By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer A 20-year-old university student from Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario is putting his summer on hold — to take a 400-kilometre boat journey in protest against new provincial and federal bills he says threaten his people’s land, culture and way of life. Jeronimo Kataquapit is leading a grassroots movement called “Here We Stand,” a direct response to Ontario’s recently passed Bill 5 and the proposed federal Bill C-5 — pieces of legislation that, according to Indigenous leaders, accelerate mining and development in the Ring of Fire region without proper Indigenous consultation. Kataquapit’s journey, which began Monday from Attawapiskat, is a physical reassertion of Indigenous presence and inherent rights in a territory he argues is wrongly portrayed as uninhabited. “One…
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