TO: NATIV-L, ACTIV-L, WEB (gen.nativenet, web.native,
hr.indigenous, wrm.rainforest, en.caforest, gan.forests,
rainfor.timber, web.forest), Various Canadian University Press
newspapers, Various National Campus/Community Radio Association
radio stations
FROM: cfuv@sol.uvic.ca -- CFUV Radio (Chris Vance),
phone 604-721-8702, fax 721-8728
DATE: March 31, 1994
**LIL'WAT NATION BLOCKADES 'ILLEGAL' LOGGING ON THEIR TERRITORY**
Beginning March 27, blockading of logging access to Ure Creek, Lil'wat
Nation began with a "Road Closed Due to Corporate crimes" banner strung
across the road and Shelagh Franklin suspended from a 20 metre tall tripod.
The blockade is peaceful, even though police violence and harassment has
occurred at previous blockades. The logging company being blockaded is
C.R.B. Logging, who are fulfilling a contract with the mega-corporation
Interfor. Logging in Lil'wat territory has been extensive, even on areas
sacred to the Lil'wat peoples -- for instance, Ure Creek is an ancient
burial site, but it has been violated by clearcut logging for a long time.
On March 29, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) served the blockaders
with an injunction to end the blockade (with the use of a helicopter). The
injunction remains from the last blockades, in 1991. The injunction names
three individuals (none of whom were present that day) and "John Doe."
Franklin claimed legal immunity from the injunction because being a woman,
she doesn't fit under the title "John."
The RCMP told the blockaders to leave by 7:00pm that evening, even though
loggers had blockaded the blockaders from leaving by placing bridge-building
equipment across the road. The counter-blockade left the blockaders, and
Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) reporters, trapped.
CFUV Radio's reporter on the scene also conveyed that there is a very heavy
police presence. The police in Lil'wat territory are no joke -- some Lil'wat
people allege to have been beaten up, threatened with their lives, and
dragged to a Vancouver 'pre- trial' centre to be further beaten up and
called a "fucking roadblock Indian."
LIL'WAT TERRITORY ILLEGALLY EXPROPRIATED
The Lil'wat peoples have been living in their territory since time
immemorial and have never ceded an inch of it. Nonetheless, the Crown has
asserted its own jurisdiction, which the Lil'wat say is illegal according to
British and Canadian law.
Some of the Lil'wat persons who were arrested in the 1991 blockade are
contesting their arrest on this point of native jurisdiction. Legal Aid has
denied them their services because they claim the jurisdiction argument has
no chance of success.
LOGGING IS DESTROYING THE LAND
Logging in Lil'wat territory was found in January of this year in what has
become known as the 'Tripp Report' to have violated Fisheries guidelines
49.4%. Last week, Interfor logged an active site of the Spotted Owl, which
is an endangered species. The provincial government has the authority to
revoke Interfor's cutting licence, but has chosen not to for undisclosed
reasons.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO LEND SUPPORT
Please contact Chub Pascal at PO Box 208, Mount Currie,
B.C., V0N 2K0, CANADA, phone (604) 849-6640.
You can also contact the Forest Action Network, Box 155 -1895
Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V5N 4A6, CANADA, phone (604) 251-2477.
The FAN press release also names Diana Wilson (pager: 285-2111)
and Rita Corcoran as contacts, phone (604) 938-0220.
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