"Marches Held Across Canada to Show Support For Nations"

Elijah Harper led about 1,000 demonstrators on a peace march through downtown Winnipeg on Sunday.

The New Democrat, a Cree Indian whose stalling tactics prevented the Meech Lake constitutional accord from being passed in the Manitoba legislature, called the march to show support for Quebec Mohawks.

About 300 people gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in a similar demonstration, calling on the federal government to reconvene Parliament and negotiate with the Mohawks at Oka and Kahnawake.

Demonstrators also gathered in Edmonton, Shubenacadie, N.S., Stony Point, Ont, and Toronto to show solidarity with the Mohawks.

A continuing standoff began when Quebec provincial police tried to remove a Mohawk barricade in Oka, where the municipal government wants to expand a golf course on land the Mohawks claim. Cpl. Marcel Lemay was killed in the ensuing fight.

The Winnipeg march attracted hundreds of non-natives, including Manitoba NDP Leader Gary Doer and Liberal

MP Lloyd Axworthy, who represents the riding of Winnipeg-South Centre.

"What we're trying to do is show the Canadian government that there is support from the non-aboriginal community and that we want to resolve issues peacefully," Harper said.

"I believe (natives) should start getting some rights they've deserved for a long time," said Ralph Baker, 57, a landscape consultant who attended the Winnipeg rally.

"They shouldn't have to fight for it. It should be just given to them."

Two native prisoners at the Headingley Institution, just west of Winnipeg, are on a hunger strike in support of the Mohawks.

Brian Ellis, 27, began the fast Thursday night and was joined Saturday by Bill Creeley, 33, president of the Native Brotherhood Society at the provincial jail.

On the humid stretches of Parliament Hill, several speakers denounced Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his government for the lack of action.

Ovide Mercredi, a vice-chief from Manitoba, said the government is ignoring the Charter of Rights and several international human-rights doctrines in its dealings with natives.

"This country, which has an international reputation as a great peacemaker in Cyprus and the Middle East, is going to disgrace itself because of this government."

Ed Gus, a native at the Ottawa rally, said he is frustrated by the recent events and said the government is punishing natives for Harper's stand on Meech Lake.

"I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian," said Gus, who moved from the Peguis Reserve

in Manitoba to Ottawa seven years ago.

"We're all frustrated and this is just a way of hopefully getting somebody to hear."

In Edmonton, about 70 people - including New Democrat MP Ross Harvey - gathered in front of the Alberta legislature in sympathy with the Mohawks.

Steve Noskey, a member of the Lubicon Indian band council, told protesters it is unlikely the Lubicon will take up arms in their struggle for a land-claim settlement.

He says the small Cree band favors peaceful negotiations over armed confrontation. It has been without a land settlement for 50 years and has failed in several tries to reach an agreement with the federal government.

About 200 Micmacs marched throught the streets of Shubenacadie, N.S., a tiny community north of Halifax, in a peaceful show of support for the Quebec natives.

The demonstrators, most from the nearby Indian Brook Reserve, called an Ottawa to recall Parliament and begin direct negotiations with the Mohawk nation.