[van-announce] EVENTS IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY

[malliga at resist.ca]

* PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE OF THE PICKET TO 6:00 PM *

* PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME AND LOCATION FOR FORUM ON SUNDAY: *
Sunday March 21st @ 3:00pm
Aboriginal Friendship Centre (1607 E. Hastings St. - @ Commercial)

UPCOMING EVENTS IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS SOVERIGNTY

1) picket in honour of gustafsen lake defenders
2) forum with gustafsen lake defenders and movie screening
3) down with delta

for more info about the events or to learn more about these struggles:

NYM Secwepemc Chapter: nymcommunications at hotmail.com
NYM Vancouver Chapter: nymchapter604 at hotmail.com
No One is Illegal Vancouver: noii-van at resist.ca
Native Solidarity Network: kiko at resist.ca
Anti Poverty Committee: apc at resist.ca


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ORPHEUM THEATHRE
SAT MARCH 20 @ 6:00 PM
(Smithe at Seymour)

*** INFORMATIONAL PICKET ***
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It is time for all those opposed to the Canadian colonial system to
support, through tangible actions, those struggling for land, life,
dignity and soverignty.

The statement below will be presented on March 20 at a NDP fundraiser at a
ticketed event in Vancouver. Several Gustafsen Lake defenders will be
converging in Vancouver on that night to speak about the injustices at
Gustafsen Lake.

(SEE END OF MESSAGE FOR STATEMENT AND ENDORSEMENTS)


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FORUM WITH GUSTAFSEN LAKE DEFENDERS
AND MOVIE SCREENING "ABOVE THE LAW"
Sunday March 21st @ 3:00pm
Aboriginal Friendship Centre (1607 E. Hastings St. - @ Commercial)
suggested donation: 2-5$ no one will be turned away
for more info: noii-van at resist.ca
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Several Gustafsen lake defenders will be speaking out about the injustices
at Gustafsen Lake. After close to one decade since the military siege, we
cannot allow ourselves to forget this history of indigenous struggle.


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DOWN WITH DELTA
Thursday, March 25 @ 4pm
Gather at Victory Square
* with food, speakers, drummers
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This picket of Delta Hotels is being coordinated in Kamloops, Vancouver,
Toronto, and Montreal on March 25.

Sun Peaks Resort and Delta Hotels is built in Secwepemc territories, land
which has never been ceded, released, nor surrendered. The Canadian and
British Columbias governments harassment of Secwepemc people is a
continuation of colonial practices that have robbed Indigenous people's of
their self-determination by usurping the land of Indigenous peoples and
destroying Indigenous people's livelihoods. We stand in support of the
Secwepemc people and in their fight in defense of the land in maintaining
their livelihood.

______________________________________________________________

* If you are able to endorse the demand below: please email
noii-van at resist.ca

IN HONOUR OF THE GUSTAFSEN LAKE DEFENDERS !!!
IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS SOVERIGNTY! !!

We are gathered here today to remind everyone about the role of the NDP
government in the largest paramilitary operation in Canada. The NDP
launched a full assault on indigenous defenders asserting their inherent
and legal rights to self-determination on unceded territories of BC.

In honour of the Gustafsen Lake Defenders, in memory of Dudley George and
the millions who were and continue to be victims of the colonial regime,
we aim to expose the hypocrisy of "progressive" politicians.

"I am unable to support the call for a public inquiry... my New Democratic
colleagues and I will continue to support the treaty negotiation process
in BC, including the recently concluded Nisga'a treaty. This process,
while often painstakingly slow and difficult, is certainly preferable to
taking up guns and violence, as occurred in the summer of 1995," said
Svend Robinson.

"And We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons whatever who
have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands
within the Countries above described, or upon any other Lands which, not
having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said
Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such
Settlements." -Royal Proclamation Act, 1763.

"Kill this Clark, smear the prick and everyone with him." -Dennis Ryan,
RCMP Gustafsen Lake Crisis Management Team, Sept. 1995. Disclosed during
the Gustafsen trial.


BACKGROUND

In 1995, after a long history of peaceful attempts to have Shuswap
sovereignty respected, indigenous people from the Shuswap and other
nations and a few non-indigenous supporters took a stand on sacred
Sundance lands at Ts'Peten, aka Gustafsen Lake. People came to the
Sundance grounds after a call for help went out, in response to threats
made by a local rancher; one ranch hand  pulled out a bullwhip and said:
'This is a good day to string up some red niggers.' " (Defenders' press
release, June 19/95) Shortly afterwards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) surrounded the Ts'Peten Defenders and held the people there under
siege. On June 19,  Counsel Dr. Bruce Clark confirmed that "as a matter of
strict law, you are acting within your existing legal rights by resisting
the invasion." Over the next month police, politicians, and media
escalated the situation to make the siege the most expensive domestic
military operation in Canada's history. Miraculously, there was only one
casualty -- a dog deliberately killed by a police sniper firing at two
unarmed people and the animal as they fled from police gunfire and
armoured personnel carriers.

The state actions there constituted the largest paramilitary operation in
Canadian history and included armoured personnel carriers, .50 calibre
machine guns, land mines, and massive human rights violations directed
against a small number of Shuswap traditionalists who cited constitutional
and international law protections for their resistance to the attempted
invasion. The federal and provincial governments both rejected any
involvement by an impartial, independent, international adjudication
process to settle the conflict at Gustafsen Lake. They even rejected the
presence of neutral peacekeepers. Ujjal Dosanjh responded to the
possibility of outside observers with the infamous declaration: "There
shall be no alien intervention into the affairs of this state." Dosanjh,
like all other politicians, knows that in an independent court, the legal
arguments of the Indians could not be suppressed.

The people inside the encampment were forced to endure the longest
criminal trial in Canadian history. After over a year of astonishing
testimony by police (including open admissions of a "smear and
disinformation campaign" against the Ts'Peten Defenders and lawyer Bruce
Clark), thirteen of the Defenders received jail sentences. Three of the
Defenders appealed the verdicts on the grounds that the land where the
siege took place is native land, and therefore the settler (non-native)
courts have no jurisdiction.  During the Gustafsen Lake trial William
Ignace, known better by his Shuswap name, Wolverine, cited the Indian
Provision of the Royal Proclamation Act of 1763, which clearly states that
until an Indian territory has been purchased by the Crown, non-Indians
cannot legally occupy land, never mind subject Indians to the jurisdiction
of the Crown. The BC Court of Appeal maintained: "The Royal Proclamation
has never applied to this Province, the appellants cannot rely upon the
Royal Proclamation as support for their position." Ironically, on November
11, 1998, the Vancouver Sun reported that Prime Minister Chretien, after
promising to quickly implement the Nisga'a Final Agreement, said: "Nisga?a
is an important thing.... I believe in it personally and it is an
obligation of the government and it is a constitutional obligation of the
Royal Proclamation that the King of England gave us in 1763."


Several important facts were revealed during the Gustafsen Lake trials.
Only some are outlined below.

* A letter from Bruce Clark to his clients inside the Gustafsen Lake
encampment was blocked by RCMP, Staff Sgt. Montague stated that "police
cut the phone line to the camp 'so that they can't be further influenced
by their lawyer, Bruce Clark, which is a problem.'" (Vancouver Sun, Aug.
30, 1995).

* According to RCMP, people inside the camp shot into the air, allegedly
at a helicopter. Later RCMP disclosures reveal that one of the people in
the helicopter heard no shots and saw no evidence of gunshots.

* RCMP surveillance footage, taken from six to eight thousand feet in the
air by Wescam, reveals the camp truck blown-up by a powerful landmine,
then two apparently UNARMED people running from the truck which was
moments later struck violently by an APC. The camp dog, seen running away
from the truck is shot and killed by RCMP fire. Cst. S.H. Arthur testified
that he saw the two occupants running from the truck and that neither were
carrying weapons. He also testified that he fired upon the unarmed
occupants of the truck as they were leaving the lake with their hands in
the air, within what was supposed to be the guaranteed safe zone.

* On September 6,  Ontario Provincial Police attempted to remove native
occupiers of traditional lands at Ipperwash Provincial Park, Ontario. When
efforts to remove the occupiers were unsuccessful, police responded by
sending in police in riot gear, who stormed the gate. Two men were hit.
Dudley George died.

* Chief Superintendent Johnston makes a note during a phone conversation
with Superintendent Len Olfert that "There are 6 hardliners in the camp
WHO WILL REQUIRE KILLING." (Source: Crown disclosures)


Since the end of the standoff, Defenders have called for an inquiry into
the military siege. National and international support for an independent
public inquiry into all aspects of the Gustafsen Lake standoff and
Ipperwash continues to grow: Alexa McDonough, National Campus/Community
Radio Association, Teaching Support Staff Union of Simon Fraser
University, the UVic Graduate Students' Society, Victoria's CUPE Local 50,
Defensoria Maya (Guatemala); Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native
Peoples; The Green Group of the European Parliament; The Black Community
Collective; The Afrikan Frontline Network; North West Leonard Peltier
Support Network; Aboriginal Rights Coalition; Council of Canadians;
Building Bridges to Chiapas; The National Green Party of Canada; Ramsey
Clark, Former US Attorney General and Council to Leonard Peltier; and many
other groups and individuals, including a resolution by the Assembly of
First Nations.

WE REITERATE THE CALL FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY. THE INJUSTICES AT GUSTAFSEN
LAKE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN AS STRUGGLES FOR INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY
CONTINUE AND PEOPLE FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS AND DIGNITY

The undersigned,
Ward Churchill, Pierre George (brother of Dudley George), Native Youth
Movement-Secwepemc Chapter, No One is Illegal Vancouver, Palestine
Community Center-Vancouver, No One is Illegal-Toronto, No One is
Illegal-Montreal, International Solidarity Movement- Montreal, Native
Solidarity Network Vancouver, Native Youth-Grassy Narrows, Mohawk Eastern
Society, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Anti-Poverty Committee
Vancouver, Settlers in Support of Indigenous Soverignty, Native Youth
Movement-Vancouver, Friends of Grassy Narrows- Winnipeg, Indigenous
Peoples Solidarity Movement Montreal, Al-Awda Right of Return
Coalition-Canada, Toronto Native Youth Movement, REBELdesis Montreal,
Action Committee of Pakistani Refugees Montreal,  Andean First Nations
Council, Campaign to Stop Immigrant Detention-Guelph, No One is Illegal-
Winnipeg, Block the Empire Montreal, Collective Opposed to Police
Brutality, Friends of the Lubicon, Netherlands Center for Indigneous
Peoples, Students taking Action in Chiapas,  United confederation of Taino
People, Coalition against war hysteria and Racism, Data Center-Oakland,
Defenders of Pil?alt Territories, Wake up with Co-op Radio 102.7 FM,
Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), Latin American Collective, Bus Riders
Union, Seattle Radical Women, Freedom Socialist Party-US, Grassroots
Women- Vancouver


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Noii-l mailing list
Noii-l at lists.resist.ca
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/noii-l