Spirit of Warrior Harriet Nahanee

AFN Sell-Out Chiefs Proclaim Anti-Olympic ‘Understanding’

2008-05-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Keep in mind that Phil Fontaine has made no effort to take action against a government he claims has failed our people - a government which continues its program of assault and genocide on Indigenous people (government initiated foster care and prisons have replaced residential school, our languages and cultures are not respected and our sacred connection to the land has been destroyed by government and corporate development and industrialization). Instead Phil and other sell-out chiefs work to strengthen their relationship with the government and plead to it to gain more access to funds - as if money will solve the problems he outlines below. The problems will not be alleviated until the Klanadian government, their corporate cronies and their security apparatus backs off Indigenous lands.

Also keep in mind that the AFN signed a protocol with the RCMP in 2004 that is currently being revamped for 2008. The protocol outlines how AFN will work WITH the RCMP to help resolve conflicts in Indigenous communities. Yet another example of how the AFN legitimizes and maintains Klanadian colonial law. At the last Day of Action Phil publicly condemned 'radicals', like Shawn Brant, who took less assimilative approaches and more direct avenues to end so called poverty - a by-product of Klanadas theft of Native lands (I wonder when Phil will connect the dots - publicly).

It is interesting however that Phil seemed compelled to address being a sell-out after two young Native women poured apples on his podium while he was announcing his partnership with the 2010 Olympic Games. Now apparently he is all for Native led Anti-Olympic disruptions.

From Settler Corporate Media:

2010 Olympics face the wrath of young natives, Fontaine warns

At the Vancouver meeting, two young women cut short Fontaine's speech on the "unprecedented opportunities" of the 2010 Olympics by rushing up and dumping a bag of apples on the podium.

"The point was that we're sellouts," he said, referring to the aboriginal insult of being red outside and white inside.

Linda Diebel
National Affairs Writer

Aboriginal leaders may be unable to stop protests and blockades from disrupting the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, warns National Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine.

"There's clearly that sentiment in parts of our community for sure," Fontaine told the Toronto Star editorial board yesterday, suggesting widespread despair among young Indians may prove more powerful than calls for compromise.

Nor could Fontaine guarantee the "National Day of Action" on May 29 will be peaceful – or that Ontarians can avoid another long summer of blockades over land disputes, such as the Six Nations protest at Caledonia, south of Hamilton.

"There are a lot of very angry young people out there – people who are very concerned about the approach we've taken," he said.

Leaders like himself are considered "sellouts" for suggesting the Olympic Games are going to benefit aboriginal people, as Fontaine did at a recent First Nations meeting in Vancouver. Too many people have seen the international attention garnered by recent Olympic Torch protests over China's crackdown against Tibet.

At the Vancouver meeting, two young women cut short Fontaine's speech on the "unprecedented opportunities" of the 2010 Olympics by rushing up and dumping a bag of apples on the podium.

"The point was that we're sellouts," he said, referring to the aboriginal insult of being red outside and white inside.

These young people, he said, do not believe the 2010 Olympics will end poverty and unresolved land claims, offer better schools or safe drinking water on reserves or "put an end to the terrible situation that causes families to give up their children to state care."

He was not surprised Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report yesterday cited aboriginal children as among the "most vulnerable" in Canada, noting they are eight times more likely to end up in the strained provincial foster-care systems than their non-aboriginal counterparts. Fraser stressed the reasons are linked to poverty, and not to a higher level of abuse among aboriginal families.

"It is not an easy situation. There is real desperation in our communities," said Fontaine, adding 27,000 aboriginal kids are in state care. "We have disaffected young people who see no hope for themselves and no sense of belonging."

He expressed frustration with the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper for inaction on a number of fronts.

After coming to power in 2006, the government ignored the Kelowna Accord, in which the previous Liberal government – with the backing of provincial and aboriginal representatives – pledged to spend $5 billion over 10 years to improve education, health and quality of life in native communities.

There are 29 First Nations communities without a school and 27 others where schools are dilapidated. Said Fontaine: "We are unable to understand why the government doesn't do the right thing and (make) an appropriate and fair investment in our children."

The May 29 action day is, said Fontaine, "a challenge to the government of Canada to really listen to what we have been saying and to stop imposing its view of what needs to be done."

He praised the creation of the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a five-year enterprise to examine the treatment meted out to Indian children forcibly educated for decades by government and church authorities, who "tried to take away our identity as Indians."

The Harper government has pledged to apologize, possibly this spring, but Fontaine says he did not learn details in a recent meeting with the Prime Minister.

At 53, Fontaine is himself a victim, not just of the residential schools program but also of sexual abuse at his live-in school in the Manitoba Ojibwa community of Sagkeeng. It began when he was 10.

As grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in 1991, he was the first leader to go public with his own raw personal story.

The fate of many children who went away to residential schools is simply unknown, with no statistics on how many were abused or killed.

For the first time, it is hoped that government and church records will be opened to show the outcome for aboriginal children who never came home.

These children are, said Fontaine, "the missing chapter in Canadian history."

OLYMPIC TORCH EXTINGUISHED!!!!!!

2008-04-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

SHUT DOWN THE OLYMPICS WORLDWIDE! REMEMBER - THE OLYMPICS ACTS AS A MICROCOSM FOR (serving to validate and promote) WESTERN CIVILIZATION AND IDEALS...TIME TO SHUT IT DOWN!

Take notes!

**NEW CORPORATE MEDIA ACCOUNTS**
(original video clips were erased (by youtube) so these new ones have taken their place).

PARIS

LONDON

SAN FRANCISCO

2010 OLYMPIC RESISTANCE - report back and discussion

2008-03-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

**All community members welcome**

Tuesday, April 1st. 7:30pm
Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Center, Theatre Room.
1607 Hastings Street East, corner Commercial

2010 Resistance! Report Back from Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation
and Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement, who completed an
Anti-Olympic East Coast Tour earlier this year. Discussion to follow "How
can we build our movement stronger?"

Organized by the Native 2010 Resistance and the Native Youth Movement
For questions: email indigenous.free.school@gmail.com

* More information on Indigenous No 2010 East Coast Speaking Tour

Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation and Kanahus Pellkey of the Native
Youth Movement just completed a 20-stop speaking tour against the 2010
Winter Olympics.

- Photos: http://photos.cmaq.netv/no2010/
- CBC coverage:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/01/31/mtl-olympicprotest.html
- McGill Daily: http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=6953

FREE JOHN GRAHAM!

2008-03-14T23:15:00.001-07:00

As most of you know Harriet Nahanee was a strong supporter of both John Graham and Leonard Peltier. And as most know all three Indigenous people (Harriet, John and Leonard) experienced political imprisonment for their actions to stop destruction and left of Indigenous lands...

John Graham is a Southern Tutchone from the Yukon Territory. He is
currently imprisoned at the Pennington County Jail in Rapid City, South
Dakota, and his trial date has been set for June 17, 2008. John Graham was
arrested in Vancouver in December 2003, and after a prolonged legal battle
including leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, he was
extradited to South Dakota in December 2007. The allegations against John
are of murdering fellow AIM member and Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Anna Mae Pictou in 1975. John Graham denies he killed Anna Mae.

In the mid-1970s, AIM was carrying out armed stand-offs in defense of the
land including the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. As a
result, AIM was the one of the primary targets of the COINTELPRO
counter-intelligence program aimed to weaken, confuse, and arouse
suspicion amongst AIM members. At different times, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash,
Leonard Peltier and John Graham all said they were offered their freedom
if they collaborated with the FBI against other AIM members; they all
refused. On the killing of Anna Mae, former FBI regional director Norm
Zagrossi has himself stated it “looked like a cover-up” . Ellen Klaver, a
journalist in Colorado who has followed the story for three decades, has
observed that, “Whoever was involved, the FBI was the architect.” Both the
B.C. Supreme Court extradition judge and the B.C. appeal court ruled there
were deficiencies in the record of the case given to the courts by U.S.
officials.

However the 1999 Extradition Treaty between the United States and Canada
lowers the burden of proof to include hearsay evidence, which would not be
admitted in a Canadian criminal court. Graham and his lawyers have stated
they would welcome a trial in Canada, where the fake evidence could be
exposed. A key witness Arlo-Looking Cloud recanted his testimony stating
that he was coerced and under the influence of alcohol. Another
prosecution witness Kamook Banks admitted she was paid $43,000 to
cooperate with the FBI.

Graham has received support from a wide range of organizations including
Canadian Labour Congress, Native Youth Movement, Chief Capilano of the
Squamish Nation, BC Teachers for Peace and Global Education, BC Hospital
Employees Union, Stopwar.ca, Council of Yukon First Nations, BC Federation
of Labour. Amnesty International has also stated their concern about the
lack of a fair trial, given the clear parallels to Leonard Peltier.
Peltier was extradited from Vancouver in 1976; now widely known on false
evidence. In 1979 former US solicitor general Warren Allmand acknowledged
this and formally "apologized", yet he remains behind bars as one of the
most well-known political prisoners of our time.

The US government, with Canadian government complicity and cooperation, is
intent on repressing the last remnants of AIM. Graham’s current legal
struggle reflects the political repression faced by Indigenous people who
struggle against state and corporate control over Native lands and
resources and reflects the ongoing reality of the “Indian Wars”.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

==> Websites:
http://www.grahamdefense.org
http://ourfreedom.wordpress.com

==> Trailer of Documentary "Our Sacred History and White Man Lies":
http://ourfreedom.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/our-sacred-history-and-white-man-lies-2/

==> Interview with John Graham:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3144354

==> Articles:

Vancouver Sun: Who killed Anna Mae?
http://www.grahamdefense.org/20050108weyler-van-sun.htm

COINTELPRO's long shadow- The importance of the John Graham case:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7589

The Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash Story:
http://aws.roadnetwork.org/node/17

The Case of John Graham:
http://warriorpublications.com/?q=node/25

Canadian Dimension: The Hauntings of Colonialism:
http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2007/01/04/827/

The Tyee: Delivering Framed John Graham
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/05/16/JohnGraham/

Common Ground: BC Supreme Court set to decide Graham’s extradition fate
http://commonground.ca/iss/0709194/cg194_graham.shtml

Georgia Straight Article:
http://www.straight.com/article-101128/john-graham-says-native-chiefs-under-fbi-spell

Aboriginal Title and International Law: The Occupation of BC, Iraq, the
West Bank, and the Extradition Cases of Sittting Bull, Leonard Peltier,
James Pitawanakwat, and John Graham by Anthony Hall, University of
Lethbridge
http://people.uleth.ca/~hall/bc-kurdistan.htm

Event to Honor Warrior and Elder Harriet Nahanee

2008-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

NATIVE 2010 RESISTANCE!

Five females from the N2010R and also repping other groups/Nations traveled to Coast Salish Territory (colonial Victoria) on March 1st, 2008, for an event put on by the Camas Center to honor Pacheedaht Warrior and Elder Harriet Nahanee.

A Nuu-chah-nulth women who was speaking for a family from the Pacheedaht Nation said that due to cultural protocol speakers were not allowed to mention Harriet's name or show pictures of her for another 4 years until the family has had their own memorial. But the bulk of Indigenous speakers (including a comrade of hers for at least 10 years who had brought Harriet back home, and numerous Indigenous people from all across "BC" who had immense respect and admiration for Harriet's Life, Struggle and Commitment) got up and talked about how last year the family had said it was one year and not four years. The speakers also talked about how the efforts to silence Harriet's voice through the exploitation of culture were concerning. The event still served as a place where all voices were freed and able to speak about our comrade in struggle. One of the indigenous speakers donated a picture of Harriet to the Camas Center - the bookstore that the event was held in.

The event was also a place to discuss land reclamations, and talk about the destruction of Indigenous lands due to Crown and corporate development and industrialization.

The Complacent Faces of the Fortress

SPAET (BEAR) MOUNTAIN
>>>><<<<<
Cheryl Bryce of the Songhees First Nation talked about Spaet (Bear in English) Mountain (the colonial name is Skirt Mountain). She explained how caves on this mountain were being destroyed by resort development. A number of us visited the area and witnessed how Spaet mountain is being destroyed by golf course, condo (many which sit empty half the year when it is 'off season'), and parkway development. The destruction is the result of a Crown land grant of 44 Hectares to 'Bear Mountain' for 1.05 million. According to Ben Isitt, "The outstanding issue of protecting sites on SPAET Mountain considered sacred by Indigenous people must be addressed. Many sites continue to be at risk and damaged. Songhees Lands Manager Cheryl Bryce is banned from the Bear Mountain Property. In December, Bryce was prevented from taking part in an impact assessment of the cave."

Hungry Visitors (Tourists) enjoying stolen land.

<<<<<>>>>>
Ski resort development in Nlaka'Pamux territory was also discussed. A Nlaka'Pamux woman spoke about the mess that the development has made on her territory. Westscapes Development Inc. has made a preliminary application to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office for a resort between Hope and Merritt. It's described as a "comprehensive resort and village development" with ski runs, an 18-hole golf course, conference facilities, a spa and aquatic centre. The new application was submitted under the name Coquihalla Pass Resort and the Nlaka'Pamux woman explained how development of the highway has already disrupted Juliet Creek berry picking and hunting grounds.

According to a Merritt Herald article published on February 18, 2008:

The resort is also to include parking for 2,000 vehicles, an on-site road system and 3,300 dwelling units including hotel rooms, condos, townhouses, single family houses and staff accommodation. The proposal also includes 60,000 square feet of commercial space, including skier services, food and beverage and retail space".

This speaker also discussed in depth Tuchone Warrior John Graham, and his illegal extradition. This issue was talked about a lot throughout the evening by numerous people. It is a topic many people have interest in learning more about and organizing around. For more information see: http://www.grahamdefense.org/. The criminalization of dissent especially of Indigenous people resisting corporate invasion is being accelerated by the 2010 Olympics.

FISH FARM DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION
<<<>>>
A woman from the Heiltsuk First Nation talked about fish farm expansion in her territory and the resistance in her and other Indigenous territories.
The Nine Allied Tsimshian Tribes of Lax Kw'alaams (NATT) rejected salmon farms in 2000. They believe this industry is the latest disaster in a long history of fisheries mismanagement that destroyed cod in the Atlantic and is now threatening B.C.'s salmon.

Small-scale netcage salmon farming in BC began in the early 1970s. Today, farmed salmon has become BC's largest legal agricultural export. Salmon farms are found throughout the coast of British Columbia, with the heaviest concentration in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island. Most salmon farm expansion is occurring in the Great Bear Rainforest, directly threatening this fragile ecosystem.
http://www.turtleisland.org/news/news-fishfarms.htm

SIX NATIONS LAND RECLAMATION
<<<<>>>
The Six Nations Land Reclamation was discussed poignantly by a Onondaga Woman. She talked about the lack of "canada" to act legally as a Nation and thus the inability to claim legitimacy to rule the people and treat Indigenous people as wards of the court. For more information about the site, check out: http://www.reclamationinfo.com/phpBB2/index.php

<<<>>>
Indigenous Resistance to the 2010 Olympic Games was discussed, its history and what is happening now.

A discussion with the audience ensued about how imperative it is to unite with the grassroots people. One woman from Ireland explained that colonizers have 'one bag of tricks': to divide and conquer the people and thus stressed the need for us to come together...

Members of the Native 2010 Resistance disrupt AFN and Four Host First Nations photo op'

2008-02-18T22:42:00.000-08:00

For More on AFN and Four Host First Nation Window Dressing:
http://www.gatheringplacefirstnationscanews.ca/Governance/070716_05OPPOSE_2010%20MOU.htm

On February 18, 2008, members of the Native 2010 Resistance disrupted an Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Four Host First Nations (FHFN) photo op at the Sutton Hotel, located on Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver).

Indigenous women From the Native 2010 Resistance poured bags of apples onto the podium where National Chief Phil Fontaine was announcing “First Nations participation and volunteer opportunities with the 2010 Olympics”. Like apples, Phil Fontaine and the Four Host First Nations sell-out chiefs are red skinned but white on the inside, bargaining off Indigenous lands for profit. Fontaine tried to keep his composure, his podium filled with apples as Native women yelled in front of his face “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!” and told the small crowd “You should all be ashamed of yourselves for contributing to the rape and destruction of Mother Earth!.”

Indigenous resistance against the games has been snowballing as more are learning about Olympic industrial development and destruction taking place on Skwxwú7mesh-ulh (Squamish), Lil’wat, St’at’imc, Stölo, Nlaka'Pamux, and Secwepemc Native Lands.

While the Four Host First Nations claim to have avid support, the room that the media event took place in was nearly empty for the first 20 minutes and filled to a measly 15 people with only one media personnel to take advantage of the ‘photo op’. There was also no security at the event or around the hotel during the affair.

The AFN, which is the so called “national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada”, will assist the Four Host First Nations and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) in distributing a series of newsletters that will provide information on how to volunteer at the Winter Games. The AFN will also make available other opportunities for First Nations peoples to participate in the Games including the Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay, Cultural Olympiad, and employment and procurement opportunities.

According to conversations at the event today, Four Host First Nation’s reps expect over 350 First Nations volunteers for the 2010 Olympics. However, the prospect seems daunting given the mounting resistance against and knowledge of the negative impacts on Indigenous lands, and related Indigenous homelessness and poverty. Native youth, Elders, women, and men are growing more skeptical about participating in the 2010 Games and are fighting back.

The Native Resistance vows to continue to disrupt events that support the 2010 Olympic Games and contribute to the theft of Indigenous lands, to homelessness and poverty.

DON’T BE AN APPLE! RISE UP AND RESIST THE 2010 OLYMPICS!

NATIVE 2010 RESISTANCE LAUNCHES ANTI-OLYMPIC CAMPAIGN TO KICK OFF 2 YEAR COUNTDOWN

2008-02-12T14:37:00.001-08:00

Approxmately 150 protesters, mainly Indigenous Women, Elders, Youth and Warriors marched on Feb 11, 2008 from the Vancouver Art gallery to the Hyatt Regency Hotel where Gordon Campbell (Premier of occupied 'BC')and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) were hosting a "Countdown to 2010 Luncheon".

The estimated cost of the olympics so far is $800 million, and the Canadian military will be brought to the city to help with "security".

*Corporate Coverage:
http://halifax.metronews.ca/index.cfm?main=broadcast&bcid=2325&cpvid=1

* Raw footage of rally:
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/bc/ondemand/video/bc-080211-oly-protest.wmv

The below Native 2010 Resistance Statement explains an Indigenous perspective of the anti-2010 opposition.

Native 2010 Resistance: Feb 11, 2008

The Native 2010 resistance was established in December of 2007. We represent the Skwxwú7mesh-ulh (Squamish), Lil’wat, Stölo, St’at’imc, Nlaka'Pamux, Secwepemc, Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, Carrier, Wet'suwet'en, Nisga’a, Tsimshian, Gitxsan, Gitnyow, Tuchone, Cree, Annishnabe, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida nations.

We stand in full confrontation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), 2010 Legacies Now, the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Canadian Government and corporations supporting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

We are here to expose to the world that we have never welcomed the Olympics and we continue to resist corporate Olympic invasion, development and industrialization of Mother Earth. Already Olympic construction and expansion of roads, highways and ski-resorts (including fake snow made with sewage) has disrupted and destroyed trap lines, hunting grounds, salmon stocks, mountain animal habitats and sacred sites.

Our blood and the blood of the land has been spilled for the Games and the government to profit. Despite VANOC’s claim to be the most ‘green games’, so far they are demonstrating to be the most ‘blood red games’.

Supposedly so called BC is the ‘best place to live on earth’, yet for Indigenous people, ‘British Columbia’ has only served to wreak havoc on their lives and land. Olympic myth making and corporate brainwashing attempts to hide the facts that while Canada remain one of the richest countries, it remains home to approximately 300,000 homeless people, while another 1.7 million residents struggle with housing affordability issues. Indigenous people account for 30% of this homeless population, despite making up under 5% of the total population.

While the Olympic organizers operate with a budget of almost $2 billion (costs for the Vancouver’s Trade and Convention Centre alone has reached almost $900 million) and other costs to government surpassing an estimated $6 billion, Vancouver is now home to North America’s fastest growing homelessness crisis. Dozens of low-income hotels and apartment buildings are being converted to condominiums to house the rich.

We are also concerned about the prominence of an abusive and violent police state. The death of Frank Paul, Gerald Chenery, Connie Jabobs, and hundreds of other Indigenous people, points to the racist and heightened state of police brutality that is being accelerated by the Olympics. There is a growing concern about the new militarization of police that is focused on terrorism, new weapons and training and the targeting of Indigenous people. At Sun Peaks (Skwelkwek'welt) ski resort near Kamloops, over 70 arrests have been made of mostly Secwepemc youth & elders.

We hold the Canadian government, the British Columbian (BC) and Canadian Judicial systems working in conjunction with VANOC responsible for the death of Indigenous Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee , and acknowledge her death and the persecution of Indigenous dissent as a direct result of the Canadian Government’s objective to drive out opposition in order to make room for the Olympics 2010. There can be no justification for the targeting, imprisonment and death of an esteemed Indigenous Elder.

We acknowledge that the Olympics will encourage sex tourism and hence living in extreme poverty, many Indigenous woman and children will be forced into the sex trade. Aboriginal women and children need safety from poverty and violence, and we disagree that a sex brothel should be afforded amnesty from the city and/or government to accommodate business investors and tourists.

We reject VANOC’s mockery and ridicule of Indigenous cultures through the Olympic mascots and the Olympic logo. Our sacred stories and symbols are misappropriated and demonstrates theft of Indigenous stories, and aspects of our culture.

The Four Host First Nations do not speak for us, or represent us, they are merely window dressing for the atrocities our Indigenous people face everyday. They do not represent the poor, the homeless, or the common Indigenous people, they represent the rich and continue to collaborate with governments and corporations for profit that will benefit very few Indigenous people.

We stand strong in our fight against the 2010 Olympics and will continue to resist Olympic poverty and homelessness, the theft and exploitation of Indigenous land, cultural appropriation and police violence.

NO 2010 OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND!
NO MORE DEATHS ON THE SKI TO DIE HIGHWAY!
STOP CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!
RESIST POLICE VIOLENCE!
END OLYMPIC HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY!

*More Native Related Newz and Updatez:

NYM Olympic Resistance:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/01/31/mtl-olympicprotest.html

Native Youth Resistance to the Games
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=6953

NYM Tour
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1653

Prince George Coverage of Feb 11 events
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117625&Itemid=566

McGill Coverage of NYM Tour
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=6953

SHUTDOWN CORPORATE OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN!

2008-01-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

MORE INFO ON THE 2010 OLYMPICS

The Winter Olympics is set to commence on February 12-27th 2010.
Already today in 2008 Indigenous people, the poor, and the homeless
are experiencing the affects of the Games. The vast destruction of
mountains, old growth forests, streams, hunting and fishing grounds
and delicate ecosystems in which are relied on by Indigenous people;
the closures of social housing and low income hotels; the high and
increasing rate of homelessness; and the criminalization of Indigenous
people and the poor are all part of the lead up to the 2010 Olympics.

THE OLYMPICS DESTROYS LANDS, HOMES AND COMMUNITIES

Indigenous communities in the interior and on the coast of so called
British Columbia including the Secwepemc people of Skelkwek'welt, the
St'at'imc of Sutikalh, and the Pilalt of Cheam have been critiquing
and resisting the objectives and activities of the 2010 Olympics since
2000. The threat and reality of new ski-resort development in the
province has prompted other groups, such as the Nlaka'Pamux Nation in
defense of the Coquihalla to take action. In all of these communities
hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to build new and
expand existing ski-resorts in order to accommodate tourists and
Olympian trainers for 2010. The mega-development on these Indigenous
lands has already disrupted hunting and fishing grounds and destroyed
sacred sites.

In the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (which is home to an
overrepresentation of Indigenous people) 514 low-income housing units
were lost between June 2003 and June 2005. Almost 300 low-income
housing units have been lost in the same time period to rent
increases. Over 126,000 people in 56,000 households in Greater
Vancouver are at risk of homelessness according to the 2001 Canada
census. The massive influx of tourists in 2010 will encourage the
closures of more low-income housing and advance gentrification in
order to accommodate and appease the hungry visitors.

THE OLYMPICS MOCKS AND HURTS INDIGENOUS CULTURES

The Olympic mascots will help raise $46 million in merchandising
royalties on total sales of $500 million. The primary goal of the
mascots is to engage children in the Games. There are three official
2010 Olympic mascots and a 'mascot sidekick' that take the shape of
'mythical' animals that are to resemble a cross hybrid of First
Nations creatures and Japanese animation figures.

The four mascots were created by Vancouver-based children's
illustrator Vicki Wong and her partner, Los Angeles-based Michael
Murphy. The stuffed animals are as follows:

Sumi is an animal spirit wearing the green hat of an orca, with the
wings of the legendary thunderbird and the legs of a black bear. He's
the Paralympic Games mascot. Sumi's name comes from the Salish word
"Sumesh" which means "guardian spirit.

Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod,
out past Vancouver Island near Tofino, British Columbia. She also like
to surf and snowboard.

Quatchi is a sasquatch that dreams of being a hockey goalie. He also
has an Inukshuk tattoo on his arm.

Mukmuk, a' bonus mini-mascot', is a Vancouver Island marmot who will
play a "sidekick" role.

The mascots point to the problem of cultural appropriation; the
phenomenon that takes place when the 'dominant culture' (white
society) takes aspects of Indigenous cultures to validate or enrich
their own. In terms of the Olympics, the mascots are used as a (cute
and mocking) way to demonstrate Indigenous participation in the games
and to depict the 'color and vibrancy' of the Olympics in Vancouver.
In reality, the mascots bastardize sacred parts of Indigenous cultures
and condense elaborate meanings into simple and silly amusement
playthings. The Olympics mascots play into the use and abuse our
cultures for entertainment, while pretending issues like exploitation,
land theft and oppression do not exist.

THE OLYMPICS CO-OPTS INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

The Squamish and Lil'wat band councils made a deal with government
and the Bid Corporation, including $20 million in land and money, and
a Squamish-Lil'wat Cultural Center to be built in nearby Whistler. In
2007, the costs expanded to $28 million, funded by the BC government,
INAC, Bell Canada, and other corporations. For receiving 122 hectares
of land zoned for industrial use, rural recourses and recreation (like
golf courses), the band councils agreed not to contest the expansion
of Whistler's boundaries into their territories.

The Four Host First Nations is an official Indigenous Olympic
Organization. The FHFN was established "to take advantage of
opportunities including economic, and establish a clear First Nations
presence on the Games.." (Nov. 24, 2004 press release).

The FHFN is composed of the Squamish, Musquem, Tseil-Watuth (Burrard)
and St'at'imc (at Mount Currie) band councils in traditional
territories where 2010 events are to occur in both Vancouver and
Whistler. It was established in November 2004 with an aim to act as
an official Indigenous Olympic Partner; to provide traditional
openings and welcomings for VANOC and Olympic events; to exploit
Indigenous culture, peoples, and lands for 2010; and to provide
legitimacy for the Olympic industry.

VANOC also attempts to co-op the Indigenous PEOPLE, not just the
chiefs and CEOS, in an attempt to quell dissent and portray and
peaceful relationship (one that has never existed between Indigenous
people and Canada).

A walk known as the "Reconciliation Walk"
(http://www.peopletogether.ca/), which was ceremonial blessed this
summer will showcase Aboriginal people walking across the Burrard
Bridge in September 2008 to show off our "First Nations, Métis and
Inuit" "color, culture, and vibrancy" under the umbrella of
"reconciliation" as a lead up to the 2010 Olympics. Knowing that
cultural genocide, land theft, criminalization and murder of our
people happens daily at the hands of Klananda, it is far fetched to
think that reconciliation is possible at this point. This tactic of
assimilation, with the use of culture as a cover, is text book
collaboration and utilized in an attempt to demand the "undivided
attention" of ALL ["cultures"] to the 2010 games whereas the reality
is they simply divide oppressed communities more by tokenizing some
voices (they want to hear) and by silencing others (they don't want to
hear).

THE OLYMPICS SUPPORTS THE SELLING OF WOMEN

The Olympic City Brothel was proposed in November 2007 as a co-op
brothel under the guise of making it safe for sex workers in Vancouver
in 2010. The city of Vancouver is now considering making an exemption
to the law to enable the legal operation of this brothel for the
two-week period of the 2010 Olympics.

The trafficking of women, in which Indigenous women and migrant women
are overrepresented, is a key feature of the Olympics as it is one of
the easiest illegal "commodities" to move. It also helps to
accommodate Olympic investors, businessmen and tourists who will come
to the Games to spend and "experience".

An estimated 10,000 sex workers plied their trade during the 2000
Olympics in Sydney, many imported from abroad. More than 40,000 women
and girls were brought to Athens for the 2004 Summer Games. For the
2006 World Cup in Germany, more than 20,000 women were imported.
Investors and businessmen who come to the 2010 games are inevitability
on the look out for cheap lands, resources and women.

THE OLYMPICS CRIMINALIZES INIDGNEOUS PEOPLE and THE POOR

In the city, the Olympic lead up has already had an impact on
Indigenous people. Harriet Nahanee's death, caused by her poor
treatment in a BC jail where she was imprisoned for protesting the
expansion of the Sea to Sky Highway, signaled a call for action. When
we fight to keep our Indigenous lands, to keep affordable housing and
against homelessness, we are criminalized. With over $175 million
being spent on security, there is no question we will be targets of
state oppression more than we already are. It is no secret that the
Olympics are linked with repressive laws. According to Maryanne Abbs,
author of 'Massacres and Profits: A Brief History of the Olympics',
"The games have been used as a convenient cover for permanent
repressive laws and to create new police and military units. In Sydney
there were four cops for each athlete at the Games for a total of
35,000 police and security guards, 4000 troops and elite commando
units, and Black Hawk helicopters."

In Vancouver the "eye in the sky" will include hundreds of security
cameras, spy planes, intelligence agents, police and soldiers.

Those who have stood up to defend their lands have been deeply
criminalized by the Canadian state. So far there have been hundreds of
arrests of Indigenous people (with an emphasis on Indigenous youth and
Elders) who have protested the Olympics 2010 and its objectives. While
some Native leaders, as part of the "Four Host First Nations" have
given their "ceremonial blessings" to the 2010 Olympics and have
gained economically many Indigenous people realize the political
reality - that many of our people have to endure brutal conditions
when disposed of land, on the street, in unfit living conditions, and
in prison as a result of the Olympics 2010.

In this regard, it is important not to confuse "ceremonial blessings
with genuine political consent". Our people are resisting the
Olympics, and a small handful of sell-out chiefs collaborators are
benefiting at an individual level.

Native people stands against the destruction of the land, the
non-recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and inherent rights,
poverty, homelessness, and criminalization that the Olympics 2010 has
brought and will bring.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

REFUSE TO BE IGNORANT about the Games. Gather more information and
learn more about what the Olympics plan to do in your community, and
take action. Throughout BC there are several Olympic venues being
built in towns to train Olympic athletes. Let your community know and
work together to oppose the 2010 Olympics.

Check out:
http://no2010.com/
http://2010watch.com/
harrietspirit@blogspot.com

RESIST OPPRESSION that you experience or witness. The lead up to the
games has already caused a colossal of damage, and we know you've seen
it. There are several campaigns against the Olympics happening all
over Klanada. Find out how you can get involved or better yet, take
initiative and create your own actions, groups, media or movement.
Speak up, Act up, Take Action.

RISE ABOVE.. Why wait? Do something today. Create your own magazine or
zine, organize a community forum against the Olympics, make a movie
about the Games, throw a movie night about the destruction of the
Games, host a tour of Indigenous speakers in your community, do art
against the Olympics, write an article………..do something Anti-2010!

NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND!!!!! Speaking Tour Visits Great Lakes & East Coast

2008-01-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

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With Kanahus Pellkey from the Native Youth Movement and Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation.

January 2, 2008

With the 2010 Winter Olympics scheduled to occur on unceded Coast Salish, St’at’imc and Squamish territory in two years, the spectacle surrounding them continues to wreak havoc on Indigenous people, the poor, and the Mother Earth. In Spirit of Resistance to colonialism, with the 2010 Olympics as a main target, Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement and Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation are touring throughout the Great Lakes and the East Coast in January and February 2008.

“By them choosing to have the Olympics here, it’s opening up our land, our sacred sites, and our medicine grounds,” says Kanahus Pellkey. “We want investors to know our land is not for sale.” Pre-Olympic fever occupies the province of BC, and the economic excitement has massively accelerated gentrification and the building of highways, resorts, and condos. The construction of infrastructure for the 2010 Olympics itself is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local Indigenous peoples.

In October 2007, more than 1500 Indigenous people representing communities across this hemisphere held the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, on Yaqui territory in Vicam, Sonora, Mexico. They stated in their final declaration, “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada.” This speaking tour is strengthened by this momentum, and by the knowledge that hundreds, if not thousands of Indigenous people now plan to attend the Olympic Games, not in celebration, but in Resistance to the danger the Olympics poses to Indigenous lands, identity, culture, health, livelihoods, and to future generations.

The Native Youth Movement is a Movement of Native youth that works to revive traditional knowledge and inspire Native youth to defend their Peoples and Territories.

Kanahus Pellkey is a Secwepemc and Ktnuxa Warrior and a spokesperson for the Secwepemc chapter of the NYM. She has been jailed before for fighting against the illegal occupation and theft of Secwepemc Lands for the Sun Peaks ski-resort, and is active in opposing the 2010 Olympics.

Dustin Johnson is a member of the Ts'mksiyen Nation and is active in organizing anti-colonial resistance to the 2010 Olympics.

The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Guelph did much of the core organizing of the tour. IPSM-Guelph works in solidarity with Indigenous struggles for self-determination and control of their traditional territories.

To get involved, help out, or ask questions, contact healingtheearth@resist.ca.

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Tour Dates (a few are still in the works):

Windsor * Saturday January 19
Guelph * Sunday January 20
Six Nations * Monday January 21
Toronto * Tuesday January 22
Hamilton * Wednesday January 23
Six Nations * Thursday January 24
Peterborough * Friday January 25
Tyendinaga * Saturday January 26
Sharbot Lake * Sunday January 27
Kingston * Monday January 28
Akwesasne * Tuesday January 29
Kahnawake * Wednesday January 30
Kahnasatake * Thursday January 31
Ottawa * Friday February 1
Montreal * Saturday February 2
Penobscot * Sunday February 3
Portland * Monday February 4
Boston * Tuesday February 5
Binghamton * Wednesday February 6
Ithaca * Thursday February 7

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More information:

The Olympic organizers operate with a budget of almost $2 billion, and other costs to government surpass $6 billion. Despite all the Olympic-related mega development, Vancouver is now home to North America’s fastest growing homelessness crisis. Indigenous people account for 30% of this homeless population, despite making up only 2% of the total population in the province.

Dozens of low-income hotels and apartment buildings are being converted to unaffordable condominiums. As thousands of people are forced from their homes, they are then criminalized for being homeless. Private security firms are hired by the city to further police the streets, long-running squats are shut down, and social services are more stressed and threatened than ever. The solution of the municipal and provincial governments and the police is to ignore the root cause, and instead pay people to leave Vancouver and repress those who stay.

The darker side of the 2010 Olympics is further apparent by examining how their sponsors and supporters are some of the most destructive companies on Turtle Island. These include:

• Petro-Canada, one of Canada’s largest producers of oil and gas,
• TransCanada, one of the continent’s largest transporters of oil and gas,
• Canadian Pacific Railway, long an integral tool of colonization,
• Hudson’s Bay Company, another company responsible for the colonization and theft of Indigenous land,
• General Electric, one of the world’s top three producers of military aircraft engines and major producer of nuclear power plants,
• General Motors, long a top contractor for the Canadian military and now the world’s largest automobile manufacturer,
• Dow Chemical, the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the Bhopal, India disaster,
• Bell Canada, who’s CEO is one of the top corporate architects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

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There is of course so much more that could be said. For further reading, see:
www.no2010.com
www.2010watch.com
www.harrietspirit.blogspot.com

JOHN GRAHAM EXTRADITED TO THE US: PRESS CONFERENCE DEC 8th

2007-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, Harriet Nahanee was a great supporter of John Graham.
Yesterday he was Extradited to the US....please show your support for him by forwarding this message or attending the press conference tomorrow (Saturday December 8th, 2007).

<><><><>
****All supporters of John Graham are invited and encouraged to please attend
this emergency press conference to show your support for John Graham and
his family.****

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FAMILY OF JOHN GRAHAM,
YUKON TUTCHONE NATIVE EXTRADITED TO THE UNITED STATES

==> Saturday December 8 @ 10:30 am at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson Side)
==> Press Conference with Statements from the family of John Graham and
supporters

Friday December 7, 2007 – The family of John Graham and supporters of
John Graham will be making statements to the media about John Graham's
extradition to the United States on Thursday December 6, 2007 after a
refusal by the Supreme Court of Canada to hear Graham's appeal.

His supporters continue to criticize the unjust extradition process and
the allegations that Graham murdered Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq Anna Mae Pictou.
Former FBI regional director Norm Zagrossi has himself stated it "looked
like a cover-up" (CBC The Fifth Estate). Rex Wyler, Pulitzer-prize winning
journalist and author, has raised many doubts about the evidence against
John Graham.

John Graham has received support letters from a wide range of
organizations including Canadian Labour Congress, Native Youth Movement,
Chief Capilano of the Squamish Nation, BC Teachers for Peace and Global
Education, BC Hospital Employees Union, Stopwar.ca, Council of Yukon First
Nations, BC Federation of Labour. Amnesty International has also stated
concern about the lack of a fair trial.

Both the B.C. Supreme Court extradition judge and the B.C. appeal court
ruled there were deficiencies in the record of the case given to the
courts by U.S. officials. However the 1999 Extradition Treaty between the
United States and Canada lowers the burden of proof to include hearsay
evidence, which would not be admitted in a Canadian criminal court. Graham
and his lawyers have previously stated they would welcome a trial in
Canada, where the fake evidence could be exposed.

A key witness Arlo-Looking Cloud recanted his testimony stating that he
was coerced and under the influence of alcohol. Another prosecution
witness Kamook Banks admitted she was paid $43,000 to cooperate with the
FBI. One witness Al Gates that U.S. Attorney Robert Mandel stated would be
available for trial had been dead for nine months. Another witness Frank
Dillon has denied making any incriminating statements against Graham.

Supporters claim there are parallels to Leonard Peltier, who was
extradited from Vancouver in 1976 based on FBI affidavits signed by Myrtle
Poor-Bear, who claimed to be Peltier's girlfriend. It is now widely
reported that Poor-Bear had never met Peltier and had been intimidated by
the FBI. In 1979 former US solicitor general Warren Allmand acknowledged
this and formally apologized. 50 Canadian MPs have since submitted an
amicus curiae recognizing the grave mistake made in Peltier's extradition.

Between 1973-75, an estimated 67 American Indian Movement members or
associates were killed in South Dakota by Bureau of Indian Affairs police
and a paramilitary squad- Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOON's). By this
time, the FBI had also targeted AIM with a counter-insurgency campaign
entitled COINTEL-PRO (Counter-Intelligence Program). COINTEL-PRO was also
used to target communist & socialist groups, the anti-Vietnam War
movement, and the Black Panther Party.

- 30 -

TAKE BACK THE LAND OR DIE TRYIN'!

2007-12-03T11:21:00.001-08:00

INDIGENOUS WEEK OF RESISTANCE TO THE 2010 OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!

2007-11-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

WEEK OF RESISTANCE AGAINST THE 2010 OLYMPICS
UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORIES - VANCOUVER, BC
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29 - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2007

OPEN TO PUBLIC
****************

Tuesday December 4
FTP – FEEDTHE PEOPLE, F*%"$ THE POLICE, FREE THE PRISONS…
Feed Our Brothers & Sisters who have been displaced off our Land and onto the streets of Vancouver. Native Peoples have the highest incarceration rate per capita than any other race in kkkanda and continue to be the victims of police terrorism on a daily basis.
We will be Serving Moose, Elk, Deer Stew and Salmon soup.
Oppenheimer Park 1 pm

Wedneday December 5
BUY NOTHING TODAY – DON'T CONTRIBUTE TO THE ENEMIES SY$TEM

Thursday December 6
Frank Paul Memorial Rally
3-5pm
Performances, drumming, singing, sharing. Coffee, tea and snacks.
Acknowledement and Prayer Ceremony for those residential school survivors who died of violent means.
5:00 walk over to Main and Hastings for Acknowledgement as a Residential School Survivor and Prayer Ceremony for Frank Paul.
Bring tobacco, smudge, flowers to add..
csiaction@gmail.com

FOR MORE INFO ON THE WEEK OF RESISTANCE AGAINST THE 2010 OLYMPICS
CONTACT: nymcommunications@hotmail.com or (604) 682-3269 ext 7845
or indigenous.free.school@gmail.com

NYM Communications
NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT
FIGHT FOR LIFE
WARRIORS UNITE FROM ALASKA TO ARGENTINA

The Indigenous Free School
-Truely FREE from oppression (no government funding, no corporate ties, lead by Indigenous people)

"It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand. ~Apache"

HONOR THE DEAD, FIGHT FOR THE LIVING, HARRIET NAHANEE AND SHAWN BRANT

2007-11-20T11:11:00.000-08:00

This was presented by Ange Sterritt on November 15 '07, as part of a West Coast speaking tour to support the TYENDINAGA Mohawks.

I would like to thank Sue Collis for coming here today to talk to us about Shawn Brant as well as express my gratitude and honor for those like Shawn Brant whom have risked their freedom and lives for the freedom and lives of others and for the future generations. I also want to acknowledge that what happened to Shawn Brant, Harriet Nahanee, John Graham and others is not only a terrible abomination and explication of the tyrannical nature of the justice system but representative of the refusal of the Klanadian government to remove itself from its perpetuation and implication in the occupation and theft of Indigenous lands. I say “Klan”adian to reflect the white supremist nature in which the illegal nation we live under the burden of operates.

As the Olympics 2010 draws closer, we are seeing an acceleration of this repression and criminal behavior from all levels of government.

In the same way that Mohawks have opposed corporate invasion and governmental terrorism in Tyendinaga, there has been resistance in the occupied Indigenous territories of BC from many Indigenous nations. The Olympics, whose budget is close to 30 billion dollars for a 2 week spectacle, acts as a microcosm for the way in which Klananda has oppressed Indigenous people in order to gain access to rights and title to Indigenous lands. But it also asserts itself as a real threat to Indigenous people and our lands, and likewise sees Indigenous people as a real threat to its existence.

On December 3, 1998, The Canadian Olympic Association chose Vancouver as its candidate city. Vancouver was posited as the “security and safety” candidate - ironic and insulting since most people know by now the large number of Indigenous people imprisoned and killed by police not to mention the reality that over 60 women, many Indigenous, were taken from the downtown eastside, murdered or never to be seen again.

As well how secure do Indigenous people feel now that over 30 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered along the Highway of Tears in northern British Columbia. It is often the case that the justice system has protected the predators and killers of these women and girls, while Indigenous women have been ignored and over policed. It’s also insulting to promote Vancouver as the security candidate given the ‘insecure’ and uncertain nature of Indigenous lands and resources targeted by corporations to be privatized and exploited. The justice system has since its inception of settler/colonial society used police forces, courts and racist civil society to undermine and outlaw our Original sacred systems and laws. It continues to imprison and kill our people to gain access to our lands.

Indigenous Resistance to the Olympic hegemony has been greatly criminalized, in hopes to reassure the hungry visitors, or the tourists that their stay will be safe. The attempts to silence us in jails and through our death sentence are cross-country efforts.

Like Shawn, Harriet Nahanee stood up against the theft of the land and was punished greatly.

Harriet was a Pedechat Elder who had married into the Squamish Nation and was protesting an infamous Olympic development – the so called Achilles heal of the 2010 Olympics - the Sea to Sky Highway. She was sentenced to a provincial jail for criminal contempt of court for her part in the Sea-to-Sky Highway-expansion protest at Eagleridge Bluffs. She died of pneumonia and complications at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver on February 24, just one month after her original sentencing. Nahanee had been weak from the flu and asthma in January, and it was widely suspected that Nahanee's condition worsened during her incarceration at the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre, a facility set up predominantly for housing male criminals. An independent public inquiry into her passing was called for in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on March 5. Solicitor-General John Les said the provincial government expressed "regret" for the passing but denied any government responsibility and refused opposition requests for an inquiry

The expose of Harriet’s plight helped to catapult many Indigenous people in the city to act to oppose Olympic atrocities against our people and compelled us to organize, educate and mobilize each other. One of the more significant Indigenous struggles people in the city have been working in solidarity with is the plight of the Secwepemc and St'at'imc people to resist the expansion of ski- resorts on their lands.

Just last week The Austrian ski team arrived on Secwepemc lands to train for the 2010 games. They will be the first to train on the new 3 million dollar Nancy Greene International Race Centre at Sun Peaks built this summer. Phase 1 has recently been completed and once phase 2 and 3 are completed Sun Peaks will be able to boast a new dedicated lift and an additional snow making capacity. The fake snow is made with reused sewage water that pollutes Skelkwek’welt (Secwepemc territory) waters and depletes underground Aquifers. Sun Peaks corporate mega-development development also continues to destroy Secwepemc Land by clear-cutting whole mountainsides and valuable hunting grounds, berry picking and medicine harvesting areas.

Now the Austrian ski team is at Sun Peaks promoting Secwepemc land to the world and training for the 2010 Winter Games!

Not only does this kind of destruction of the land destroy Indigenous cultures and relationships to the land by displacing Indigenous people, it also has an impact on our identity as Indigenous people. The Olympikkks like the Klanadian government uses Indigenous identities for their expediency. They want the public to “imagine” a bourgeoisie’s playground. They use and abuse our cultures for entertainment, but our sovereignty (which is often delineated though our songs and dances) is simply an annoyance.

Ironically a walk known as the “Reconciliation Walk” (http://www.peopletogether.ca/), which was ceremonial blessed earlier this month will showcase Aboriginal people walking across the Burrard Bridge in September 2008 to show off our “First Nations, Métis and Inuit” “color, culture, and vibrancy” under the umbrella of “reconciliation” as a lead up to the 2010 Olympics. This is the same bridge that two Indigenous men were taken down on in 2005 when it was discovered they were carrying legal hunting rifles for an Indigenous youth traditional skills camp. Knowing that cultural genocide, land theft, criminalization and murder of our people happens daily at the hands of Klananda, it is far fetched to think that reconciliation is possible at this point. This kind of tactic of assimilation, with the use of culture as a cover, is text book collaboration and utilized in an attempt to demand the “undivided attention” of ALL [“cultures”] to the 2010 games whereas the reality is they simply divide oppressed communities more by tokenizing some voices (they want to hear) and by silencing others (they don’t want to hear).

Optics and imagery are also used in other communities, namely poor and marginalized women’s. The Olympic City Brothel was proposed as a co-op brothel under the guise of making it safe for sex workers working in Vancouver in 2010. When I first saw this I thought of predatory capitalism. The trafficking of women, in which Indigenous women and migrant women are overrepresented, is a key feature of the Olympics as it is one of the easiest illegal “commodities” to move. It also helps to accommodate Olympic investors, businessmen and tourists who will come to the Games to spend and “experience”.

An estimated 10,000 sex workers plied their trade during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, many imported from abroad. More than 40,000 women and girls were brought to Athens for the 2004 Summer Games. For the 2006 World Cup in Germany, more than 20,000 women were imported. Investors and businessmen who come to the 2010 games are inevitability on the look out for cheap lands, resources and women.

Some may defend the sex trade saying it’s the oldest profession, but like many parts of colonization and capitalism it presents itself as the oldest oppression and one that needs to be ended, along with poverty, greed, hatred and suffering.

These are some of the issues Indigenous Anti-Olympic Organizers have been working on in the city for years and some of the ways in which we have shaped our actions and campaigns. We urge you to learn more and take actions.

The Olympics destroys Native lands, Indigenous women, Indigenous communities, and human dignity. The Olympics creates homelessness, abject poverty, further violence and racism.

End the Olympikkk Oppression Now!

Harriet Nahanee's Anti-Olympic struggle discussed in Sonora Mexico

2007-10-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indigenous-encuentro

Intercontinental Anti- 2010 Olympics Movement Launched In Mexico

For Immediate Release October 18, 2007

Coast Salish Territory; Vancouver

Indigenous representatives attending an intercontinental Indigenous gathering in Vicam , Sonora Mexico have called for a boycott of the 2010 Olympics Games. The meeting, which was attended by over 1500 delegates representing nations from the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America, began on October 11thth and ended on October 14th. Indigenous people met to discuss 515 years of invasion and resistance to colonial occupation of Indigenous lands, with the Olympics a central theme.

Delegates agreed that the 2010 Games, to be held on the occupied Indigenous territories of Vancouver "BC", will have an immense negative impact on Indigenous people's lands and lives. Reading from the proposed resolutions delivered at the gathering, Gord Hill, a Kwakwaka'wakw delegate, stated that "Olympic related mega development on Indigenous lands have already disrupted hunting and fishing grounds and destroyed sacred sites". The resolutions also drew attention to the death of esteemed Elder Harriet Nahanee who died after she was imprisoned for protesting the expansion of the Sea to Sky highway – the primary artery to the main site of the 2010 winter Games.

In the final statement, adopted resolution number two states "We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island--Vancouver, Canada”. Angela Sterritt, Gitxsan participant, said "Not only are the 2010 Games destructive to the environment, but they will accelerate violence against Indigenous women. Prostitution is being actively promoted and referred to as a "tourist attraction" for the games".

The Gathering, held on Yaqui territory, followed a number of regional gatherings throughout Mexico. The delegates representing Northern Turtle Island, also known as Canada, agreed that defense and protection of the land and unity were central to their effort towards self-determination and freedom. The year 2010 in Vancouver marks a great threat to Indigenous people and to these goals.

Delegates from across the continent decided that resistance to the Olympics should be an international objective. Given the Olympic massacre of over 300 students in Mexico in 1968 and the exploitation of Indigenous people in other countries that have hosted the Olympics, the Indigenous peoples in Vicam agreed that stopping the Olympics 2010 is imperative. Hundreds if not thousands of Indigenous people now plan to attend the Olympic Games, not in celebration, but in resistance to the danger the Olympics poses to Indigenous lands, identity, culture, health, livelihoods, and to future generations.

-30-

For more information contact:
Dustin Johnson, Spokesperson, 604-602-7226; email: dustin@redwiremag.com
Angela Sterritt, Spokesperson, 604-562-1028; email: indigenous.free.school@gmail.com
Gord Hill, Spokesperson, 604-602-7226; email: warrior-publications@hotmail.com

Why the Spirit of Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee is revered by the Indigenous Anti-Olympics Movement

2007-10-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

This was originally published in the Under the Volcano Mag this summer of 2007.

Why the Spirit of Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee is revered by the Indigenous Anti-Olympics Movement

In respect of our ancestors, to those of us not born, and those of us not here, we relate the teachings of our Elders and those who have moved on to their non-physical forms, to our daily modern lives. We are taught to acknowledge whose land we live and rest on and to remember the struggles of those who came before us who worked hard to protect the ground, the waters and the winds.

In all of our Indigenous traditions, there are stories of creation, catastrophe and struggle. It is our duty, we are told, to remember these stories, known as our ‘adaawk’ in Gitxsan, so that our history and knowledge will continue to survive and evolve, even in the face of adversarial dismissal, objection and criminalization of who we are. Gitxsan Elders have described how the word lippygyet is translated in English to mean the ‘freedom to be who we are’. This concept is something the Canadian government refuses to recognize: That we are Indigenous people whom according to our adaawk, have been placed within our traditional territories from the beginning of our existence as a people. When an Elder stands on her land and says, “ we belong to this land”, that truth forms our Indigenous law, and delineates our Original ownership to it, which neither a colonial system nor its agents can de-legitimize.

Indigenous people have asserted inherent freedoms and sacred rights to defend their land from colonial and capitalist invasion for hundreds of years. And the incursion of the 2010 Olympic circus into Indigenous communities is simply a continuation of aggressive colonial development that also warrants resistance.

While Olympic organizers wine and dine First Nations Chiefs and band councillors in fancy hotels and restaurants to win their hearts to the fanfare of the games, Indigenous anti-Olympic organizers continue to expose the true embryonic realities of the Games. The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) currently occupies, exploits and profits from Indigenous lands and intends to maximize its profit margin by attracting national and international investment pertaining to the games in 2010. Their profits have already disrupted Native lands and communities unequivocally. But Native people are fighting back.

The Secwepemc of Skwelkwek'welt, the Stat’imc of Sutikalh, the Pilalt of Cheam, and the Nlaka'Pamux of the Merritt area have been at the forefront of the struggle to confront and halt Olympic-related mega-development including destructive ski-resort construction and expansion on their lands. Instead of watching their mountains, sacred sites, hunting and fishing grounds become parking lots and condos, Native people have done what our ancestors and Elders advise us to do, resist and refuse colonial encroachment and contempt. In the city, Indigenous people have challenged VANOC’s aggravation of abject poverty and homelessness resulting from the race to accommodate Olympic athletes, foreign investment and trade, and hungry capitalist visitors (tourists) leading up to and in 2010.

Indigenous anti-Olympic resistance has been characterized by the building of protection camps, blockading roads, occupying buildings, disrupting VANOC events, removing VANOC property including a 16 by 25 foot Olympic flag, and gaining grassroots, national and international support against the environmental and human rights violations wreaked by VANOC and the Canadian and provincial governments. The work done by Indigenous people to end the Olympics 2010 has not gone unnoticed.

Yet it was one small, but powerful woman who catapulted the exposé of the 2010 games. The tragic death of esteemed Elder Harriet Nahanee (Thitspa7s) sparked deep empathy to her plight, not only in mourning the loss of her life, but in the realization of our loss of land, dignity and freedoms that the Olympic machine takes.

Harriet was a 72-year old Pacheedaht grandmother, Elder, and an Indigenous Warrior who had married into the Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) Nation. She was one of the only Indigenous protesters working to protect the Eagle Ridge Bluffs site slated to be destroyed in the expansion of the sea to sky highway that will pave the way to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler.

For asserting her Indigenous rights and for refusing to apologize for her blockade action, on January 24th, 2007, despite her frail health, Harriet was sentenced to fourteen days in the Surrey Pretrial Centre, a men's prison and a notorious hell-hole for women. Advocates and friends of Harriet described her experience in prison, where she was forced to live with 26 other women in a cell, as violent, racist and abusive. When medical attention was requested, only a psychiatrist was offered.

While serving her horrific prison sentence Harriet Nahanee contracted pneumonia. She was hospitalized after serving nine days of her sentence and passed away within a week subsequent to her hospitalization.

There is no justification in the incarceration and resulting death of esteemed Elder Harriet Nahanee. Many Indigenous Elders, youth, women, and men were hurt and can identify with Harriet’s experience as it encompasses the large extent of oppression we endure – criminalization for protecting our land from destruction, imprisonment, state injustice, racism, routine police and rcmp abuse, and violence, ostracization from our communities for speaking out, and illness and death as a result of colonial mistreatment and violence.

We do not represent or speak on Harriet Nahanee’s behalf, that is her respected family’s role. We will however honor the request she shared with us the day before she passed on to tell others that we must continue to fight for the land, for the red-footed frog, for the water and for our people.

Harriet's life, oppression, brave actions and experience opened a door and shed luminosity on a situation that many are blinded from. The Olympics, backed by government and big corporations, will pursue their goals at any cost, even if it is an Elder's life. This is the painful reality. Harriet fought with all her heart and strength to bring oppression to an end in hopes that there will be something left for her grandchildren, in hopes that other's human rights will be respected amidst massive efforts of the rich and powerful to profit.

She gave us inspiration to continue the battle on the front lines for change, to wake people out of their slumber, out of their lives of justification of the system's oppression we all experience and into a strong spirit willing to sacrifice convenience and comfort, for justice, for freedom, for land and life.

Another Skwxwu7mesh friend once told me, “it only takes one to make a difference”. Geronimo repeated those words when he said: “if necessary I will fight alone"-(which he did with great success) (Geronimo 1881). It just takes one to send out an eminent message and lesson to influence mass change. Harriet’s one spirit powerfully demonstrated that our fear of oppression can be overridden by direct responses to disrespect of our people and our lands. We cannot be afraid to stand up any longer.

Harriet, Hamy'ya (thank you) to you for your great work and vast impact you have had on Indigenous people in the struggle. Your voice will never be silenced.

LANDSLIDE 2010!!!!

2007-09-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

Many Indigenous people are taught that, according to our ancestors, when our people pass on they are reincarnated back to the earth. Our ancestors live in the trees, in the rocks, in the soil, in the land, and in the plants. A Gitxsan proverb says, "in the clouds rests the resistance of our ancestor's souls". Maybe Olympic and city developers and corporations should take note of this, particularly the ones working on the Sea to Sky highway. As many already know, Harriet Nahanee spent a lot of time at the Eagle Ridge Bluff site, protesting the expansion of the main Olympic artery. According to corporate media, "dubbed the "Killer Highway," the road from Vancouver to Whistler has been plagued with problems throughout its history, ranging from traffic-related deaths to 14 major landslides over the past century which has resulted in as many deaths". Perhaps Olympic Organizers should have listened when protestors warned that additional highway development could have a serious impact on the fragile ecosystem in the area.

The highway has recently been labeled "the Olympics Achilles Heal " since the freeway has become weaker with further landslides and floods experienced on route throughout this year. Indigenous activists are chanting “Landslide 2010!”, among other mantras as it becomes more and more apparent that initial VANOC fears are becoming reality.

Below are some recent news reports and some from earlier this year, outlining sentiments and facts about the feeble road to the Olympics 2010.

Editorial (taken from Pique: Whistler's Newsmagazine)
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com
Published 2007-09-12 14:02:51

Olympic tail wagging the Whistler dog?
By Bob Barnett

I used to live in Whistler. Now I feel sorry for people living in Whistler. Everybody out there has been Olympically brainwashed.

The rest of this province is now going to pay for your fancy crap.

I hope it rains in 2010.

– unpublished letter to the editor

....
You only have to look at the front page of Tuesday’s Vancouver Sun to see how the Olympics are becoming the prism through which many things are viewed.

The main photograph on the front page, by Whistler’s Bonny Makarewicz, was of the logging truck that tipped over just south of Function Junction on Monday. Two people miraculously survived the accident, which sent a log through the windshield of their car while other logs crushed the car. A pickup truck was also damaged.

The headline over the photo, in all caps, was: “Sea to Sky Route the Olympics’ Achilles heel?”

The lede for the story on page 3 was: “For the second time in three days, a serious accident shut down the Sea to Sky Highway on Monday, raising questions about how organizers of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will deal with such problems during the Games.”

Further down the story stated: “The treacherous highway is mid-way through a $600-million upgrade, in which some sections are being expanded to four lanes specifically to accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic during the Olympics.

“But the highway remains dangerous, and accidents frequently shut it down.”

The story was not about the injured people. It was not about the safety of logging trucks on the highway — this being the second logging truck to lose its load on the same corner in seven months, this time during national trucking week. It didn’t mention that the corner is being removed in the highway upgrade. And there was no discussion of the impact the multiple highway closures in the last 12 months have had on businesses and individuals already. The main story was all about the highway in the context of the 2010 Olympics. A sidebar provided the details of the accident.

In Whistler, as well, the Olympics have become the context for many of our discussions and decisions. The major issues at municipal hall — the development of Lots 1 and 9 and the athletes’ village, renovation of village properties, transportation planning, sewage plant upgrades, budgeting, labour and accommodation, new buses, policing, the municipality’s now-defunct request for special powers to regulate businesses during the Games — are all directly or indirectly related to the Olympics. And those issues that aren’t Olympic-related — the west side sewer — are not priorities at the moment.

On Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, many of the upgrades this year are specifically for the Olympics. The Games have had a direct impact on the growing involvement of First Nations in Whistler and on the burgeoning arts scene. Much of the federal and provincial governments’ interest and funding locally is Games-related. And despite the fact there’s no rational reason why a two-week sporting event should influence people’s decisions to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on real estate, one could make a case — and many undoubtedly will — that the Olympics are having an impact on the once-again booming real estate market.

Landslide forces closure of Sea-to-Sky Highway
Vancouver Sun
Published: Sunday, February 04, 2007

A landslide today forced the closure of the Sea-to-Sky Highway in both directions, and the highway is expected to remain closed for many hours while the debris is cleared.

The slide occurred before 10 a.m. near Ansell Point, just north of Horseshoe Bay. A West Vancouver police spokesperson said no one was hurt in the slide.

Roadwork has been underway in the area as part of improvements to the highway to Whistler in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics. But a project spokeswoman said no work has been done for the past couple of days.

In December, hundreds of people were stuck in their vehicles along the Sea to Sky Highway for up to 12 hours after a massive snowstorm caused treacherous road conditions and led to two serious collisions and a jackknifed cement truck between Squamish and Whistler.

Sea-to-Sky Highway reopens after landslide
Updated Sun. Feb. 4 2007 11:49 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Crews re-opened the Sea-to-Sky highway Sunday night after a landslide blocked the land link between Vancouver and the B.C. ski resort of Whistler.

The slide occurred Sunday morning just north of Horseshoe Bay near West Vancouver.

No injuries or damage to vehicles was reported, although large boulders and chunks of rock covered the road, along with trees and mud.

A particularly large boulder posed a problem for crews. They eventually solved it by blasting the boulder into smaller pieces.

Mike Long of B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation said there had been blasting in the area for highway upgrades -- part of construction in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics -- but the cause of the slide is not yet known.

"(The rockslide) is significant because it goes right across the road and it's closed both directions," he said.

The slide created a traffic nightmare.

Police turned vehicles around or told them to prepare for a wait of up to 10 hours.

Some American tourists abandoned their rental car and hired a boat to transport them so they could catch a flight home.

One fellow in a vehicle, trying to head up to Whistler for snowboarding, said he would wait it out "with my hot boyfriend."

The Killer Highway

Dubbed the "Killer Highway," the road from Vancouver to Whistler has been plagued with problems throughout its history, ranging from traffic-related deaths to 14 major landslides over the past century which has resulted in as many deaths.

A major slide in 1991 north of Lion's Bay in Loggers Creek closed the Sea-to-Sky Highway for 12 days and cost $7 million to repair.

Meanwhile, the highway's winding curves and two-lane sections have been blamed by many for the deaths of 19 people and over 800 accidents in the past five years alone.

International Olympic Committee members said the road was the Achilles heel of Vancouver's ultimately successful bid for the 2010 Winter Games.

The province has promised $600-million to improve the highway before the games. Construction can be expected to last for at least two more years, with the improvements scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009.

COLONIAL SECURITY FORCES : INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE

2007-09-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

COLONIAL SECURITY FORCES: An Indigenous Analysis of the “Justice” System in occupied KKKanada

Olympikkk Security

With the insurmountable Indigenous resistance to the 2010 Olympic games accelerating, many are becoming more and more aware of the mass peril the games will bring. Harriet Nahanee and other grassroots Indigenous people have been actively engaged in shutting the games down due to the already present destruction it has cost us. Indigenous lands are under attack as are our lives as billions of dollars are sunk into the construction of highways, ski resorts, tourist condos and accommodations, sports venues and transportation infrastructure (like the Canada Line). Meanwhile only a handful of sell-out Chiefs, politicians and corporate execs will reap the temporary benefits. The rest of us whom foresee the grim reality that VANOC will trail behind them, and whom are already witnessing and experiencing the effects of 2010, are uncovering the facts and taking action.

In the city, the Olympic lead up has already had an impact on Indigenous people. Harriet Nahanee’s death, caused by her poor treatment in a BC jail where she was imprisoned for protesting the expansion of the Sea to Sky Highway, signaled a call for action. When we fight to keep our Indigenous lands, to keep affordable housing and against homelessness, we are criminalized. With over $175 million being spent on security, there is no question we will be targets of state oppression more than we already are. It is no secret that the Olympics are linked with repressive laws. According to Maryanne Abbs, author of ‘Massacres and Profits: A Brief History of the Olympics’, “The games have been used as a convenient cover for permanent repressive laws and to create new police and military units. In Sydney there were four cops for each athlete at the Games for a total of 35,000 police and security guards, 4000 troops and elite commando units, and Black Hawk helicopters.”

In Vancouver the “eye in the sky” will include hundreds of security cameras, spy planes, intelligence agents, police and soldiers. This doesn’t mean we need to start fear mongering or start to “love the police” (WTF!), it means we need to start organizing, mobilizing, educating and taking action! The best place to start, is right here in your mind. Know your history; know your friends; know where you stand!

History: Setting the Racist & Sexist Stage

The introduction of the colonial “justice” system into Indigenous lands meant that a system of violent oppression was not only practiced but institutionalized and imposed on Indigenous people. Police forces were set up to enforce white colonial laws and to undermine and outlaw our Original Indigenous justice systems and laws. In 1873, the Northwest Mounted Police (later to become the Royal North West and then the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) was established to regulate settlement - making room for white settlers by forcing the Indigenous population off their land. Colonizers, whose main goal was to acquire Indigenous lands and resources in order to gain power to expand the global capitalist empire, relied heavily on KKKanadian police forces. Most importantly, they needed to remove Indigenous women, whom were often culturally responsible for land use and ownership, from their traditional roles, so that settler society could access the land more easily.

The NWMP’s members at this time were notorious for assaulting, abusing and raping Indigenous women and their children. These instances were clearly about abusing authority and undermining Indigenous women’s power. Members of the NWMP, in an effort to shift the blame and claim innocence, would institute racist, sexist stereotypes on Indigenous women through the media, public discourse and even policy. The vilification of Indigenous women at this time was built through fabrications about us as “immoral”. The Norwest Mounted Police’s crimes of rape, assault and abuse against Indigenous women could then be more easily justified and dismissed (if their victims could somehow be blamed for their brutality). The deceptions they cast about Indigenous women remain in many ways today and explain the way in which many Indigenous women are treated by white settler society and the general public (just look at the acts of Paul Jordon Gilbert, Robert Pickton and Judge Ramsay, to name just a few, to see how white men get away with murder and brutal violence against Indigenous women). The RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department continue to rape, abuse, assault and kill Indigenous people and get away with it because of their history of manipulating the “justice” system and the ideological framework of society, especially settler society whom they protect.

The white corporate media has always favored the perspective or manufacture of lies presented by the NWMP and the RCMP, and therefore the lies the police told transmitted to the general populace easily. The Macleod Gazeete, the Toronto Globe and the Globe and Mail have a history of promoting the NWMP and RCMP’s negative stereotypes of Indigenous women. These lies asserted that Indigenous people were subhuman and subject and deserving of foul treatment. The justification of police brutality therefore is nothing new but part of a long history of a program of assault launched on Indigenous people since the inception of colonization.

Suggested Readings:

Sarah Carter. "Categories and Terrains of Exclusion: Constructing the ‘Indian Woman’ in the Early Settlement Area in Western Canada," Ken Coates and Robin Fisher, eds., Out of the Background: Readings in Canadian Native History, (Toronto: Copp Clarke, 1996): 177-195.

Bear, Shirley. “You Can’t Change the Indian Act”. Women & Social Change: Feminist Activism in Canada. Ed. Wine, Jeri D, Ristock, Janice L. Journal of Canadian Studies, Winter 1994.

Jamieson, Kathleen. "Sex discrimination and the Indian Act". Arduous Journey :Canadian Indians and Decolonization Ed. J.R. Pinting. Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, 1987.

Jamieson, Kathleen. "Indian Woman and the Law: Citizens Minus". Ottawa: Supply And Services, 1978.

Stevenson, Winona. “Colonialism and First Nations Women in Canada”.Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought: Scratching the Surface of Racism. Ed. Enakshi Dua and Angela Robertson, 49-80. Toronto: Women's Press, 1999.

Current Reality of the "Justice" System

JUDGE DAVID RAMSAY
One Part of a Larger Systemic Problem.

The mainstream corporate media has recently brought into light the private trial of Judge Ramsay, the BC Supreme Court Judge who was charged with breech of trust, buying sex from a minor and sexual assault casing bodily harm. His victims, the majority Indigenous girls, were between the ages of 12 and 17. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison in 2004.

Ramsay is serving his sentence at the Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick, far away from public scrutiny. And after community requests to have Ramsey’s trial moved to BC were denied, some of the families of his victims and community leaders made plans to attend the trial back east. But on September 06, 2007, it was announced that there would be no public parole hearing for Judge David Ramsay. Regardless, on September 13, 2007, he was denied parole.

Ramsay's statutory release date (mandatory reintegration into society) is Jan. 30, 2009, but his ability to survive that long is in question (he apparently has terminal cancer).

While some community leaders are claiming “victory” that the violent judge (who has shown no contrition for his crimes, and revulsion towards his victims) was put away for the time being, a quick look at some of the facts, will reveal some frightening realities about the abuse of power and levels of sexual exploitation and violence saturated in the entire “justice” system.

The RCMP began their investigation into Judge Ramsay’s assaults after a complaint launched by a young Indigenous woman in August 1999. However, Judge Ramsey was not removed from his duties on the Bench until the summer of 2002. According to media accounts, the crimes committed by Ramsay continued up until 2001; three years after the investigation began. But that’s not where the corruption ends.

In October 2001 eyewitnesses came forward with first-hand evidence that Indigenous children were (are) being used in west coast pedophile rings involving senior judges, politicians, church and aboriginal leaders. According to the “Canadian Holocaust” website, one of these pedophile networks operates out of the prestigious Vancouver Club. There have also been several accounts made by sexually exploited girls and women that the RCMP and the police are also involved in this type of organized and systemic sexual violence against Indigenous girls and women.

While some leaders promote turning a blind eye to the harsh reality that many of our sisters experience at the hands of the “justice” system, others are choosing to expose, educate and organize our communities to take action against systemic sexual violence. Most Indigenous people understand this type of systemic violence and brutality as part of the history and legacy of colonization. And most of us would content that action against this system needs to take place now.

The Police and RCMP have not all of the sudden become obsolete in their crimes against Indigenous women and girls. In fact the abuses they started at the time of colonization have continued just the same. In Prince George, serious allegation of rapes and other sexual violence by RCMP and police have been unveiled but then quickly covered up. Below is but one case of the sort.

CONSTABLE JUSTIN HARRIS

Many questions, few answers in RCMP case
White Corporate Media Account of Cops that Rape
GARY MASON, Globe and Mail, October 7, 2006

VANCOUVER -- Wally Oppal, the always loquacious Attorney-General of British Columbia, suddenly has a dry throat. He doesn't want to talk about the abrupt and shocking ending to a disciplinary hearing the RCMP initiated against one of its own officers.

The hearing was terminated when a three-member tribunal ruled the force contravened its own bylaws by not initiating disciplinary proceedings against Constable Justin Harris soon enough.
Constable Harris is alleged to have paid underage prostitutes to have sex with him, a charge the officer has denied.

I phoned Mr. Oppal's office to ask whether the minister felt an independent inquiry should be ordered into the matter. After all, a police officer's reputation is at stake. Everyone in the world now knows a prostitute has alleged Constable Harris hit her when she refused to perform oral sex because he wouldn't wear a condom. And that another prostitute described him as a "bad date," a term ladies of the evening ascribe to clients who are often drunk and aggressive.

In the past, Mr. Oppal has expressed his frustration with the province's lack of jurisdiction over the RCMP given that it pays the salaries of the officers working here. When it comes to the force, the Attorney-General has said, it's a federal responsibility.

That is not good enough here. The allegations against Constable Harris are extremely serious. And they are incidents alleged to have occurred under Mr. Oppal's watch as Attorney-General. If Mr. Oppal can't do anything himself, then he should publicly call for something to be done. He should urge Stockwell Day, the federal minister responsible for our national police force, to order an inquiry. Because heaven knows there are many questions to be answered.

A request to speak to Mr. Oppal about these matters was declined. Questions were referred to a spokesman in the Criminal Justice Branch. A request to speak with Bev Busson, Deputy Commissioner of the RCMP in B.C., was also denied. You see, while on paper the RCMP is answerable to Canadians through Parliament, in practice it is accountable to no one.

Our politicians are mostly afraid to question the actions of the force, or its leadership. But here are some of the questions they should be asking in the case of Constable Harris.

It is now known that in December of 2002, Assistant Commissioner Gary Bass, received a report that up to nine RCMP officers in Prince George, including Constable Harris, were being investigated for possible links to underage prostitutes. And yet it wouldn't be until June, 2004, that he thought to inform his superior, Bev Busson, of what was going on.

Huh? Nine officers are being investigated for possible links to underage prostitutes and the assistant commissioner doesn't think it's important enough to inform his boss? He also neglected to inform one of the officers within the proper time frame that he was facing a possible disciplinary hearing stemming from an investigation into his conduct. It was because of this oversight the disciplinary hearing was quashed.

Under the RCMP Act, a commanding officer must launch a disciplinary hearing within one year of becoming aware of an officer's misconduct. An initial disciplinary hearing against Constable Harris wasn't initiated until September of 2004, almost two years after Mr. Bass was first informed of the allegations against Constable Harris.
After that initial hearing, the constable was suspended with pay.

But in February of this year, the Federal Court of Appeal clarified when the one-year time limit on disciplinary hearings begins. A new disciplinary hearing against Constable Harris then commenced on Oct. 2, at which time his lawyer made clear he would argue the action against his client should be dropped because the Mounties waited too long to commence the hearing initially.

If that was the case, why did the tribunal hear any evidence before making its ruling that ended the hearing? Why didn't it deal with the matter at the outset, thereby preventing provocative and damaging testimony against the officer from being heard and published?

If Constable Harris is innocent of the accusations levelled against him, what recourse does the officer now have to clear his name? Why is there a one-year limit on the commencement of these hearings anyway? Especially given the notoriously slow pace at which the RCMP conducts investigations involving its own officers. Why is the RCMP allowed to investigate itself in the first place?

What does Giuliano Zaccardelli, the embattled commissioner of the RCMP, think of all this? Is he satisfied with the way this case was handled? Does he still have complete confidence in Mr. Bass? Does he intend to allow despicable allegations to forever hang over the head of one of his officers? If the answer is yes, does he think that's fair?
Does he think the one-year statute of limitations on disciplinary hearings is a good idea?
Why did the RCMP go ahead with the disciplinary hearing against Constable Harris when the B.C. Attorney-General's Department had earlier decided there was not enough evidence against the officer to lay criminal charges? Did the Criminal Justice Branch of the Ministry get it wrong?
So many questions. So few people willing to answer them.
gmason@globeandmail.com

Sources used and important resources to check:

Injustice Busters. “Justin Harris: Cop Without a Single Redeeming Quality” http://www.injusticebusters.com/06 Harris_Justin.shtml

Frank Peebles. “Ramsay Denied Parole: Former Prince George judge will get no early release from prison”. The Prince George Citizen. http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108567&Itemid=239

The Province. “No Parole for Former Judge Ramsay”. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=b3e0c22b bd66-452a-9d7f-1091ee7d2107&k=79523

Kelly MacDonald. “Justice Systems Response: Violence against Aboriginal Girls”. Justice For Girls.http://justiceforgirls.org/publications/pdfs/Violence%20against%20Aboriginal%20Girls%20-%20Final%20Brief%20-%20Sept%202005.pdf

The Canadian Holocaust. “Chronology of Events: Genocide in Canada”. http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.orgintro2.html

HIGHWAY OF TEARS

In the more rural areas of KKKanada, the disregard of violence against Indigenous girls is often even further aggravated. The stretch of highway in the northern interior of British Columbia, coined the "Highway of Tears" is a case in point . While over the last ten years, thirty-two teenage girls, thirty-one whom are Indigenous, have gone missing or were found murdered along highway 16, only recently have 34 law enforcement officers been put to the task of conducting an investigation in the area. Compare this to a situation where one young man from a prestigious neighborhood in the lower mainland of Vancouver BC went missing from his home in South Vancouver. Over 100 law enforcement officers were put to the task of investigating and the man was found in two days.

This statement of priority, sends a strong message to the public about Canadas value of the lives of Indigenous girls. Further, A recent report released on the highway of tears made several recommendations, including that any “RCMP highway patrol that encounters a hitchhiker, who falls within the “victim profile” (which is specified as young Native women), must stop, conduct a person check, provide the hitchhiker with a highway of tears information pamphlet and a schedule of the shuttle bus between the town and city they are located at”. And “That the RCMP be provided the resources to increase their highway patrols during the hitchhiking season, more specifically increase these patrols along the sections of Highway 16 near First Nation communities, towns and cities”. While in theory this may seem proactive, and protective of First nations girls, the reality is that Indigenous girls continue to be targeted by police and RCMP while the white men whom predominantly carry out the crimes, continue to be “unmolested” by security forces. The perpetrators of violence and injustice (the “justice” system) need to be held accountable.

For more information:

The Highway of Tears Recommendations Report. http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/files/PDF/highwayoftearsfinal.pdf

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. "Canada: Highway of Tears". http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2006/08/canada_highway.html

GILBERT PAUL JORDAN

Between 1965 and 1988, on the downtown East Side of Vancouver, Gilbert Paul Jordan killed as many as a dozen First Nation women. Gilbert Paul Jordan, a wealthy 72-year-old former barber would prey on Women, ply them with dangerous amounts of alcohol, have sex with them and then watch them die. Three of the women were found in his barbershop; four died in flop hotel rooms he had rented.

At the time, most of the deaths were declared accidental overdoses of alcohol, even though Jordan was involved in reporting many of them -- after consulting his lawyer. But almost all his victims were “Native alcoholics”, and authorities seemed to care as little as he did.

Jordan has been convicted of manslaughter just once, in the 1987 death of Vanessa Lee Buckner, 27, who was found naked on a hotel room floor after a heavy drinking binge with Jordan.
His quest for drunken sex was insatiable. By his own estimation, he was with 200 women a year, hunting for his prey where the most vulnerable women live.

In 2000, he was acquitted of sexual assault. A few months later, he was charged again in Victoria with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance -- alcohol. Those charges were eventually stayed.
In May 2001, he was sentenced to 15 months in jail and was out in 2002 on probation.

MYTH: THINKING THE RCMP, POLICE & THE "JUSTICE SYSTEM" WILL CHANGE IF WE BUILD GOOD RELATIONS WITH THEM

The history and trajectory of the NWMP and the RCMP should be telling enough for people to realize that their behavior with and attitude of Indigenous people is deeply embedded in systemic racism that is entrenched in the entire KKKanadian justice system and government. The colonial state's agenda is to protect the powerful ruling elite (the rich) not to protect it's colonial subjects (Indigenous people).
 
While recent collaborative efforts on part of some Indigenous people have attempted to build "good relations" with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and the RCMP, their abuse has actually accelerated, and has not in fact, been mitigated. In a recent visit to the north of BC, in speaking with Indigenous youth workers, all had explained that police violence on their reserves is on the rise, epic and reaching epidemic levels. All seemed at a loss of what to do. Some discussed how the attempts to co-op with police, such as Aboriginal youth/police hockey nights and the canoe journeys have attempted to facilitate a type of positive dialog that builds an understanding of each other, but explained that the brutality has gone on unabated. History is telling, and the intention of imparting it is to teach us not to repeat our past mistakes.

  Working with or within the state system will always maintain us as the subjects of a colonial power. It is the theory and practice of colonization, a state in which we live under today, that a state gains power through the oppression of another. If we continue to work WITH oppressive powers, how can we free ourselves from oppression?
 
Take the example of an abusive boyfriend. Most would agree that a woman should remove herself from an abusive relationship, knowing that humans are difficult to change by the standards of another; they have to change themselves on their own accord - predominantly by accepting the wrongs and by taking accountability for the abuse -(which if we accept the legality of the “justice” system, the police would be prosecuted and jailed like any other citizen that maimes, murders, rapes and kills). Yet some may say "try for the best and try to make it work; forgive and forget". It is reminiscent of “sweep-it-under-the-carpet” rhetoric from the 1950's, and futile, as most frontline crisis workers will agree.
 
So why do we continue to work with abusive powers, when we have been told that these types of abusive relationships are unhealthy?  Why would we not attempt to draw from our own power, and create positive alternatives to abuse instead of attempting to make an abusive power work? Some have called the protection or will to "negotiate" with abusive powers a form of Stockholm's syndrome, others have called it assimilation, others have called it simply giving up.

 
Protecting Ourselves by Watching out for the cops

Creating our own security forces (not WITHIN the state apparatus) seems conducive to reclaiming our identities, our power, and our lives. It is crucial to think critically about how history has replayed itself and learn about what other peoples have done to really take back their lives and hold the killers and abusers (the police and RCMP) responsible, so that they will not strike again. That is what an Indigenous movement is all about - freeing ourselves from a violent state that projects itself as benevolent and munificent but in reality is paternalistic and most likely simply the opposite. We need to be able to identify our abusers and call them out instead of repeating an ugly history of protecting them. If we begin to be successful in moving these abusers (the rcmp, the police, pedofile judges and other "justice" system officials and thier agents) out of our communities, we then have to think about what types of Indigenous security systems we can rely upon. Ask your Elders and family members about the peace, order and good governance structures they use/used, what worked and what didnt. Find out about Warrior Sociteties that exisited/exist or are being built now. Talk to people in other communities about "cop watch". Organize, educate and mobilize.

More than just a Shadow of Doubt

Doubt the police will ever be the good guys? Most people get it. The cops hate us. They kill us, they beat us, and they rape us because we fit the description (5’8, back hair, brown skin). We need to start holding them responsible for their actions and we need to begin to build our own security forces. We need to stop fearing them. We need to take action. On Coast Salish Territory, some of the main issues in which have put the VPD under intense security by legal advocates such as PIVOT legal society are:

• The death of Frank Paul. The 47-year-old Mi'kmaq man died of exposure after the VPD dumped him intoxicated and soaking wet in an alley. Ex-Solicitor General Rich Coleman refused repeated and widespread calls for an inquiry into Paul's death, saying it would result in "public acrimony" toward the police.
• Six cops convicted of assault. After six VPD officers pleaded guilty to assault in 2003, Coleman rejected all calls for an inquiry. "It would be an exercise in name-calling," he said.
• The missing-women file. Coleman wasn’t moved when relatives of dozens of women missing from Vancouver's DTES accused police of bungling the case. "I don’t think there's any necessity at this point for a public inquiry," he said.
• When a VPD officer fell under suspicion of lying in court and stealing evidence in 2003, Coleman rejected calls for an inquiry. "I'm pretty confident in the Vancouver police force," he said.

But all across kkkanada, the instances of police brutality against Indigenous people have proved to be even more troubling. The following is a list of Indigenous people whom have been killed or violently abused by police and RCMP.

1988. John Joseph (JJ) Harper, a Native leader died at the hands of police after he was mistaken for a car thief on a Winnipeg street and shot dead by a police officer's revolver.

1990. Seventeen year-old Neil Stonechild was a Cree teenager who died of hypothermia after Saskatoon police took him outside of the city and abandoned him in a field on a night when temperatures were below -28°C in a practice known as a starlight tour.

STARLIGHT TOURS. The police’s frequent practice of dumping Indigenous people in the middle of nowhere (all across KKKanadian but most widely reported in Saskatchewan) is known as starlight tours. It is the non-sanctioned police practice of picking up individuals in their cruisers, mostly homeless, minorities, drug addicts, or other such marginalized people, and taking them outside of town where they would be beaten and/or abandoned on the side of the road.

August 1994. Carver Joe Peters, 34, of Alert Bay was shot in the head by an RCMP dogmaster.

September 6, 1995. Dudley George was a 38 year-old Chippewa. He was Shot and killed in Ipperwash Park by OPP Sgt. Kenneth Deane. Deane was found guilty of criminal negligence causing death. Judge Hugh Fraser ruled that Deane knew George was unarmed.

March 1998. Connie Jacobs, 37 and Ty Jacobs, 9, were of the Blackfoot Nation. Both were shot and killed by RCMP Constable Dave Voller. Attempts by social workers and tribal police to remove children to foster home resulted in shotgun fire exchange between Connie Jacobs and Constable Voller at the Jacobs home. Judge Thomas Goodson's report from the inquiry states that social workers and police should be better trained but it is not his job to determine if Voller committed a crime.

Forcible and violent removal of Indigenous children by police and RCMP is not unusual and is definitely racist in nature and part of a long history of colonization. Most people by now know of the awful experience of residential school, the 60’s scoop, and foster and group homes that Indigenous people have endured at the hands of the KKKanadian government.

December 1998. Frank Paul, a Mi'kmaq man, died of hypothermia shortly after being released by the Vancouver police department into an east Vancouver alley. It is hoped the inquiry will answer the many questions that remain regarding the circumstances of his death.

August 1999. 29-year-old Native artist Anthany Dawson living in Victoria died of asphyxiation after being forcibly detained during an arrest by Victoria police.

January 28, 2000. Darrell Night was a 33-year old Indigenous man who was detained by Saskatoon City Police who then took him to Saskatoon's outskirts and dumping him coatless into the winter night.

April 27, 2001. Melvin Wayne Bigsky, 33, of Kinistin First Nation was pepper sprayed, clubbed, shocked and shot to death by RCMP in an incident on Highway 41 outside Saskatoon.

May 20, 2001. Keldon McMillan, was a 33 man from the Poundmaker First Nation. He was shot to death by police after high speed chase on Highway 41 near Saskatoon.

March 2003. Lorraine Jacobsen was shot and killed in front of her nine-year-old daughter by a RCMP Mountie. The jury absolved the police of any wrongdoing, and in fact recommended an increase in the size of area police detachments.

August 27, 2003. Geronimo Fobister,17-years-old of the Anishnabe reserve of Grassy Narrows (in Ontario) Geronimo Fobister, was a “very charismatic and very likable” boy, who was shot in the head and killed by a member of the OPP emergency response team during a standoff at Grassy Narrows First Nation.

December 26th 2004. Nisga'a man Gerald Chenery was shot by two constables who had just finished training. A coroner's inquest recommended that the Vancouver police no longer allow rookie officers to be partnered. Chenery was hit with 12 bullets, 10 of them in the back, according to inquest testimony. The police department rejected the coroner's inquest recommendation.

January 2005. Matthew Dumas, 18, died when police fired two shots during what they called "a scuffle" with officers in Winnipeg. At least one shot hit Dumas, who later died in hospital. Dumas was the second Indigenous man in Manitoban to die in a police shooting within a month.

January 2005. An RCMP officer shot and killed Dennis St. Paul in Norway House after trying to arrest him for parole violations.

2005. Glenn Shuter was 25 and of the Lower Nicola Valley Reserve near Merrit. After he was arrested, he complained of being punched in the face and body. His teeth were broken and his eyes and ears swollen. Shuter was driven 10 kilometres out of town and dumped.A lengthy police investigation indicates the alleged beating happened in the presence of another on-duty officer and an auxiliary constable. Neither of them face criminal charges.

August 23,2005. Sixteen-year-old Kyle Tait was killed by a police officer while sitting in a stolen SUV. The teen died when Const. Todd Sweet, a 15-year New Westminster Police Department veteran, fired three rounds into the stolen GMC Yukon. The 18-year-old driver was hit in the hand.

December 2, 2005. Howard Fleury was a Metis man in Winnipeg, who was shot and killed by police.

August 2007. There are rumours circulating that a young man was in a hospital emergency treatment room, and several beds away was a police officer whose first name Craig, of or formerly of 278, and well known to the youth. Craig had been attacked by a K-9 Unit! The rumours also say that Craig threatened (the Youth) and directed that (the Youth) not tell anyone.
How are we supposed to trust that the "well trained K-9 unit" will not attack innocent people if it attacks a member of the VPD?

There are definitely more names that have not been reported widely or are more difficult to find. There are also hundreds of cases of police and RCMP brutality that are reported each month in single towns and cities. Indigenous people make a large percentage of these complaints. However, there are also many cases that go unreported especially by more vulnerable members of our communities, especially Indigenous women and girls.

The most recent violence the RCMP inflicted was on an 6 month year-old Indigenous baby from the Sechelt community, in which they pepper sprayed the child and later attempted to justify the act as "protecting themselves" from violence.

From Corporate KKKanadian news:
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 | 12:09 PM PT
CBC News

Several aboriginal parents in a town northwest of Vancouver plan to file a complaint with the RCMP after a community celebration ended in pepper spray use and a confrontation with officers.
It all happened Monday night in Sechelt, B.C., after the Sechelt band's two youth teams won first prize at a soccer tournament in Vancouver.

Shannon Phillips said the RCMP pepper sprayed her and her baby Kaden.

The parents said it is a community tradition to celebrate with a grand entrance by honking horns.
RCMP Const. Annie Linteau said Tuesday police saw 10 youths standing in the back of a pickup truck, and tried to stop the vehicle.

She said when the driver finally stopped, he approached the officers in a hostile manner. In addition, a crowd of 50 to 75 people quickly became confrontational.

"Here they are dealing with a combative suspect who is yet to be handcuffed, yet to be in a controlled environment like the police car," Linteau said. "Meanwhile they have a crowd obstructing them in their duties and becoming combative themselves."

Shannon Phillips said she was carrying her baby and tried to intervene on behalf of her husband, Troy Myers, who was the driver of the pickup truck."They pepper sprayed him and when I went to say, 'What are you doing?' they turned around and pepper sprayed me and Kaden — quite a few times, actually."

Calvin Craigan, a former chief with the Sechelt band, told CBC Radio Tuesday that band members are "going to have a session with the RCMP" and demand an explanation. "We feel it's very disappointing that they would take this kind of action at this point in time when we've built a really good relationship with our community over the last 30 years," Craigan said.
While home video cameras rolled, people started screaming at the officers, who responded with more pepper spray.
In all, 15 adults and children, including two under two years old, were treated at St. Mary's Hospital for exposure to pepper spray. All were released.

At an emergency meeting Monday night, the community vowed to proceed with a complaint, saying the officers overreacted and showed no respect for a community tradition.
A 42-year-old was in custody facing several charges.

TAKE BACK THE STREETS!
<<........................................................>>

One of the ways we can take action against state violence & abuse against our people is to rally up and form a collective voice and movement. When we stick together and show our strength in numbers and through our actions, it becomes more difficult for predators, like the RCMP and the police, to continue to hide their calous actions of sexual violence, pedofilia and brutality. We also aknowledge that we become targeted when we take action, especially if we are Indigenous or people of colour. Thats why we tell people, when you go to these actions BYOM! Bring your own mask. Protect yourself from the cops, RCMP and other predetory racists!

On September 7th Indigenous people and allies took over the streets to take a stand against police brutality inflicted on Indigenous people. As most people know Indigenous people are targets of police violence. It is a pivotal socio-political fact that indigenous people get beat, raped, tazered, shot, and killed by police everyday. Police are a participating part of a continuum of violence promoted by the entire "justice" system. The life and death of Harriet Nahanee is one of many examples of the lengths the "justice" system will go to attempt to demonstrate its subjugation over Indigenous people. For instance, the most recent horrific violence the RCMP inflicted was on an 8 month year-old Aboriginal baby, in which they pepper sprayed the child and later attempted to justify the act as "protecting themselves" from violence.

About 100 people took four lanes of traffic on Commercial Drive. People shouted out Take back the Streets, no more Police! And Whose Streets, Our Streets!, Whose Land, Our land! Indigenous youth with masks led the march with flags and drums. Stopping at an Intersection at Commercial Drive and 1st, one demonstrator wrote “Stolen Land” in Red paint on the ground at the intersection.

The March ended at Grandview Park, where Curtis Clearsky and JB the First lady performed in between numerous speakers and Drummers. A BBQ also finished the day.

There were reported to be two police cruisers, a bicycle unit, a motorcycle unit and a helicopter.

At around 9pm, when most people had left, about 15 young Native people hung out around the sound system, having fun listening to the (anti-police brutality) music, making jokes and talking about the march. They were soon approached by about a dozen bicycle cops who told them to turn the music off. When one Native woman asked why they were asked to turn the music off so early, the cop said that they did not want to hear complaints and that we should just turn it off to avoid problems. The cop then motioned for his belt, making some of the people think he was reaching for his gun, and pulled out his big ugly flashlight. THEN…As the women struggled to turn the sound off (with the cop right in her face with a flashlight over her head and in her eyes), all of the sudden BLASTING out of the speakers came this Ice T song:

For every cop that has ever taken advantage of somebody, beat 'em down or
hurt 'em, because they got long hair, listen to the wrong kinda music,
wrong color, whatever they thought was the reason to do it. For every one
of those fuckin' police, I'd like to take a pig out here in this parkin'
lot and shoot 'em in their mothafuckin' face!!!!!

Perfect timing or what! The woman was like (ah…umm) and the cop was like “turn it off NOW”!, and the woman said “what you don’t like this music..how come?” He then ripped the cord out of the speaker and made his way to the generator. The woman said “you’re racist, you racially profile us, damn there was even a helicopter out there for us today for just 100 Natives, are you scared of us or what”. And the cop said “you don’t even know me”. And the woman remarked” oh I know you well racist, I know what you’ve done”, then the cop got scared and took off, towards his little bicycle unit.

The woman (who was by then standing on a stage overlooking the 12 cops) said “why are you provoking us, you have no right to be here”. The cop said “this is a park for all people ” (yea exactly not for the pigs). Meanwhile there is this other Native guy talking about how the police try to take our lives away and destroy our land and connection to it. Then all the Native youth and a Native man stood beside the woman folding their arms on their chests and said, “its time for you to leave racists” and “ya’ll don’t come back now ya hear”. After about 2 minutes of that, the cops (with all their dorky bike gear) jumped on their little bikes and took off like ghosts in the wind…

An awesome end to a great day!

STOP POLICE/RCMP BRUTALITY AGAINST ALL PEOPLE!
STOP ALL RACIST POLICE!
POLICE AND RCMP OUT OF OUR COMMUNITIES!

History of this Event:
<<.......................................>>  This is an annual event that began last year when four young Indigenous women decided to stand up against police violence and brutality when they were accosted, death threatened and harassed by Vancouver Police, while peacefully singing traditional songs in the park.

They realized that the incident was embedded in racism, sexism, ageism and most acutely - hate. They also realized that the incident of racist police violence they underwent was not isolated, but part of a large experience of police brutality Indigenous people are subjected to daily, and decided to do something.
On September 7th last year, a ceremony was held in the same park the girls were accosted in and a rally and march on Commercial Drive followed. These young women have started an Indigenous day of action against police brutality.

Want to get involved?

Get a hold of the Indigenous People's Free School to find out about upcoming actions, events and meetings.
Indigenous.free.school@gmail.com

ANTI-POLICE/RCMP VIOLENCE and BRUTALITY ACTION

2007-08-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Indigenous people get beat, raped, tazered, shot, and killed by police everyday. The police are part of a continuum of violence promoted by the entire "justice” system. The life and death of Harriet Nahanee is one of many examples of the lengths the "justice" system will go to attempt to demonstrate its subjugation over Indigenous people. The most recent horrific violence the RCMP inflicted was on an 8 month year-old Aboriginal baby, in which they pepper sprayed the child and later attempted to justify the act as "protecting themselves" from violence ( http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/07/03/pepper-spray-parents.html). This case and others exemplify the arbitrary and violent nature of the police and rcmp that has been occurring since their inception via the NWMP at the onset of colonization. The RCMP and Police forces, like the NWMP continue to attempt to exterminate Indigenous people to access Indigenous lands. But we wont take this no more! Its time to take Action and check the pigs! Bite the hand that bleeds you!

<<..<<______________________________________________>>..>>
INDIGENOUS ANTI- POLICE/RCMP VIOLENCE and BRUTALITY ACTION!

MARCH ||| FEAST ||| HIP HOP SHOW
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH AT 5 PM
MARCH FROM BLENZ COFFEE SHOP ON COMMERCIAL AND
BROADWAY.

Take a stand against police and rcmp violence, abuse, and brutality
Bring your drum, wear red and wear a mask (so the pigs wont target you later!)!

*Featuring Live Performers
Manik 1derful
Curtis Clearsky
The Dignified
JB the 1st Lady
Tswast

**Speakers***:
Chusia and Naneek Graham: Southern Tutchone & John Graham Defence Committee
Lindsay Bomberry: Onondaga Nation of Six Nations
Kat Norris: Coast Salish Indigenous Action
Skundaal: Haida Nation
Laura Holland, Alunaye - Wetsuweten
Linda Charleson
Carol Martin: Downtown Eastside Women's Center
Gladys Radek
Gord Hill: Kwakwaka'wakw Nation
Erika Del Carmen Fuchs: La Otra Campaña Vancouver
Mike Krebs: Blackfoot Nation
Harjap Grewal: No One is Illegal
Skeena Reece: Cree/Tsimshian/Gitxsan
Dustin Johnson: Gitkxaahla/Ts'msye'en
Ange Sterritt: Gitxsan Nation/Irish
And more...

Organized by Indigenous Peoples Free Skool and FTP.
For more information
contact, indigenous.free.school@gmail.com

This is an annual event that began last year when four young Indigenous women decided to stand up against police violence and brutality when they were accosted, death threatened and harassed by Vancouver Police, while peacefully singing traditional songs in the park.

They realized that the incident was embedded in racism, sexism, ageism and most acutely - hate. They also realized that the incident of racist police violence they underwent was not isolated, but part of a large experience of police brutality Indigenous people are subjected to daily, and decided to do something.

On September 7th last year, a ceremony was held in the same park the girls were accosted in and a rally and march on Commercial Drive followed. These young women have started an Indigenous day of action against police brutality. We hope many people living under the burden of the oppressive kkkanadian regime will also be inspired to Take back the Streets, Take back your Voice, and Take a Stand Against Police Brutality.

http://harrietspirit.blogspot.com/

INDIGENOUS ANTI-CANADA BLOCKADE

2007-07-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

INDIGENOUS ANTI-CANADA DAY
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AND RESISTANCE
COAST SALISH TERRITORY

On July 1st 2007, over 200 Indigenous women, children, Elders and men took the streets and the train tracks on a march and blockade to mark their resistance to Canada as an oppressive force against their people. The march began at Grandview Park and proceeded down Commercial Drive to Venables Street where the CN rail lines were occupied and blocked for over an hour.

During the blockade a Canadian flag was burned on the tracks by an Indigenous person, and several other Canadian souvenir flags that had been painted with the words “No Justice on Stolen Native Land” were burned by about 40 Indigenous people at the action.

The group stayed strong throughout the blockade in a show of force to let the Canadian government know that Indigenous people will not take state oppression any longer.

The march returned to Grandview park, again blocking traffic on the roads and intersections. The police presence was small, consisting of mostly bicycle units, and efforts to direct traffic were non-existent for at least an hour.

The REAL NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AND RESISTANCE

2007-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Real National Day of Action & Resistance
ANTI-CANADA DAY
July 1st 2007!

While the collaborator chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations plan to
march, acquire corporate donations and access government funds on June
29th (http://www.afn.ca/nda/wcid.htm), other groups are calling on
Indigenous people and their allies to take grassroots ACTION on Canada
day - the day that symbolizes epic state atrocities and oppression
against Indigenous people, including: genocide, land theft and
occupation, brutality, violence and abuse, and mass child apprehension
and deaths.

• Today, Canada continues its program of assault on Indigenous people.
The state imprisonment and death of Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee
is one of many examples of the state's vile mistreatment of Indigenous
people, in particular those who expose and dissent Canada's illegal
theft and occupation of Indigenous lands. Harriet was a 72-year old
Pacheedaht grandmother, married into the Skwxwu7mesh Nation, who was
arrested and imprisoned for protecting the Eagle Ridge Bluff site that
is slated to be destroyed in the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway
for the 2010 Olympics. Despite her frail health, Harriet was sentenced
to fourteen days at the Surrey Pretrial center; a men's prison and
notorious hell hole. While in jail, where she was inflicted with
abuse, and not given proper medical care in a cell with tens of other
inmates subject to racist treatment, Harriet Nahanee contracted
pneumonia. After one week of release from custody, she was
hospitalized and passed away within a week. Harriet represents
hundreds of other Indigenous people who are criminalized and abused by
the Canadian state when they choose to stand up against and not
assimilate into Canadian capitalist society.

• Harriet was well known for her use of the Royal Proclamation to
explain how unceded Indigenous lands are illegally occupied and
governed by the Canadian government. The Canadian and provincial
governments continue to attempt to extinguish Aboriginal title and
rights (through litigation and the BC treaty process), dispossess
Indigenous people from their lands, and destroy traditional
territories through mega-development projects.

• There are over 500 murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada,
yet Canada does not acknowledge this as a 'Justice file,' or as the
responsibility of the justice system. Instead, the unjust deaths are
treated as 'cultural,' and put under a 'Canadian Heritage file.' Where
do the AFN collaborator chiefs stand on this issue? Where were they at
the Pickton trial? Why do they not mention Aboriginal women on their
Day of Action?

• Today, there has been more Indigenous children in foster and state
(MCFD) care then there ever was in residential school (tens of
thousands of Indigenous people who were forced in residential school
are now filing legal cases against the church and state of Canada).
This should be alarming as the number of Indigenous people in abusive
and assimilating residential schools (which instituted cultural
genocide and slave labor) was immense. Children continue to die and be
sexually and physically abused in MCFD care today, as well as
suffering further isolation from their cultural roots.

• Everyday in Canada, hundreds of incidents of police brutality
against Indigenous people, namely youth, take place. Police and RCMP
in Prince George and other areas have sexually assaulted Indigenous
girls, police and RCMP have run Indigenous youth over with their cars
in northern communities and other areas, and police and RCMP have
murdered many Indigenous people all over Canada (starlight tours,
deaths in custody, shooting to death, tazering to death, beating to
death, etc.).

• Canada remains one of the only countries that does NOT have an
independent body to investigate police and RCMP brutality, murders and
hate crimes. Instead they investigate themselves, and as a result many
police and RCMP literally get away with murder. When Pivot Legal
Society announced the completion of its report, including affidavits
documenting police brutality and violence, the police chief (Jamie
Graham) just simply "retired."

• Vancouver BC's hosting of the 2010 Olympics has already aggravated
Canada's abject poverty and homelessness that Indigenous people are
overrepresented with. The estimated number of homeless persons in
Canada ranges from 100,000 to 250,000, 25-30% which are Indigenous
people. Due to skyrocketing housing prices and a lack of affordable
housing and social housing (more focus is made on accommodating hungry
visitors (tourists)), the number of homeless people will surely rise
during the lead up to the 2010 games.

Canada's Dirty History is Repeating Itself...
REFUSE TO ACCEPT YOUR OPPRESSION!

ANTI-CANADA DAY
JULY 1st, 2007

THE REAL NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION & RESISTANCE

Refuse to Accept:

*The unjust state death of Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee
*Over 500 murdered and missing Indigenous women
*Theft and occupation of Indigenous lands
*Child apprehension of Indigenous children
*Police, state and military violence and brutality
*Abject poverty with thousands Homeless
*Criminalization of dissent

Meet at Grandview Park (at Commercial Drive) at 1pm, March to follow
For more information contact: anti.canada.day@gmail.com

Take Action in your own communities!
Let the AFN collaborator chiefs know they don't represent you!
Let Canada know you reject their program of assault!
Native People rise up and take back the land!

Demand for Public Inquiry into Harriet Nahanee's sentencing

2007-05-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:
Demand for Public Inquiry into Harriet Nahanee's sentencing
Target: Gordon Campbell, Premier of BC, and Hon. Wally Oppal, Attorney General of BC
Sponsor: Eagleridge Coalition / Natives for Justice
Signatures: 457
Goal: 1,000
Deadline: Ongoing...

We, the undersigned, condemn BC Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown's handling of contempt of court charges against 71 year old native Elder Harriet Nahanee, which resulted in a 14 day jail sentence on January 24, 2007. Respected Elder Nahanee filed an appeal, but died shortly after being released from Surrey Pre-Trial Services Centre. The public now demands that BC Attorney General Wally Oppal and BC Premier Gordon Campbell launch an immediate public inquiry into the Supreme Court of BC's treatment of Respected Elder Harriet Nahanee.

Demand for Public Inquiry into Harriet Nahanee's sentencing
View this petition and your signature at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/489201922

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

FREE JOHN GRAHAM

2007-05-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

In her lifetime, Harriet was a strong supporter of both Leonard Peltier and John Graham, two AIM members that were framed by fabricated FBI evidence.

aturday, May 19 2007 @ 07:18 PM PDT
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 88
About 60 supporters of former American Indian Movement warrior, John Graham, showed up at Vancouver's Supreme Court on the morning of May 17, 2007, to oppose the US government’s attempt to extradite him on the charge of murdering fellow AIM member Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. Only some 50 supporters were able to actually sit in court because by the time they arrived it was full beyond seating capacity with other supporters as well as members of the corporate media.

In attendance was one of Anna Mae’s two daughters, Deborah Maloney, who is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Graham turned himself over to court sheriffs in the morning, was held in a cell during proceedings and did not appear in court. The three judges reserved their decision and re-released Graham on bail and house arrest.

On Tuesday, about 30 supporters of John Graham held a rally for him in Grandview Park in Vancouver.

In light of this, it is relevant to review AIM warrior Leonard Peltier's public statements on the Anna Mae Pictou Aquash murder investigation, Graham’s arrest and extradition process, and Peltier's submission of an affidavit to John Graham's defense against extradition.

In a 1999 public letter, Leonard Peltier stated, "Anna Mae was murdered because she was a skilled organizer and leader for our people," and that he does not want to be part of a murder investigation carried out in part by Robert Ecoffey.

Ecoffey was a Bureau of Indian Affairs cop on Pine Ridge who worked with the FBI agents who Peltier was framed for killing. Ecoffey also took part in the shoot-out at Oglala on the side of the US governent agencies and testified against Peltier in his trial for the murder of the agents.

In public statements released in 1999 and 2003 and in an affidavit that Peltier submitted to John Graham's defense against extradition, Peltier stated that Robert Branscombe visited him in jail and told him that if he cooperated with the government in their prosecution of the case he would be let out of prison. Of course, Peltier refused.

In Peltier's 2003 statement on the arrest of John Graham in Vancouver, he said, "It is obvious to anyone who looks at the past few years with an open mind and a remembrance of COINTELPRO, that the FBI's program of misinformation and discrediting of activists is alive and well. I encourage all who come into contact with this finger-pointing behavior to also look at the person pointing."

In 2004 statement, Peltier said, "The Arlo Looking Cloud trial was nothing more than an indirect presentation of another Myrtle Poorbear to discredit AIM and myself, and to extradite John Graham. I am an innocent man. The government knows that, and Kamook knows I am innocent as well."

In Arlo's trial, former AIM member Kamook Nichols testified that she was a paid informant and that Peltier had admitted to her that he killed the FBI agents. She later married investigator Robert Ecoffey.

Peltier's said in his 2004 statement on John Graham's extradition hearing that FBI Agent David Price tried to cover up Anna Mae's death, but when this was no longer possible, due to the findings of an independent pathologist, "the FBI issued a false press release implying that some of her own people murdered Annie Mae because they believed she was an informant."

In the book "The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash" by Johanna Brand, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash of the Mi'kmaq Nation is quoted as saying, "My efforts to raise the consciousness of Whites who are so against Indians in the States are bound to be stopped by the FBI."

Brand quotes from a letter Anna Mae wrote to her sister Rebecca Julian, after her November 1975 arrest in Oregon by state troopers acting on FBI information.

The full text of Leonard Peltier’s statements and affidavit can be found here:
http://ourfreedom.wordpress.com/leonard-peltier-regarding-anna-mae/

From Eagle Ridge to Sutikalh

2007-04-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Harriet resisted the development that threatned her land at Eagle Ridge Bluff. But she also visited other land reclamations and supported her Indigenous allies in their efforts to resist the exploitation on their lands. And as we know the corporation's, government's and VANCOC's appetite and thirst for mega development has not been satisfied yet. They want to carve up the province at an abominal rate, making sure the land is "accomadating" for the hungry visitors that will come in 2010.

On May 2, 2000, members of the St'at'imc nation and their allies established a permanent camp near Melvin Creek, located off Highway 99 between Mt. Currie/Pemberton and Lillooet, in the southern Interior region of BC.

Known as Sutikalh, the St'at'imc winter spirit of the area, the camp was set up to stop government and corporate plans to build a $500 million all-season ski and recreation resort in an untouched Alpine mountain area.

Part of the Cayoosh Moutain Range, the region is a transition zone from the coast to the Interior. It is habitat to Grizzly bears, cougar, bobcat, wolverine, deer, hawks, owls and many other small animals. It also contains one of the largest herds of Mountain Goats now remaining in North America.

The area has been occupied and used by the St'at'imc for as long as 10,000 years, following the retreat of the last glacial period which carved out the steep-sided valleys and jagged mountain tops.

Along with food gathering, the area was also used by shamans, who went to the mountains for purification, spiritual renewal and training. These traditions continue to be practised today at Sutikalh, where people come to gather foods, medicines, pure fresh water, and to participate in cultural and spiritual activities.

To this day the area remains unceded, unsurrendered St'at'imc territory, in which neither Canada nor BC have legal or moral authority to govern, claim territory or even carry out business.

That both levels of government continue to impose their authority is a violation of Canada's own laws and its highest courts (i.e., the 1763 Royal Proclamation and, to a lesser extent, the 1997 Delgamuukw Supreme Court Decision).

Ugly people wreck havoc on other peoples lives, Beautiful people resist.

Ski resorts and shopping malls are morgues.
Resist the opprssion, resist the atrocities this May:

Sutikalh 7 Year Anniversary Gathering

Come to Sutikalh camp on Saturday May 5, 2007 to celebrate 7 years
of resistance & sovereignty against a proposed ski resort in
St'at'imc territory.

Camp is located off Hwy. 99 midway between Mt. Currie & Lillooet.
Bring
camping gear if you plan on staying weekend (sleeping bag, tent if you
have
it, etc.)

For more info contact:
Rosalin Sam 604-894-2400 sutikalh2003@telus.net
Ramona Joe 604-894-2462

Harriet Nahanee - The Indigenous Malcolm X

2007-04-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Harriet Nahanee has been referred to as the Indigenous Malcolm X of today on numerous occassions in Indian country and in this country in other communities. She stood proud for what she believed in and she took risks that many are afraid to take; she sacrificed her freedom, her comfort and her life for the Mother Earth. She has inspired many Indigenous youth to stand up to stop the destruction of the Earth. No one can take that power from her. Not white suit and tie politicans creating pollution for profit, who search for justifications for our ill treatment, not those whose dreams are about trickets and hotel rooms, not those who just wish we would all be silent so they can make money and live happily ever after. None of our voices will be silenced, in our lives nor in our deaths.

Many people will try to cover up history, and the atrocities carried within it in order to make room for a future of development, destrucion and death, for profit. If they cover up the past, no one will learn from the mistakes, no one will remember that the oppressors working to claim our rights, and our lives are the same ones who created the Indian Act, whom regulated our lives to our deaths, whom created this illigitimate racist colonial system and inherant legacy of greed and rape.

The government is currently maintaining that it's racist prison system was not responsible for Harriet's death. As always, they want us to forget, to be silent, to not talk about it anymore....

Fraser Randell is the MA (Minister Assistant) to Kevin Falcon, Minister
of Transportation, Province of British Columbia

Dear Mr. Randall;

Thank you for your phone call on Monday afternoon; I appreciate you
taking the time to give me a call.

During your call you stated that Harriet Nahanee, “died of lung
cancer”. I have now looked at a number of media articles and they are indicate
that Harriet Nahanee, "died from pneumonia, complicated by previously
undiagnosed lung cancer". Perhaps you have access to more information
than is available to members of the media.

During our conversation you also informed me that Harriet Nahanee was
the only member of the Squamish First Nation that has ever indicated or
maintained that there is a claim to title to the Eagleridge Bluffs
area. Since I have not had any personal involvement in this protest I was
unable to provide you with an informed opinion regarding your
statement. However, having now examined a website that specifically relates to the
land claims of the Squamish First Nation (please refer to:
http://www.bctreaty.net/nations3/squamish.html ) I would like to point
out that the Squamish First Nation treaty negotiations would seem to be
only within the second of six needed stages, in order for there to be
successful resolution. Further, I wish to bring to your attention the
two maps contained on this site, which are attached to this email;
these
maps, which have been produced by the B.C. Treaty Commission, provide
the ‘Statement of Intent’ of Traditional Territory Boundary, Squamish
Nation. If you please examine these two maps you will see that both
maps clearly show the area of the Eagleridge Bluffs to be clearly within
that area of ‘Statement of Intent’ of Traditional Territory Boundary,
Squamish Nation.

I would therefore request you to please clarify, why did you indicate
to me that no other member of the Squamish Nation has ever indicated that
any Land/Treaty Interest exists in this specific area, now known as the
Eagleridge Bluffs area?

Also, during our conversation on Monday afternoon you will recall that
I expressed to you my concern regarding the threat which a surface
highway would pose to the entire ecosystem of the top of this mountain; because
the almost certain result of this surface highway would be an enabling
of the clear-cutting and suburbanization of this entire mountaintop.
You informed me that this was not a matter of concern to the BC Ministry of
Transportation but rather was solely a concern for the Municipality of
West Vancouver. I also indicated to you that the development and
suburbanization of this mountaintop would be contrary to the intent of
the GVRD’s Livable Region Plan, and I believe this is correct since any
expansion of a suburb onto this mountain top would be very automobile
dependant and would almost certainly not be well serviced by our public
transportation system. It was at this point you again indicated that
this concern only for the Municipality of West Vancouver. By your
comments I have been left with the distinct impression that both you as
well as the Ministry of Transportation are completely unconcerned with
respect to any current plans which may exist within the GVRD with
respect to the development of a sustainable community.

I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you that this Planet is currently
facing a large number of ecological problems. The current government
that employs you has just announced an almost 180 degree turn with it’s
newly announced Energy Plan, which is as a result of the problems being
posed by global warming/ global climate change.

Could you please enlighten me, how or in what way will the current
Ministry of Transportation policy of encouraging and facilitating
suburban sprawl result in the problems of Global Warming/ Climate
Change being adequately addressed and remedied?

We are facing a grave global crises, currently the human population is
some 6.5 billion, there are now more humans on this planet than any
other species of mammal, more humans now exist on this Planet than
rabbits, mice or even rats. And that’s not all, in about 40 years time
the population of humans is predicted to expand to 8 billion.

Attached are two attachments which are maps contained within the
current issue of National Geographic. The first map provides an outline of that
area within in Central Africa which contained an elephant population of
approximately 300, 000 in the early 1970’s; on the same map you will
see the two small pockets of the remaining current population of what is
now less than 10,000 elephants. This massive movement towards extinction is
not something just facing our elephant population, it is currently
being faced by a very large number of species of this Planet; these mass
extinctions are being caused by humankind.

At the end of our conversation, you asked me if I believe in the rule
of law.I believe in laws that are fair, just and stand the test of reason.

I also believe that individuals such as Henry David Thoreau
(Massachusetts, 1850), Gandhi (colonial India, 1940’s) and Martin
Luther King Jr. (Georgia, 1960’s) were noble individuals that acted on what
they felt was true and right, and perhaps not always on what was then
the rule of law.

I am sure that Narriet Nahanee was a good women who believed that this
wilderness area should remain wild just as it has been for thousands of
years while under the care of our native people; and she refused to be
constrained by what she thought was the immoral and unethical rule of
law, it would appear that she suffered as a result of her stubborn
appearance to principle. I hope that I have answered your question.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Gordon Scott
Alder Street
Vancouver, BC

Indigenous Anti-Olympics Resistance Wins Gold, Silver & Bronze

2007-03-28T04:12:00.000-07:00

Anti-Olympic Wolves Graphic by Hunter

2007 ‘Countdown 2010’ Shutdown!
Indigenous Anti-Olympics Resistance Wins Gold, Silver & Bronze

The month of February 12 to March 12, 2007, was a difficult one for the
Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC). In their own words it was,
at times, “frustrating,” “disappointing,” and “unfortunate.”

During this time, VANOC had hoped to gain positive media coverage & promotion for the 2010 Games. They organized public ceremonies to mark the three year countdown, all of which were designed as media spectacles with government officials and corporate sponsors. Instead, they were hit by militant direct actions and protests that became the primary news stories related to 2010.

It all began Feb. 12 with the unveiling of a 3-year Olympic countdown clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Just as the event began (along with live CTV coverage) a masked Native stormed the stage and grabbed the mic, shouting “Fuck 2010! Fuck your Corporate Circus!” before being arrested.

Government & corporate officials had to shout into the mics to be heard over the noisy protesters, 7 of whom were arrested in total.

Two weeks later, on Feb. 23 at a groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a new Olympic curling venue, security measures & protesters were again the main story. Scores of police and crowd-control fencing were used to keep protesters away from officials & media.

The next day, on Feb. 24, Harriet Nahanee, a Native elder, passed away in a Vancouver hospital shortly after serving a 14 day jail term. She had been convicted of contempt of court for participating in a 2006 blockade of the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion for 2010.

Then, on March 6, the massive Olympic flag that flew at city hall was stolen, just as a delegation of International Olympic Committee officials arrived for an inspection of VANOC’s work. Days later, as the IOC tour ended, the Native Warrior Society released a communiqué claiming responsibility for the theft. They cited Harriet Nahanee’s death and anti-2010 opposition as their motivations.

On March 12, the final countdown 2010 event was held: a flag lighting ceremony at city hall. Some 200 protesters passed through police security & searches to disrupt the event with yelling, whistles, & fog horns. Once again, the heavy police & security presence, along with protesters, were the main story.

From our perspective, of course, the main story was the emergence of grassroots Indigenous resistance to 2010.

Native peoples in ‘British Columbia’ have a long history of fighting corporate invasion. In the 1800s, the main colonial power in the region was the Hudson’s Bay Company, backed by gunboats from the Royal Navy.

Today’s anti-Olympic resistance is not all that different; corporations still rely on government force to invade & plunder our ancestral territories.

Unlike the past, however, this is not clear to many of our people today (assimilation). In addition, the methods of struggle have changed.

Nevertheless, the same principles apply: defense of our peoples, territory & way of life.

This documentation of the Indigenous anti-Olympic movement is meant to inform & inspire Natives into anti-2010 resistance. Make copies to distribute in your area and help build our movement.

For information on the 2010 Winter Games:
www.no2010.com

Warrior-publications@hotmail.com
Purpose: to Promote Indigenous Warrior Culture, Fighting Spirit, & Resistance Movement.

NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND! IIYN STATEMENT

2007-03-18T20:48:00.001-07:00

Monday, March 19, 2007
NO OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND!!!
International Indigenous Youth Network Statement

The International Indigenous Youth Network stands in full confrontation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) and the Canadian Government and corporations supporting the Olympic 2010 Winter Games.

We hold the Canadian government, the British Columbian (BC) and Canadian Judicial systems working in conjunction with VANOC responsible for death of Indigenous Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee , and acknowledge her death and the persecution of Indigenous dissent as a direct result of the Canadian Government’s objective to drive out opposition in order to make room for the Olympics 2010.

There can be no justification for the incarceration and resulting death of esteemed Indigenous Elder, Harriet Nahanee, a strong voice for her people at a time when many are afraid to speak out in the light of the criminalization of dissent.

This is but one example of how the build up to the Olympics 2010 is affecting life in Coast Salish and other Indigenous territories in BC.

The Winter Olympics is set to commence on February 12-27th 2010. Already today in 2007 Indigenous people, the poor, the homeless and those who live on the land are experiencing the affects of the Games. The vast destruction of mountains, old growth forests, streams, hunting and fishing grounds and delicate ecosystems in which are relied on by Indigenous people; the closures of social housing and low income hotels; the high and increasing rate of homelessness; and the criminalization of Indigenous people and the poor are all part of the lead up to the 2010 Olympics.

Indigenous communities in the interior and the coast of British Columbia including the Secwepemc people of Skelkwek’welt, the St’at’imc of Sutikalh, the Pilalt of Cheam and have been critiquing and resisting the objectives and activities of the 2010 Olympics since 2000. The threat and reality of new ski-resort development in the province has prompted other groups, such as the Nlaka'Pamux Nation in defense of the Coquihalla to take action. In all of these communities hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to build new and expand existing ski-resorts in order to accommodate tourists and Olympian trainers for 2010. The mega-development on these Indigenous lands has already disrupted hunting and fishing grounds and destroyed sacred sites.

In the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (which is home to an overrepresentation of Indigenous people) 514 low-income housing units were lost between June 2003 and June 2005. Almost 300 low-income housing units have been lost in the same time period to rent increases. Over 126,000 people in 56,000 households in Greater Vancouver are at risk of homelessness according to the 2001 Canada census. The massive influx of tourists in 2010 will encourage the closures of more low-income housing and advance gentrification in order to accommodate and appease the hungry visitors.

Those who have stood up to defend their lands have been deeply criminalized by the Canadian state. So far there have been hundreds of arrests of Indigenous people (with an emphasis on Indigenous youth and Elders) who have protested Olympics 2010 and its objectives. While some Native leaders, as part of the “Four Host First Nations” have given their “ceremonial blessings” to the 2010 Olympics and have gained economically (Mt. Currie and Squamish Indian Act bands were given 20 million dollars for development in Whistler alone), many Indigenous people realize the political reality - that many of our people have to endure brutal conditions when disposed of land, on the street, in unfit living conditions, and in prison as a result of the Olympics 2010.

It is important not to confuse “ceremonial blessings with genuine political consent”.

Indigenous people have not given their consent to the Olympics 2010 that is set to take place on Stolen Unceded Native Land. Indigenous People have made it clear that we will not be bought and sold-out.

The International Indigenous Youth Network stands against the destruction of the land, the non-recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and inherent rights, poverty, homelessness, and criminalization that the Olympics 2010 has brought and will bring.

The International Indigenous Youth Network Stands in Solidarity with actions and resistances of Native Warrior Societies, organizations, groups, communities, individuals and allies who are committed to their opposition of the Olympics 2010.

The International Indigenous Youth Network is committed to revitalizing our spirit, strength, and solidarity in defending our inherent rights and responsibilities to our traditional lands against imperialist globalization, and all threats to the very existence of indigenous peoples.

In the Spirit of Resistance and Solidarity,

The International Indigenous Youth Network
___________
PO Box 2042 Station Main Terminal
Vancouver BC V6A 3R6
ph: 604-639-9039
fax: 604-602-7276
email:iiyc@resist.ca
http://iiyc.resist.ca/
http://www.apiyn.org/

Radio Show Tribute to Harriet Nahanee

2007-03-14T02:57:00.000-07:00

Summary: Tribute to Harriet Nahanee, Aboriginal elder & activist. Harriet died after spending 9 days in jail for protesting Olympic development through Eagleridge bluffs, traditional Squamish territory. Prison news. Music from DJ Buzy Bee.

Here is the Stark Raven Radio Link:
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=22193

[19:07-48:04] (includes one song)
TRIBUTE TO HARRIET NAHANEE
Harriet Nahanee was a great grandmother, a Squamish elder and a fighter. Harriet was 71 when she died on Saturday February 24th. She died only a few weeks after spending nine days in the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre. She was sent to the jail after being charged with criminal contempt of court for her actions protesting the highway expansion through Eagleridge Bluffs, traditional Squamish territory. At the time of her sentencing she was weak from the flu and asthma. Despite this, she was sentenced to 14 days in what is know to be a hell hole of a jail.

Stark Raven speaks with Skundaal, Selina Barton and Rose Henry, three activist warrior women & friends of Harriet Nahanee. They share stories of Harriet, her vision and how the community is responding to her death.

More on the death of Harriet Nahanee:
http://intercontinentalcry.mahost.org/first-nations-activist-dies-after-release-from-jail/

http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=22193

Inquest into the Death of Harriet Nahanee

2007-03-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR INQUIRY INTO
DEATH OF HARRIET NAHANEE

2007 Legislative Session: Third Session, 38th Parliament
HANSARD

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2007

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 15, Number 7

J. Kwan: Harriet Nahanee, an aboriginal elder and activist, died February 24 at the age of 71. In spite of many more compassionate interventions, she was sent to jail at her advanced age and in frail health. Her lawyer believes that she may have contracted pneumonia while she was held in Surrey Pretrial Centre. There are many lingering questions regarding her death. Will the Solicitor General commit today to holding an independent inquiry into the death of elder Harriet Nahanee?

Hon. J. Les: First of all, I'm sure along with all members of this House, we sincerely regret the passing of Ms. Nahanee. It's true that she was incarcerated for a short period of time. However, there is no evidence that she contracted any disease of any kind while incarcerated.

But there are avenues open to the family if they wish to pursue those avenues with respect to lodging a formal complaint. I would urge them, for example, to address the provincial director of adult custody to ensure that any concerns they might have are properly responded to.

Shutdown Countdown 2010!

2007-03-11T00:58:00.000-08:00

Tell All your Cuzzins!

Shutdown Countdown 2010!

Monday, March 12, 2007
5:15 PM at Vancouver City Hall
(West 12th Avenue & Cambie Street)

FREE BUS FROM PIGEON PARK (Hastings & Carrall) AT 4:30

This is an official VANOC 'flag lighting' event which we intend to disrupt
or shutdown.

Bring DRUMS, your VOICE, WARRIOR spirit!.

Honour the spirit of Harriet Nahanee!

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!!!

Native Warriors Claim Responsibility for taking Olympic Flag

2007-03-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

Native warriors claim responsibility for taking Olympic Flag.
Action claimed in honour of elder-warrior Harriet Nahanee.
No Olympics on Stolen Native Land.

In the early hours of Tuesday March 6, 2007, the Native Warrior Society Removed the Olympic Flag from its flag pole at the Vancouver City Hall.

They have asserted the Action is in honor of Harriet Nahanee and announced that they stand in solidarity with all fighting against the destruction caused by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

Concerning our late elder...

2007-03-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

Harriet Nahannee, Hamy'ya to you from all of us in the struggle for freedom from oppression and freedom to have dignity, human rights, life and land. It is because of you that many of us will know how important it is to build up our unity, strength and integrity, and to fight for the future generations and the land as you have.

This site is attributed to Harriet’s commitment and dedication to stop the kkkandian government’s destruction and theft of Indigenous lands and to her efforts to re-claim our Original and sacred relationship and rights to our territories. One of her biggest goals was to stop the Olympics 2010. Her death is connected to this plight, and hence the importance of remembering her Spirit and continuing her fight. This site honors her request for us to defend the land in all ways possible. We hope people can come to this site to find out about actions, events, analysis and information needed to stop the devastation of the land and to protect the human rights of Indigenous people, the poor and the homeless that the Olympics 2010 (VANOC) plans suspend and deny. This site is by Indigenous people and for all to learn, share and to Act – in order to honor the spirit of Harriet.

Harriet Nahanee’s Warrior spirit lives on today. However, she passed into the spirit world at the age of 72 after she was abused in a Kkkanadian prison system after she sacrificed her life to protect her land and sacred rights to it. This is her story through our eyes.

Harriet was a Pacheedaht grandmother, Elder, and an Indigenous Warrior who had married into the Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) Nation. She was one of the only Indigenous protesters protecting the Eagle Ridge Bluff site on Coast Salish Territory where people stayed to protect the site that was slated to be destroyed to expand the Sea to Sky Highway for the 2010 Olympics.

For asserting her Indigenous rights as an Indian under the Canadian Constitution and for refusing to apologize for her blockade action, on January 24th, 2007, despite her frail health, Harriet was sentenced to fourteen days in the Surrey Pretrial Centre, a men's prison and a notorious hell-hole for women. Lawyers are now looking into how she was treated at the prison and why she became sick. Many people have talked about how she was not given blankets, proper medical treatment, and was further subjected to racist abuse by prison staff and inmates.

In a letter to Justice Brenda Brown, prior to the sentencing of Ms. Nahanee, Betty Krawcyzk urged compassion: "I am very worried about Mrs. Harriet Nahanee. Mrs. Nahanee is not well. She has asthma and is suffering the after effects of a recent bout of flu that has left her very weak."

Despite the pleads of Krawcyzk, Madame Justice Brenda Brown sentenced Mrs. Nahanee, aged 72, to fourteen days incarceration for contempt of court in disobeying the Eagle Ridge Bluff injunction. While in jail, under unacceptable conditions at Surrey Pre-Trial Centre, where she was held in a cell with tens of other inmates and subject to racist treatment, Harriet Nahanee contracted pneumonia. She was hospitalized within a week of her release from custody and passed away within a week.

Indigenous activists and non-Indigenous concerned people are demanding a public inquiry into Harriet Nahanee’s death as a direct result of her incarceration. These are the questions we want answered:

Why was Indigenous Elder Harriet Nahanee sent to jail despite clear direction from the Supreme Court of Canada that imprisonment should be the last remedy for Indigenous persons?
Why did Madame Justice Brown fail to take Mrs. Nahanee’s frail health into consideration?
Why did Madame Justice Brown refuse to hear Mrs. Nahanee’s Indigenous sovereignty defence?
Why was Mrs. Nahanee incarcerated at Surrey Pre-Trial Centre, under such inappropriate conditions?

A public inquiry will have to determine why Madame Justice Brown refused to hear Mrs. Nahanee’s Indigenous sovereignty defense and why she incarcerated her, whereas all non-Indigenous defenders of Eagle Ridge Bluff, charged with the same offense were given either fines or community service. Such an inquiry will also have to address Madame Justice Brown’s refusal to exercise her discretionary powers in considering other sentencing options or not ordering a medical check-up before incarcerating a great-grandmother. Madame Justice Brown was made aware of Elder Harriet Nahanee’s health condition, including her asthma and recent influenza before sentencing her. Madame Justice Brown is also set to sentence, fellow activist and Elder, Betty Krawczyk, 78, on Monday, March 5, 2006 for her involvement in the Eagle Ridge Bluff Protests. Crown Counsel is asking for 9-15 months of incarceration for Mrs. Krawczyk for her opposition to the expansion of the Sea to Sky Highway, paving the way to the 2010 Olympics.

The Crown and the courts also have to answer the underlying question: why are 2 respected elders and women over seventy years of age being prosecuted for protecting the environment and sent to jail for defending the land?

There can be no justification for the incarceration and resulting death of esteemed Indigenous Elder, Harriet Nahanee, a strong voice for her people at a time when many are afraid to speak out in the light of the criminalization of dissent.

Harriet Nahanee was a part of many struggles. Firstly, for the recognition of Indigenous land rights and protecting the environment, and also fighting against discrimination, marginalization and institutionalization of Indigenous people in the cities, especially Indigenous women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She was a vital member of so many movements and activist communities, a role model for many and will be deeply missed. The loss is aggravated by the fact that she passed away as a direct result of her incarceration, starting January 24, 2007, in Surrey Pre-Trial where she contracted pneumonia. A service was held at the Squamish Recreation Centre on February 28 with hundreds of people in attendance mourning the passing of their mother, grand-mother, great-grandmother, fellow activist, Warrior, Elder, friend and role-model.

Photo: Christopher Grabowski