TORONTO — A group of activists for aboriginal rights are staging a sit-in at the Toronto offices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in solidarity with a remote Ontario First Nation struggling with a suicide crisis.
A live video feed set up by the Idle No More group shows a number of protesters inside the office, some holding up an upside-down Canadian flag.
A banner that reads "Attawapiskat First Nation" is also hung on the office wall.
Idle No More, a grassroots movement for indigenous rights, says it is acting in solidarity with Attawapiskat, which declared a state of emergency after seeing 11 suicide attempts this month.
Then on Monday, police helped thwart a suicide pact between 13 young aboriginal people, including a nine-year-old.
There have been several crises in Attawapiskat in recent years, including annual spring flooding, contaminated drinking water and a condemned schoolhouse built on the site of a massive diesel spill.
