>From the Monday, December 16, 1991 Vancouver Sun front page:
B.C. NATIVES SEIZE SHIP
TO OPPOSE CELEBRATIONS
by Lindsay Kines
What's that old ditty?
In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two, Columbus sailed the ocean
blue... and then he met up with a group of Canadian Indians in
Puerto Rico and he wasn't going anywhere...
Okay, so maybe the verse doesn't go quite like that. But they'll
have to rework the old playground song after what happened in
Puerto del Rey Sunday when Indian warriors from British Columbia
occupied the Santa Maria--one of three ships that left Spain two
months ago to commemorate the original voyage of Christopher
Columbus.
The four men boarded the ship docked in the Puerto Rican port town
at 9am and refused to leave until the Spanish consul met with
their hereditary chiefs.
"We simply jumped on, told them we were seizing the boat, and we
started singing our songs and we sat down," said Art Loring, 36,
of Gitwangak. "They were very stunned."
"They could not do anything. They were very afraid of us. They
did not ask us to leave or try to force us to leave."
Three hours later, the Spanish consul met with the hereditary
chiefs and took their list of seven demands--including the call
for an apology for the celebration.
"This is a celebration of the death of our Indian nations, the
senseless destruction of our resources and the racist policies and
legislation that continue to override us today," said Wii Seeks, a
hereditary chief of the Gitksan people.
The chiefs also demanded an apology for 500 years of represssion,
a commitment from the Spanish govearnment that it will persuade
Canada and other nations to apologize to all indigenous people,
and money to begin the process. The chiefs also want the ships to
fly the Gitksan Wet'suwet'en banner in all ports.
The Spanish consul took the demands and agreed to pass them along
to the Spanish government, and the B.C. chiefs agreed to leave the
ship.
Wii Seeks said more than 40 police officers descended on the dock
during the occupation, but no charges were laid.
"We have registered our opposition to the Columbus celebration,"
Wii Seeks said. "We've raised the public conscience."
The natives put to sea Dec.2 from Nassau Harbor in the Bahamas
aboard the Sea Shepherd II, which had been renamed Aligat--a
Gitksan word meaning warrior.
The group had hoped to intercept the Santa Maria and two other
replica ships at sea. But the ships changed course and the U.S.
Coast Guard escorted them along the coast to Puerto del Rey on
Saturday.
"Instead of coming into Puerto Rico in triumph, they snuck in like
thieves, hugging the coastline, getting protection from the U.S.
Coast Guard and changing all their plans at the last moment," said
environmental activist Paul Watson, skipper of the Sea Shepherd.
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