The White Paper/Red Paper exchange of the early 1970s helped to spur the political organization and legal mobilization of Indigenous activism through nationalist movements. Indigenous political organizations and activists groups became connected throughout the 1970s with common goals and principles of protecting Aboriginal treaties and rights. This was further magnified in the early 1980s with the Constitution Express movement that quite literally moved thousands of Indigenous peoples from different bands and communities across the country to demonstrate and protest against assimilative government policies that threatened the existence of Indigenous rights in Canada. This national emergence of activism across the country was characterized by strong leadership and the use of media attention to gain Canadian support from different communities. These same tactics were also demonstrated in how these national activism movements in Canada for Aboriginal rights translated on an international scale as seen with connections to the American Indian Movement and the Constitution Express both in America and Europe. As a footnote to the rise of national Indigenous activism in Canada, thinking about Indigenous activism on an international scale helps to demonstrate the significance of the Aboriginal rights movements in Canada in their broader contexts and meanings. 

Indigenous Activism in Canada and the American Indian Movement (AIM) 

Indigenous activism in Canada that emerged in the 1970s held roots from the Civil Rights era in the United States during the 1960s and the emergence of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968 [1]. The American Indian Movement was complex in itself and demonstrated resistance for Indian rights in the United States, similar to that of the National Indian Brotherhood or the Indian Association of Alberta in Canada. AIM emerged in the 1960s due to federal funding programs in the United States, a similar trend seen in Canada by the 1970s [2]. 1969 was a pivotal year for the Indigenous rights campaign both in the United States under AIM and in Canada with the fight against the White Paper. AIM had taken a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in November of 1969, while the White Paper enraged a vocalized response from Indigenous rights groups across the country. These events in both countries signified a new era of Indigenous political mobilization and resistance that would last over a decade in the United States and for several decades in Canada [3].

The movements on both sides of the border continued well into the 1970s. The American Indian movement received support from their Canadian Aboriginal allies, while AIM also operated in Canada in solidarity for their cause. Similarities between the movements can also be drawn from their tactics. AIM and Canadian Indigenous advocacy groups both mobilized non-institutional tactics such as demonstrations, fish-ins, and road blockades to bring attention to their social movement [4]. Moreover, movements in both countries were characterized by their strong leadership and ability to link people from across the country under one unified cause. 

AIM played a small role in mobilizing resistance in Canada. In 1974, Anishnawbek warriors occupied a local park in Kenora, Ontario to protest against the poverty, poor social conditions, and police brutality experienced by Native populations in the town and the local reserve [5]. AIM participants in Canada during this occupation in 1974 demonstrated how Canadian Indigenous resistance spread beyond its borders and held connections to other Indigenous political organizations and groups fighting against government oppression. The American Indian's influence in Canada can be attributed to the rise of media attention and coverage given to the issues that would be shared across the border. AIM not only unified people from across the United States but also brought Indigenous people from Canada into the movement and gave their support to Indigenous allies in Canada as exemplified in Kenora 1974. 

While the goals of AIM in America mirrored that of Indigenous rights groups in Canada, political organization and mobilization in Canada were less centralized on a national scale in comparison to AIM. AIM was viewed as a social movement of the 1960s and 1970sm that was also compounded by the civil rights era and the desire for equality for colored people across the United States [6]. In Canada, political organizations attempted to form on a national scale but did not gain large success on a national scale until the 1980s. 

The Constitution Express and International Resistance

The Constitution Express movement lobbied the Trudeau government in late 1980, into 1981 over the lack of recognition of Aboriginal rights in the proposal for the new Canadian constitution. Trudeau's position did not change on the issue despite the demands of Aboriginal leaders and activists at demonstrations in the capital, so representatives of the movement continued on to the United Nations headquarters in New York to express their concerns and gain international support for their cause [7]. The refusal of the Trudeau administration to change their position even after national pressure demonstrated the need for the movement to move to an international approach in fighting for their cause. Moreover, the attitudes of Trudeau towards the refusal of recognizing Aboriginal rights in Canada demonstrated a continuation of assimilative colonial policies that Indigenous people had continually been fighting against. 

In 1981, the movement spread across the Atlantic to Europe. The movement traveled to Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom [8]. Many politicians in London were convinced by the advocacy of the Constitution Express and conveyed their support for Indigenous rights. The movement gained international attention and brought to light the issues over Aboriginal rights in Canada on a global scale. Trudeau's government eventually changed its position to include section 35 of the Constitution, affirming Aboriginal rights in Canada as a result of both the national and international pressures brought about through political organization and activism. 

The emergence of the Constitution Express on an international scale is significant of the strength of Indigenous resistance mobilized through activism. Strong leadership and communication played a role in the success of the movement. Pamphlets and flyers (as featured) demonstrated the use of communication to expand the Constitution Express's message and described in themselves the successes and gains of the movement. The UBCIC outlined the "logistics" of the traveling movement to Europe as ways of spreading information to gain support for the cause. The success of the movement in receiving international support on a global scale solidified the aims of the national goals of Indigenous leaders and activists at home.