#IdleNoMore in Historical Context

Glen Coulthard, Decolonization.wordpress.com, December 24, 2012

Protesters march on Highway 401 near London, Ont, Dec 19, as part of INM rallies.

Much has been said recently in the media about the relationship between the inspiring expression of Indigenous resurgent activity at the core of the #IdleNoMore movement and the heightened decade of Native activism that led Canada to establish the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in 1991. I offer this short analysis of the historical context that led to RCAP in an effort to get a better sense of the transformative political possibilities in our present moment of struggle.