Endorsement of ABL Demands & Letter to Stephen Harper

THE FOLLOWING LETTER HAS BEEN SENT TO PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER AND cc'd TO MINISTERS LAWRENCE CANNON and CHUCK STRAHL:
November 19, 2008

To Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

This letter is written with regard to actions being taken today by the Algonquins of Barriere Lake on their traditional territory. We want to make it clear that we endorse both the actions being taken and the list of community demands represented below.

We stand in solidarity with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake because it is our responsibility as Canadians to make sure that our government upholds the agreements that we have made with First Nations. We stand in solidarity with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake also because we recognize that their fight to protect the land is part of the struggle that we all must undertake to protect the Earth. Today, we saying today that we support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake because we believe that it is our responsibility to stand with the Indigenous peoples of this land in their struggles against colonialism and oppression, and to protect the land.

The territory where we live is the Grand River Territory of the Six Nations. Here, we have stood with local First Nations activists in efforts to protect the land and to help support the Haudenosaunee assertion of traditional sovereignty over their territory. Here too, First Nations peoples have experienced divide and rule tactics employed by the government. Here too, land protectors have been brutalized by police, and we strongly condemn the neo-fascist brutality employed by the SQ at Barriere Lake on October 6th. And here too, the courts have criminalized land protectors. In our own activist group, a member is currently facing charges for actions taken at a Six Nations blockade in Brantford. Criminalization of peaceful protest should be an abhorrent notion in this country; instead it is becoming the norm.

The persecution of First Nations activists must stop. So must the oppression of their communities and the destruction of their land and the lands that we share with them.

AW@L, or Anti-War@Laurier, is an activist group based out of Kitchener-Waterloo. The group is made up of students from Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo, undergraduates as well as grad students, and also non-student members of the local community. We focus on the issues of war, environmental destruction, and First Nations solidarity. More information about AW@L is available on our website, peaceculture.org.

Today, we are echoing the Algonquin of Barrier Lake’s demands:

1. That the Government of Canada agree to respect the outcome of a new leadership re-selection process, with outside observers, recognize the resulting Customary Chief and Council, and cease all interference in the internal governance of Barriere Lake.

2. That the Government of Canada agree to the immediate incorporation of an Algonquin language and culture program into the primary school curriculum.

3. That the Government of Canada honour signed agreements with Barriere Lake, including the Trilateral, the Memorandum of Mutual Intent, and the Special Provisions, all of which it has illegally terminated.

4. That the Government of Canada revoke Third Party Management, which was imposed unjustly on Barriere Lake.

5. That the Province of Quebec honour signed agreements with Barriere Lake, including the 1991 Trilateral and 1998 Bilateral agreements, and adopt for implementation the Lincoln-Ciaccia joint recommendations, including $1.5 million in resource-revenue sharing.

6. That the Government of Canada and the Province of Quebec initiate a judicial inquiry into the Quebec Regional Office of the Department of Indian Affairs' treatment of Barriere Lake and other First Nations who may request to be included.

7. The Government of Quebec, in consultation with First Nations, conduct a review of the recommendations of the Ontario Ipperwash Commission for guidance towards improving Quebec-First Nation relations and improving the policing procedures of the SQ when policing First Nation communities.

By endorsing these demands we hope to make it clear that we consider it the responsibility of all Canadians to support First Nations struggles for justice and land protection. We similarly believe that it is the responsibility of all Canadians to pressure our government, by whatever means necessary, to honour agreements that have been made with First Nations. The government must also stop allowing the land to be destroyed and stop the criminalization of land protectors.

Sincerely,

The members of AW@L.

Peaceculture.org
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