In January 2012, the Governor General opened the Crown-First Nations summit in Ottawa and at Rideau Hall hosted a meeting with First Nations youth leaders. By the end of the year, in the midst of the First Nations' Idle No More movement, national focus was turned partly on Johnston after Chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation Theresa Spence began a protest, deemed a "hunger strike", against certain First Nations-related actions by the federal government and parliament and vowed publicly to continue until both Prime Minister Harper and the Governor General together met with her. The Assembly of First Nations also on December 16 issued an open letter the Governor General calling for a meeting to discuss Spence's demands. A meeting between the Prime Minister, other Cabinet ministers, First Nations chiefs, and representatives of the Assembly of First Nations took place on January 11, 2013, but Johnston declined to attend, as "it was not appropriate" for the representative of a constitutional monarch to publicly participate in discussions on government policy. This, along with other factors, led Spence and other chiefs to boycott the Prime Minister's conference, though she did attend the meeting and ceremony for First Nations chiefs that Johnston hosted at Rideau Hall the same evening. Spence declared after that she was not satisfied with the content of that gathering, vowed to continue her protest, and she and the Governor General communicated directly via letter. Spence ended her protest on January 24, 2013, though the demand for a meeting of First Nations chiefs, Cabinet ministers, and the Governor General together remained in a declaration signed by Spence and two leaders in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. The bicentennial of the commencement of the War of 1812 was also marked by various official events attended by the Governor General. During the royal tour, Johnston and Prince Charles were on May 22 at a military event at Fort York in Toronto and Johnston was also in the region of Niagara-on-the-Lake on June 16, for various events at Queenston Heights, the Laura Secord homestead, and Fort George, to "launch 1,000 days of commemorations". A War of 1812 National Recognition Ceremony was also conducted at Rideau Hall on October 25, 2012, at which the Governor General presented special medals and a banner to leaders of First Nations and Métis communities with historical ties to the War of 1812. The Governor General served as an honorary