Update on trial of Ts'peten Defenders in British Columbia
Behind a bulletproof glass wall in a secure `anti-terrorist' courtroom in
Surrey BC, the crown is concluding its prosecution after more than 100
days of trial.
Eighteen persons - fourteen natives and four whites were charged with
offences ranging from criminal trespass, mischief, attempted murder in the
cases of the Shuswap traditionalist elder William Jones Ignace and his son
Joseph, as well as a variety of weapons offences.
The defendants were charged after a month long siege of sacred Shuswap
burial and sundance grounds at Gustafsen Lake near 100 Mile House in south
central British Columbia.
The defendants have all along maintained that attempts to access their due
process rights to an impartial, international adjudication of the existing
sovereignty rights of indigenous nations, produced a violent and vicious
campaign against them by state authorities.
There are significant indications from the testimony and cross examinations
that this is in fact the case. In addition it appears that the sundancers
were targetted by BC's NDP government as an opportunity to demonstrate a
new "get tough" policy. After various scandals involving the appropriation
of charity Bingo funds, a Grand Cayman Islands investment scheme to benefit
party insiders, and a string of native blockades at Nanoose Bay, Adam's
Lake , Douglas Lake and Apex - the government decided to make an example of
the traditionalists at Gustafsen Lake.
When the standoff ended the government was ready "to translate its success
in the high-profile stand-off into a victory at the polls...NDP support has
strengthened over the summer, a phenomenon analysts say shows voters
approve of the way the government of Premier Mike Harcourt has handled
native Indian militants."
"The NDP ...transformed anxieties over aboriginal issues from a political
liability into an asset, partly due to the patient but firm stance taken by
Harcourrt's newly appointed Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh..throughout the
ordeal he characterized the rebels as criminals and said the government
would not meet any of their demands...University of BC political science
professor Paul Tennant agreed Dosanjh was key in turning native Indian
issues to the NDP's advantage." (Vancouver Sun Sept.18, 1995)
Crown disclosures of high ranking RCMP indicate meetings with deputy
Stephen Owen, ass't. deputy Maureen Maloney, and Dosanjh himself to
co-ordinate strategy. Attempts by the besieged sundancers, surrounded by
the largest and costliest RCMP, Army and media operation of its kind in
Canadian history, to obtain outside mediation by respected internationally
accredited persons were rejected." There shall be no alien intervention in
the affairs of this state" said Dosanjh. Even the right wing columnist
Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun declared that Dosanjh: "may very well
become the first non-white Premier of BC." The fact that the tough talking
AG was also the Minister of Human Rights meant that the BC human rights
and civil liberties establishment kept silent and made no protests at the
obvious human rights violations of Gustafsen Lake. These were vigorously
protested by a virtual ocean of letters, faxes and emails from around the
world, as well as rallies and actions in London, Washington, and other
cities. There were also pledges of solidarity and support from activists
at Ipperwash - where the 'Stony Pointers' were involved in a land struggle,
and from the Mohawks who occupied a DIA building in Brantford Ontario. AIM,
the International Indian Treaty Council, The Peltier organization and
thousands of individuals sent letters of protest and solidarity. These
included prominent human rights activist Ramsey Clark, ex US Attorney-
General whose letters to AG Dosanjh and BC Chief Justice Allen McEachern
expressed outrage at the excesses of the Canadian authorities. These
included the forced confinement and `psychiatric assessment' of the
native's lawyer Dr. Bruce Clark. On the instructions of his clients Clark
fled the country. Recently the Upper Canada Law Society rejected BC's
attempts to disbar Clark and found: "The genocide of which Mr. Clark speaks
is real...we are sympathetic moreover to his contention that the courts have
been unwilling to hear his arguments." The Gustafsen Lake trial judge has
consistently refused to hear any arguments of Indian sovereignty. In fact
Judge Josephson is one of the judges referred to by the Law Society. In
1992 Josephson refused to permit Clark to argue native sovereignty over
unceded rainforests of the Carmanah-Walbran valleys. This obviously biased
judge, coupled with the exclusion of counsel of choice Clark, has produced
what one defendant termed "a bullshit trial."
Despite the exclusion of the central issue of jurisdiction, explosive
revelations have emerged. Some of these are: - The involvement of the
Canadian Forces was illegal. The army breached its own Rules of Engagement
for Operation Wallaby. Its illegal hostilities included a firefight in
which over 20,000 rounds of internationally prohibited hollow point
ammunition were fired at camp occupants. One of the eight 14 ton `Bison'
APCs - UN vehicles never before deployed in Canada - attempted to run down
the Shuswap elder Wolverine. He allegedly fired at the tires of the
tanklike Bison which was attempting to run him over, after ramming a camp
vehicle and attempting to machine gun the occupants. One Canadian Forces
officer testified that the amount of fire directed at the camp made GL the
biggest land battle by Canadian Forces since the Korean war.
At an August 19, 1995 Press Conference, the police described "acts of
terrorism", and displayed weapons which they maintained were from the
Gustafsen Lake camp. Yet no proof has been offered to link the sundancers
to the acts of terrorism cited. Furthermore, the weapons were confiscated
from a separate incident in another location. No proof has been offered to
link these weapons to the GL camp.
Emergency Response Team (ERT) members probing into the vicinity of the camp
would leave `death cards' signed with names like `wild weasel' and reading
`Vancouver ERT: Wish you were here.' ERT members envisaged "forcing defiant
natives at Gustafsen Lake to surrender on their knees to white police
officers." (Vancouver Province, Jan. 23 1997) Notes of Chief Supt. Murray
Johnston record a Sept. 1 conference call with Supt. Len Olfert who "feels
it will require the killing of the hardliners.." Camp occupants were
guaranteed a `no shooting-safe zone' by RCMP, then were shot at when they
became `targets of opportunity'. One police sniper testified he was given
the `green light' at a `target of opportunity' because the man was armed
with an AK47, dressed in Camouflage clothing and was `stalking' a police
position. In court however, the jury heard that the nearest police position
was almost a kilometer away. When RCMP WESCAM video footage, which was
taken 24 hours a day, from special cameras fixed to the wings of aircraft
flying at 16,00 feet, was shown to the jury, the man was clearly seen with a
pink shirt and jacket, with a towel round his neck , obviously on his way to
the lake to wash up. There was no camouflage clothing or AK47. -- The Bison
APCs used against the camp occupants were owned by the United Nations and
never used before in Canada. At one point the authorities discussed
obtaining two battalions of Canadian Forces to dislodge the camp
occupants. "Four thousand plus would be needed...100 to one would be needed
to neutralize" the sundancers, read the notes of RCMP deputy commissioner
Dennis Farrell dated Sept.13. -- Supt. Len Olfert's admission that he
couldn't recall telling a reporter the squatters were armed with AK47s. The
RCMP "never knew from one day to the next" what weapons were in the camp.
By contrast the RCMP arsenal included `special weapons' including browning
belt-fed machine guns capable of firing 6 rounds a second. -- By far the
most damning evidence of what the defendants have called "an architected
Waco style massacre" is contained in 50 hours of RCMP videotape shot for
`training purposes' of much of the RCMP's internal operational activities.
One can only speculate on what is contained in those portions with-held by
the court, given the dramatic excerpts that are known. These include RCMP
media liaison Peter Montague debriefing an officer involved in a police
initiated shooting, expressing his wish that "we could have some dead
fucking terrorists." Moments later, he regretfully concluded... "not that
lucky." Whether the jury will find the defendants guilty or not remains to
be seen. Whether the grassroots indigenous and popular resistance continues
to grow also remains to be seen. But it must be remembered that the presence
of four whites standing shoulder to shoulder with the Shuswap traditionalists
at the Ts'Peten territory - was a great beginning.It should also be
remembered that Wolverine, aka William Ignace, the 65 year old elder and
freedom fighter, at a meeting of what he calls `the eagle and the condor',
knows what is at stake. Like the Zapatistas with whom he met, he is aware of
what NAFTA means. Although a staunch defender of indigenous rights, he is
also aware that "this is a class issue not a race issue...for every one of
us that goes down, ten more will rise up...and freedom will be ours
someday." Wolverine remains a prisoner of the terrorist New Democratic Party
government of the settler-state of British KKKolumbia, KKKanada.
Addresses for protests and inquiry pressure:
Hon Romeo LeBlanc - Governor General
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa Ont.
Canada K1A OA1
613-993-8200 fax: 613-993-1967
Canadian Human Rights Commission Communications- info@chrc.ca
Hon Ron Irwin
Tel-1-800-263-5592
Fax 613-992-6410
irwinr@parl.gc.ca
Jones Williams Ignace/Wolverine
Surrey Pre-Trial Centre
14323 57th Ave.
Surrey, BC V3X 1B1
Article from:
S.I.S.I.S. / Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
PO Box 8673
Victoria, BC Canada
V8X 3S2
email: <uc389@freenet.victoria.bc.ca> or <mg@uvaix.uvic.ca>
CHECK OUT THEIR NEW WEB SITE!
http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html
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Ts'peten Defence Fund, direct deposit at any Royal Bank of Canada, Account
number 5024401 transit number 06609-003.