Today the Dutch government signed a new MMOU regarding the low-
level flights taking off from Goose Bay with the British, Germans
an Canadians.
Last week the secretary of state said in parliament that there
will be no irreversible decisions before signing the bilateral
agreement. I expect the parliament will debate about the new
bilateral agreement not before autumn which gives the Dutch Innu
Support Group the opportunity to do more lobby work and to get
the Dutch public attention to the consequences of exporting their
low-level flights with F-16's (!) above the Innu.
In the beginning of the weekly meetings of the parliament Marijke
Vos of the GreenLeft party asked for a short debate as a follow-
up to last week deliberations. Tomorrow evening around 7 o'clock
the short debate will take place. GreenLeft is planning to
present two motions:
- one regarding the environment and the request to ask the Dutch
EIS-commission to look to the Canadian EIS and
- one about the human rights situation and the request that the
Advisory Committee on Human Rights and Foreign Policy give their
advice.
We choose for a low-profile motion in the hope governmental
parties are voting in favor of it. And also as preparation for
the parliamental debate about the bilateral agreement.
In May the Dutch parliament will visit Goose Bay and the Innu
Support Group hopes to be present as well.
Govert de Groot
The text of the advertisement in the national morningpaper "De
Volkskrant" on February 6 was:
Stop low-level flying above the Innu-Indians.
"Call back your military jets, they are destroying our people".
"We are the Innu people of Nitassinan. Others call our land
Labrador, Quebec or Canada. We have always lived here on our own
territory, which we passed on from generation to generation.
Canada has built a military airbase on our land, and invited the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany to train their
fighter pilots here. Every year 8,000 roaring jets are flying
over our heads. The sudden, terrible noise startles the animals.
Our people are going to pieces. Imagine that something like that
would happen to you. You would resist it.
Peter Penashue, leader of the Innu Nation.
Appeal to the Parliament
We request that the Parliament does not extend the low-level
flying contract with Canada. The Innu-Indians in Canada are
threatened in their existence by, among other things, Dutch low-
level flying exercises at 15 meters above the treetops.
Innu Support Group Foundation with:
Amok (Anti militaristisch onderzoekscollectief); Atoomvrijstaat;
COS Friesland, Centrum voor internationale samenwerking; Derde
Wereld Platform Haarlem; Dominicaanse Open Tafelgroep Zwolle;
Doopsgezinde Vredesgroep; Gaasbeek & Gaasbeek advocaten te
Haarlem; Erik Hummels, advocaat en procureur te Utrecht; Inter
Kerkelijk Vredesberaad (IKV); Koordinatie Werkgroep Inheemse
Aangelegenheden (VZW KWIA Belgie); Stichting Nederlandse Actie-
groep Noord-Amerikaanse Indianen (NANAI); Nederlands Centrum voor
Inheemse Volken (NCIV); Omslag, werkplaats voor duurzame ontwik-
keling; Leonard Peltier stichting; Stichting Solidariteitsgroep
Heemstede e.o.; Stop de Wapenwedloop; Actie Strohalm; Stichting
Vredesburo Eindhoven; Stichting Fonds Vredesprojecten; Vrouwen
voor Vrede; VTK (Vrouwen tegen Kernwapens); Waddenvereniging; X
min Y solidariteitsfonds.
The Innu Steungroep is co-sponsor of the International Campaign
for the Innu and the Earth with: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND), London UK; Gesellschaft fur Bedrohte Volker, Gottingen
BRD: International Peace Bureau (IPB), Geneve, Zwitserland; en in
Canada: ACT for Disarmament, Toronto: Canadian Voice of Women for
Peace (VOW), Toronto; Centre des Ressources sur la Non-Violence,
Montreal; Citizens for Public Justice, Toronto; Council of
Canadians, Ottawa; Greenpeace (Canada), Toronto; HANDS, Guelph;
Hamilton and Area Network, Hamilton; Innu Nation, Sheshatshiu,
Nitassinan, Oakville Community Centre for peace, ecology & human
rights, Oakville; Project Ploughshares (Canada), Waterloo en
Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (VANA, Canada), Vancouver.
The Committee of Recommendation of the Foundation Innu Steun-
groep: Hans Achterhuis, hoogleraar systematische wijsbegeerte,
Universiteit Twente; Ria Beckers, oud-fractievoorzitter van Groen
Links in de Tweede Kamer; Prof. Theo van Boven, hoogleraar
internationaal recht, Rijksuniversiteit Limburg; Douwe Bylsma,
voorzitter FNP (Friese Nationale Partij); Henk Droesen, officier
van justitie te Roermond; Hans Guyt, oud-medewerker Greenpeace;
Ien van den Heuvel, oud-lid Europarlement; Jan ter Laak, secreta-
ris Pax Christi; Gerda Koopmans, WILPF-Nederland (Women's Inter-
national League for Peace and Freedom - Nederland); Farley Mowat,
auteur, Canada; Maarten Pennewaard, journalist; David Suzuki,
hoogleraar zologie, universiteit van British Columbia, Canada;
Marie-Louise Tiesinga, oud-lid Eerste Kamer voor D66; Ir Maarten
B. van de Werf, secretaris EMFK (Europisches Mennonitisches
Friedenskomitee).
Since 1986 the Dutch Airforce has moved most of its low-level
flying to Canada. "Export of nuisance" Colonel van Leeuwen
strikingly called it in 1987. According to the Department of
Defence it concerns an empty, uninhabited area. But these almost
untouched forests and tundra are home of the largest Caribou herd
in the world and the breeding habitat of many species of birds
and waterfowl. It is the area where the Innu, an indigenous
people of about 13,000 people, hunt.
The Innu never signed any treaty in which they relinquish the
rights to their land. During the 1950s, the Canadian government
wanted to end the nomadic way of life of the Innu. They were
forced to live in communities. The strong ties to their land were
cut and many problems arose. Alcoholism, violence and suicides
were the order of the day.
To conquer these problems, many Innu returned to their tradi-
tional lifestyle. Every spring and fall they go to the country.
In the country they regain their pride and selfrespect. The Innu
huntingcamps, however, are mostly located in valleys and at the
edge of lakes. These are exactly the areas where the Airforces
like to exercise in low-level flying. The Department of Defence
claims that the huntingcamps are being avoided. Reality is,
however, different. There are many testimonies of huntingcamp
overflights. More and more Innu families are therefore too afraid
to return to the country. They are talking about "a war that is
being fought over our heads".
When the Innu visited the Netherlands to raise attention for the
disastrous consequences of the exercises, most politicians did
not listen. "One can not interfere in the domestic concerns of
Canada" it was called.
Shortly the government wants to extend the current low-level
flying contract with Canada. On the 14th of February there is a
discussion about it with the parliamentary committee of Defence.
State Secretary of Defence, Gmelich Meijling, wants to raise the
number of flights from 2,000 to 4,000.
The Innu have been protesting since 1980, when the low-level
flying started. They have occupied the runway at the base in
Goose Bay, Labrador, many times. For example in 1993, during the
visit of Minister Relus Ter Beek. For actions like these they
were issued jail sentences of several weeks. In 1992 the runway
at the airbase in Volkel was occupied by 4 Innu and 40 suppor-
ters.
Elizabeth Penashue is a grandmother and one of the leaders of the
Innu resistance. When she had to go to jail last Christmas, she
declared: "For each and every one of us it is hard to be in jail.
Especially for those women who have children and grandchildren.
They will keep worrying about them. There will be many tears, but
we are fighting for our future and the future for our children."
The Innu Support Group Foundation thinks that it is simply not
done to export our own noise nuisance to the Innu. Do not do to
somebody else what you do not wish to happen to yourself! We ask
for a total discontinuance of the exercises above Innu territory.
If the government continues anyway, then at least the number of
exercises should not be increased, and the exercises should
comply to the restrictions that are required in the Netherlands:
a minimum elevation of 75 meters, a speedlimit of 750 km per
hour, and no use of afterburners.
Let your protest be know to the parliament. Fill out the coupon
and send it in before February 14th. Would you walk away from
your responsibility?
Thank you very much, on behalf of the Innu.
The Innu Support Group Foundation.
Support the Innu.
Write to the parliament and become a supporter:
Minister of Defence - Netherlands
Postbus 20701
2500 ES
The Hague, Netherlands
+31-70-318-8188
+31-70-318-7888 (fax)