Algonquins blockade Highway 117 for second time

Shoot them all!

Catchfire wrote:

And to rub it all in, such lazy, uncreative trolls have snapped up babbler member numbers under 200!

They are gone, and they are not even imaginative enough to warrant a response.  Merely one of the many canajians who parrot such clever analysis over their brewskies thousands of times per day in this fair land of Turtle Island.

some one should tell "laytonsucks" that the stormfront forum is down the hall and to the right.

 

It's natural that people will take action if the government or the law moves too slow to keep up with the times.  We'll see plenty of blockades and it's a good thing.  It the government's job to settle land claims ASAP and honour the treaties.  And that is just to bring us up to the present. 

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why is it that polling booths look like cattle chutes?

of course i can always just phone community spokes there.

thanks for the alert M. Spector.  

this is really sick.  moderators please.

 

Just wait until I'm back as Buffa2

LOL

To the Moderators/Staff of Babble;

I found the original comments which were posted at #9 last night to be highly offensive, and yes, obviously against the Law.  Please direct me, as a new registered user,  to the protocol section here at Babble which outlines procedures in such a circumstance, or others where some writers were verbally abusive to other babblers.  This is unacceptable.

Another option is for Babble to shut the site down during times when a Moderator is not available. 

 

 

Quote:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Quebec judge imprisons Algonquin Chief for two months for peaceful protest: Crown asks for one year to send "clear message" to impoverished community 

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - On Thursday December 4th a Quebec judge sentenced Barriere Lake Acting Chief Benjamin Nottaway to forty-five days in jail, in addition to fifteen already served in pre-trial detention, for participating in peaceful blockades intended to draw attention to violations of Barriere Lake's rights by the Canadian and Quebec governments.

Barriere Lake has been demanding that Canada and Quebec honour signed agreements and that Canada appoint an observer to witness and respect the outcome of a new leadership selection in accordance with Barriere Lake's Customary Governance Code.

"It's shameful that the government of Quebec would rather throw me in jail than fulfill their legal obligations by implementing signed agreements," said Acting Chief Nottaway, a father of six who passed his twenty-eighth birthday in jail last Thursday. "Meanwhile, the Government of Canada continues to interfere in our internal affairs while trying to wash its hands of responsibility for this situation."

Nottaway was charged with three counts of mischief and breach of conditions stemming from March blockades on Barriere Lake's access road and a November blockade on highway 117 outside the community's reserve in Northern Quebec. Another blockade in October was violently dismantled by Quebec riot police, who used tear-gas on a crowd that included Elders, youth, and children. More than 40 members of the community of 450 have been charged for these actions.

"Quebec has now joined the company of Ontario, which put the leaders of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation and Ardoch Algonquin First Nation behind bars for peaceful protest. It seems like the provinces' preferred method for dealing with our rights is to use the police and the courts to punish us until we forget about them," said Marylynn Poucachiche, a community spokesperson who was arrested during the November blockade.

Crown Attorney France Deschamps asked Judge Jules Barriere for a sentence of 12 months, saying a "clear message" was required "to make sure Nottaway has no desire to do this again, and to discourage the group – because his supporters are waiting to hear what happens here." Judge Barriere noted that the Crown's request was "partly illegal," as 6 months is the maximum possible sentence for summary convictions. But he agreed with Deschamps that a prison sentence was necessary, saying it was "important to pass a clear message to the community."

"The only message the Canadian and Quebec governments are sending is that they are willing to criminalize our community and split apart our families in order to avoid implementing precedent-setting agreements and respecting our leadership customs," added Nottaway.

Barriere Lake wants Canada and Quebec to uphold signed agreements, dating back to the 1991 Trilateral Agreement, a landmark sustainable development and resource co-management agreement praised by the United Nations and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Canada has been in breach of the agreement since 2001. Quebec signed a complementary Bilateral agreement in 1998, but has stalled despite the 2006 recommendations of two former Quebec Cabinet Ministers, Quebec special representative John Ciaccia and Barriere Lake special representative Clifford Lincoln, that the agreement be implemented.

On March 10th, 2008, the Canadian government rescinded recognition of Acting Chief Benjamin Nottaway and his Council and recognized individuals from a minority faction whom the Barriere Lake Elder's Council says were not selected in accordance with their Customary Governance Code. On March 2nd and 3rd, community members had set up blockades on their access road to prevent members of this minority faction from entering the reservation, anticipating the Canadian government would try to illegally interfere in Barriere Lake's internal customary governance for the third time in 12 years.

In 2007, Quebec Superior Court Judge Rejean Paul issued a report that concluded that the current faction recognized by the federal government was a "small minority" that "didn't respect the Customary Governance Code" in an alleged leadership selection in 2006 [1]. The federal government recognized this minority faction after they conducted another alleged leadership selection in January 2008, even though an observer's report the government relied on stated there was no "guarantee" that the Customary Governance Code was respected [2].

The Algonquin Nation Secretariat, the Tribal Council representing three Algonquin communities including Barriere Lake, continues to recognize and work with Customary Chief Benjamin Nottaway and his Council.

-30-

Media Contacts:

Norman Matchewan, Barriere Lake spokesperson: 819 – 435 – 2171

Marylynn Poucachiche, Barriere Lake spokesperson: 819 - 435 - 2113

 

Notes

[1] http://web.resist.ca/~barrierelakesolidarity/resources/Rapport_du_Juge_Paul-versionANGLAISEcomplete.doc, pg 26-27

[2] http://web.resist.ca/~barrierelakesolidarity/resources/Riel_Translation_Letter_2.doc , pg 2

I completely disagree. Nobody has the right to say who is allowed to attend a peaceful protest. And that's not really related to the ridiculous charges against Nottaway, which are just another example of the Canadian government acting as oppressors and occupiers.

 

This argument is thread drift. I just wanted to say that before I continue the drift.

Protests in the First Nations context are not about going out to a rally, hearing speakers, waving a few signs, being harassed by the International Socialists, and then going home.

Protests are one of several forms of resistance to state oppression, occupation and colonization. People's lives are literally on the line. I'm touched by your concern for the children, what about reservations that don't have drinkable water? Schools? Children are affected by this on a daily basis.

"Won't anyone think of the children?"

 

Catchfire wrote:

I agree that you should keep children away from anti-choice rallies.

I think [b]everyone[/b] should stay away from anti-choice rallies - especially members of the Canadian armed forces.

What you are reading now is an annoying and obtrusive tag line. Why not Email Michelle to demand that signature/tag lines be abolished forthwith? I'm sure she would appreciate your support for this initiative.

Realigned wrote:

M.Spector why do you think a member of the Canadian Forces should stay away from anti-choice rallies?

I can think of a couple of good reasons:

1. Anti-choice rallies tend to attract people with hateful and/or violent tendencies. I wouldn't want to see that augmented with people who are trained to kill without a second thought.

2. I thought the Canadian Forces were supposed to be fighting in Afghanistan to [b]defend[/b] our rights such as freedom of speech and [b]freedom of choice[/b]. Or is that just propaganda?

What you are reading now is an annoying and obtrusive tag line. Why not Email Michelle to demand that signature/tag lines be abolished forthwith? I'm sure she would appreciate your support for this initiative.

What BCG says. Anything that is bad enough to hurt an adult to the point where that adult wants to protest it with civil dissing is more than bad enough to hurt a child; so if a child chooses to accompany a parent on protest lines, we ought to acknowledge that s/he is defending her or his safety in the only way that has ever been proven to work: putting one's body on the line.

It would be a travesty of compassion if we were to blame First Nations people for not caring sufficiently about their children, when we are the ones locking them into abject poverty and no future and reelecting a government that has torn up our covenant with them.

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Tag lines are for trolling.