Dozens of Yellowknifers marched downtown on Sunday in solidarity with a global movement demanding humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
As people gathered outside City Hall, organizer Shannon Moore began by acknowledging that Yellowknife is located on the traditional unceded territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
“Land acknowledgements are moments for us to remember that the system we’re part of was built on stolen land and in a philosophy that some human lives are worth more than others. That very system still gives … some of us privileges at the cost of other people’s lives, both here in Canada and official policies beyond our borders,” Moore said.
“It’s all connected and we’re all connected, and it’s why we’re here today.”
Around 75 participants proceeded to march downtown carrying Palestinian flags and signs reading “NWT for ceasefire,” “end the violence” and “free Palestine.”
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YK Citizens for Ceasefire planned the march to coincide with the Global March to Gaza. The international citizens’ movement had aimed to reach Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory by Sunday to hold a peaceful demonstration.
Organizers of the global march have said they want to bring attention to the lack of aid reaching Palestinians and create international pressure to reopen the only border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to secure a permanent humanitarian corridor.
The march was halted by Egyptian authorities who took the passports of, detained or deported some foreign activists. Organizers have said more than 40 Canadians were among those detained.
Moore, at Sunday’s rally in Yellowknife, said while participants in the global march did not reach the Rafah crossing, they did succeed in “drawing more eyes to the occupation and continued genocide in Gaza.”
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Ahmed Shalaby, another member of YK Citizens for Ceasefire at Sunday’s march, praised those who travelled to Egypt to participate in the global demonstration. He highlighted that Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza between March and mid-May, cutting off access to food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
“Palestinians are on the front line resisting with their bodies, with hunger and with unyielding dignity. In doing so, they remind us of the universal fight for liberation, justice and humanity, values we are all still striving to realize,” he said, encouraging people to “stand with them.”
Amy Lam, an organizer with the Yellowknife group, is among the thousands of people from more than 80 countries reported to have travelled to Egypt to take part in the global march.
She has been sharing updates about her experience to YK Citizens for Ceasefire’s Instagram page.
According to Lam, she made it to the second checkpoint on the way to the Egyptian city of Ismailia, at which point her passport was taken and then returned. Lam said she took part in a peaceful protest at that checkpoint before deciding to leave as tensions rose.
Moore shared a further update at Sunday’s march in Yellowknife, saying Lam was safe.
“We want everyone to remember why this march took place in the first place: two million people are still forcibly being starved while facing unspeakable violence that is supported and fuelled in part by the Canadian government. Some say we were naive in our goals but we had no pretense that violence and suppression wouldn’t be a possibility,” Moore read from Lam’s statement.
“We knew this action would not be our last. It is merely yet another step for the liberation of Palestinian people. In the words of Nelson Mandela: ‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedoms of Palestinians.”‘
