Editor:

The Idle No More demonstration on Jan. 4 was a good start locally. Participation could have been better, but in addition to Sechelt Nation elders and members, there was a good representation of all Canadians.

No doubt some people complained about the inconvenience, about having to wait 10 or 15 minutes while we walked on Band land across Highway 101.

Hopefully people took that as an opportunity to reflect on the ‘inconveniences’ Aboriginal Nations have suffered for generations, not minutes. They have lost rights to the resources and products of their lands, for generations. They lost generations of their heritage to residential schools. Those are examples of wrongs, not inconveniences.

King George III instructed his governments to negotiate fair treaties with Natives on first contact. Idle No More is about instructing our current government that the time to honour that promise is now.

Henry Hightower, Sechelt