Defending the Land: Indigenous Women’s resistance to Plan Nord and community violence

Ellen Gabriel intervention

by Marhi Aive

Ellen Gabriel was well-known to the public when she was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during the 1990 “Oka” Crisis. For the past 22 years she has been a human rights advocate for the collective and individual rights of Indigenous peoples. In 2004, Ellen Gabriel was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association a position which she held until December 2010. She believes that decolonization will be achieved by implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples. She is an advocate for gender equity, the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, traditions and Indigenous governing structures.

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