgia Street just past Seymour Street, near Amazon and mining company Pan-American Silver’s offices. Speeches were delivered on a range of subjects — from U.S. military presence in Japan by Nikkei Vancouver for Justice to Canadian ties to resource extraction and support for anti-democratic governments in Latin America by CoDevelopment Canada.
Demonstrators had made it back to Robson Square around 4:45 p.m., where more speeches were delivered. Fifteen minutes in, following the conclusion of one speech an organizer interrupted the programming with an announcement: “We've received some devastating news.”
“America has conducted airstrikes in Iran, dropping bombs on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,” the organizer said, before the crowd broke out into cries of “Shame,” “Stop the US war machine” and “Hands off Iran.”
Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan are the sites of three nuclear facilities in Iran, according to Reuters. Since the strikes, the extent of the damage to each site has been disputed (on June 24, CNN reported — citing four unnamed officials close to the matter — an internal asessment conducted by the US Department of Defence suggested the strikes “did not destroy the core components” of Iran’s nuclear program).
The demonstration ended after a final speech.
Noa Sison, a member of ILPS who helped organize the protest and who graduated from UBC Forestry in 2017 said the day was about discussing how the G7’s apparent focus on security was failing to address the needs of the most vulnerable people in society and across the world.
“Today, we were able to show that organizations across BC will not stand for the G7 and understand that the G7 does not represent us, because the so-called most powerful nations … gathered last week not to discuss issues in the interest of the people, [such as] Indigenous issues, issues affecting migrants and [issues affecting] working class Canadians,” Sison said.
“Whether it be [the] Palestine liberation struggle, liberation in the Philippines or in Congo, they're all related.”
First online
Share this article
Submit a complaint Report a correction
