Annual Val-d’Or march underlines the fight against racism
Photo by Paul Brindamour
Over a 1000 people gathered in downtown Val-d’Or for the 13th annual Gabriel Commanda March on March 21. The event is held every year on the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and brings people from all walks of life together to fight the prejudices and racism that is still creating divisions in our society.
Despite the snow, the atmosphere at the march was festive and positive. Many came out in a show of support against racism in Val-d’Or, including students from local schools, colleges and universities, who swelled the ranks of the marchers to 1,200, according to organizers. Before starting, marchers were treated to colourful performances by the Screaming Eagles, Les Frères d’Armes, Lil Rhymes and Malik Kistabish.
“We see it more and more every year that the young people who join in are more aware and sensitized to not accepting racism in their society,” said organizer Édith Cloutier, the director of Val-d’Or’s Native Friendship Centre. “It’s by doing this march every year and having those young people join in with group discussions beforehand and they discuss it in class with their teachers.”
Gabriel Commanda’s legacy of building bridges with the first non-Native settlers in the region is an inspiration to build a better rapport between the Native and non-Native communities. Despite his efforts, Commanda faced discrimination and was never recognized for his success as a guide, nor for prospecting one of the largest gold mines in operation in the region. Commanda’s legacy still lives, his courage is alive and growing in the march that bears his name and follows his traditional hunting trail that is now the town’s main street, 3rd Avenue.
This year, the march drew on the Idle No More movement as an inspiration. Its goal was to demystify, expose and explain the grassroots movement’s message. “Every year we try to identify a theme and this year we could not hold the march without connecting it to Idle No More,” said Cloutier. “It is a movement of solidarity, a message of peace, and a message of pulling together for the protection of Mother Earth.”
Although the Idle No More movement has brought pride and awareness to the First Nations communities across Canada it has also awakened the old animosity and prejudices that were given free rein in media reports and their online comment sections. “By having the Gabriel Commanda March we are hoping to impart a positive message of unity and solidarity between peoples,” said Cloutier. “We are connecting it to the Idle No More movement because we share the same message.”
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination began in 1966, when the UN established the commemoration day in memory of the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa. The 1960 atrocity by the country’s apartheid government happened when white police officers murdered 69 black people at a peaceful demonstration. Since that time the racist government in South Africa has been replaced, but the work against racial discrimination is still an ongoing struggle for all people.
With much work left to be accomplished in the struggle to eliminate discrimination in all of its forms, the 13th annual Gabriel Commanda March showed that bringing people together for justice will eventually lead to change.
“We are happy to observe, year after year, how much the messages of peace and solidarity between peoples ring loud and true in the community,” Cloutier said. “The Gabriel Commanda March has once again gathered people of all ages in a festive and pacifist ambiance.”
Photo by Paul Brindamour
Photo by Paul Brindamour
