Nation-20-11

discrimination and was never recognized
for his success as a guide, nor for
prospecting one of the largest gold
mines in operation in the region.
Commanda’s legacy still lives, his
courage is alive and growing in the
march that bears his name and follows
his traditional hunting trail that is now
the town’s main street, 3rd Avenue.
This year, the march drew on the Idle
No More movement as an inspiration. Its
goal was to demystify, expose and
explain the grassroots movement’s message.
“Every year we try to identify a
theme and this year we could not hold
the march without connecting it to Idle
No More,” said Cloutier. “It is a movement
of solidarity, a message of peace,
and a message of pulling together for the
protection of Mother Earth.”
Although the Idle No More movement
has brought pride and awareness
to the First Nations communities across
Canada it has also awakened the old animosity
and prejudices that were given
free rein in media reports and their
online comment sections. “By having the
6 the Nation April 5, 2013 www.nationnews.ca
Gabriel Commanda March we are hoping
to impart a positive message of unity
and solidarity between peoples,” said
Cloutier. “We are connecting it to the
Idle No More movement because we
share the same message.”
The International Day for the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
began in 1966, when the UN established
the commemoration day in
memory of the Sharpeville Massacre in
South Africa. The 1960 atrocity by the
country’s apartheid government happened
when white police officers murdered
69 black people at a peaceful
demonstration. Since that time the
racist government in South Africa has
been replaced, but the work against
racial discrimination is still an ongoing
struggle for all people.
With much work left to be accomplished
in the struggle to eliminate discrimination
in all of its forms, the 13th
annual Gabriel Commanda March
showed that bringing people together
for justice will eventually lead to change.
The Screaming Eagles (Lac Simon).
“We are happy to observe, year after
year, how much the messages of peace
and solidarity between peoples ring loud
and true in the community,” Cloutier
said. “The Gabriel Commanda March
has once again gathered people of all
ages in a festive and pacifist ambiance.”