Windy Boy passes Idle No More resolution

State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, expressed his thanks to people who supported his Senate resolution acknowledging Idle No More, a Canadian movement.

The movement started in protest of a budget resolution people in the movement say hurts the rights of Canadian Indians and will harm the environment for all Canadians,

Windy Boy said his Senate Resolution 9 acknowledging the Idle No More movement passed the Senate Wednesday and will be forwarded to Gov. Steve Bullock, Senate President Jeff Essman, R-Billings, U.S Secretary Of State John Kerry, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, and the U.S Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester and U.S. Rep. Steve Daines.

"This is a strong statement from the Montana Senate supporting … our Native relatives in Canada," Windy Boy said in a statement issued following the resolution's passage.

The Idle No More movement began last year in protest of a budget bill being considered in Canada that protesters say alters the approval process for leasing aboriginal lands to outsiders and changes environmental oversight in favor of natural resource extraction.

Some protesters have tied the bill to the oil extraction in the tar sands in northeastern Alberta and to the proposed pipeline that would carry oil from that region.

Protests in support of the movement have been held in the United States, including two in Helena.