Attawapiskat First Nations Chief Theresa Spence ended a 44-day hunger strike after indigenous groups and opposition parties signed a deal on January 24, 2013.
A prominent tribal chief in Canada has ended her six-week-long hunger strike over aboriginal rights after indigenous groups and opposition parties signed a deal.
Attawapiskat First Nations Chief Theresa Spence had lived off fish broth and resided in a tent on Victoria Island in Ottawa since December 11 until Thursday, according to her spokesman Danny Metatawabin.
Metatawabin said the chief spent Wednesday night in hospital and that the 49-year-old was recovering from the aftereffects of starvation.
“She’s fine. But her body is tired and weak,” he said.
Spence made the decision to eat solid food after opposition parties and indigenous leaders signed a declaration spelling out a list of demands they will present to the government.
The declaration calls for the government to improve housing and schools as well as to acknowledge treaty rights for Canada’s 600 tribes.
Spence started the hunger strike to pressure the government into meeting the aborigines’ demands, which has led to protests across Canada.
On January 16, hundreds of demonstrators, many carrying flags and signs, called on the federal government to listen to aboriginal concerns.
The protests over the past two months had prompted the United Nations to urge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to set up talks in accordance with the standards expressed in the organization’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Since December 14, 2012, indigenous peoples in Canada have held demonstrations against the government who, on that day, approved Bill C-45 through parliament to change the rules about aboriginal land.
GVN/HN
