And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes: JUDGES QUASH ABORIGINAL DEPORTATION Victoria Times Colonist, January 15, 1998 by Janice Tibbets [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] Ottawa - The Federal Court of Appeal in a significant ruling that takes seriously a claim that the US-Canada border doesn't exist for aboriginals, has quashed the deportation of an American Indian convicted of growing marijuana. The court ordered a new deportation hearing for BC resident Robert Watt, a member of a US band whose traditional territory straddles the BC-Washington border. Justice Barry Strayer and two other judges overturned a 1994 ruling of the Federal Court, which had agreed with a federal adjudicator that immigration laws extinguish many aboriginal rights that Watt may have to remain in Canada. Watt is neither a Canadian citizen nor a registered Indian here but he maintains he has a right to stay in Canada to protect his tribe's burial ground in the BC Interior. The decision, released this week, is the latest of several court victories for aboriginals. It follows an October 1998 ruling by the same court that leaned toward opening up the Canada-US border for Mohawks by confirming their right to bring in and trade US goods, including cigarettes, without paying duty. "The trend has been in favour of the Indians," said Vancouver lawyer Stan Guenther, who intervened in the Watt case on behalf of several US and Canadian bands. The decision concluded that in recent years, the courts, particularly the Supreme Court of Canada, have been reluctant to strike down aboriginal rights unless there is a clear statement that the government purposely intended to extinguish the right in question. A case in point was the Supreme Court's enormous Delgamuukw decision, which dramatically increased the power of aboriginal bands by strengthening two BC bands' claim to traditional lands for which no treaties were ever signed. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: SOVEREIGNTY IS THE ANSWER - CANADA IS THE PROBLEM For further info, contact: The Sinixt Nation Gr. 16 C-2 Winlaw "BC" VOG 2JO Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information on the Delgamuukw decision http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/gitksan.html Letters to Times-Colonist - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
