The Politics of Healing a Community
On September 6, PBI was requested by Utshimassits (Davis Inlet)
Chief Simeon Tshakapesh and Innu Nation President Peter Penashue
to provide an international observer team in Utshimassits. This
request came after a series of public exchanges between community
leaders and the Newfoundland government over the question of the
return of the circuit court judge to Utshimassits. On Friday
September 1, Minister of Justice Ed Roberts vowed to send in
the judge with an RCMP escort and military tactical support. The
community prepared itself to actively resist their arrival, by
blocking the airstrip with large machinery.
This series of events is linked with the expulsion of Judge Robert
Hyslop from Utshimassits last December. Katie Rich, then Chief of
Utshimassits, presented the judge with a request to leave the
community. A delegation of 30 women signed the petition, a
reflection of their frustration with the court system. After first
trying to move proceedings to the RCMP patrol cabin, the judge and
RCMP eventually fled, pursued by a large crowd. They left behind twelve
prisoners who were to be taken out of the community to the prison in Goose
Bay. At that time there was a fear that the RCMP would return to collect
the prisoners, and PBI was requested to send a team to Utshimassits.
These tensions eased in early January when Chief Rich requested
the RCMP's return to pick up the prisoners. An informal protocol
was established whereby the RCMP would come only on invitation
of the Peacekeepers, the local tribal police officers responsible
for the day-to-day policing duties. (See the January and February
Project Bulletin articles).
However, negotiations with the province did not advance, and in a
meeting in August between Ed Roberts, provincial Chief Justice
Luther and a delegation from Innu Nation that included Katie Rich
- now vice-president - Luther refused to accept Rich's presence
at the meeting, citing the outstanding charges against her.
According to Rich, the refusal was based on politics rather than
legalities. She had filed charges against Luther and Roberts in
February and the charges against her were filed by him shortly
after. None of these charges had come to court yet.
Rhetoric quickly escalated and Roberts vowed to "restore the rule
of law" by sending a judge into the community with RCMP escort. In
response, about 60 people from neighbouring community Sheshatshit,
mostly families, arrived in Utshimassits to support them in
resistance. Fortunately, it appears that Roberts was politically
isolated in his position, and he had little support from either the
federal government or the RCMP - who nevertheless are bound by
policing agreements to follow his requests.
On Monday September 5, Roberts anounced that the departure of the
70 RCMP planned for the following day would be postponed,
although they remained on alert in Goose Bay, with logistic
support of helicopters and equipment from the army there. Finally
on Friday September 9, Roberts anounced in a press release that the
RCMP force would not be sent in, but that there were conditions
attached to the demobilization. These included a suspension of
certain negotiations, including: the tripartitie land claims
negotiations; the proposed disussions aimed at delegating the
responsibility for delivering programs and services to the Innu
community and further discussions relating to the proposed
relocations of the community to Sango Bay. The press release
also included several conditions for restarting these talks,
including that "the Innu Nation and Band Council freely and
unconditionally acknowledge that the Innu are subject to the laws
of Canada and of Newfoundland and Labrador in the same way as is
any other aboriginal person."
The federal government officially supported this position with a
brief statement from Attorney General Herb Gray. It was clear
by the next week that these statements were largely for public
consumption. Already on the following Tuesday, the meetings
about the relocation to Sango Bay continued as scheduled, and on
September 27, a week later, a meeting on policing issues between
Ed Roberts and Innu Nation, again including Katie Rich, ended
amicably.
Innu Boycott Low-Level Flight Hearings
Meanwhile another ongoing issue for the Innu of both Labrador
and Quebec, low-level flight training over their hunting
territory by Canada and other NATO countries, has resulted in
national headlines. The training began in 1985, without any
prior consultation with the Innu. A long process of environmental
impact assessment began in 1989, and the completed Environmental
Impact Statement, commissioned by the Department of National
Defence (DND), is currently in its public hearing stages.
On September 19, the first public hearings took place in Goose
Bay. A group of 150 Innu from many affected communities chose
to block the hearings by occupying the Legion Hall just before
the evening hearings were due to begin. The DND workers union had
organized a "family rally" for 6 pm, and soon 900 people from
Happy Valley faced the Innu in what could have easily become a
violent confrontation, according to both the Innu and RCMP. Bernie
Bolger of the Union of National Defense Employees, organizer of
the rally, denied that there had been any danger of violence.
After a few tense moments, the Innu, largely women and children,
instead asked for RCMP protection and left the building. A large
community meeting in Sheshatshit the following day decided not to
block the second day of hearings in Goose Bay because of the risk
of violence. However, after Innu Nation communicated their
intention to block the hearings to be held in North West River (the
non-Innu community across the river from Sheshashit, near Goose
Bay), the hearings commission cancelled them.
In a joint press conference in Ottawa on September 29 that
included Assembly of First Nations Chief Ovide Mercredi, Vice-
Chief Ghislain Picard, and Conseil Attikamek Montagnias (CAM)
President Rene Simon and other CAM chiefs, Innu Nation President
Peter Penashue outlined the reasons for the Innu boycott of the
hearings. These reasons were based on the apparent bias of the
commission's proceedings, resulting in inadequate technical
studies, a refusal to consider Innu land use and land rights, and
an unfair hearing process that does not allow cross-examination
of the witnesses, nor accomodation for Innu language and culture.
Support for this claim was given by Paul Wilkinson, who resigned
from the commission in April 1992. In a recent letter to Innu
Nation, he stated:
"Overall, then, I am profoundly sceptical and pessimistic about
the current Panel and the review that it is conducting. Indeed,
it appears to me that the situation is worse now than it was when
I resigned. Given the circumstances, I believe that the Innu of
Quebec and Labrador have made the correct decision in boycotting
the public hearings. To do otherwise would, in my opinion,
legitimize a process that is fundamentally flawed and, even
worse, seeemingly discriminatory towards its aboriginal
participants."
The following day, Minister of the Environment Sheila Copps
anounced that she had spoken with Mr. Wilkinson and was seriously
considering the objections presented by Innu Nation.
The Work of the Team
During this time, our team consisting of Jamie Hubbard, Kari
Reynolds and Alan Dixon were making rounds in Utshimassits, Goose
Bay, Sheshashit and Ottawa, speaking with community leaders, the
RCMP and politicians whenever possible. We were struck by the
contrast between the language and concepts used by the media to
describe what is happening in Utshimassits, and the changes
actually taking place, which are full of hope.
Perhaps nothing shows this more clearly than the example of
Gregory Rich. He is the father of the six children who were killed
in a fire in February 1992, when their home burned down while he
and his wife were out at a party. That event was not only a
headline, it was a critical event which served to awaken the
community and head it in the direction of change. We interviewed
Gregory in his Band Council office on September 19.
PBI: We were given your name as someone we might want to interview
because you are one of the parents of the children that were killed
in the fire. Would you be willing to talk about that and how that
affected you and your progress over the last year?
Gregory: Well, it affected me a lot, emotionally and physically
and spiritually and mentally, these past two, it'll be three
years in February. I've been struggling with my loss and also
with my wife, we've been going through hard times. But yet
there's a lot of support from the community; if it wasn't for the
community, I wouldn't be here, sitting right in this chair, I'd
be six feet under the ground or in a mental hospital somewhere.
The community held me up, and it took me from the edge of the
cliff and brought me to where it's safe and that's when I turned
my life around. I dropped the bottle, I put the cork on the
bottle and the community was very supportive during that time and
I'm trying to give something back to the community for what they
have given me.
I'm involved in the healing process of the community and I'm also
involved in the NICHE training, counselling, and I've been
looking after kids. Like the social services called me to see if
I could take some kids into my home, which is very small. I like
to give a lot to my community because I've got something special
for the kids here in the community that I like to give, and I'm
still doing that right now.
Throughout the first year it was very difficult for me. It felt
like a part of me died that night too. I'm starting to heal
now, slowly, which is good. And yet, I'm still struggling with
the courts, the justice system. They want to punish me for what
happened there, because I suffered a drinking problem. I've
overcome that problem and I'm still struggling right now.
PBI: Can you talk a little bit more about the healing process?
Gregory: The healing process started about three or four years
ago, and I said it once but I'll say it again; people here in the
community took a lot of suffering, took a lot of punishment from
the governments, and it's going to take a lot of years to heal
the community. The healing process in the community is very slow,
which is very good, and yet the people are struggling to stand up
now, for their rights and the victims of the court, because the
courts were punishing us.
For example, if you take someone to a correctional facility
outside the province somewhere, or inside the province, we don't
get healed behind bars. It creates lots more anger and it creates
a lot of pain for the offender who's behind bars and when he
comes back in the community and he just ends up doing what he was
doing, like drinking.
Yet now we're approaching the government and saying that the
justice system doesn't work for us and we're trying to find, I
know we can find things that are very good for us, that are more
involving healing, because courts don't involve healing, they
just create anger and pain for the victim and also for the
offender. So now we're approaching governments, right now, and
we're saying that the justice system doesn't work for us and
we're trying to use programs that will help us.
Like the diversion programs, the sentencing circle - these are
all programs that have been used across the country by aboriginal
people, and they're saying they're very successful. It opens you
up. Emotionally it opens you up, this sentencing circle, the
healing circle; and the court system doesn't do that. It just locks
you in, like chains all over your body, creates anger, and creates
pain, for the offender and also for the victim.
The healing process right now, it's very slow and that's the way
it should be. Our people are starting to look at the healing
process in the community, but people are still drinking. It's
going to be like that, we cannot heal all people at one time;
they go one by one, by family. Like the mobile treatment that has
been set up in Border Beacon, it's a healing. The whole family is
going to be treated, for their addictions and also for the
problems they had back in the past, and it's going to be good for
the individuals that are participating in this treatment program.
PBI: I understand that you are a Band Coucillor now. Can you say a
little bit about your role?
Gregory: Yes, I'm a Councillor; after the election in March of
this year, I was appointed as a deputy chief. In the community I
like to work with social concerns, local concerns brought to us
by the community, that I try to work out in any way I can.
I'm also involved in the construction of the new houses in the
community, and the renovations, and I'm also involved in the
relocation plan of the community. That's basically what I'm
involved in. I try to volunteer in any way I can. I like to work
with my people, who are very understanding, and not with the
governments who don't understand.
PBI: One of the things that Katie described when things were
really bad, was a kind of a snowball effect. When some kids felt
really bad, to the extent that they would attempt suicide, it would
generate more of these feelings, in other people. Now it seems like
the reverse is happening, the more good things happen, the more
energy people have. I wonder if you could describe how that works?
Gregory: When a tragedy hits in our community, where some
incident happens that doesn't look good in the community, it
really affects all the people in the community. Everybody is
hurt when one person is hurt. Like for example my tragedy, the
loss of my kids. Everybody came in, that's my best memory, the
prime example of people sticking together, and the Innu culture.
Back then, everybody helped everybody, it didn't matter what it
was, like sharing caribou meat. Today, we're still following that
culture, like sharing and helping the person who needs our help,
in any way we can. That's one thing that I was taught back when I
was growing up, by my parents, help in any way you can to a person
who needs help.
PBI: Before I came, I'd heard that it's very hard for outsiders to
stay here in the community, because of all the problems that exist;
that the atmosphere is very heavy for outsiders to get used to.
But actually, I haven't found that. Maybe because the weather's
been so good or something. I really enjoyed our stay, walking
around the community, meeting people, maybe it's changed a lot
since the last time.
Gregory: This is a prime example of people starting to stand on
their two feet, like their rejection of the court and the RCMP,
like holding the court back. This is a prime example of how the
community is now involved in the healing process. If it wasn't
for the healing process, they'd still be sitting in the court,
talking to the judge.