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Gathering Place First Nations Canadian News Special
Sept 6,
2002
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UBCIC Press Release: Open
Letter to DFO Minister Thibault - Cheam incident
To whom it may concern
Please find the following letter addressed to Honorable Robert Thibault, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from Chief June Quipp of the Cheam Indian Band describing an incident with DFO enforcement officers on September 4th. Following Chief Quipp's letter is a letter of support from Chief Stewart Phillip with his observations. For further comment, contact Chief June Quipp at (604) 819-4805 or Chief Stewart Phillip at (250) 490-5314. ================== September 4, 2002 The Honorable Robert Thibault Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Centennial Towers, Suite 1570 200 - 10th Street Ottawa, Ontario KIA OE6 Dear Minister Thibault: I am writing to express my utter disgust and complete outrage at the heavy-handed, racist treatment of two native fishers at the hands of your enforcement officers. Even though we have come to expect unreasonably harsh treatment from your enforcement officers, what happened today can only be described as a travesty that strikes a new low point in an already shameful litany of abusive treatment of Natives by fisheries enforcement officers. No matter how hard senior Departmental management may profess to be working to improve the relationship between the Department and Native people, their efforts count for absolutely nothing if the front-line enforcement officers continue to employ goon squad style tactics, racist attitudes and excessive force to deal with us. This is a perfect example of the ongoing attempts by DFO enforcement officers to club us into submission through continued acts of high profile enforcement tactics. Today's events conclusively demonstrate the double standard the Department routinely employs when it deals with Native fishers who are doing nothing more than exercising their inherent and constitutionally guaranteed rights to fish. Henry Ned and Ray Silver are members of Sumas First Nation who have close family ties with Cheam First Nation. Many members of Cheam are related to members of Sumas and vice versa. As is our custom and tradition, Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver were returning home from Cheam in their pick up truck and a boat with a tote of fish that had been requested by the Sumas Chief for her members who did not have access to the river to get their own fish. Henry and Ray had just accessed the Trans Canada Highway (Highway # 1) when they were pulled over by Fisheries Officers in a vehicle with police style red and blue flashing lights. Highway #1 is a very busy highway at any time and it was particularly busy at this time with a heavy volume of traffic passing by at high rates of speed. To any observer, the situation created by DFO was nothing more than an accident waiting to happen as the scene was highly distracting to other users of the road. Immediately upon being stopped, the officers ordered N4-r. Ned and Mr. Silver out of the vehicle and informed them that they were under investigation for the illegal sale of fish. Both of them were asked if they were carrying weapons and both answered that they were not. They were thoroughly searched but no weapons were found. Nonetheless, they were both placed under arrest in handcuffs. Mr. Ned had some money seized that was in his pocket and Mr. Silver's keys were also seized. Mr. Ned's boat, vehicle and the fish were placed under seizure. Both Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver denied that they had done anything wrong and stated that they were completely innocent of any charges whatsoever. Before long, there were 4 fisheries enforcement vehicles at the scene, all with red and blue police style emergency flashing lights in operation. There may have been as many as 8 fisheries officers in attendance, although in the total confusion of the situation, it is not possible to say this with certainty. Only one officer, Gary Millar, was wearing a name tag or any form of identification. The enforcement officers who were known to us are: Gary Millar, Lou Boersma, Doug Clift, and Bev Funk-McGuire. An officer who was apparently in charge said that he came from the DFO Langley office. Interestingly, this officer refused to identify himself and we wonder why he would not do so. Shortly after Mr. Silver and Mr. Ned had been arrested and detained, several Cheam members arrived on the scene, myself among them. I demanded that Mr. Silver and Mr. Ned be immediately released from arrest and that their handcuffs be removed. The officers continued to refuse to release them despite our requests. It was not until a serious traffic accident occurred that the officers conceded their error and released their "prisoners" without charges being laid. Mr. Ned had his truck and boat released from seizure, but the fish were retained as "evidence". The timing and location of the incident were deliberate but very poorly planned by the officers involved. This sordid affair created an unacceptable and unnecessary risk of injury to all concerned, including all users of the highway. Unless there was an underlying motivation on the part of enforcement officers to do their dirty work in the most public way possible, we see no reason whatsoever to have carried out this shakedown on one of the busiest roads in the entire country. At the least, it shows poor tactical judgment on the part of the officers involved; at the worst, it was downright reckless, stupid and negligent. We were all extremely lucky that there were not more serious injuries resulting from this fiasco that had all the elements of a macabre Keystone cops movie. We can not stress enough how irresponsible it was on DFO's part to have carried out this raid where it occurred. If it was an ongoing investigation as was claimed, what purpose could possibly have been served by having it take place on such a busy highway. The investigation could have been as well served had it been conducted on a relatively empty secondary road where Mr. Ned had previously been traveling. Any and all consequences flowing from this decision are the sole and complete responsibility of the Department. We have serious concerns about the apparent lack of training on the part of the enforcement team in the area of conflict resolution. All those involved could benefit from applying the findings and conclusions in Mark McGuigan's River Report that was commissioned by the Department. Contrast this scene with the department's response to the 2 recent illegal fisheries carried out by the Survival Coalition, who were acting without any right to fish whatsoever and whose only motivation was profit and economic gain. The protesters who were charged were treated with deference, respect and, it seems, almost apologetically by the fisheries officers involved. Only a few token charges were laid against a handful of the large numbers of protesters involved in this highly public display of civil disobedience. Unlike the non-Native commercial fishers, our people have a constitutionally guaranteed right to fish and to the fish. This right has repeatedly been affirmed and upheld by the Canadian courts at all levels. The right to fish is an integral part of Native culture and traditions. It is what makes us who we are. It is not just a job and a way to pay our bills - it is our way of life that has sustained us as a people for countless generation. Even so, our people are accustomed to being treated like common criminals when facing ongoing racially based ill-treatment and harassment by fisheries officers. As was the case here, our boats, vehicles and fishing equipment are routinely seized when we have done nothing except exercise our inherent and legal rights. We are continually forced to shoulder the heavy burden of legal costs involved in defending ourselves and our rights against the enormous, seemingly limitless power and the voracious, insatiable appetite of the Department to prosecute and persecute us. On the other hand, no non-Native Survival Coalition protesters were arrested, searched, handcuffed or detained when they mounted their illegal protest. None of their equipment was seized, even though they had absolutely no right to do what they were doing. Quite unlike what happened to Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver, the Survival Coalition protesters were not subjected to public humiliation nor were they the innocent victims of a jack boot, goon squad mentality out to run roughshod over a couple of defenseless Native people who had done nothing wrong. The whole situation positively reeks of a double standard and amounts to a shameful and disgusting exhibition of abuse of power by DFO. It provides clear evidence of the racist attitudes that run rampant through the Department and shows just how differently and unequally enforcement is interpreted and applied to the Native and non-Native fishers. As usual, Fisheries enforcement officers acted as though they presumed Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver to be guilty of an offense from the outset of their dealings with them. All of the officers' subsequent actions were in furtherance of that original presumption and they seemed unable or unwilling to consider that they had done nothing wrong. The simple fact is that Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver were practicing an ages-old tradition of sharing what little remains of our original birthright with friends, neighbours and family members in need in another one of our communities. The present incident makes a mockery of the safety and protocol agreements that have been entered into by the Department with Cheam and other Native groups. The words in them ring hollow when it seems clear that absolutely nothing changes in the way that you deal with us after we have entered into these agreements with the Department. We continue to be persecuted, harassed and abused when we are doing nothing more than exercising our inherent and constitutionally guaranteed rights, all in accordance with the protocol agreements that have been entered into with your Department. It is easy to write words of cooperation, good faith and integrity on a piece of paper. It is quite another thing to practice these words and give them meaning when dealing with us. It seems that the Department is much better at making such agreements than it is at keeping them. This can and must change. The Department is failing to meet its clearly mandated legislative duty to Native people to manage the fisheries for our needs second only to conservation concerns, while it is actively pursuing racist based policies designed to keep us in a reactive stance which easily leads to confrontation. We are deeply concerned about the long-term effects on fish stocks as a result of the recent sport fishing and commercial openings. It is obvious from the recent politically inspired and motivated commercial openings that were hastily called to appease the Survival Coalition, that the Department stands ever ready to score cheap political points at the expense of the fish stocks and of our inherent and constitutionally guaranteed rights. However, there is one area where we consider that the Department's activities are absolutely successful - the continued deteriorating relationship between Natives and the DFO caused by the misguided, wrongly applied enforcement of fisheries policy. It is very disappointing to us that the period of trust and relationship building that occurred during Pablo Sobrino's tenure seems to be deflating. We had viewed the progress that we made as important first steps towards a deeper, more open and harmonious relationship between our community and DFO. An emergency meeting was called at Cheam First Nation on September 4/02 to review this incident and to develop a response to the Department's actions in general towards Native fishers. In attendance were Chief Stewart Phillip of UBCIC; Arnie Narcisse, Chair of BC Aboriginal Fisheries Commission; Bob Hall, Acting SYS at Sto:lo Nation and Councilor Dalton Silver of Sumas First Nation. All participants expressed concern at the meeting over the obvious double standards that DFO employs against Natives and non- Natives. One unanimous conclusion emerged from the meeting - things must change. Otherwise, the prediction is that the already poor relationship between us could unravel further and faster than ever before. We do not see this as being in anyone's best interests. Minister Thibault, we expect and demand your cooperation and intervention to stop this racist based enforcement of fisheries policy. There is an urgent and compelling need to assure Fraser River First Nations that DFO enforcement personnel will no longer be using double standards in enforcing fisheries regulations. An important first step would be to ensure that all non-Native protesters are charged for their recent actions against the Musqueam, Tsawwassen and Katzie fisheries, that Henry and Ray are compensated for the loss of the seized fish and that you offer your assurances that the Department will not seek retribution for the actions taken in response to your officers' egregious conduct. This is a most serious matter that requires your immediate attention. We greatly fear that the situation has the potential to escalate out of control if we are not able to resolve the issues raised in this letter. Sincerely [original signed by Chief June Quipp] Chief June Quipp cc. Chief Stewart Philip, UBCIC Arnie Narcise, AFS Bob Hall, A/SYS Sto:lo Nation DFO - Chilliwack, Mission, Langley and Richmond Earl Moulton, RCMP RCMP Detachments - Chilliwack & Agassiz Chief Arthur Manuel First Nations Summit Amnesty International ================== September 6, 2002 The Honourable Robert Thibault Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Centennial Towers, Suite 1570 200-10th Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E6 SENT VIA FAX (613) 996-9857 Dear Minister Thibault: I have personally witnessed the brutal heavy-handed enforcement actions of DFO at Burnt Church and at Cheam. These enforcement actions involved hundreds of DFO personnel, Coast Guard personnel, helicopters, surveillance aircraft as well as the RCMP. As a consequence of these enforcement actions, fishing vessels were seized, hundreds of thousands of dollars of fishing gear was seized and hundreds of charges were laid and numerous defendants were jailed. I also witnessed the Fisheries Survival Coalition (FSC) protest on August 3rd where 139 boats fished illegally while disrupting the Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations' legally sanctioned fishery. I was greatly disappointed to see a mere shadow of a presence of Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). The few enforcement officers present 'monitored the situation' and laid a grand total of 13 charges. As you are aware, no vessels or gear were seized at the FSC protest. Yet, by stark contrast, when DFO enforcement officers detained two native fishers, Henry Ned and Ray Silver, on September 4th, they immediately seized their boat, their truck and the small amount of fish they were transporting back to their home community of Sumas. Once again DFO officers dealing with native fishers applied the law in the most severe and punitive manner possible. I participated in an emergency meeting called by Chief June Quipp, chief of the Cheam Indian Band, a member community of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, on the afternoon of September 4th. What was described at the meeting was a situation of unacceptable risk of harm to not only the two native fishers, but to the DFO officers and to the general public. As you can well imagine, the Trans Canada highway is busy but at this time of day, approaching noon, the volume of traffic was particularly busy. Whereas at the FSC protesters were treated respectfully, it cannot be said in this incident where DFO officers immediately handcuffed both Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver while asking if they were carrying weapons. It is clearly evident that a double standard of law enforcement continues to exist in this country. We as First Nations have an inherent right to fish. Our rights are constitutionally protected and judicially recognized. In other words, this incident only highlights the fact that DFO officers continue to apply and enforce the law in the same racist fashion as it has in the past. I support Chief June Quipp's comments in her letter to you dated September 4th, and like her I urge you to review the FSC protests for additional charges and your assurances that DFO officers will not target Mr. Ned and Mr. Silver because of this incident. I have asked Chief Quipp to keep me apprised of the situation. Sincerely, [signed by Chief Stewart Phillip] Chief Stewart Phillip President cc: Chief June Quipp, Cheam Indian Band Chief Bob Hall, Sto:lo Nation Arnie Narcisse, Chair, BC Aboriginal Fisheries Commission DFO offices - Chilliwack, Mission, Langley and Richmond UBCIC Chiefs Council First Nations Summit - Executive -- Established in 1969, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs is a political organization protecting the Aboriginal Title and Rights of our member communities. We are based in Kamloops and have an office in Vancouver. For further details visit our website at http://www.ubcic.bc.ca. <> <><><> <><><> <><><> <><><> <><><> ATTENTION
Lets Show Mr
Nault that he does not speaks for First Nations People
....... We would ask every one
who receives this to
Please send a letter
of support to National Chief Matthew Coon Come .......and the Chiefs of the
AFN
At
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