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>August 29, 2000
>Mi'kmaq's of Burnt Church Under Siege > The tensions in the air were mixed with anxiety and grief as the >aftershock of the early morning assault by the Department of Fisheries & >Oceans, and RCMP left its open wounds in this Mi'kmaq community located >in New Brunswick. > > Upon arriving in this tiny fishing community, one is first met with >RCMP vehicles at the parameters of the Indian Reserve. Where the >reserve boundaries begin, there is a roadblock that has been set up by >tribal members as a border to mark where the reserve land begins. > > At around noon the shock of the raids had slowly started to dissipate >and the Mi'kmaq were left feeling angry, shocked and violated by the >actions of the DFO and the RCMP. The CBC Radio van was parked on the >sandy shores of this fishing village where the dispute had taken place, >interviewing the Mi'kmaqs who had endured the coup d'etats. > > Earlier in the morning at around 7:00 a.m., the DFO had rammed and sunk >3 native boats and were literally kicking and beating the Mi'kmaq that >were in the boats. As the Mi'kmaq fishermen were struggling in the >water the DFO used batons and mace in an obvious attempt to cause >injurious harm and possibly to drown the fishermen who were struggling >to protect their lobster traps. > > A volunteer student from Saint Thomas University, Pierre Loiselle spoke >in soft tones as he described the visit of the Minister of Indian & >Northern Affairs Canada, Robert Nault the previous day. The Minister >arrived to meet with the Chief and Council and to do a tour of the >community. "He didn't want to get out of his vehicle" says Loiselle. >The Chief and Council were saying that we have to meet with the >community. He refused to engage in any conversations and didn't want to >meet with the media that were present. Nault went into the band office >for about 15 minutes and he refused to engage in any type of a meeting. > > The people of the community had set up about 200 seats outside in order >to present their grievances to the Minister, but Nault refused to meet >with them. > > After Nault's refusal to meet with the community members, the DFO and >RCMP staged their attack on the community the following morning. Their >presence had already been felt the night before as they positioned >themselves to attack Burnt Church under the cover of darkness. The >first boat was sunk at about 7:00 a.m., it was a small metal dory. The >two people who were in the boat were left in the water and after that >they were literally fished out of the water they were arrested. > > The next boat was sunk at about 8:30 a.m. but it was dragged to shore >by the Burnt Church Fisheries Officers. > > Jeanne Bartibog, a Mi'kmaq woman from Burnt Church discussed Nault's >visit and says that everything was set up. The people in the community >waited for him for 2 � hours. The people waited and Nault took off. >Nault had said that he didn't want to meet with the news media. She >further described the early morning raid and says, "the Mi'kmaq >fishermen went out to check their traps at about 7:00 a.m., this is when >the horrifying incident took place." She also says that the electricity >in the whole community was turned off at about 7:00 a.m. At about 11:00 >a.m. there were 20 DFO boats out on the water. They already took out >the traps, about 200 and they came back around and they were getting >closer to shore and then the Mi'kmaq fishermen who were peacefully >observing the actions of the DFO witnessed first hand the violation of >their lobster territory. The DFO started charging into the Indian boats >without any regard of the safety of the Mi'kmaq fishermen or to the >damage of their fishing boats. The Indian boats had just been >monitoring when the DFO started ramming and sinking the boats. > > The Mi'kmaq who were monitoring the whole fiasco unfold captured >everything on their video camera. The tape was being viewed and >re-viewed at the tribal administration offices by various people who had >arrived later at the scene. Jeannie Bartibog, left the room and said >"it was too difficult to watch the violence being inflicted on her >people". The tape showed the DFO trying to sink the native boats and >literally beating the Mi'kmaq with batons when the fishermen were in the >water. It appeared that the DFO were trying to drown them. > > Another Mi'kmaq woman, Lita Richardson was describing the events and >says, "there was a lot of confusion of whose traps were seized." 408 >native traps were seized and the DFO is telling the press that it was >900 traps. The RCMP are just as involved and are not acknowledging our >human rights." They are supposed to protect us by law, based on the >Human Rights Act, she added. > > Upon driving along near the shores where the confrontation had taken >place, a group of Mi'kmaq children were swimming and laughing in the >water, oblivious to the turmoil being inflicted upon their peoples. For >a moment, one was taken back to a feeling of peace and calm, which was >only a fleeting moment. > > James Ward, a Mi'kmaq tribal member started describing the incident. >He says, "the DFO were macing the Mi'kmaq fishermen while they were in >the water and that the DFO were extremely adversarial". The people are >very angry and more determined to fight for their rights, he added. > > The issue at Burnt Church is a fight for their inherent rights to hunt >fish and gather food. These rights were denied. The Marshall decision >has just re-awakened us, Ward added. Ward says, "the DFO is trying to >maintain control of our resources, it is just a question of control." >Ward continued that in the end the Mi'kmaq have a lot of confidence that >they are going to win and that their inherent rights will be exercised. > > There is going to be more violence in Burnt Church because DFO has not >changed, they have sabotaged any type of reasonable solutions. In the >end the Mi'kmaq will be victorious, Ward continued, speaking with >emotion, passion and anger. > > The whole issue at Burnt Church is for their inherent right to fish >peaceably. This was included in the Mi'kmaq Fisheries Management >Document. They want to manage their own resources in their attempt to >achieve self-government and self-determination and yet, the government >continues to enforce and implement its Termination Policies. > > At around 2:30 a.m. one could view a RCMP cesna circling the >community. The DFO coast guard cutters were out in the bay watching the >community from a distance. > > Leo Bartibog, a Mi'kmaq community member says, "the government doesn't >want dialogue, but wants confrontation". > > The presence of the Christian Peacemaker Teams is evident at Burnt >Church as they keep an ever watchful eye on the events taking place. >Lena Siegers, a volunteer with CPT outlined some of the issues and >events that she witnessed. "The Canadian Government doesn't want to >share the natural resources", she says. She continued that she believes >that the government is afraid that they will loose control of other >natural resources and they will have to share them with the indigenous >peoples. > > Asked about how she felt as the early morning assault took place, she >says "I was very tense, I was running the camera and it just didn't make >any sense to me." She added, "I saw dozens of RCMP and DFO boats and >they were all armed. The RCMP was in full riot gear and the DFO carried >guns and had bullet proof vests. There boats were larger than the >native boats and they were regular DFO boats plus they had speed boats, >which belonged to the RCMP and DFO." Two large coast guard boats were >sitting out in the open water and the DFO boats were pulling traps while >they were being guarded, she added. The traps were loaded on to the >coast guard boats with a huge RCMP boat just watching and guarding the >coast guards boats. > > She says that "I felt like a coup d'etats was taking place. The native >rights were being taken away, just like the ones in Haiti. The fears >and trepidation of the people was very similar. I felt like what the >Haitian people felt on the streets when they had no power. It felt like >a war zone. > > Siegers says, "I want to say that the Government of Canada stop >spreading evil propaganda and accept the Indians as full-fledged >nations." I would ask that the Canadian Government sit down and listen >and spend money in good faith and tell the Canadians that the Mi'kmaq >are human beings and that they just want life to go on. This struggle >for fish is not to exploit but to be able to go out and fish without DFO >boats watching them. > > Jeannie Bartibogue of Burnt Church says the women in the community were >crying as they watched the events unfold. She says, "the government >wants to see us dead." > > Leo Bartibogue compared the situation to what Hitler did to the Jews. >He added that the RCMP was heavily involved and they had the biggest >boat out on the water. > >The raid of Burnt Church on the morning of August 29, 2000 is a direct >violation of the indigenous rights of the Mi'kmaq peoples under Canadian >law and international law. > > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. |
