First Nations unity walk halted, then helped, by Thunder Bay police

Erin Bottle’s unity walk to the Jan. 24 Canada-First Nation Gathering got five-and-a-half blocks before she was halted by Thunder Bay Police.
“They were trying to get us to walk on the sidewalk to complete the walk,” said the Mishkeegogamang band member and first-year Lakehead University political science student. “I said these treaties we signed are the reasons why these roads and these building and everything exist here within the city. What’s 40 minutes of us inconveniencing traffic to make a political treaty statement for our people and our young people within the city.”
Bottle and another woman had been walking down Arthur Street to the Valhalla Inn, where space had been set aside for chiefs and other interested people to watch the gathering in Ottawa by a video link.
“We ended up meeting two other northern ladies who were walking west to east, so we completed the circle,” Bottle said. “They joined us right at the Arthur Street corner where the Mac store lights are.”
Bottle told the Aboriginal Liaison Unit police officers who stopped her that she had attempted to get a permit from Thunder Bay Police, but was unsuccessful.
“So we compromised with them,” Bottle said. “The compromise we reached with them (was) that they would escort us in the back seat of the cruiser all the way down to the Valhalla Inn. And they threw in coffees.”
Thunder Bay Police Const. John Walmark said the permit process for marches requires about a month’s notice.
“The issue that the permits address is safety, both for the walkers and for the community at large because without that proper police presence, both those partners, the community and the participants, put themselves at risk,” Walmark said.
Walmark said the situation is a good example of how the Thunder Bay Police Aboriginal Liaison Unit can help community partners resolve issues in a satisfactory manner without creating an environment of conflict.
Bottle walked to raise awareness that treaty people exist in the city.
“As a young person, I feel that the state of our nations and how the Anishinabek are doing right across the country, isn’t something they had envisioned when they signed these treaties with our people, the government and Crown of Canada,” Bottle said. “I am doing this unity walk to also remind Canadians that they too also hold a responsibility in upholding these sacred agreements because their governments exist within our lands and they must also be a part of this discussion and dialogue.”