[Wamvan] Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Blood Nation: Statement on arrest at fracturing blockade

[Tami Starlight]

FYI
Tami


http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/09/elle-maija-tailfeathers-blood-nation.html

Sunday, September 11, 2011
Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Blood Nation: Statement on arrest at
fracturing blockade


By Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

September 11, 2011
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

“To members of the Blood Tribe, the Blood Tribe Chief and Council, all
levels of government, the media, and the greater public;

My name is Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers and I am Blackfoot from
Kainai or the Blood Reserve as well as Sámi from northern Norway. I am
26 years old and a recent University graduate.  I am writing this
statement with the intention to explain what led us to our actions on
September 9, 2011.

On September 9, 2011, we gathered peacefully on the road leading to a
newly built Murphy Oil well on the Blood Reserve.  After nearly a year
of doing everything in our power to stop hydraulic fracturing from
occurring on our land, we felt that time was no longer on our side.
With the imminent threat of hydraulic fracturing about to begin on
Blood Tribe land, we decided that we had to act immediately. Over the
last year, we have written letters and created petitions, we have
tried to raise awareness both within our community and beyond
including founding Kainai Earth Watch and the Protect Blood Land
website, we have repeatedly contacted the Blood Tribe Chief and
Council, Kainai Resources Incorporated, the gas and oil companies, the
media, the Energy Resources Conservation Board, and various levels of
government including Indian and Northern Affairs Canada but still our
rights were violated. Countless times, we were told that this was a
matter between members of the Blood Tribe and the Blood Tribe Chief
and Council. But as members of the Blood Tribe, we were never asked
whether or not we wanted these wells built in the first place.  There
was no referendum, no vote, and no transparent consultation process.
If any objective body were to look at the facts, they would see that
the actual people who live on this land were both ignored and lied to.
 The fact is that we are a marginalized population that has, once
again, been exploited by those in power.  We have been cast into a
legal no man’s land and were left with few other recourses at that
particular moment but to exercise our right as members of the Blood
Tribe to peacefully gather on our land and demand justice.  We were an
unarmed group of people who numbered less than twelve at any given
time.  We remained on Blood Tribe land and did not step foot on the
well site.  We treated those working on the well along with the
security personnel with respect.

After being told by the law enforcement officers present that the
Blood Tribe Chief and Council refused to meet with us, we were given
no other option but to stand our ground and refuse that any of the
Murphy Oil vehicles carrying these harmful chemicals be allowed to
leave the well site and enter tribal land.  At this point, Lois Frank,
Jill Crop Eared Wolf, and myself were all arrested and handcuffed by
the Blood Tribe Police while R.C.M.P. officers stood by.  Just after 9
PM, we were all placed in a Blood Tribe holding cell and held without
charge for approximately four hours.  After we were charged with
violating Section 423 (1)(G) of the criminal code for “intimidation”,
we were not released until 7 AM the next morning.  One of the
conditions of our release is that we do not attend any gas or oil site
on the Blood Reserve.

Recently, Canada endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.  We understand that this declaration is not
legally binding, however if Canada wishes to recognize the rights set
forth in the charter then it is clear that our rights as Indigenous
peoples have been blatantly violated.  In particular, Article 29 of
the Declaration states that “(1) Indigenous peoples have the right to
the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive
capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall
establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples
for such conservation and protection, without discrimination. ?(2)
States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or
disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or
territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and
informed consent. ?(3) States shall also take effective measures to
ensure, as needed, that programmes for monitoring, maintaining and
restoring the health of indigenous peoples, as developed and
implemented by the peoples affected by such materials, are duly
implemented.”

I do not feel as though what we did was heroic.  We were a handful of
people, including a couple of children, who gathered for a common
purpose; to prevent any further desecration of the land.  For us, this
place is more than just land; it is the place that has given life to
our people since time immemorial. Our culture, our language, our
identity comes from the land and it is to the land that we owe our
very existence.  This knowledge is something that our ancestors have
passed on from the beginning; this land is our mother and we must
always respect that. So when I say that I do not feel that what we did
was heroic, I mean that we were just doing the right thing.   It is
important to understand our actions were not rooted in politics
because this issue is more than just politics; it is about doing the
right thing.  I don’t think in any of our hearts, and I mean the
collective “we”, that there is any denying what the right thing to do
is. This earth is all we have. It is just that simple.  Without it,
there is no “us” and there is no “we”.

We, on the Blood Reserve, have reached a point where we need to set
aside politics and family ties and look at the very real issue at
hand.  We are about to kill the one thing that has given us life since
the very beginning.  How can we look our children and grandchildren in
the eye and say that we have let such a thing happen? We are nothing
without this place.  There is no simple solution to the greater social
issues that come as a result of colonization. However, there is a
simple solution to this one problem and that is just to do the right
thing.  Set aside your fears and protect what we have, the land, our
mother.

I want to believe, more than anything, that those behind our arrest
knew in their hearts that treating the earth this way is wrong.  And I
want to believe, more than anything, that their actions were motivated
by fear; which may explain our criminal charges of “intimidation”.  I
look back on the last year and am still in disbelief that it came to
this point.  From the actual signing of the gas and oil agreement on
the Blood Reserve to the arrest and imprisonment of three unarmed
Blood Tribe women.  It feels much like a bad dream but somehow this is
our current reality.

I feel that there is no reason for us to have to explain ourselves and
our actions but the current state of affairs forces us to do so.  Lois
Frank, Jill Crop Eared Wolf and myself are all members of the Blood
Tribe. Each of us has a post-secondary education as well as an
education in the ways of our people.  We each have a deep love for our
homeland and wish for our children and grandchildren to be able to
love the land in the same way that our people have since the
beginning.

Our court date has been set for September 19, 2011 at 10 am at the
Provincial Court Building in Cardston, Alberta.  We have legal council
but are asking that anyone that is in the position to help, assist us
with the funds needed for the necessary legal fees.

We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the overwhelming support
that we have received worldwide throughout this whole ordeal.

For donations, please contact:
Ingrid Hess, Barrister
ingrid.hess at shaw.ca
Sincerely,
Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers”

--
"Until all of us are free, the few who think they are remain tainted
with enslavement." Lee Maracle
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/margins-to-centre
http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml
http://noii-van.resist.ca/

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