Idle No More (INM) is a Canadian left-of-center movement that promotes left-wing approaches to environmental and social issues. The group supports far-left campaigns, such as defunding law enforcement agencies and cancelling Canada Day, Canada’s national holiday. ¹

It is fiscally sponsored by the Polaris Institute and has been funded by Honor the Earth and the Tides Foundation. ²³

History

Idle No More (INM) is a Canadian left-of-center protest movement which seeks to pressure industries and the Canadian government to adopt left-wing social and environmental policies. It is fiscally sponsored by the Polaris Institute, a Canadian left-of-center nonprofit organization that helps left-of-center groups to challenge public policy on environmental, economic, and social issues. ⁴⁵

Jessica Gordon, Sylvia McAdam, Nina Wilson, and Sheelah McLean founded the INM movement in 2012 to protest the Canadian Jobs and Growth Act, which was an omnibus budget bill during the tenure of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a member of the country’s Conservative Party. INM protested right-of-center changes made to the Indian Act, the Navigation Protection Act, and the Environmental Assessment Act by the omnibus bill. ⁶

INM held a “National Day of Action,” including several protests and so-called “teach-ins” across Canada, in 2012 to protest the bill, which eventually passed and became law. INM protest tactics included hunger strikes and blockading railroads. The Indigenous and Canadian Studies Students’ Association at the University of Ottawa drafted a list of demands for the “decolonization” of the university campus in the wake of the bill. These “decolonization” demands included increasing the number of scholarships available to indigenous students and teaching the Algonquin and Mohawk languages. ⁷

The Assembly of First Nations, which represents indigenous citizens in Canada, expressed support for INM but has no official ties to the movement. ⁸

Funding

Idle No More is fiscally sponsored by the Polaris Institute and is funded through donations made by individuals and left-of-center organizations. ⁹

Idle No More received CAD $37,362 (approximately USD $29,850) in 2014 after it used the crowdfunding website IndieGoGo to raise funds in a joint campaign with Defenders of the Land, another left-of-center environmentalist organization. ¹⁰

INM was also one of the groups that received part of a $120,000 grant in 2014 from Honor the Earth, an advocacy group that campaigns in support of left-of-center policy on Native American and environmental issues. Honor the Earth has supported environmentalist protests against oil pipelines and promoted divestment campaigns against conventional fuel interests. ¹¹

INM has also received grants in 2014 and 2015 from the Tides Foundation for its Tar Sands Campaign, which aimed to create opposition to oil development in Canada. The Tides Foundation is a major center-left grantmaking organization and a major pass-through funder for left-leaning nonprofit organizations. INM received a Tides Foundation grant of $75,000 in 2014 for “general support” and another $75,000 in 2015 through the Polaris Institute USA. ^12131415

Political Activities

Idle No More was initially created to protest the Canadian Jobs and Growth Act of the early 2010s, budget legislation proposed by the government of then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. One of the reasons INM protested the bill was due to an amendment which allowed indigenous populations to lease some of their lands to non-First Nations members, expanding the number of indigenous land reserves eligible to be leased. All money made from leasing the reserves would go back to the indigenous owners under the bill’s provisions. ¹⁶

INM protest tactics included blockading railroads, bridges, and main roads across the country. In 2013, on INM’s “National Day of Action,” protestors caused disruptions throughout the country. Approximately 600 INM protesters blocked the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario; 200 protesters blocked a highway north of Victoria, British Columbia for 45 minutes; and 150 people blocked an intersection in Ottawa. ¹⁷

INM has changed its focus to promoting left-of-center policy more broadly since its inception. The organization has supported some far-left campaigns, including ending funding for law enforcement agencies. INM has also been a leader in the movement to cancel Canada Day, claiming that the holiday celebrates “stolen indigenous land, and stolen indigenous lives.” INM has claimed that instead of celebrating Canada Day, it will gather members to support “all of the lives lost to the Canadian State,” including “black lives, migrant lives, women and trans and 2spirit lives.” ¹⁸¹⁹

INM also promotes left-wing public communications campaigns, advertising videos which detail  “white fragility” and promote the “red nation manifesto.” INM cites such videos as “tools to dismantle” the “settler colonial institutions” in Canada, claiming that schools and the mainstream media promote “settler colonialism.” ²⁰

1. “Campaigns & Actions,” idlenomore.ca, June 6, 2021, https://idlenomore.ca/campaigns-actions/.
2. admin Admin, “Honor the Earth Grants Over $120,000 to Indigenous Projects,” The Circle News, February 6, 2014, https://thecirclenews.org/news/whats-new-in-the-community-february-2014/.
3. “2015 Tides Foundation – 990,” tides.org, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Tides-Foundation-2015-Federal-990-Pub-Disc-Copy.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_533857898d3cd00ac3f10ed34d448ec24c8f3a34-1628960333-0-gqNtZGzNAjijcnBszQi6.
4. “Alliances & Partners,” Polaris Institute, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.polarisinstitute.org/alliances_partners.
5. “About,” Polaris Institute, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.polarisinstitute.org/about_polaris_institute.
6. “9 Questions about Idle No More | CBC News,” CBCnews (CBC/Radio Canada, January 5, 2013), https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/9-questions-about-idle-no-more-1.1301843.
7. Veronique Hynes – and Laura Blanchette -, “Idle No More – Timeline,” The Charlatan Carletons independent newspaper, January 17, 2013, https://charlatan.ca/2013/01/idle-no-more-timeline/.
8. “9 Questions about Idle No More | CBC News,” CBCnews (CBC/Radio Canada, January 5, 2013), https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/9-questions-about-idle-no-more-1.1301843.
9. “Alliances & Partners,” Polaris Institute, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.polarisinstitute.org/alliances_partners.
10. Idle No More. “Idle No More 2.0: Support an Indigenous-Led Movement to Transform Canada.” Indiegogo, December 16, 2013. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/idle-no-more-2-0-support-an-indigenous-led-movement-to-transform-canada#/updates/all.
11. admin Admin, “Honor the Earth Grants Over $120,000 to Indigenous Projects,” The Circle News, February 6, 2014, https://thecirclenews.org/news/whats-new-in-the-community-february-2014/.
12. Special to Financial Post, “Vivian Krause: New U.S. Funding for the War on Canadian Oil,” financialpost (Financial Post, November 29, 2013), https://financialpost.com/opinion/vivian-krause-new-u-s-funding-for-the-war-on-canadian-oil.
13. “Tides Foundation 2018 Form 990 (PDF),” influencewatch.org, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Tides-Foundation-2018-Form-990.pdf.
14. “2014 Tides Foundation 990 ,” tides.org, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Tides-Foundation-2014-Federal-990-Pub-Disc-Copy.pdf.
15. “2015 Tides Foundation – 990,” tides.org, accessed August 14, 2021, https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Tides-Foundation-2015-Federal-990-Pub-Disc-Copy.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_533857898d3cd00ac3f10ed34d448ec24c8f3a34-1628960333-0-gqNtZGzNAjijcnBszQi6.
16. “Idle No More Protests Choose the Wrong Targets: Op-Ed,” Fraser Institute, June 19, 2014, https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/idle-no-more-protests-choose-wrong-targets.
17. Postmedia News, “Idle No More Protesters Make Good on Threats to Shut down Canadian Infrastructure,” nationalpost (National Post, January 17, 2013), https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/idle-no-more-protesters-make-good-on-threats-to-shut-down-canadian-infrastructure.
18. “Campaigns & Actions,” idlenomore.ca, June 6, 2021, https://idlenomore.ca/campaigns-actions/.
19. “We Will Not Celebrate Stolen Indigenous Land and Stolen Indigenous Lives. #CancelCanadaDay,” idlenomore.ca, June 29, 2021, https://idlenomore.ca/cancelcanadaday/.
20. “Resources & Education,” idlenomore.ca, December 11, 2020, https://idlenomore.ca/resources-education/.