Thrush opposes Chinese trade agreement

Native star opposes ‘greed and lying and selling out the land’

Downtown protest focuses on trade deal with China

By Valerie FortneyOn Wednesday, the Gemini-award winning actress is back on more solid ground, trading in her gold pumps and ball gown for jeans and Converse sneakers. The princess of two weeks earlier is back to her more familiar role of self-described warrior.

She has joined forces with Brian Seaman, a Calgary-based human rights and civil liberties lawyer, along with Idle No More activist Chantal Chagnon, for what is billed as a rally and round dance, in support of the Hupacasath, a small group of First Nation people who live near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. It’s an angry but peaceful protest against the federal government.

“We are not against economic development,” Thrush explains. “We are against greed and lying and selling out the land.”

Thrush and about a dozen fellow protesters are at Olympic Plaza to bring awareness to the federal government’s looming 31-year trade agreement with China, known as a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, or FIPPA.Comment:  For more on Michelle Thrush, see Native Actresses in Cannes Competition and Racist Comments in Canadian Newspapers.