[Indigsol] Fwd: Media Release: Algonquins peacefully blockade highway 117 second time: demand Quebec and Canada respect agreements and Canada stop propping up illegitimate leadership

[Ben Powless]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barriere Lake Solidarity <barrierelakesolidarity at gmail.com>
Date: 2008/11/19
Subject: Media Release: Algonquins peacefully blockade highway 117 second
time: demand Quebec and Canada respect agreements and Canada stop propping
up illegitimate leadership
To: barrierelakesolidarity at gmail.com



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, November 19, 2008


*Barriere Lake Algonquins peacefully blockade highway 117 in Northern Quebec
a second time: despite fears of more police violence, community wants Quebec
and Canada to respect agreements and Canada to end interference in
leadership selection*

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - This morning at 7:30am,
Barriere Lake community members of all ages and their supporters once again
peacefully blockaded highway 117 outside their reserve, demanding that
Quebec and Canada send in negotiators rather than resort to police violence.
During the Algonquin's first blockade on October 6th, 2008, Quebec police
used tear gas and "pain compliance" techniques against a peaceful crowd that
included Elders, youth, and children, arrested nine people, and hospitalized
a Customary Councillor after hitting him in the chest with a tear-gas
canister, drawing criticism from international human rights groups, the
Chiefs of Ontario, and the Christian Peacemakers Team. [
http://blip.tv/file/1391794 ]


The Algonquins promise to maintain the blockade until Canada and Quebec
commit in writing to honour their agreements and Canada appoints an observer
to witness and respect the outcome of a new leadership selection in Barriere
Lake in accordance with their Customary Governance Code.

"Instead of doing the dirty work of the federal government, Quebec should
implement its agreements and immediately lobby the federal government to
deal fairly with our community," said Norman Matchewan, a community
spokesperson on-site at the blockade. "Charest's brutal treatment of our
community shows his government has absolutely no respect for the rights of
Indigenous peoples, which should be an urgent matter of debate during the
provincial election."


Barriere Lake wants Canada and Quebec to uphold signed agreements, dating
back to the 1991 Trilateral Agreement, a landmark sustainable development
and resource co-management agreement praised by the United Nations and the
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Canada has been in breach of the
agreement since 2001. Quebec signed a complementary Bilateral agreement in
1998, but has stalled since two former Quebec Cabinet Ministers, Quebec
special representative John Ciaccia and Barriere Lake special representative
Clifford Lincoln, made recommendations for the agreement's implementation in
2006.

"To avoid their obligations, the federal government has deliberately
violated our leadership customs by ousting our Customary Chief and Council,"
said Matchewan. "In what amounts to a coup d'etat, they are recognizing a
Chief and Council rejected by a community majority. The Quebec government is
cooperating with the federal government because they are using the
leadership issue as an excuse to bury the 1991 and 1998 Agreements they
signed with our First Nation."

In November 2007 the legitimate leadership of Barriere Lake had issued a ban
on new forestry operations in the Trilateral Territory until Quebec
implemented their agreements, but the province and forestry companies have
used the leadership change as an opportunity to cut new logging roads [in
preparation for logging operations] without permission from the legitimate
Barriere Lake representatives.

On March 10th, 2008, for the third time in 12 years, the Government of
Canada interfered in Barriere Lake's internal customary governance. They
rescinded recognition of the Customary Chief and Council and recognized
individuals whom the Barriere Lake Elder's Council says were not selected in
accordance with their Customary Governance Code.

"The federal government pretends this is simply an internal issue," says
Marylynn Poucachiche, another Barriere Lake spokesperson on-site. "But we
can only resolve the situation if the federal government appoints an
observer to witness a new leadership selection that is truly in accordance
with our Customary Governance Code, promises to respect the outcome, and
then stops interfering in our internal affairs."

In 2007, Quebec Superior Court Judge Rejean Paul issued a report that
concluded that the current faction recognized by the federal government was
a "small minority" that "didn't respect the Customary Governance Code" in an
alleged leadership selection in 2006 [2]. The federal government recognized
this minority faction after they conducted another alleged leadership
selection in January 2008, even though an observer's report the government
relied on stated there was no "guarantee" that the Customary Governance Code
was respected [3].

The Algonquin Nation Secretariat, the Tribal Council representing three
Algonquin communities including Barriere Lake, continues to recognize and
work with Customary Chief Benjamin Nottaway and his Council.

In Montreal at noon, supporters of Barriere Lake will rally in front of the
office of Premier Jean Charest at the southeast corner of McGill College and
Sherbrooke.

-30-

***Media Contacts*:

 *Norman Matchewan*, Barriere Lake spokesperson: 819 – 435 – 2171, 514 - 831
- 6902

*Marylynn Poucachiche*, Barriere Lake spokesperson:514 - 893 - 8283, 819 -
860 - 3860

*Norman Young*, Grand Chief of the Algonquin Nation Secretariat: 819 - 627 -
6869


Attached: Briefing Package and letter from Acting Chief Benjamin Nottaway to
Premier Charest


Notes:
[1] Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31135244@N07/sets/72157607795831835/

 [2]
http://web.resist.ca/~barrierelakesolidarity/resources/Rapport_du_Juge_Paul-versionANGLAISEcomplete.doc<http://web.resist.ca/%7Ebarrierelakesolidarity/resources/Rapport_du_Juge_Paul-versionANGLAISEcomplete.doc>,
pg 26-27


[3]
http://web.resist.ca/~barrierelakesolidarity/resources/Riel_Translation_Letter_2.doc<http://web.resist.ca/%7Ebarrierelakesolidarity/resources/Riel_Translation_Letter_2.doc>,
pg 2

Collectif de Solidarité Lac Barrière
*******************************************
www.solidaritelacbarriere.blogspot.com
barrierelakesolidarity at gmail.com
514.398.7432



-- 
"In life we meet extraordinary people who follow us wherever we may go" -
Trisha Nagpal
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