OTTAWA—A patch of land in the middle of the Ottawa River has hosted a parade of politicians — including two former prime ministers — and protesters bearing gifts, firewood and messages of support to an aboriginal leader surviving on broth.

Chief Theresa Spence, of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, did not begin the grassroots aboriginal protest movement known as Idle No More, but she and her fast have become its symbolic focus.

Around her and the teepee where she now spends most of her days sleeping — when not receiving visitors — has grown a community of supporters buzzing with activity as they go through the rituals and routines of Victoria Island, traditional Algonquin territory that hosts an indigenous centre and a rock-climbing gym just up the river from Parliament Hill.

Among her supporters are a handful of young men who act as security guards.

Spence stays in the teepee overnight, but doesn’t always remain on the island. Recently filmed leaving by CBC, Spence said she was going to a hotel “for a shower and a little lie down.”

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay) described Aboriginal Peoples from across Canada making the trek to visit Spence.

“What really struck me — and this is probably something the rest of Canadian society hasn’t tuned into — is the intense emotional impact that Victoria Island is having on First Nations people right across the country,” he said.

Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, visited Tuesday and described a scene of community and comfort.

“It’s actually a pretty reassuring place and you get a real sense of comfort when you go in there,” Fontaine said.

Not everyone is welcome behind the fence posts of the enclosure, where people gather around a warming fire or the sacred fire that burns all day and night, which necessitates many trips to the woodpile across from the portable toilets outside the gate.

No one was guarding the wooden gate at the entrance to the campsite when a Star reporter showed up Tuesday afternoon, or questioned her presence inside until she was nearly two minutes into an interview with Dr. Michael Dan, a Toronto-based former neurosurgeon who had come to visit Spence to show his personal support and describe his business helping aboriginal communities with renewable energy projects.

“It’s just that other people have ruined it for everyone else,” said one of three or four unidentified guards who escorted the reporter outside the enclosure and refused to send anyone out to act as a spokesperson.

Another man suggested media coverage of an unfavourable audit of Attawapiskat finances released Monday as the reason reporters are no longer allowed inside.

Global News also reported Tuesday that police escorted its TV crew out of Attawapiskat when it was trying to do a story on living conditions there.

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Later, Dan described life behind the fence on Victoria Island as the Conservative government and a delegation led by the Assembly of First Nations, which will include Spence, prepare for a working meeting Friday.

“The atmosphere is a little tense ... towards journalists (but) politicians and well-wishers are welcome and really it’s about continuing the momentum that’s been building. I think it’s a spiritual place and that’s what really is going on. They’re trying to maintain that level of spirituality so that energy doesn’t weaken and they can have the strength through Theresa,” said Dan.

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