THE RCMP HAS APOLOGIZED FOR COMPARING THE

Idle No More movement, and the people who participated in it, to “bacteria.” APTN News had obtained an official report with the statement in it through Access to Information requests. “It is unfortunate that one of our employees has referred in an internal e-mail to the Idle No More movement in such a manner,” said Staff-Sgt. Julie Gagnon in a statement. She said the words were “not reflective of the views and opinion” of the RCMP. “The RCMP apologizes to anyone who may have been offended by this unfortunate choice of words to describe the Idle No More movement,” she said. On Dec. 24, 2012, Cpl. Wayne Russet wrote, “This Idle No More Movement is like bacteria, it has grown a life of its own across this nation,” in a site report collected during Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike.