Natoaganeg First Nation holds ceremony, flag-raising for children of Gaza [video]

An Indigenous community near Miramichi has expressed solidarity with the children of Gaza by hosting a ceremony and Palestinian flag-raising.

The event took place as the death toll among children surpassed 12,000 since the war began in October, according to figures from the territory’s Ministry of Health. 

Fredericton residents Laila Abuamer and Maryam Mohammad — who are Palestinians with family in Gaza — were among the dozens of people who attended the event on Feb. 10 in Natoaganeg, also called Eel Ground First Nation.

“Palestinians and Indigenous people have so much in common,” Mohammad said. “Being able to come together and share our pain together and heal as a community, and to be able to just share this flag raising, just means a lot.”

Mohammad said her grandmother and four aunts are in Gaza with their children and spouses. “They’ve lost their homes. Sometimes it’s hard to keep touch with them.”

She said a 19-year-old cousin was also shot while waiting in line for bread. “That was hard on the family as well.”

Abuamer said she has extended family who are in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where approximately 1.5 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of the territory, have taken shelter. Israel has warned of an impending ground invasion in the overcrowded city. 

“They’re all displaced and they’re all in Rafah right now. And the situation there is crazy. It’s horrible. And just knowing that right now they’re all in tents and there is constant bombing raining on them. It’s like, what’s next?”

Natoaganeg Chief George Ginnish and other speakers at the event drew parallels between Canada and Israel, including the displacement of Indigenous people from their land and the suffering of children.

“We’ve both had to endure that colonial intent to displace us from our lands,” Ginnish said. 

In December, the chief backed a resolution at the Assembly of First Nations calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  

The event at Natoaganeg First Nation was emceed by Zayd Cajee, a physician in nearby Miramichi. He described the event as a spiritual gathering, not a political one.

At one point he read out the names of some of the Indigenous children in Canada who either died in a residential school or were among the country’s many missing or murdered Indigenous girls.

He then read the names of some of the children killed in Gaza, noting they represent just a small fraction of the death toll in this war, which doesn’t include those who are missing. 

Canada is known as a firm supporter of Israel, although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently warned the Israeli government against the planned invasion of Rafah. 

Abuamer and Mohammad called on the federal government to support a ceasefire and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip. They also expressed gratitude to Eel Ground First Nation, noting repression of even symbolic acts like the raising of the flag of Palestine. 

“At a time where we don’t have the right to go back to our homeland, I don’t have the right to go back to my hometown and where raising the flag is forbidden in our cities, thank you so much for raising it here,” Abuamer said. “And I hope to see that elsewhere also happening.” 

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).