INDIGENOUS ANTI-OLYMPIC MOVEMENT IN SOLIDARITY WITH TYENDINAGA MOHAWKS

Speech given by Angela Sterritt as part of a panel in support of the
Tyendinaga Mohawks. (Details on the panel are at
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=558)

Ange is a Gitxsan woman who lives and works on Coast Salish Territory. She
is a grassroots indigenous organizer, an advocate for indigenous women and
girls, as well as an artist and writer.

****************

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
Nahannee, 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.

As the Olympics draw 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 government
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. 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 very 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 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, while Indigenous
women have been ignored and over-policed. 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.

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.

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 are cross-country efforts.

Like Shawn, Harriet Nahannee 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 Achilles heal of the
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 2007,
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 Sunpeaks 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 waters and depletes underground
Aquifers. Sunpeaks 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 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 is
simply an annoyance.

For example, a walk known as the "People walk together", which was
ceremonial blessed earlier this month, will showcase Aboriginal people to
walking across the Burrard Bridge in September 2008 to show off our
"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 seems far-fetched to
most 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 to the 2010 games whereas the reality is they simply
divide oppressed communities more.

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
immigrant women are overrepresented, is one of the easiest illegal
"commodities" to move. A pimp makes about 250,000, per women or girl in
the illegal trafficking of human flesh.

The Olympics is infamous for utilizing the sex trade to accommodate
investors ,business men and other hungry visitors. 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 Business men 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 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!

http://harrietspirit.blogspot.com/2007/11/honor-dead-fight-for-living-shawn-brant.html

Anti-Colonial - Anti-Capitalist - Convergence 2010

Calling on all native warriors, anti-capitalists, anti-poverty activists, environmentalists, and concerned individuals, to convergerge against the the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

In February 2010 the Winter Olympic Games and its supporters will be converging on Vancouver, Whistler, and surrounding unceded native land in Coast Salish Territories.

Let them know that it will not be business as usual and that where ever the neo-colonial beast spreads its parasitic tentacles that the people will rise to sever them.

Converge against the Olympics and let our voices be heard!

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
No Social Cleansing!
No Environmental Destruction!

For more info:
convergence@no2010.com


No Olympics on Stolen Land



http://www.no2010.com/1/node/19

“What causes opponents to come of their own accord is the prospect of gain.
What discourages opponents from coming is the prospect of harm.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver-Whistler from February 12-27, 2010, is today a very real threat to Native peoples, the urban poor (many of whom are also Native), and the environment.

While cutting social services, healthcare, education, etc., the BC Liberal government is at the same time providing billions of dollars to construction companies & other Olympic-related industries. The capitalists are making millions, while the poor are literally dying in the urban & reservation ghettos.

Already, more land has been destroyed for the expansion or construction of highways, ski resorts, & Olympic venues. Billions of ‘public’ money is also being spent on new bridges, port facilities, railways, as well as urban transit.

Most of this work is directly linked to 2010, to improve transportation & other infrastructure in preparation for the games. Some of it forms part of a larger strategy aimed at capitalizing on 2010 and related tourism and trade, especially with Asia-Pacific (the International Trade & Investment to
2010 Strategy, as well as the $600-million Gateway project).

All the expansion in transport infrastructure (highways, ports, railways, bridges, etc.) is meant to assist in greater resource exploitation, including ski resorts, mines, logging, natural gas, oil, etc. Since 2003, the BC government has been working to speed up the application process for these industries, making it easier for corporations to get projects approved. Premier Gordon Campbell has described these as “reforms to open up every sector of our economy” (BC Resort Strategy & Action Plan). The result has been huge increases in mining, gas & oil, as well as ski resorts.

Mountains Under Attack

“The mountains, pure & undisturbed, are essential to the survival of all people. Mountain ecosystems provide us Indian people with all of our physical, cultural and spiritual needs… the mountains are our shelter and protection… The most powerful medicines are collected in the mountains.

The source of all water comes from the mountains. The mountains are the most spiritual place for us.”
Elder quoted in “Our Elders Tell Us,” Our Mountain Worlds & Traditional Knowledge, 2002

Since 2000, the main Native struggles in the BC interior have been against the construction, or expansion, of mountain ski resorts.

At Sun Peaks (Skwelkwek’welt) ski resort near Kamloops, over 70 arrests have been made of mostly Secwepemc youth & elders. They’ve blocked roads, occupied buildings, established protection camps and sent delegations to Europe, Japan, and across N. America. This is all part of their campaign
against a massive $294-million expansion of Sun Peaks, including new hotels & condominiums, more ski hills and golf courses, all of which involve large-scale destruction of mountain habitat.

At Melvin Creek, just north of Mt. Currie, the St’at’imc have established the Sutikalh camp to stop a planned $530-million ski resort. The camp was first set up in May 2000, and continues to be occupied to this day. It has served as a rallying point for community resistance to the resort, which also forced many chiefs & councilors to publicly oppose it as well.

In Cheam, 2003, several Pilalt were arrested after blockading a train during protests over logging on Mt. Cheam, the site of a proposed ski resort by Resorts West. Plans include 20 ski lifts on 8 different peaks, three resort villages, a golf course, and as many as 500,000 visitors a year.

Two resorts are planned for Merritt (Nlaka’Pamux territory), along the Coquilhala Highway.

At Valemount, Revelstoke & Blue River, new resorts have also been approved, while the Jumbo Glacier Alpine Resort (near Invermere), has been approved for a $450-million expansion (all of these are in Secwepemc territory).
Near Kelowna (Okanagan), Big White and Crystal Mountain were both approved for over $100 million in expansion. And there are more.

This sharp increase in resort development is largely due to government promotion of the industry, which included the establishment of a Ski Resort Task Force in 2004. The task force was largely comprised of members of the resort industry (inc. Darcy Alexander, Vice-President of Sun Peaks), and

their primary goal was to increase ski resort development in the province.
The group released a Resort Strategy & Action Plan in 2004, which made clear the connection between the industry’s rapid growth and 2010:

“The Resort Strategy links to the Spirit of 2010 Tourism Strategy & the International Trade & Investment to 2010 Strategy. All these strategies are designed to grow tourism throughout the province, maximize opportunities created by hosting 2010… and attract national & international investment.”

Expansion of the ski resort industry was accomplished largely through Land & Water BC, Inc., a government agency that sells & leases ‘Crown’ land. The LWBC streamlined the application process and made other changes to increase certainty for investors, improve transportation infrastructure, etc.

Despite their portrayal as being eco-friendly, ‘low-impact’ tourism, ski resorts cause large-scale ecological destruction to mountain habitat. If you think about it, building a resort town along with massive ski runs & chairlifts on top of a mountain obviously has a big impact on the environment. There is extensive logging for roads, ski runs, parking lots, town centers, golf courses, and townhouses. Then there’s water, sewage, & electrical systems. On top of all this there is the operation of the ski resort itself.

Besides the influx of millions of tourists into mountain resorts annually, their activities include not only skiing, but also heli-skiing, cat-skiing, and snow-mobiling. Most ski resorts also use fake snow that contaminates the land & nearby water (and many are beginning to use recycled ‘waste’
water to make fake snow). In the summer there may be mountain biking, dirt-biking, festivals, etc. All these people & ‘sports’ activities, in mountain habitats, adds to the ecological impact of resorts on wildlife, land, & water systems.

Nor are ski resorts just about skiers & snowboarders; they are also major sources of money in real estate deals, the selling & leasing of land. Most mountains are claimed by Canada as Crown land, and it is the provincial government that is both the regulator of the resort industry, as well as its main promoter. The government & resort corporations are also the main beneficiaries, gaining huge profits from real estate deals.

The government often leases out areas for ski runs, while selling land to be used for the resort town, far below market value. In turn, the resort corporation then re-sells or leases parcels out for condominiums, shops, hotels, etc. For the provincial government, selling land below market value encourages investment by corporations, and is a form of subsidizing them (like tax-breaks & building infrastructure such as roads). In the end, what’s it to government? The land is stolen & represents primitive accumulation; that is, capital acquired at little or no cost, so it’s all profit anyway!


Stolen Native Land

BC is unique in Canada in that most of the province is unceded, non-surrendered Indigenous territories. According to British & Canadian laws, sovereign Indigenous territories were to be legally surrendered to the Crown prior to any trade or settlement. This was set out in the 1763 Royal Proclamation. In accordance with this, the British, and later Canada, carried out a series of treaties in its westward expansion across the prairies, and the northwest territory. These included the Numbered Treaties (such as Treaty No. 1, etc.).

In BC, aside from a small number of treaties on Vancouver Island (the 1850’s Douglas Treaties), and Treaty No. 8 in the northeast portion of the province, all of BC remains unceded Indigenous territories.

In 1875, when the BC government passed a Lands Act to open land to settlement, the federal government issued the 1875 Duty-of-Disallowance, striking down the Act and citing the absence of treaties legally surrendering Native lands.

In response, BC threatened to withdraw from Canada. The next year, the federal government passed the 1876 Indian Act, extending government control over all Natives, including those in BC. Natives were dispossessed of their land, which came under the control of the government.

At the same time, the Indian Act imposed the band council, reserve and status systems, and authorized the relocation of Native children & youth into Residential Schools. It was also used to ban important ceremonies and traditional forms of governance.

Despite this, Native peoples in BC remained aware of the illegal dispossession of their land, and continued to protest & lobby the government. In the early 1900s, several Native organizations devoted to land claims were established. Delegations were sent to England to petition the Crown to upheld British & Canadian laws.
In 1927, the Indian Act was amended to outlaw land claims organizing, and many of these first Aboriginal political organizations ceased to exist.

Today, most of BC remains unceded sovereign Native lands, over which neither the Canadian or BC governments have the legal or moral authority to govern.
With current attempts to legalize the prior theft of Native land & extinguish Native title & rights (the BC Treaty Process), the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their lands continues, and by itself constitutes an act of genocide.

Native Opposition to 2010

2010 Olympic organizers knew they had to gain the support of Native peoples in the region to avoid charges of racism as well as protests. They also saw Native culture as a good way to promote the Olympics & tourism overall.

Their primary agents to accomplish these goals were the Indian Act band councils, primarily the Squamish & Mt. Currie, but also the Musqueam & Tseil-Watuth.
In 2004, these bands formed the Four Host First Nations Society to “take advantage of all opportunities including economic, and establish a clear First Nations presence in the Games while protecting aboriginal rights & title” (November 24, 2004, press release). Chief Gibby Jacobs of the Squamish band is himself a board member of VANOC.
In 2003, even before Vancouver was selected as the host site for 2010, the Squamish & Mt. Currie bands were given $20 million in money, land, and facilities, including a Native cultural & craft center to be built in Whistler itself. This was a clear move to buy off not only the band council, but also segments of the community with promises of jobs in construction & services.

The deal committed the two band councils to participation & support for 2010.
As part of its promotional work, VANOC has also begun sponsoring many Native events & seminars, including a February 2007 Vancouver hip hop concert organized by the Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association (KAYA, a government-funded youth group).
John Furlong, VANOC president & CEO, praised this collaboration, stating that the 2010 Games will “raise the bar internationally for building partnerships between Organizing Committees & Indigenous peoples.” What he fails to mention is that these partnerships are the result of literally buying people off, to pacify and silence opposition.

Despite Furlong’s claim of ‘raising the bar’, neither the Vancouver Bid Corporation, VANOC, or the International Olympic Committee (IOC), responded to submissions made by the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Center & the Sutikalh camp, in June, 2002, stating their concerns about the impact of the Olympics. In 2003, a Secwepemc delegation traveled to Switzerland to make a formal complaint to the IOC, informing them of ongoing violations of Indigenous & human rights in this country. Although the IOC has an official policy to not hold events in countries where human rights abuses occur, Canada’s & BC’s violations were ignored.

Most Native political leaders --those in government-funded organizations-- support the Olympics. Overall, they also support the government’s plans to increase corporate access to lands & resources (neo-liberalism). This is because they are mostly capitalists who are themselves enriched through partnerships with government & corporations. Their promotion of 2010 is really an extension of their overall promotion of ‘economic development’, which is capitalism.

Due to their ‘leadership’, as well as multi-million dollar Olympic propaganda, many Native people in general see the Olympics as a huge money-making opportunity (which is, after all, its real purpose). Some plan to mass-produce artwork, or t-shirts, or jewelry, or food, etc. for 2010 tourists. Others are already working in the construction industry.

Aboriginal tourism is seen as another market that will benefit from 2010.
The capitalists would applaud this ‘Olympic Spirit’. But many Natives also see the Olympics for what it really is: big business at the expense of the natural world. Nor is it just the concern of the ‘four host First Nations’, who may gain the most economically. As the Native Youth Movement has correctly pointed out, 2010 is a concern to all Indigenous peoples in BC:


“Although the 2010 Olympics are planned to take place in only St’at’imc & Squamish Territories the negative effects of these Games will carry out onto other Indigenous territories of the area and the aftermath of this will create an invasion, not seen since the gold rush.”
(Cancel the 2010 Winter Olympics, NYM leaflet, 2006)

While a few benefit from jobs, and even fewer make millions in profits, the real Olympic legacy for future generations will be ecological destruction.
That this is occurring now, even as the world faces a growing environmental crisis, reveals how short-sighted and greedy people can become through their long-term exposure to capitalist ideology. The land defenders of the Secwepemc & St’at’imc, along with NYM and a Squamish elder (Harriet Nahanee, see below), have been the most vocal Native opposition to 2010.

Countdown 2010: Anti-Olympic Resistance into 2007

For the urban poor of Vancouver, which includes many Natives, 2010 has already meant hundreds evicted from low-income housing, more homelessness, criminalization, and increased police repression. Aggressive policing in the Downtown Eastside has also involved immigration officers targeting (mostly brown) immigrants. Organizations such as the Anti-Poverty Committee, Downtown Eastside Resident’s Association, No One Is Illegal, Downtown Eastside Women’s Center, and the PIVOT legal society, have been the most vocal & active in challenging these conditions. Since October 2006, over 20 arrests of members of the Anti-Poverty Committee have occurred during protests or occupations.

In May 2006, two dozen protesters were arrested at Eagleridge Bluffs in N. Vancouver, for blockading expansion work on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. Many were middle-class residents, environmentalists, students and other concerned citizens. On January 23, 2007, Harriet Nahanee, a 73-year old Squamish elder and one of the first arrested at the blockade, was sentenced to 14 days in jail. Others were given fines of up to $5,000, as well as community
service.

In East Vancouver, community groups have formed to stop the expansion of Highway 1, including the Liveable Region Coalition and Gatewaysucks.org.
They oppose a planned $1.4 billion project to twin the Port Mann Bridge and widen Hwy. 1 from Langley to Vancouver (part of the Gateway strategy).
Member groups of the LRC include the David Suzuki Foundation and the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC).


CONCLUSIONS:

• If the 2010 Winter Olympics goes unchallenged, BC & Canada will indeed gain positive international exposure. This, in turn, will create greater international investment & corporate invasion, a process already underway & affecting many areas & communities. If opposition occurs, however, it can contribute to economic uncertainty , deter some investment, and limit the impact of 2010 on some communities & regions.

• While it is unlikely that social opposition will become so strong as to stop the Olympics from occurring, they can be disrupted. Due to the many diverse social issues & communities 2010 negatively impacts, there is potential for a strong anti-Olympics movement to develop. It can also be seen as a catalyst for new social movements & resistance to emerge from.

• Due to the diversity of social sectors & concerns, any anti-Olympic movement must include respect & tolerance for a diversity of tactics as a basic principle.
• Because 2010 is such a good example of corporate power & class conflict, anti-2010 opposition should incorporate anti-capitalist analysis in order to broaden understanding of this socio-economic system.

• The first crucial step is education to mobilize our people into action.

More Info:

Warrior Publications:
Warrior-publications(at)hotmail.com

NYM: nymcommunications(at)hotmail.com

Sutikalh:
sutikalh2003(at)telus.net

Skwelkwek’welt:
jrbilly(at)mail.ocis.net

International Statement: Secwepemc Native Youth Movement

NYM Warrior Society, Skwelkekwelt Protection Center, Secwepmec Nation, Annishinabe from Grassy Narrows, Native Elders Council, No-One is Illegal, Anti-Poverty Committee, ; Anti-Olympic Coalition, Unite Voices against Sun Peaks Expansion, New road; the 2010 Olympics.

On Sunday March 18th Skwelkewkwelt Protection Center, Secwepemc Native Youth Movement Warrior Society, Supporters, Allies from many Native Nations, and International Observers Smashed on Sun Peaks Ski-Resort. The Protest and Press Conference was held to let the world know that Secwepemc People will continue to Fight against the illegal development on Un-Surrendered/Un-Ceded Secwepemc Territory. Sun Peaks is presently in the midst of a 294 million dollar destruction (expansion), & is planning new paved highways to go through our hunting grounds, and continue the Genocide of Native Lands & Way of Life. Sun Peaks is also attempting to become a municipality and take all of our Land, as well as making sewage water into snow and dumping shit on our Sacred mountains. Skwelkwelk’welt is the name for our mountains, that Sun Peaks is now destroying. Skwelkwek’welt is our home, It is home to all the animals and plants that we depend on as a Nation of distinct Peoples. This is our Survival.

As the Native Youth Movement of the Secwepemc Nation, we are asking the world, including athletes and tourists, not to come to Canada for the 2010 Olympics. KKKanada has, & continues to commit Genocide on Native People, but our Warriorz will Fight back. We will not sit back, give up, and assimilate. We are not reformist; we cannot be bought off, or fooled into believing the evil Invaders that they care about us or our Land. An NYM Spokesperson Stated: “We will honor the our Ancestors, and the Warrior codes of Geronimo and Crazy Horse that NO One Has A Right to Sell the Land, Water, or Air. We are Secwepemc, we still exist, and continue to survive from the land and our traditional territory, the Western Hemisphere is all Indian Land!

We need the help and support of the world to help stop the destruction of the Land and our way of Life. Nippon Cable Owned by Masayoshi Ohkubu, Nancy Green, Al Raine, Intrewest, Eco-Sign, Re-Max, Century 21, D.I.A “chief” Felix Arnouse, the KKKanadian government & all those who continue to ski & play on our Land are all Collaberators in the Genocide continuing against Native People. We must all Unite our Voices and Actions to Defend Our Land, People, and Way of Life. We Stand in Solidarity with all those Fighting Destruction and Terrorism from these evil devils Worldwide. The Zapatistas, & the newly established camps in Cocapah & and Mayan Territory, the 13 Native Nations fighting against sewage being made into snow and put on San Francisco Peaks(‘Arizona’), Dineh Elders fighting a power Plant(‘New Mexico’), the Sta’timc fighting so Sutikalh will not be turned into a 550 million dollar ski-resort, Lakota and Ponca NYM Warriorz and the many Nations who are Uniting to Protect Bear Butte(‘South Dakota’), the Annicinabe fighting logging in Grassy Narrows (‘Ontario’)the Pitt River People Fighting for Medicine Lake(California), the Thaltan(‘British Columbia’) & the Mayan (‘Guatemala’, ‘Mexico’) fighting mining, the People of Oaxaca, and Atenco(‘Mexico’) and their Warriorz sitting in jail, the People of Six Nations(‘Ontario’) Fighting a rich housing devolpment, the Mapuche(‘Argentina’), the Kuna(‘Panama’), and all those fighting for their very existence. It is one Struggle, we must Unite. Cancel the 2010 Olympics! Boycott Sun Peaks and Whistler! Free Leonard Peltier! Long Live the Zapatistas & all Warrior Societies!

NYM Communications: nymcommunications@hotmail.com

NYM Communications

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT

FIGHT FOR LIFE

WARRIORS UNITE FROM ALASKA TO ARGENTINA

http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/2569

Aboriginal activists granted leave to appeal convictions

VANCOUVER - A mother and daughter, members of the Secwepemc First Nation in B.C.'s southern Interior, have won the right to appeal their 2002 convictions for taking part in a roadblock on the Sun Peaks Road near Kamloops, B.C., one year earlier.

In a hearing earlier this month before the B.C. Court of Appeal in Vancouver, Nicole Valencia Manuel, 30, and her mother Beverly Phylis Manuel, 51, argued through their lawyer they honestly believed they had the legal right under aboriginal law to participate in the Sun Peaks roadblock in August, 2001.

The roadblock was set up in response to a controversial ski hill development on land claimed by the Secwepemc (or Shuswap) people as traditional territory. Protestors said the development threatened traditional hunting and medicinal-plant-gathering grounds on the mountain, as well as several sacred sites.

"We've always been told to take care of the land, and that's what we're telling the courts," Bev Manuel said in a phone interview Friday.

The convictions were upheld on appeal to the B.C. Supreme Court in November 2004. Bev Manuel served one year on probation, while Nicole Manuel spent 30 days in prison.

Within days of Nicole's release, both mother and daughter filed a second appeal.

Vancouver Sun

© CanWest News Service 200