Legacy of Arthur Manuel

HONOURING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ARTHUR MANUEL

Monday January 30th at 6 pm
1803 East 1st Ave (just east of Commercial Drive).

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On Wednesday January 11, renowned Indigenous rights activist Arthur Manuel made his journey to the spirit world

Arthur, a residential school survivor, was the son of Marceline Paul of the Ktuanaxa Nation and George Manuel of the Secwepemc Nation. Arthur was a pillar in the Indigenous resistance movement, known around the world for his tireless advocacy for Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination.

Coming up as a young leader in the 1970s, he served as president of the National Native Youth Association, leading the occupation of Indian Affairs. He returned to his community and was elected Chief of Neskonlith Indian Band, Chair of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, and Chair of the Assembly of First Nations Delgamuukw Implementation Strategic Committee. He was a long-time co-chair of the North American Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He was active in the Defenders of the Land and Idle No More movement and as a board member of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples.

Most recently he was co-author of the award-winning book Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call. He worked selflessly in defence of Indigenous territorial authority and opposed any termination of Indigenous land rights. He rejected provincial and federal authority over unceded Indigenous land, and challenged the extinguishment of Indigenous title through the BC treaty process. He fought climate change, battling the imminent threat of pipelines including Kinder Morgan across Secwepemc territory.

In his most recent article on Canada’s 150th celebration, published only a week before his death, Arthur insisted yet again that Canada was built entirely on the theft of Indigenous lands:

“Our Indian reserves are only .02% of Canada’s land and yet Indigenous peoples are expected to survive on them. This has led to the systematic impoverishment of Indigenous people and the crippling oppression that indigenous peoples suffer under the current colonial system. The .02 land based is used to keep us too poor and too weak to fight back. It is used to bribe and co-opt the Indigenous leadership into becoming neocolonial partners to treat the symptom of poverty on Indian reserves without addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the dispossession of all of the Indigenous territory by Canada and the provinces.” – Arthur Manuel in First Nations Strategic Bulletin, August-December 2016 Issue

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this event takes place on unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwəta/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

Accessibility info: the entrance at street level gives access to washrooms, kitchen and lower hall. One washroom has a stall that can accommodate a wheelchair.The washroom door opening is 86 cm, and the stall door is 61 cm.