I received this from NATIVE-L, and I thought I'd pass it on. Sorry
to anyone who's received double copies.
Stefanie Rixecker
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Date sent: 20 Sep 1994 19:25:22 -0400
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Subject: INNU PRESS RELEASE - Innu will avoid confrontation
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Original Sender: Orion.YorkU.CA!es051322 (Larry Innes)
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 20 September 1994
"Innu Will Avoid Confrontation in Hearing Boycott"
SHESHATSHIU (Labrador) - Innu leaders from QuEbec and Labrador announced
today that while their boycott of the Federal Environmental Review Panel
hearings on military low-level flight training continues, the Innu are not
prepared to risk a second potentially violent confrontation with
pro-military demonstrators. The decision followed an announcement by 5 Wing
Goose Bay that military employees would be given the afternoon off work in
order to attend the Panel hearings.
Yesterday over 800 members of the defence workers union and other
supporters of military low-level flight training confronted roughly 150
Innu in an angry show of force. The Innu had occupied the hearings chamber
since the afternoon, when they successfully upstaged the scheduled Panel
hearings. Things threatened to turn violent when local politicians,
including MP Bill Rompkey (Chair of the House Standing Committee on
Defence) and Newfoundland Justice Minister Ed Roberts, addressed the
military supporters. Two dozen RCMP officers were then called in to keep
order as the Innu peacefully left the chamber.
"I think that the pro-military forces showed their true colours last
night", stated Innu Nation President Peter Penashue. "Our people were
engaged in a peaceful demonstration. But after some military supporters
began to push some of our women and children around, we decided that it was
time to leave. We are not willing to risk someone getting hurt in order to
make our point."
Innu from 7 communities in QuEbec and Labrador met this afternoon in
Sheshatshiu to assess the developing situation in Goose Bay and to plan
their next action in their boycott of the Environmental Review Panel
hearings.
Today, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Ovide Mercredi called on
Canadian Minister of the Environment Shelia Copps to suspend the hearings
of the Environmental Review Panel, stating that the "Panel has lost its
credibility and appears to be a public relations exercise for the
Department of National Defence". Mercredi also expressed concerns about the
safety of Innu protesters, noting that the "angry action of the supporters
of military operations may lead to violence".
"This is our land. We are willing to defend it. But we will not be drawn
into a brawl with military supporters over Panel hearings where nothing
important will be said.", concluded Penashue.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Daniel Ashini/Ben Michel
(709) 497-8398
Larry Innes internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Environmental Advisor
Innu Nation phone: (709) 497-8398
PO Box 119 fax: (709) 497-8396
Sheshatshiu, Nitassinan
via Canada A0P 1M0
