By Annette Francis
APTN National News
When she’s able Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence walks to the edge of the Ottawa River.

She stares up to Parliament Hill to think about her demands, trying to put her hunger aside.

But she spends most of her time back at the teepee where a sacred fire burns as she enters the 11th day of her hunger strike Friday on Victoria Island just a few hundred metres from Parliament Hill.

She has people coming and going trying to show their support for the chief.

Or just to be in the same place as her.

“I just feel moved by what Chief Theresa Spence is doing and she’s a big inspiration on me as of last year for what she’s doing for our people,” said Claudia Linklater.

Inside, a woodstove keeps everyone warm, including her family. They’re here with her as the Idle No More movement turns into a national day of action Friday with protests planned across the country, including some international.

Spence told APTN National News she spoke to her daughters about what could happen if Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t meet her demands.

So her family, and Spence, hold to hope.

“Please pray for my mother,” one of her daughters says.

Spence wants a meeting between Harper, Governor General David Johnston and First Nation leaders to discuss treaties. She feels they’re being abused. She wants a meeting with everyone at the table to hammer out a solution.

If she doesn’t get one, Spence is prepared to die.

She is now calling on traditional women from across the land to join her in Ottawa.

That includes another mother, Laureen Harper, the wife of Harper.

 

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Mark Blackburn

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