From gars@netcom.com Tue Jul 21 23:47:17 1998 Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 19:49:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews06.030 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 06, ISSUE 030 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, July 25, 1998 O o O KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from Nativeweb, Taino-L & Nat-Film Lists; Nuevo Amanecer Press; Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty; UUCP email; Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination and/or permission for inclusion has been secured. Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A. I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people. IMPORTANT!! ----------- To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted even if there is no monetary gain. Just because a newspaper has a website where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for their redistribution. Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do with full permission. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org Thanks to Borries Demeler all _Wotanging_Ikche_ (part a) submissions to AISESnet are archived under AISESnet and can be accessed easily by World Wide Web: 1994: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/94_dis.html 1995: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/95_dis.html 1996: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/96_dis.html 1997: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/97_dis.html This is a searchable index to the AISESnet Discussion mailing list database archive, and the keyword "Wotanging" will retrieve all issues for that year. Downloading Wotanging Ikche on AOL From: MAANG1419@aol.com Just thought I would share some info. I could not download on to a .txt because I kept getting the message (when I tried to retrieve it) that the text editor could not handle the volume. This time I downloaded it on to a .doc and when I retrieved it out of file manager, IT WORKED. "In this world the Great Father has given to the white man everything and to the Indian nothing. But it will not always be thus. In another world the Indian shall be as the white man and the white man as the Indian. To the Indian will be given wisdom and power, and the white man shall be helpless and unknowing with only the bow and arrow." "I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age. I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there." "It was a beautiful dream...the nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead." __ Black Elk, Oglala +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Once again I have seen a medicine keeper publicly attacked. The charge is that he charges for ceremony. I will not name the medicine keeper, for he has already been tarnished. Neither will I name the attacker. He would like to see his name in a public newsletter. I know the medicine keeper. This is not the first time I have seen these things said. I know there is not one ounce of truth to the charges. The man had to hock everything he owned to repair the transmission on the only vehicle his family owned. Sequentially, he and his family lived the winter with others. It was that or live in lodge in the dead of a northern and harsh winter. Does this really sound like a person who is making money off of ceremony? I have known someone to gift this genuine traditional healer. In the old days medicine keepers were cared for by their people so they could devote their gifts from Creator to the greater needs of the People. That is less, far less, true now. What would you have these medicine keepers do? They can't eat tobacco and sage. I think some of the talk is from jealousy. I will tell those doing the talking they need to give as much of themselves as those they try to tarnish with their words. If the barking dogs gave more than lip service maybe their words would mean something, and it would mean something to speak of them. =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\= The language project I have started is moving very slowly, but it is moving. The need for this is a thing I truly believe. Without language a culture dies. What is said in any language seldom translates literally to another. It, at best, approximates the meaning. Our languages are dying. Our cultures will not linger long without our own words to describe the events in our lives, the ways passed down by our ancestors and our prophecies. Part of the impetus for this project is my own desire to gain some knowledge of my own people's tongues, Eastern dialect Cherokee and Blackfeet. I have heard some have enjoyed good success learning Siksika (Blackfeet) through Les Editions Duval of Canada, but they have now greatly left me disappointed with shorted orders and a lack of concern about same twice. My wife is Mvskogee so I was excited to receive the following from Geoff Harjo, which he has granted me permission to share with you. Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 12:42:25 +0000 From: Geoffory and Audrea Harjo Subj: language project Hi Gary, I have a few URL's to web pages with native language information: The first is an article about Assistant Professor Jack B. Martin, a linguist who is working on a two-and-one-half- year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve the Muskogee language. http://www.wm.edu/wmnews/research/language.html He is developing a new Muskogee dictionary and making audio recordings. I sent him email requesting to be placed on the mailing list for the new dictionary and he said he'll send me a copy of the draft in a couple of weeks! His web page with contact information is below. http://www.wm.edu/CAS/english/faculty/martin/index.html __________________________________________________ Jack B. Martin Assistant Professor Address: College of William and Mary Department of English Language and Literature P.O. Box 8795 Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8795 USA Office: Tucker 209 Phone: (757) 221-3930 E-mail: jbmart@facstaff.wm.edu Fax: (757) 221-1844 __________________________________________________ The next link is The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas web page. http://trc2.ucdavis.edu/ssila/learning.stm They have dictionaries, descriptive grammars, pedagogic materials, collections of bilingual narratives, tapes, and general reference materials for dozens of languages. Here's a few samples: 1. Abenaki (Eastern Algonquian) Gordon M. Day, Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 1: Abenaki-English. Mercury Series,Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128. 538 pp. $60 (CDN). --- The first volume in Day's monumental dictionary of Western Abenaki (spoken by the St. Francis Indians of Odanak, Quebec, and the Missisquoi Bay region of Lake Champlain). The usual front matter is followed by a list of selected roots, and then about 12,000 main entries arranged alphabetically. The second volume (English-Abenaki) will follow soon, and a volume of Western Abenaki texts has been announced. (From Algonquian & Iroquoian Linguistics 19(3), 1994.) --- Order from: Mail Order Services, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 100 rue Laurier, C.P. 3100, Hull, Quebec. [Oct. 1994] 2.Ahtna James Kari (compiler and editor), Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary. Alaska Native Language Center, 1990. 702 pp. $25. --- A comprehensive dictionary of the Athabaskan language of the Copper River area in Southern Alaska, based on extensive fieldwork carried out between 1973 and 1989. This is more than the 9,800 example sentences, an English-to-Ahtna index of 11,250 entries). The page format cleverly (through type face and point size, indentation, and sequencing) highlights derivational relationships and allows the reader to cut his/her way through the tangle of Athabaskan verbal morphology. A 60-page introduction includes a summary of dialectology and a discussion of Kari's analysis of the Ahtna verb. Appendices cover verb phonology, verb paradigms, loanwords, kin terms, and directionals. The work also exemplifies the use of Hsu's Lexware computer software. Without doubt, this dictionary is a landmark both in Athabaskan studies and in American Indian lexicography generally. --- Order from: ANLC, U of Alaska, P.O. Box 757680, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680 (tel: 907/474-7874; fax: 907/474-6586). [April 1990] 3. Alabama Cora Sylestine, Heather K. Hardy, & Timothy Montler, Dictionary of the Alabama Language. Univ. of Texas Press, 1993. 768 pp. $35. --- This magnificent, "state-of-the art" analytical dictionary, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, includes over 8,000 entries for roots, stems, and compounds. Each entry contains precise definitions, full grammatical analyses, agreement and other part-of-speech classifications, variant pronunciations, example sentences, and extensive cross-references. An English-Alabama finder list functions as a full index to the definitions in the Alabama-English section. This is undoubtedly the fullest dictionary of any Muskogean language, and is a tribute to Cora Sylestine, Alabama tribal member and teacher, who began independently working on a dictionary of her native language long before teaming up with Hardy and Montler in the 1980s. (Sadly, Mrs. Sylestine died in a tragic accident before her dictionary was typeset. See SSILA Newsletter X:2, July 1991, p.3.) --- Order from: Sales Dept., Univ. of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819 (tel: 1-800-252-3206). Add $2 postage. [April 1993] 4.Alaskan Languages The Alaska Native Language Center has produced many reference and learning materials on all Alaskan languages, including Eskimo (Inupiaq, Central Yup'ik, Siberian Yupik, Alutiiq), Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, and Athabaskan languages. Also available is Native Peoples and Languages of Alaska [map, with population for list: Alaska Native Language Center, U of Alaska, P.O. Box 757680, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680 (tel: 907/474-7874; fax: 907/474-6586). [Sept. 1988; Jan. 1993] They also have resources for the following languages: Aleut Apache Arikara Assiniboine Nakota Lakota/Dakota. Athabaskan Apache; Carrier; Dene; Gwich'in; Hupa; Ingalik; Koyukon; Navajo; Tanaina; Tanana; Yukon Languages. Bella Coola (Coast Salish) Blackfoot Carrier Cayuga Chehalis Cherokee Cheyenne Chickasaw Chinook Jargon Choctaw Cocopa Comanche Cree (including Montagnais and Naskapi) Cree Syllabics Creek (Muskogee) Crow Dakota Delaware Dene (Slave, Dogrib, Hare) Eskimo (Inuit, Yupik, Greenlandic) Gitksan Gwich'in (Kutchin, Loucheux). Haida Haisla Hakomelem Hopi Hupa Ingalik (Deg Xinag,Deg Hit'an, Anvik) Karuk Kawaiisu Kickapoo Kiowa Koasati (Coushatta) Koyukon Kwak'wala (Kwakiutl) Lakota/Dakota. See also Assiniboine (Nakota) Lenape (Delaware) Lushootseed (Puget Sound Salish) Micmac Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Miwok Mohawk Naskapi (Cree) Navajo Nez Perce Ojibwe (Ojibwa, Chippewa, Anishnaabe, Odawa, Ottawa, Eastern Ojibwa) Okanagan Omaha-Ponca Oneida Onondaga Panamint Passamaquoddy-Maliseet & Micmac Potawatomi Sahaptin Salish Santee (Lakota/Dakota) Shawnee Shoshoni Shuswap Sioux (Lakota/Dakota) Straits Salish (Saanich, Samish) Tanaina (Dena'ina) Tanana Tewa Thompson (Interior Salish) Tlingit Tutchone Tuscarora Ute Winnebago Wintu Wiyot Yokuts Yukon Languages I hope this helps. When I get the Muskogee dictionary draft I'll send you a review. Take care, Geoff Harjo -- "aeyeta@earthlink.net" phone: (310) 641-2597 5870 Green Valley Circle, #303 Culver City, Ca 90230 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I am collecting language resource information. Please send me all information each of you have regarding language resources. This should include all written teachings including dictionaries, grammar books and stories. Include all audio and video resources. Include the source, how it is distributed, the publisher, ISBN or other catalogue information that might be known. Include cost and current availability if you have it. Finally, include _your_ opinion. Is it good, bad, indifferent? I will keep this information, by language/nation and make what I have available to any who request it. Send what you can via email to gars@netcom.com You may also send info via snail mail to P O Box 672168. Marietta GA 30006. Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== gars@bellsouth.net Fax: 770-528-9643 gars@juno.com ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Message to Racists - Defiant Indians Net Sockeye - Baby Boy Henderson - Cafe' con Leche - Anna Mae/Lines Drawn in the Sand - RCMP Jail Cree Mother and Infant - Plan B Buffalo Management Proposal - Log Theft - Marcos Resurfaces, Taunts Army - Spirit Wolf - Nisga'a Treaty Being Finalized - Vernon Moves Camp Update - Native Fishermen Reach Deal - Native Prisoner - Mobile Homes Donated/URGENT HELP! - A Hundred Years Ago - Save Ward Valley News - Seeds of Tradition - Clark Calls Alaska Rogue State - Poem: A Gift of Love - Residential School Tribunal Update - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - ITCFCT NAGPRA Policy Statement - Conferences and Powwows --------- "RE: Message to Racists" --------- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 12:32:00 GMT From: frosty@frostys.qc.ca Subj: Racist Enjoy this. Newsgroup: alt.native [Editorial Note: Frosty wrote this in response to baiting and taunting on the Usenet newsgroup alt.native. His words reflect on a greater and growing problem in Indian Country - the division of our Peoples. Read Frosty's words with your heart.] To all those that are native/aboriginal/indian or supporters of native issues. Why do you not all wakeup and clean up this New Group so that all our people can enjoy talking to each other, So that news about each nation can be sent with the intention that people will read, and not have to pass through reading hundreds messages loaded with hate that we have grown up to hear over and over? We have all seen and heard these insults, and these people have no interest in us or how to improve our lives. They only want to fuel their ego. They want you to reply, it is what they work at so hard at to get us to fire back so they can laugh. Time to break the fuel line. Cut them off at their knees. If anything hurts them more, its not getting a reply or response to the twisted ideas they have. It took me years to learn that I should not jump every time I see a racist message. That is their objective to create debates that take away from the value of what we are really about. To make us look bad in the eyes or others in hope that they would join them. It is what fuels their recruitment and fills their ranks with those that are on the fence. They need those weak minded people to follow them. If the can just get one person to believe what they are saying is true, they get one more soldier on there side. So I repeat do not fuel their fires. Do not give them more to recruit more people that are young and lost. Sken:nen kowa from Mohawk Country. --------- "RE: Baby Boy Henderson" --------- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 13:36:23 -0500 From: Delphine Henderson Subj: Press Release UUCP email I am Glenna. I am 50% Ojibwe and 25% Sioux. This is my struggle and that of the father's who is 100% Ojibwe. We need help. The father's tribe is in receivership and is unable to pay his legal defence of 10000. It has become apparent that the judge has known who the adoptive mother was all along and the reason for her bias. She has stated that she doesn't care what Manitoba has to say or that our tribes have no right to intervene, because she has already made her decision in this matter. My son may never know his family or his roots because he is stated as caucasian. Time is very important so please contact me if you can Press Statement July 17, 1998 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Good Morning and Thank You for coming, My name is Glenna Henderson. I am 24 years old and a member of The Sagkeeng First Nation. I called this press conference today because I find myself in a desperate situation. On August 14, 1997, I found out I was pregnant. I was leaving to attend college in Oklahoma City the following week. Because of the moral standards I had set for myself, it was my belief that no-one would understand my situation. I was scared and confused and the relationship with my baby's father was already over. Because I felt I had to do this on my own I pretended I was not pregnant. I was in denial and hid my pregnancy from my family, friends and loved ones. I came across an ad, placed by Boren and Boren adoption attorneys, asking single pregnant women to call if they needed assistance. I contacted them at the end of January. I felt that adoption was my only option. On April 1, 1998, my son Levi, known in the courts as Baby Boy Henderson, was born in Oklahoma City. It was that day that the love for my beautiful little boy, entered my heart. I was alone and felt I had no right to keep my son. No social worker or outside influence ever came and talked to me. I wanted someone who loved me to walk in the door and rescue me and my son. I did not even know where or how to begin asking for help. Twenty-six hours after my little boy was born I made the biggest mistake in my life. In an Oklahoma County Courthouse I signed an irrevocable consent to my son's adoption. I have never been so sorry in my whole life. I know that in twenty-six hours I could not have made a rational decision concerning Levi's future. I know the adoption agency did not provide me with the proper counseling to make a clear and informed decision. I know that I was coerced and mistreated by Boren and Boren for my baby boy. On April 11, I finally told my mother that I had had a child and what I had done. I could no longer stand the pain and loss of not having my son in my life. All the irrational thoughts that led me to my decision had become all too clear. Once my loved ones learned about my son's birth and the adoption I found the support I needed all along.. In a hearing last week the judge has ruled that Oklahoma has jurisdiction over all parties to the adoption. It set aside a Manitoba Court Order that says the consent I signed was of no effect and to return Levi to his natural parents. It is our position that, because children have the domicile of their parents, that Manitoba laws apply to Levi's adoption. It is on this basis we are making an appeal to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. The rights of Levi's father have also been ignored. The only publication to the father was in an Oklahoma lawyer's paper. Rebecca Boren knew that he lived in Winnipeg. A trial has been set to determine Levi eligible for adoption without his consent. Levi's dad has legally opposed the adoption in Oklahoma. It was stated, at the initial consent hearing, that Levi was a Caucasian child. I was very clear, to the adoption agency, about the fact that Levi's father and I were of Native ancestry and its importance in our lives. Levi was adopted to a non-Native woman. Through my personal research and pondering of events, before and after Levi's birth, I have learned that the adoptive mother was the wife of a deceased Oklahoma County Special District Judge. He presided in the court house for 14 years until he died in 1996. The only thing that has sustained me throughout this emotionally grueling experience has been my faith in God and the support I have received from my family, friends, and community. So far the legal fees alone have amounted to $37000.00. We are at the point of financial exhaustion. Sagkeeng has already contributed to the legal and expense costs. I am asking for financial, spiritual and moral support to help bring my baby home. A tax receipt, by request, will be provided by The Manitoba First Nations Repatriation Program. Meegwetch. Information for donations: Baby Boy Henderson c/o Manitoba First Nations Repatriation Program 704-167 Lombard Ave. Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3B OV4 204-957-0037 Account Information Account Number: 504-790-7 Royal Bank of Canada 003 Main and Semple Branch: 06827 Winnipeg, Manitoba Upon receiving your donation a tax receipt will be issued to you by request from the Manitoba First Nations Repatriation Program. Also, if you have any questions regarding this matter or any information that will be of assistance, please contact us as soon as possible. --------- "RE: Anna Mae/Lines Drawn in the Sand" --------- Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 02:19:16 GMT From: Pbbmicmac@sedona.net (Robert Branscombe) Subj: Anna Mae(Lines drawn in the sand) Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native I always remember how this all started for me, when a full-blooded Indian man walked up to me, claiming to be a FBI agent, working undercover and knowing my cousin. Thus the journey began. The man was a sell-out, but I listened. I have continued to listen since 1990, most of the time I knew the difference between truth and lies, but thats okay. I just took a mental note for future use. I have made promises and they will all come to pass. Did anyone really think the Micmac People would forget. They stole our greatest warrior and then they laughed about it. Sorry folks, things don't work that way. I could have taken the law into my own hands, but my cousin and family wouldn't want it that way. I had to develop patience and thats a new one for me. I did a radio show (Native American Calling) back in Aug. 96, (after Leonard Peltier, Shannon Collins and Delores Collins donated headstones for Anna Mae and Joseph Stunz), and offered to meet all the guilty parties out in the desert and get it over with, no takers. That would have been the easy way. Anna Mae wanted Truth, best way to look at it. AND TRUTH IS WHAT ANNIE'S GOING TO GET. I have had to be some what quiet over the last couple of months, but don't think anyone has walked away. Don't know what the words mean, until it is over. Alot of things are about to start happening, so just hang in there. I do ask people to continue to write letters (e-mail), read and study about the time period between 1973 and 1976, because you will hear much more about it. I made a offer in Dec. 97, to trade Annie's (my personal) law suit for Leonard Peltier's freedom, that apparently didn't work. The FBI, which most of you read, wrote me a letter, which I took as a slap in the face, but thats okay. I have seen it all and I am getting ready to hammer it all out. I have asked for truth, I have wrote, made tapes, did videos, been on TV, talked on the radio, driven thousands of miles, talked leniency, even did it in person to some of those who are involved. I have send tapes to Congress and to the Canadian Parliament, I should even mention the killers have a copy of a video, expressing my charges against them and offering my help. I don't really feel I can do too much more for them. I feel I have completed my promise to my cousin and my people. Now I have to complete my promise to myself. This war we win. One could not investigate Anna Mae, without running into the 26th of June, 1975 and Leonard Peltier's case. I turned in a affidavit, from a honest man, who stated who the FBI was really looking for in early July 75 and Leonard was only needed for questioning.That went to Sen. Hatch, Sen McCain, Sen Kyle, Sen Campbell and Sen. Daschle. I have always believed that Anna Mae's case would help free Leonard and I still do. At this stage I feel I know where everyone stands and the LINES HAVE BEEN DRAWN IN THE SAND. IN THE SPIRIT OF ANNA MAE, Robert A. Pictou-Branscombe Two Things to remember; There is only one Robert A. Pictou-Branscombe and I have only excepted one donation or money from anyone. That gentleman would not take "no" for a answer. That was $100 dollars, a few years ago, I matched it and gave it to Ernie Little for the upkeep of Annie's grave. If anyone has questions call or write. Robert A. Pictou-Branscombe PO Box 681 Rimrock, AZ 86335 (520-567-7229) bbmicmac@sedona.net CHECK OUT: http:www.dickshovel.netgate.net/annaarch.html --------- "RE: Plan B Buffalo Management Proposal" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 19:42:17 -0700 From: "VRAVNDAL" Subj: Something on buffalo for your newsletter UUCP email Regarding the Indian Country Today article, no real need to transcribe it -- the main message is that ITBC should reconsider its position on quarantine because it has very bad implications for the buffalo. ITBC obviously felt threatened by my article and wrote an article in response to mine which was very surprisingly entitle "Let the Sacred Buffalo Roam Free and Safe" and insinuating that that was what they are promoting. It is not, as i have tried to point out that a quarantine means both confinement and killing. Traditional people will need to speak out if they don't want to see buffalo treated this way because the U.S. government is pretending that ITBC speaks for all Indian people! And, they are, of course, delighted that ITBC has agreed to cowtow to the livestock industry! Thanks again. Kind regards, Virginia Plan B--the Buffalo's Alternative http://www.wildrockies.org/PlanB/ Plan B Signup Page http://www.wildrockies.org/planb/signup.html Plan B Overview http://www.wildrockies.org/planb/PlanB.html PLAN "B" (FOR BUFFALO) Plan "B" (for Buffalo) is an alternative to the costly $52 Million plan the government has proposed for managing the Yellowstone buffalo herd. As part of an Environmental Impact Statement, the government described 7 alternative plans which they are considering for managing the buffalo and the disease, brucellosis, which some of the buffalo carry. All 7 alternatives offer few options and call for killing and confining buffalo. Plan "B", involves no killing or confining of buffalo and addresses legitimate disease management issues. This plan was developed by wildlife biologists and veterinarians to serve as a scientifically sound and cost-effective alternative for consideration. Plan B Proposes to: 1.Allow bison, like all other wildlife, to roam freely within the Yellowstone ecosystem (with the few restrictions described below until the herd is free of brucellosis). 2.Calculate the ecological carrying capacity for bison in areas outside the Park (as is done for elk, deer and other species), and manage the population outside the Park to maintain these numbers. 3.Ensure that wildlife, including bison, receive preference over livestock on public lands designated as "wildlife habitat". If conflicts exist between wildlife and livestock on these lands, remove livestock, not bison, from these areas. 4.Offer compensation to persons incurring property damage as a result of free roaming bison. (Environmental groups should establish and administer this fund.) Disease Management Aspects of this Plan 5.When a safe and effective brucellosis vaccine is available for bison, vaccinate Yellowstone bison via dart or oral vaccine. (By vaccinating every year, the herd should be free of the disease in approximately 15-20 years.) 6.Take the following cost-effective measures to further minimize the already minimal risk of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle during the interim period while the vaccination program is underway and until the bison herd is free of brucellosis: a) Limit existing grazing permits on public lands in the conflict zone to steer-only operations or to livestock other than cattle that cannot transmit brucellosis, or cancel these federally subsidized cattle grazing permits and offer existing permit holders alternative grazing elsewhere, b) Require vaccination of cattle against brucellosis with RB51 in the conflict zone, c) Offer ranchers that are currently grazing their cattle on private lands in the conflict zone (there are only 14 such ranchers) compensation or other incentives "not" to raise cattle (or at least not to raise cow-calves) on that land until brucellosis is eradicated from the bison, d) For those cattle owners within the conflict zone who insist on having cow-calf operations instead of switching to steer-only operations or to other livestock, and who do not wish to accept compensation not to raise cow-calves for a period of 15 years, haze those bison not classified by the federal government as "low-risk" away from those private lands when cattle are present there, "or" fence those cattle (with bison proof fencing) to prevent contact between them and bison, e) If necessary to ensure free-interstate trade, annually test the few cattle herds within the conflict zone to ensure they remain brucellosis-free (APHIS should pay for the testing as they do elsewhere) The next three points address the underlying factors which cause brucellosis in Yellowstone bison to be problematic. They are an essential part of the solution. 7. Urge Montana to accept the federal government's definition of "low-risk" bison, and allow these free movement like elk and other wildlife. 8. Urge all States to respect the brucellosis classification assigned to states by the federal government. 9. Modify Montana's zero tolerance policy to one more consistent with modern disease management, i.e., adopt scientifically-based acceptable levels of risk. EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE 9 POINTS OF PLAN "B" Pt. 3 Although public National Forest lands bordering Yellowstone have officially been designated primarily as "wildlife habitat", bison, a wildlife species, have been killed on these lands because of cattle grazing there. But, according to Forest Service regulations, livestock grazing should only be allowed on these public lands "if it does not interfere with wildlife". Therefore, if conflicts between the two exist, cattle, not wildlife, must go. Pt. 4 A compensation fund would provide important security for local residents and important compensation to ranchers who substitute cow-calf production with other perhaps less lucrative practices until the bison herd is brucellosis-free. The cost to the nation of maintaining a small vestige of the once vast free-roaming herds of bison is small relative to the benefit of maintaining some wild buffalo. The number of cattle on private lands in the area is small (only 14 ranchers with less than 1,200 cattle total). Pt. 5 Either a dart vaccine or an oral vaccine should be used. Remote vaccination precludes the need for rounding up bison and corralling them (rounding up and corralling bison is stressful to them, costly, and often involves injuries to both bison and people). Some experts contend that the existing vaccine, Strain 19, which has been used on bison for many years, could be used, and simply needs to be developed in an oral or dart form. Other experts believe the newer vaccine, RB51, should be perfected for bison and that it should be used. Given that bison are not affected by brucellosis, and that they have lived with the disease for 80 years and never transmitted it to cattle, there is no urgent need to begin vaccinating bison. Once safety and efficacy tests are concluded, the best safe and effective vaccine should be used. If bison were vaccinated each year for 15-20 years, this alone would reduce the incidence of brucellosis in the herd to the same extent as the much more intrusive and costly slaughter-quarantine approach advocated by the government -- it would take longer perhaps to achieve a brucellosis-free herd, but would save many buffalo from being needlessly killed or confined in corrals. Pt. 7 The federal government defines "low-risk" bison as untested bulls, yearlings, calves, and cows that have given birth. All states except Montana have accepted this definition. Pt. 8 Even though the federal government has classified Montana as "brucellosis-free", a small number of states, some of which compete with Montana for cattle markets, have, without providing any scientific justification, imposed sanctions restricting import of Montana cattle. This is the key factor which has made the disease problematic for Montana. Sanctions cause Montana to lose cattle markets and to incur unnecessary expense. The federal government should pursue means available to it to prevent individual states from imposing unwarranted sanctions that interfere with interstate commerce. Pt. 9 Insistence on zero-risk is "not" appropriate in the case of brucellosis because it is not deadly and it does not have potentially devastating consequences. WHAT'S RIGHT WITH PLAN "B" Plan "B" obviates any killing or confining of bison. Plan "B" insists on taking only those actions demonstrated to be cost-effective. Plan "B" provides for bison to roam freely, like all other wildlife, within the Yellowstone ecosystem. Plan "B" advocates managing risk scientifically. Plan "B" respects the cultural concerns of Native Americans with strong ties to bison. Plan "B" addresses the root causes of the problem. Plan "B" is based on science, not politics. Plan "B" does not accept that the livestock industry has the expertise or the directive to manage the nation's wildlife. Plan "B" does not condone limiting the size or the movements of the nation's most important bison herd to appease the livestock industry. --------- "RE: Marcos Resurfaces, Taunts Army" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 13:07:25 -0400 (EDT) From: NUEVO AMANECER PRESS Subj: 1. Message from subcommander Marcos/EZLN 2. Chiapas Rebel Leader Taunts Army 3. Chiapas Rebel Says Dialogue Useless ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPANISH IN MEXICO BY THE CI of the FZLN +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY irlandesa FOR THE FZLN AND NUEVO AMANECER PRESS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION MEXICO July 1998 To the Mexican Federal Army To the Guatemalan Army To Interpol in Paris To the Cisen in Polanco Gentlemen: HEY, HEY, HEY! GET OUT, GET OUT! COME ON, COME ON ! HEY, HEY! >From the mountains of Southeast Mexico Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos (Alias "The Sup Speedy Gonzalez" or what is the same thing "the stone in the shoe") Mexico, July 1998 ____________________________________ COMMUNIQUE FROM THE CLANDESTINE REVOLUTIONARY INDIGENOUS COMMITTEE - GENERAL COMMAND OF THE ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION MEXICO JULY 1998 TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO TO THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD BROTHERS AND SISTERS VIVA ZAPATA! VIVA ZAPATA! YOUR FATHER IS STILL HERE, HE IS NOT DEAD YET! VIVA ZAPATA!" [in the Nahuatl language] >From the mountains of Southeast Mexico By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos General Headquarters Mexico. July of 1998 ___________________________________________________ NUEVO AMANECER PRESS- N.A.P.To know about us visit: http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm General Director: Roger Maldonado Director Europe: Darrin Wood Coordinator: USA-Mexico-Europe: Susana Saravia (Anibarro) Advisory and support team: Mexico *When reproducing NAP's translations; please give credit* *NAP's team works on a volunteer basis and does not receive any funding from any source* +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CHIAPAS REBEL LEADER TAUNTS ARMY Associated Press, July 15, 1998 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) - Subcomandante Marcos, the masked guerrilla leader in southern Mexico's Chiapas state, taunted the army in two bizarre faxes released Wednesday that broke a four-month silence. "Yepa, yepa, yepa! Andale, andale! Arriba, arriba! Yepa, yepa!'' he typed in large letters in a fax signed "Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, alias 'The Sub. Speedy Gonzalez' or, which amounts to the same, 'the rock in the shoe.''' Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, is known for his odd sense of humor, and it was unclear exactly what the taunt referred to. But rumors have been circulating for several days among journalists in Chiapas that the military, which has long claimed to know where Marcos was, had lost track of him. The fax was dated July 1998, and was addressed to the Mexican and Guatemalan armies, Interpol in Paris and Mexico's intelligence service. Marcos signed the fax "from the mountains of southeastern Mexico.'' He also sent another one-page fax addressed to "the Mexican people, the peoples and governments of the world, brothers and sisters.'' It was in the Mexican Indian language Nahuatl - a language from central Mexico, not from Chiapas. "Zapata lives. Here is your father (a Mexican expression meaning 'I'm the one in charge.') He hasn't died yet. Zapata lives,'' the fax read. The faxes apparently were intended to put an end to speculation about Marcos' continued presence among the Zapatistas after a long silence. The rebel leader, known for the pipe protruding from his ski mask and his lengthy communiques, hadn't issued a statement since March, and hadn't been seen publicly since a videotaped statement in February. He offered no reaction when soldiers and police raided several pro-Zapatista villages and clashed with Zapatista fighters in recent months, and he has repeatedly ignored efforts by government and independent mediators to meet him. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CHIAPAS REBEL SAYS DIALOGUE USELESS Associated Press, July 16, 1998 MEXICO CITY (AP) - In his first comments on recent military raids in the southern state of Chiapas, leftist rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos accused the government of waging a war against guerrillas and Indians. In the rebel communique released Thursday, dated "July, 1998, from the mountains of Southeastern Mexico,'' Marcos said President Ernesto Zedillo's policies have convinced the rebels that dialogue with the government is useless. "Zedillo destroyed any confidence in his government. Without confidence, it is impossible to reach agreements. If there are no agreements, why hold a dialogue?'' Marcos wrote. The government answered his question in a terse communique Thursday night: "We hold a dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. That's why we hold a dialogue.'' "We reiterate the determination to find a solution to the conflict in Chiapas through a political and peaceful path with dialogue and negotiation because, despite the negativity of the Zapatistas, that's what the great majority of Mexicans want,'' the Government Secretariat said. Marcos, however, said the government's stated desire for peace was ingenuous. "The word of war and the violent actions come only from the government side,'' he said. The statement was similar in style, language and content to previous communiques. It bore Marcos' signature and was faxed to the same telephone number that other communiques have been sent to. Until Wednesday, the rebel leader hadn't issued a statement since March and hadn't been seen publicly since a videotaped statement in February. He issued a brief, taunting message Wednesday. Prior to the Thursday communique, Marcos had offered no reaction to army and police raids on four pro-Zapatista villages in recent months, and has repeatedly ignored efforts by government and independent mediators to meet with him. In the statement, he claimed the Zapatista rebels, who staged a brief armed uprising in January 1994 demanding greater democracy and Indian rights, have only 300 fighters to face more than 60,000 federal troops in Chiapas. The statement blamed the government's campaign against foreign human rights observers and activists and against Mexican mediation groups for the lack of talks between the two sides in the conflict. A truce has been in effect in Chiapas since peace talks began in early 1994. Those talks broke down almost two years ago over differences on how to implement a negotiated accord on Indian rights. "The Mexican army - under orders from U.S. advisers - is in the mountains of Mexico carrying out the same policy that Gen. Custer put in practice with the Indians of the United States,'' he wrote. The government has justified the raids by saying that the pro-rebel parallel governments are illegal and provocative. --------- "RE: Nisga'a Treaty Being Finalized" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 23:40:24 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Nisga'a "treaty" being "finalized" :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news articles may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. They are provided for reference only.] 1. Nisga'a agreement expected to be signed by Wednesday 2. Nisga'a treaty close to being signed :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NISGA'A AGREEMENT EXPECTED TO BE SIGNED BY WEDNESDAY The Vancouver Sun, July 14, 1998 After 25 years of arguments and compromises, negotiators representing the Nisga'a and federal and provincial governments, are expected to initial a final treaty agreement Wednesday, Joe Gosnell, president of the Nisga'a Tribal Council, said Monday. "There are now no outstanding issues," he said of the deal that will cede 1,930 square kilometres in the Nass River Valley to the Nisga'a along with a $190 million cash payment. What remains to be done over the next day is to figure out the legal language of the final points that had been under dispute, he said. Negotiators would not discuss what those issues were. But sources say they were disputes over: - "Certainty" -- a term used to ensure the treaty extinguishes all future claims once the deal is signed. Paul Tennant, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in aboriginal issues, says the term is misleading since it's impossible to achieve in corporate agreements, never mind treaties. [But] we can get a deal about what they won't claim in the future -- more lands, for example;" - The pay back of the more than $30 million experts estimate the Nisga'a borrowed from the federal government to pay for lawyers, negotiators and consultants to complete the deal. The Nisga'a have been arguing that they are breaking new ground for those who follow, and so should not have to pay the whole load. But, the government worries forgiving the loan or parts of it would set a precedent,encouraging those who follow to negotiate endlessly. The finale might be a bit anti-climactic after the round-the-clock frantic discussions of the past weeks, the 25 years of negotiations, and the fact that the Nisga'a originally petitioned the British Privy Council in 1913 for a treaty. "There will likely be a pronouncement at the table that we've wound down the negotiations," Gosnell said from the Terrace Inn in Terrace,where the negotiators have been meeting for 21 days straight to complete the deal. Then the lead negotiators -- Jack Ebbels for the province, Tom Molloy for Ottawa, and Gosnell for the Nisga'a -- will initial the deal. The quiet conclusion of the deal belies the fireworks that can be expected as lawyers and negotiators put down their pens, and the ruling federal and provincial politicians begin their battle to get the deal accepted by opposition leaders, and third-party interests such as business and labor groups. "It's one of the most important agreements in the history of Indian Affairs," federal ministry spokesman Peter Baird said. "For the first time in history we're doing self-government and land claims [issues]in one treaty," he said. "And it's the front end of a treaty process that stretches out with 51 others," he said referring to the other First Nations who are currently negotiating treaties with the B.C. Treaty Commission. The deal will be initialed formally by Premier Glen Clark, Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart, provincial Aboriginal Affairs Minister Dale Lovick, and possibly Prime Minister Jean Chretien, if his schedule permits, as early as next week at a formal signing ceremony. That ceremony will launch the treaty onto the political path where the first step is "an extensive public information initiative," Lovick said Monday. Provincial and federal governments are expected to introduce legislation to adopt the treaty this fall :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NISGA'A TREATY CLOSE TO BEING SIGNED Negotiators are optimistic that the historic deal is imminent, although it will still be far from being law. Vancouver Sun, July 11, 1998, by Jim Beatty, Sun Legislature Bureau VICTORIA -- Details establishing B.C.'s first modern-day land claims treaty could be in place within a week as government and Nisga'a negotiators work through the weekend finalizing the agreement. "We haven't popped any champagne corks yet but we might start chilling it pretty soon, " said John Watson, the regional director of Indian affairs. "It's very close... I guess after 15 years you run out of issues to clarify." Although several key issues are still outstanding, negotiators representing the Nisga'a and federal and provincial governments remain optimistic a deal is imminent. Negotiators are meeting in Terrace and sources say they still must hammer out details surrounding roads, forestry, heritage and "certainty," a term used to ensure the treaty signed. But if negotiators wrap up talks as expected, a land claims treaty is still a long way from being law. The deal must first be considered by a formal advisory committee representing third-party interests such as business, labour, municipal governments and environmental groups. While key officials may initial the historic deal -- possibly even Premier Glen Clark and Prime Minister Jean Chretien -- it must then be approved by the three parties. The Nisga'a people will likely take two or three months to ratify the agreement. It must then be approved by the B.C. and federal governments. B.C. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Dale Lovick said it is unlikely the proposed treaty will be added to the current legislative session, which will probably drag on through the summer. "We want the citizens of this province to know what the issues are," Lovick said Friday. "That means [there will be] an elaborate information campaign." Lovick said a fall sitting of the legislature, an unusual occurrence in B.C., is a "plausible scenario" to deal with the Nisga'a issue. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to the Vancouver Sun - mailto:sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Native Fishermen Reach Deal" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 23:40:57 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Cheam win limited food/ceremonial fishery :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: [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.] 1. Feds, native fishermen reach deal 2. Cheam end Fraser food fishery :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: FEDS, NATIVE FISHERMEN REACH DEAL Agreement will allow bands to catch a limited number of sockeye after a weekend of tension over fishing rights. Vancouver Sun, July 13, 1998, by Lori Culbert Renegade native fishermen have pulled their nets from the closed Fraser River in a tentative deal with the federal government that allows bands to catch a limited number of vulnerable sockeye for ceremonial and food purposes. The move follows a weekend of tension between natives and sports fishermen over how to share a limited number of fish, and the laying of charges against four natives who refused to co-operate with the government's conservation measures. "But the progress we made [on the weekend] is a good sign," Terry Tebb, acting director of Pacific operations for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said Sunday. The controversy arose last week when the DFO ordered the Fraser River and Georgia Strait closed to sockeye fishing from July 9 to 27 to conserve the early Stuart sockeye. Tebb said half the run is in danger of dying before it reproduces because of low-water levels and warm water temperatures. Members of the Cheam First Nations and other bands in the Sto:lo Nation defied the conservation measures until noon Saturday, when most removed nets from the mid-Fraser River, upstream from Mission. In exchange, members of the Sto:lo and Yale bands can catch a maximum of 1,000 early sockeye by a deadline of tonight so native elders can preserve the sockeye on drying racks. Natives say the tradition must be started now for the fish to be dry in time for winter. Natives, who can still catch chinook with lines or a limited number of dipnets, were also angry that recreational fishermen are permitted to catch chinook with barbless hooks in some parts of the two rivers. On Friday night, taunting and name-calling erupted between natives and fishermen on the Fraser River, Tebb said. The conflict prompted Tebb to extend one of the areas closed to recreational fishermen, and 10 were given warnings Saturday for fishing in the newly closed sections. Many of the natives fishing with 25 illegal nets Friday were armed with rifles -- to kill seals that eat fish caught in the nets, they said -- but there was no violence on the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, DFO officials seized eight native nets still illegally in the water. Six had been abandoned, but two were being operated by four natives who will face charges of fishing during a closed period under the federal fisheries act, said Tebb. Natives and DFO officials will meet again Tuesday, when Tebb will show data estimating 50 per cent of early Stuarts will die before they spawn this year. In a normal season, the pre-spawn death rate is less than 10 per cent. DFO predicts there will be 175,000 early Stuarts in the 1998 run, and hope 97,000 will reach spawning grounds. "That's why we closed the river, to meet that number," said Tebb, who added that native fisheries have already killed 15,000 early Stuarts. Cheam band former chief Corkey Douglas complimented Tebb for compromising on the dry-rack fishery, but said the band would have to see the DFO's evidence before agreeing to stop fishing for early Stuarts for the rest of the season. "We don't feel there's a [conservation] concern if the sports fishery is still out there. If there was a real concern, they'd have a full shutdown and not just certain sections of the river," said Douglas, 40, whose sister, June Quipp, is now Cheam chief. Douglas, also a fisherman, said the catch-and-release measures used by sports fishermen to release accidentally snagged early Stuarts often kill them. But Tebb is optimistic a deal can be struck, and said the dry-rack fishery deal was a good one for the DFO. He explained that natives were fishing illegally in the mid-Fraser, in the Agassiz and Rosewall areas, where there are many sockeye. But the so-called dry-rack fishery will only be permitted in the Fraser Canyon, between Hope Bridge and Yale, where there are fewer sockeye to catch. The 1,000 early Stuarts will be in addition to 500 already caught this season for dry-racks. Before the DFO knew how small the early Stuart run would be this year, they had targeted 5,000 early Stuarts for dry-racking. That's a good compromise, considering Ottawa and native bands have not yet signed a valid agreement on regulating the 1998 fishery, Tebb said. Commercial fishermen do not operate on the Fraser River at this time of year. Letters to the Vancouver Sun - mailto:sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NATIVES BOW TO FRASER FISH BAN Cheam band members remove nets from river The Province, July 12, 1998, by Helen Plischke Native fishermen defying a federal ban on salmon fishing removed their nets from the Fraser River yesterday -- but they warned that their protest may not be over. Department of fisheries and oceans officers patrolled the shore and water as members of the Cheam band removed sockeye nets from several locations along the Fraser River east of Chilliwack. The agreement to remove the nets was reached Friday evening after a day-long meeting between fisheries officers and band members, who said they expect the ban to be enforced equally against sports fishermen. "I think as long as the sportsmen are off the river from the mouth up, then we will abide by it," said band member Isaac Aleck, one of several fishermen removing his net from the river yesterday afternoon. "As long as the sportsmen are out, we'll be out." The fishing ban was issued last Wednesday to protect a vulnerable run of sockeye. The run is threatened by unusually warm water temperatures and record-low water levels. Members of the band say the ban conflicts with their traditional harvest of sockeye. They say there are limited days to catch the fish so they can be wind-dried, a traditional method of curing the fish. Fishermen began setting their nets Wednesday night and, at the height of the dispute, there were as many as 25 in the water, said Robert Martinolich, acting director of conservation and protection for the DFO. It's too early to tell what effect the fishing will have on the sockeye population, he said. Fishermen who removed their nets yesterday were allowed to keep the fish, and their nets were not seized, Martinolich said. Two nets left in the river unattended were seized. Although some of the fishermen carried rifles, there were no threats made against authorities, Martinolich said. It's common for fishermen to carry guns, to use against seals, he said. "The co-operative atmosphere between the DFO and the Cheam is right now the best it's been in quite a while," he said. The fishing ban covers the Rosedale and Agassiz areas and includes all salmon species. It applies to recreational and native fishing. But band members hauling in their nets yesterday claim that such bans are not enforced against sports fishermen angling with hooks. They also decry catch-and-release methods, saying salmon die from damaged gills after being caught. Several non-native fishermen who weren't aware of the ban were ordered to stop fishing yesterday, Martinolich said. Another meeting with Cheam band members is scheduled for Tuesday, when fisheries officers hope to convince the natives of the sensitivity of the sockeye run, with scientific data from the Pacific Salmon Commission. Letters to The Province - mailto:provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Mobile Homes Donated/URGENT HELP" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:37:53 -0700 From: Carmeen Klausner Subj: article UUCP email Mobile Homes Donated: Urgent Call for Action!! Much of the housing on the reservations of South Dakota is below poverty standards. Many Native Americans along the Front Range are also without housing. We have been given an opportunity to help ease this situation. Several mobile home dealers in this area have agreed to donate older, in good shape, mobile homes. All we need do is remove them from the parks they are in and take them where they are needed most. Usually we have about 2 weeks notice to remove them, and in that time we must find a company to give us an estimate of moving cost and find a place to park them. Already we have lost 4 homes. Since many on the reservation have their own land, we need only to get the mobile home to them. The following situations need creative solutions and we ask any of you who can help to please call or e-mail us with your suggestions: 1) Find a trucking company (one that hauls mobile homes) to give us a discount or do it for a tax write off. They charge $3/mile. It is 400 miles to the reservation. 2) Suggest or find corporate sponsors to donate a tax-deductible donation to get a home to the reservation. 3) Help find mobile home courts in the Denver area that will take older trailers. 4) Find a storage facility that would allow us to store a few mobile homes until we are able to get them to their final destination. We have so much waste in our country -- and of things that are still of use and value to others who are less fortunate. If we can find homeless Native Americans a place to live for free, we pray that you will help us find a way to truck these homes in to where they are most needed. Time is of the essence and each day we lose another home due to lack of trucking and funds. PATHWAYS TO SPIRIT is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation. Your urgently needed and greatly appreciated donations are tax deductible and can be sent to: 4307 Goldemeye Dr., Ft. Collins, CO, 80526, Phone (970) 282-8573, e-mail: pathways@webaccess.net or visit our new web address at www.pathwaystospirit.necaweb.com --------- "RE: Save Ward Valley News" --------- Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 12:34:40 -0700 (MST) From: swv1@ctaz.com (Save Ward Valley) Subj: Save Ward Valley News--Issue #6 SAVE WARD VALLEY NEWS STRAIGHT FROM THE TORTOISE'S MOUTH Issue 6 Summer 1998 SAVE WARD VALLEY-FORT MOJAVE INDIAN TRIBE-BAN WASTE COALITION - GREENACTION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WARD VALLEY OCCUPATION LASTS 113 DAYS BLM RESCINDS NOTICE TO MOVE CAMP, SHELVES TRITIUM TESTS, DECLARES LAND TRANSFER APPLICATION INVALID In early February, 1998 hundreds of people responded to Save Ward Valley's call to action that was issued last winter. On February 13, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tried to close Ward Valley to the public, tribal members and Elders of the 5 Lower Colorado River Indian Tribes--Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Quechan, and Colorado River Indian Tribes--took control of the Valley by conducting religious ceremonies in the middle of Water Road. Non-Native American protesters formed a blockade line to protect them. The BLM did not attempt to remove anyone. Another showdown occurred on February 18, BLM's deadline for moving our two-year-old resistance camp so the government could test for tritium on the site proposed for a radioactive waste dump. While security personnel from the American Indian Movement guarded the entrance to Ward Valley, seven fires burned all night at the camp. Mojave cooks ladled meat and vegetarian stews out of big pots while Mohave and Quechan Birdsingers performed at two of the fires, the United Farm Workers from Imperial County sang at another fire, and dozens of people participated in a nonviolent action training workshop. BLM still did not try to remove anyone. More than 100 people stayed in Ward Valley until February 25, when BLM's law enforcement officers left the area, conceding control of the valley. Then 25-35 dump opponents settled in for a long occupation. Approximately 150 people came out on the weekends. The encampment became Silyaye Aheace Village. The occupation hosted a series of special events. On February 20 Save Ward Valley's Office Coordinator Molly Johnson and her life partner Rick Beaumont were married in a beautiful ceremony. On February 23 a traditional Mojave funeral ceremony was held for long-time activist and friend of the Tribes, Stormy Williams. This is an extremely high honor as she is the first non-Native to receive a traditional burial from any of the five tribes. Her ashes were buried in Ward Valley, confirming it as a sacred site. On February 28 Cahuilla singers from near Palm Springs, California, sang traditional songs in Ward Valley. On March 7 the occupation hosted a blues concert entitled "500 Years of Native American Blues." On March 14 the O'odham Nation -Tohono O'odham, Salt River, Gila River, and Pima-Maricopa-accompanied by a medicine man from Mexico performed a ground blessing ceremony. On March 23 a walk left from Ward Valley bound for the Nevada Test Site. On Monday April 12, a Peace & Dignity began in Ward Valley. A large group of runners, including Ft. Mojave Spirit Runners ran all the way to San Pedro. See pages 4-6 for details about some of these events. Meanwhile, Tribal representatives from the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance met repeatedly with Department of the Interior (DOI) officials on a nation-to-nation basis, demanding cancellation of the proposed dump project. VICTORY IS NEAR! On May 29 the DOI halted their environmental studies on the proposed dump, including the controversial tritium tests. They also announced that they believe the California Department of Health Services (DHS) lacks the authority to buy the federal land in Ward Valley for use as a dump. The California Assembly's Democratic leadership said in an April 1998 letter to Interior Secretary Babbitt that the $500,000 that US Ecology (the proposed dump operator) gave to DHS to buy the land was an illegal gift. Finally, on June 5, the BLM rescinded its notice to move our protest camp. On June 6 the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance called off our Red Alert, after a 113-day occupation. Nevertheless, dump opponents have vowed to staff the protest camp during the hot summer ahead. Tribal representatives intend to continue conducting ceremonies there. To show our enduring commitment, 200-300 people attended an all-night traditional ceremony in Ward Valley on June 16, the day before Judge Emmet Sullivan heard arguments in a lawsuit concerning the dump in Washington, D.C. BLM asked the judge to rule on whether DHS has authority to buy the land in Ward Valley. The judge did not appear interested in ruling on that question. (See pg. 3.) Our occupation showed the DOI how intensely local Native Americans and environmentalists oppose the proposed dump. The occupation pressured the government to find a way to reject the dump project. We must not let this moment slip away. Dump proponents could scare DOI into changing their mind and honoring DHS's land transfer application. Now is the time to convince the DOI to conclusively reject DHS's land transfer application and cancel the dump project for all time. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ necessary. ************************************************ WARD VALLEY LEGAL UPDATE by Ward Young--BAN Waste Coalition On June 17th, in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., Judge Emmet Sullivan presided over three hours of oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) and US Ecology against the Department of Interior to obtain federal land in Ward Valley for the proposed radioactive waste dump. DHS and US Ecology allege that by signing a record of decision to transfer federal land to the state of California in 1993, former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan had committed Interior to the transfer. In response to Lujan's action, the BAN Waste Coalition and the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi and Colorado River Indian Tribes sued Lujan to stop the land transfer, using the protections of the Endangered Species Act. This led to the designation of 6.4 million acres of critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise, including Ward Valley. Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court for Northern California halted the land transfer and ruled that Lujan's actions were illegal. Subsequently, incoming Interior Secretary Babbitt rescinded Lujan's actions and began a new review of the proposed dump. Now Babbitt's decision five years ago to reverse Lujan and conduct his own review is under attack by DHS and US Ecology in Sullivan's court. At the same time, the dump proponents are suing the federal government in a related case in U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. In this case, DHS and US Ecology are arguing that Interior is liable for $85 million in project costs plus damages. Both sides presented their arguments at a hearing before Judge Hodges in January, but the judge has not yet ruled in that case. On June 17th, Judge Sullivan at first suggested that he could stay the entire proceedings and simply await a ruling and precedent from the federal Claims Court, since the arguments made in both cases are similar. However, both sides urged the judge to move forward, and he agreed. Sullivan aggressively questioned the central arguments made by DHS and US Ecology, which suggests he may rule in Interior's favor. Next, the judge asked Interior if it had made a final decision on Ward Valley. On May 29th, Interior had made a significant move to indefinitely suspend all further review of the dump. Attorneys for Interior responded to Judge Sullivan that the agency was hoping he would make a definitive ruling regarding DHS' questionable authority under California law to purchase the Ward Valley land. Interior based its decision to suspend the dump review (including the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and tritium testing) on a legal analysis initiated by top Democratic leaders in the California Legislature. Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, and Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl concluded that DHS has no authority to enter into contract to purchase land and would have to undergo further legislative and administrative approval to legally acquire the 1,000 acre site for the dump. Even though Judge Sullivan had received legal briefs from both sides on the matter, he appeared reluctant to take a position on the subject. Interior claimed that it could complete the environmental review, if necessary, in one year from starting tritium tests at the site. In February, Interior was prevented from initiating tritium testing by the five lower Colorado River Indian Tribes and environmental activists who conducted a four-month long occupation of the dumpsite on land considered sacred ancestral territory of the tribes. Eric Glitzenstein, attorney for intervenors the BAN Waste Coalition and Committee to Bridge the Gap, argued forcefully that Interior has already made a final decision on Ward Valley because the agency has concluded that the state's application for the land is illegal. Judge Sullivan promised to make a ruling promptly, and attorneys expect him to do so within two or three months. The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco filed amicus briefs (friends of the court) in Sullivan's court in favor of dismissing DHS and US Ecology's suit. Although these developments seem promising, the Ward Valley issue is far from resolved. Interior is reluctant to make a final decision on Ward Valley and may be waiting for the Judge to provide a resolution. It is important at this time that we urge the administration to stop the project once and for all. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WHAT YOU CAN DO!!! COME TO WARD VALLEY -- We act with the guidance and direction of the Tribes and Elders in the village of Silyaye Aheace. To find out how you can become a resident of Silyaye Aheace (even if for just a short time) contact Save Ward Valley at 760/326-6267. SUPPORT THE VILLAGE! -- Food, supplies and money are always needed. Some of the things especially needed now are: propane or solar-powered refrigeration, solar powered fans and/or air cooling systems, shade cloths, extra tents, sleeping bags, hats. For a more complete list contact Save Ward Valley. CALL, E-MAIL, FAX OR WRITE: Let the government know you support the Tribes in their struggle to protect sacred land, the Colorado River and the threatened desert tortoise. Remind them that every dump operated by US Ecology is leaking, the Hayden report very clearly showed another radioactive waste site is not needed, and that by looking at the latest USGS reports from the US Ecology site at Beatty, NV they can see what is most likely to happen at Ward Valley. Encourage them to do the right thing and call off this insane project once and for all! President William Clinton The White House Washington, DC 20500 PH 202/456-1111 FAX 202/456-2461 president@whitehouse.gov Vice-President Al Gore The White House Washington, DC 20500 PH 202/456-6224 FAX 202/456-2710 vice.president@whitehouse.gov Senator Dianne Feinstein 331 HOB Washington, DC 20510 PH 202/224-3841 FAX 202/228-3954 senator@feinstein.senate.gov Gubernatorial Candidate Gray Davis 9911 W. Peco Blvd., Suite 980 Los Angeles, CA 90035 PH 310/201-0344 FAX 310/2201-0922 Secretary Bruce Babbitt - DOI 1849 C St., NW Washington, DC 202 PH 202/208-7351 FAX 202/208-5133 exsec@ios.doi.gov Save Ward Valley 107 F St. Needles, CA 92363 ph. 760/326-6267 fax 760/326-6268 http://www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley http://www.ctaz.com/~swv1 http://banwaste.envirolink.org http://www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html http://www.wildrockies.org/cmcr --------- "RE: Clark Calls Alaska Rogue State" --------- Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 17:37:55 -0700 (PDT) From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: BC Premier calls Alaska a "rogue state" :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: CLARK CALLS ALASKA ROGUE STATE Treaty talks between Canada and Alaska break down for the fifth year in a row. Vancouver Sun, July 10, 1998, by Lori Culbert and Justine Hunter [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.] Salmon treaty talks between Alaska and Canada broke down Thursday, prompting Premier Glen Clark to urge the federal government to take retaliatory measures against what he called the rogue state. The breakdown of talks means Alaskan fishermen will police themselves while harvesting salmon this summer. But while federal Fisheries Minister David Anderson insisted the situation is not disastrous, B.C. fishermen and politicians said they feared it could lead to the extinction of some coho runs. Clark said it's "a full-blown crisis" that there isn't a treaty deal for the fifth-straight season. "Canada has to respond, there has to be retaliation which tries to convince these Americans that a rogue state like Alaska, with 400,000 people, can't stand up to a respected nation like Canada, and can't destroy the future of the salmon for our children," Clark said from Washington, D.C., where he is on a two-day trade mission. Clark suggested fees be levied on U.S. fishing vessels that travel through Canadian waters. Anderson said the negotiations with Alaska -- aimed primarily, in Canada's view, at limiting coho catches in the interest of conservation -- became pointless because Alaskan scientists disagreed with Canadian predictions that Skeena River coho stocks are nearly extinct, and therefore refused to curb the state fishery to Canada's satisfaction. "This is not a disaster. It would have been better, preferable, to have an agreement," he said in a telephone interview from New Brunswick. "[But] what was on the table wasn't acceptable to Canada. I said earlier I wouldn't sign a bad deal, and I meant it." In Victoria, B.C. Fisheries Minister Dennis Streifel said Anderson should have used harder bargaining tactics such as going to the international court at The Hague to press for a treaty, getting the prime minister and president involved, or renewing B.C.'s aborted efforts to keep the U.S. Navy from using the Nanoose Bay testing range. But Bob King, a spokesman for Alaskan Governor Tony Knowles, said such hard-nosed measures would not have been successful. "We don't respond well to threats," King said. "Our focus is on Skeena River fish rather than torpedo ranges." Anderson's executive assistant Brian Bohunicky agreed, saying the minister used conservation not "unrelated retaliatory steps" in negotiations. Bohunicky said Clark's and Streifel's demands are "good political theatre, but have nothing to do with advancing interests of Canadian fishermen in treaty negotiations." Both Anderson and Knowles said progress was made in the talks and they are optimistic a deal can be reached next year. Anderson said he is confident Alaskans will "fish responsibly" this summer, and said Canadian officials will stay in contact with the state about its harvesting plans. But John Radosevic, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, said Skeena River coho could disappear because Alaskans are now free to fish without any restrictions. The endangered stocks start the season in the mouth of the Skeena River in Alaska, but spend most of the summer in Canadian waters. Anderson has drastically cut back much of B.C.'s commercial fishery this season to protect the coho. "The sacrifice we're making is therefore irrelevant and wasted, and that's what we can't stand," Radosevic said. "I don't think B.C. fishermen will take this kind of thing lying down." No protests are planned as yet, he added. Federal officials say Alaskans harvest, in an average year, 40 per cent of the Skeena River coho. But Dale Kelley, executive director of the Alaskan Trollers Association, rejected Radosevic's claims, saying state fishermen won't decimate the coho because the stocks are important to the viability of Alaska's commercial fishery. "This is our bread and butter. It doesn't pay to drive the stocks to extinction," said Kelley, who put part of the blame on the breakdown of talks on Anderson. "You're getting distant management from Ottawa . . . . We're concerned about the Canadian industry too, but Alaska is not your problem." Kelley said Alaskans will monitor coho stocks this summer and cut back fishing if the state deems it necessary. And King said Knowles supports Anderson's call for an independent scientific review to determine if the coho are, in fact, in danger of becoming extinct. Canadian scientists say coho are disappearing, but Alaskan scientists say 1997 was merely a poor year and the stocks will return. Anderson's assistant deputy fisheries minister, Pat Chamut, said Canada and Alaska reached tentative agreements on fishing other salmon stocks, but they were abandoned when the two sides could not agree on coho. Canada has already reached deals involving sockeye, chinook and coho with Washington State and Oregon. But B.C. fishermen and politicians have accused Anderson of giving away bargaining leverage with Alaska by signing those earlier agreements. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to the Vancouver Sun - mailto:sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Residential School Tribunal Update" --------- Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 14:50:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Kevin Daniel Annett Subj: residential school Tribunal update - July 20, 1998 UUCP email please send throughout your network ... More Evidence of Medical Experimentation in Residential Schools Given to Human Rights Tribunal - Witnesses Jailed and Intimidated - Present-day Child Sex Ring Described Vancouver - During the International Tribunal into Residential Schools, held in Vancouver from June 12-14, 1998, four eyewitnesses who attended the Catholic residential school on Kuper Island described being used in medical experiments at the school by "German speaking doctors". Fifty-one native boys between the ages of nine and fourteen were "given shots in our chests, which made us get sick and faint", according to one of the eyewitnesses. Two boys died as a result of the injections. Additional eyewitnesses describe being given electric shocks to their heads on a daily basis at two other government-funded schools on Vancouver Island during the 1960's. The same boys were also exposed to massive doses of X-rays at the same facility, and several of them developed lung cancer as a result. Two of these eyewitnesses were arrested and jailed by the RCMP in the weeks following the June Tribunal. Frank Martin of Bella Bella was held incommunicado for a week, and Dennis Tallio has been threatened with a year long jail term by Crown Counsel. A woman who testified at the Tribunal against one of her elders, who she accused of being a pedophile, had her student loan application turned down by her band council the day following her testifying at the Tribunal against the elder. The woman was told "You'll get your money when you withdraw your testimony." Further intimidation of witnesses occurred during the Tribunal. Reverend Kevin Annett, the Tribunal's chief expert witness, was physically and verbally threatened by Dean Wilson on June 13. Wilson is a friend of Ron Hamilton of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council in Port Alberni, who himself threatened Harry Wilson, an eyewitness to murder at the Alberni Residential School in 1967. Hamilton told Harry Wilson that if he told UN officials of the young girl's body that he discovered in 1967, he'd "be sorry". At the Tribunal, Dean Wilson told Reverend Annett to "stop repeating the incident, or there'll be trouble". Wilson said he was speaking on behalf of Ron Hamilton, who Dean Wilson claims met with Harry Wilson and forced him to change his testimony about the dead girl. Ron Hamilton worked closely with the RCMP on their Residential School Task Force. The day that Hamilton threatened Harry Wilson at the Port Alberni human rights forum, he told a relative of Harry's on the ferry to Nanaimo that "I'm going to Port Alberni to do a a job for Ed John." John heads the B.C.Treaty Commission and the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council, and owns the Takla Logging Company. More recent evidence of a native child sex ring has also surfaced. Residents of the Squamish reserve in North Vancouver have observed a local native resident, a man in his forties, escorting native girls ages ten and eleven into a "black stretch limousine" which parks at the end of Chief Joseph Crescent. The limousine was tailed to the back of the Vancouver Club, where it deposited the children. The Vancouver Club is the hang-out of the province's elite, including judges, politicians and native leaders. The girls are local residents "who were all dolled up in make-up", according to an eyewitness. This incident, which occurred on July 10, corroborates evidence gathered by native lawyer Renate Auger which showed that native girls and boys were being abducted from northern reserves and brought to the Vancouver Club by native men. For more information on the ongoing work of the Tribunal, contact Kevin Annett at 604-462-1086 or Jim Belcourt & Caroline Nelson at 604-412-9658. --------- "RE: ITCFCT NAGPRA Policy Statement" --------- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 17:15:51 -0700 From: Nancy Thomas Subj: ITCFCT NAGPRA Policy Statement http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/ is now "the People's Paths home page!" The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes (Organized February 3rd, 1950) Cherokee * Chickasaw * Choctaw Muscogee Creek * Seminole "NAGPRA Policy Statement" Of July 10, 1998 Copyright 1998 ITCFCT All Rights Reserved -=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=- This policy statement has been agreed upon by the following tribes of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes. (THE ITCFCT): the CHEROKEE NATION OF OKLAHOMA, the CHICKASAW NATION, the CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA, the MUSCOGEE (CREEK) NATION and the SEMINOLE NATION OF OKLAHOMA. We represent over 300,000 native people nationwide, thus the largest federally recognized body of blood descendants of the original inhabitants of the southeast region of the United States. THE INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES looks toward the future and the possibility that this process will begin to generate a greater level of understanding and respect for the traditions and cultural heritage of Native Americans at the National and International level. This understanding can only come by incorporating contemporary Native perspectives into the interpretation and presentation of Native people's past and present cultural realities. Cooperative endeavors to address Native rights and concerns established during the repatriation process hold the promise of strengthening the native voice of the Indigenous people's of the Southeast Culture. In recognizing and affirming the sovereignty of each member nation we shall implement the following: the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA); the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI Act); the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA); the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA); the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); the Executive Orders for Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment; the Executive Order for Indian Sacred Sites; and the White House Memorandum, Government-to-Government Relations with Native Americans Tribal Governments, and other related laws and regulations. WE RECOGNIZE that in some cases: federal, state, private land owners and other individuals who occupy the lands we once inhabited treat our ancestral/relatives graves and sacred resources as spoils thus, defiling, desecrating, demoralizing and dehumanizing the Native American People's. THE ITCFCT IN CONSENSUS AGREEMENT state that by the preponderance of geographical, kinship, biological, archaeological, anthropological, linguistic, folklore, oral tradition, and historical evidence, that we share the Southeast region of the United States, which encompasses both ancestral homelands and contemporary jurisdictional areas. WE FIRMLY AGREE we did not abandon our ancestral/relatives graves and sacred sites but forced removal to distant lands prevents us from visiting, preserving, and protecting those sacred sites comprising but not limited to the current states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. WE AGREE to support and communicate with one another in establishing a relationship for the pursuit of the repatriation of ancestral/relatives Human remains and culturally sensitive artifacts of the Southeast cultures which are in the possession of museums or stored at various repository locations throughout the United States and the World. The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes NAGPRA POLICY STATEMENT WE AGREE to support and defend the sacred burial sites of our ancestors and relatives, who by consanguinity, we claim a shared group identity which can be reasonably traced to historic and prehistoric "Paleo" cultures that have inhabited the Southeast region and the submerged civilizations of coastal waterways of the United States. WE AGREE that through joint deliberations and tribal consensus we shall address mutual concerns relevant to the execution of repatriation issues involving common boundaries and common lines of descent for cultural affiliation determinations. WE AGREE to consult with other federally recognized tribes, legitimate tribal groups and non-governmental organizations, who contribute to the repatriation and protection of culturally sensitive materials and sacred sites. WE AGREE to establish a dialogue and develop agreements with the original inhabitants of the land within our present jurisdictional boundaries. We shall monitor and protect their culturally sensitive resources and sites, and notify those tribes who may be culturally affiliated of any disturbances. WE AGREE to define jurisdictional boundaries for the purposes of collecting data more efficiently and to share documented information and inventories on archaeological, ethnographic, and physical anthropological materials that are collected on inspections to Museums and repositories. WE AGREE that repatriations, reburial practices and disposition will be implemented by each tribe according to their protocol. The other Southeastern tribes will be made available for advice and offer assistance, if needed. WE AGREE to pursue amendments in federal, state and international laws and establish a dialogue with the various agencies in developing agreements regarding the repatriation, protection, and preservation of Human remains and culturally sensitive materials. WE AGREE that a two foot perimeter around the skeletal remains and funerary objects (associated and unassociated) constitute as part of a person. Any cleaning or washing of these bone fragments or articles is a violation of human rights. The excavated Earth remains sacred even with the absence of Human remains or funerary objects. WE AGREE to discourage any type of scientific testing on historic or prehistoric (Paleo) Native American Human remains for the purposes of determining cultural affiliation or age dating. WE SEPARATELY AND AS A WHOLE AGREE to claim "Culturally Unidentifiable" Native American Human remains and other cultural items >from the Southeastern United States and when deemed necessary to designate a tribe or repository for temporary management of Human remains or culturally sensitive materials until a reasonable determination of cultural affiliation can be established, for purposes of reburial and protection of sacred sites. WE SHALL educate the public regarding the spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People of the Southeast Cultures and strive to maintain tribal customs and traditions in this most sensitive issue. Our belief is that in bringing and maintaining our relations to the sacred cycle of life, we will resolve spiritual disturbances within our Native American Communities. The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes shall have sole right to amend this NAGPRA Policy Statement when deemed necessary. This document was approved by Resolution 98-28 of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes on July 10, 1998 at Fountainhead Resort near Checotah, OK. POINTS OF CONTACT: "For NAGPRA Consultation or Issues" Joe Byrd, Principal Chief Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma P.O. Box 948 Tahlequah, OK 74464 (918) 456-0671 / fax 458-0745 Email: Chief_Byrd@cherokee.org Durbin Feeling, Mgr. Office of Linguistic Research Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma P.O. Box 948 Tahlequah, OK 74465-0948 Phone: (918) 458-6170 / FAX: (918) 458-6172 Email: dfeeling@mail.netsites.net Bill Anoatubby, Governor Chickasaw Nation P.O. Box 1548 Ada, OK 74280 Phone: (580) 436-2603 / FAX: (580) 436-4287 Jefferson Keel, Special Assistant Chickasaw Nation P.O. Box 1548 Ada, OK 74820 Phone: (580) 436-2603 (ext. 707) / FAX: (580) 421-7719 Email: jeffkeel@chickasaw.com Gregory E. Pyle, Chief Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma P.O. Drawer 1210 Durant, OK 74702 Phone: (580) 924-8280 / FAX: (580) 924-1267 Terry Cole, NAGPRA Coordinator Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma P.O. Drawer 1210 Durant, OK 74702 Phone: (580) 924-8280 (ext. 243) / FAX: (580) 924-2893 Email: realprop@redriverok.com R. Perry Beaver, Principal Chief Muscogee (Creek) Nation P.O. Box 580 Okmulgee, OK 74447 Phone: (918) 756-8700 / FAX: (918) 758-1434 Joyce A. Bear, Historic Preservation Officer Muscogee (Creek) Nation P.O. Box 580 Okmulgee, OK 74447 Phone: (918) 756-8700 ext. 602 / FAX: (918) 758-1499 Email: tdeputee@ocevnet.org Jerry G. Haney, Principal Chief Seminole Nation of Oklahoma P.O. Box 1498 Wewoka, OK 74884 Phone: (403) 257-6287 / FAX: (403) 257-6205 Alan D. Emarthle, Historic Preservation Officer Seminole Nation Historic Preservation Mekusukey Mission P.O. Box 1768 Seminole, OK 74867 Phone: (405) 382-5194 / FAX: (405) 382-8611 Email: semnathist@renet.com NAGPRA Committee Officers 1998-1999: Chair: Joyce A. Bear , Muscogee (Creek) Nation V. Chair: Alan D. Emarthle, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Secretary: Jeannie Barber, Chickasaw Nation OFFICIAL COPIES WILL BE MAILED IF REQUESTED -=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=- Nancy Thomas * nlthomas@YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net Keeper of "the People's Paths home page!" NAI: News, Paths-L email list, Live Chat, the People's Internet BBS & Genealogy BBS! "People's Paths Bookstore & Musicstore!" http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/mainindex.html -=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=- --------- "RE: Defiant Indians Net Sockeye" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 22:47:41 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Musqueam Protest Fishery :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: DEFIANT INDIANS NET SOCKEYE IN PROTEST The Province, July 15, 1998 [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.] Musqueam band fishermen have begun catching sockeye in a protest against new regulations they claim favor sports fishermen. The first sockeye was caught Tuesday night soon after the Musqueam set short nets on their traditional Fraser River grounds at 6:30 p.m. A half-dozen boats, in defiance of a closure on all stocks, set the nets just off the shore of their tribal land in south Vancouver. Officials of the department of fisheries and oceans were not at the protest and no action was taken against the fishermen. Geo Musqueam fisheries co-ordinator, said the protest will be escalated if DFO does not shut down a retention sports fishery of early Fraser River-bound sockeye runs in the Georgia Straight north of Sechelt and in the Johnstone Strait. "If the fishery does not close by 1 p.m. Friday, then there will be a full-scale fishery with the big nets," said Guerin. "If the fishery gets closed, we would be happy and everybody upriver would be happy." The seven fixed nets used by the Musqueam last night were about 20 metres long. However, they are prepared to use 100-metre drifting nets if no action is taken by DFO, they said. Up to 100 boats could be out on the Fraser River by Friday afternoon. The band supports many of the conservation-first measures introduced by the federal government but says a sport fishery cannot be opened while the native fishery is closed. "This is simply a matter of getting [Ottawa] to live up to its responsibilities to protect the fish and to ensure no other user group is given priority over our constitutionally protected aboriginal rights," said Chief Gail Sparrow. Meanwhile, a planned fishing protest by the Cheam band near Chilliwack was delayed while the natives negotiate with DFO. The two sides failed to reach agreement during a four-hour meeting Tuesday. "Nothing can be resolved in a day," Cheam Chief June Quipp said after the meeting. "There's a lot of details. It's going to take a few more days." Quipp said fishermen have agreed not to set illegal nets while negotiations are ongoing. - In Alaska, U.S. officials have agreed to reduce their catch of sockeye headed for spawning grounds on B.C.'s Nass and Skeena rivers. The Alaskans announced the cancellation of the Noyes Island purse-seine fishery and the reduction of the Tree Point gillnet fishery. "Alaska's conservation actions are a direct result of our discussions, which are based on the various stocks involved in U.S. fisheries," said Phil Doherty, an Alaskan management biologist in Ketchikan. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to The Province - mailto:provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Cafe' con Leche" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 12:58:56 -0700 From: Larry Daley Subj: CAFE' CON LECHE Mailing List: Taino-L Taino interest forum Tau all: Most, if not all mentioned, in this memory have Taino ancestry, except Aunt Aida, "the dragon lady", who's family was from New Mexico. best wishes Larry CAFE' CON LECHE Hilda: I remember the great vat of milk boiling on the stove in the "big" kitchen where most of the meals were prepared for our workers and our very large family. Eliodoro Ramos would come in to the kitchen with two buckets of foam covered fresh milk, swinging from each side of a pole yoke across his shoulders. Eliodoro came in the cool of the early morning, while the wet dew of Cuba was still on the long sword like fibrous leaves of the light-green guinea grass. He came from the corral up the hill to the east. It was well into the time of the rains. Some long purple streaks the length of the leaves showed the soil was still rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen was giving the grass strength to fight disease. The damp of the grass clung in dark damp patches to the lower legs of Eliodoro's dingy gray trousers, where well wetted the coarse, almost canvas, cloth clung to his thin legs. He had ridden singing to the cattle, calling each cow by its name, through the chest high grass gathering the cows with his father the proud majoral, the proud foreman, Juan Ramos. Looking at the hill side to the east one could see the solid gathering together of dark trails left on the disturbed grass left by the cattle as they walked one after another towards the milking corral. One could see other wider swinging trails looping in curves around the cattle paths left by the hard working horses as their riders spurred them to gather and drive the cows to milking. Under the deep shade of the Guasima trees of the pasture, the rising sun still could not reach those remaining patches of night. Above the hillside pastures small gray birds flew fast missions of birdly urgency across a night gray sky slowly filling with blue and light. The clouds of the rainy season would come from the southern sea later in the day. Some blue barred on white guinea fowl still sound their gwonk gwonk gwonk cries; extend their ugly turkey heads from their chunky bodies, and busily gather their numerous dark fuzzy young behind them. Eliodoro is small, and thin he lacks the broad shoulders large slabs of muscles of Guillermo an elder brother, or the tidy, taller aspect Luis a younger sibling. He lacks the gloss in his straight black hair that his brothers inherited from their Taino ancestors, and usually kept his dull hair hidden under a torn yarey hat. Eliodoro did not wear the front of the hat's brim folded up as Guillermo the womanizer did to show his constant search of new flesh for his endless lusts. Nor did he wear his hat tilted to one side like Luis who loved the wild life of dances, gambling, cockfights and machete duels. Eliodoro's hat is placed solidly, humbly and squarely on head; the hat's coils of yarey had broken their stitches on the brim and on the crown. Eliodoro has one woman, a few kids, a quiet bohio with a garden of crops by the river in the beautiful Guama valley a little to the north east, and a life of work. Eliodoro is a family man. Eliodoro always seems to wear torn gray clothing, and half, not full high boots as his father Juan Ramos did. He is untidy, not too clean, he smells of stale sweat on unwashed shirts and his boots are flecked with the yellow brown green of fresh cow dung. He walks west down hill passing under the not yet red berries of the great ateje tree, out of the milking corral, through the calf pen. Each time with great care he closes the gates and secures them well to the gate post with the loop of double strands of thick gray galvanized wire. Eliodoro is a cattle man and he would not dream of leaving a gate open and letting the cows wander. Elidoro, walks through the open malva, the white flowered, shrubby forb which fed the tethered pigs who loved the plants delicate veined elm like little leaves and their light, square cornered, green buds. Below the pig's hairless black, soft, fleshy flat two nostriled snout, long, hairy, well toothed, almost tusked jaws, drool saliva as they eat. The animals, ropes around their necks tied to buried stakes, think clever pig thoughts of escape and feral freedom in the hills. To Eliodoro's left are the almost flat rectangular symmetry of the empty coffee drying aprons. A little further away to his left are the rising hills of the tree splotched pastures to the south, and then the high blue wall of the Sierra stretching without end across the southern horizon. To his right are the yellow painted walls. First they are walls of the little creamery and then as he gets near the kitchen the walls the great coffee storage warehouse walls that Uncle Rafael built of the strongest concrete and engineer could mix and pour. Eliodoro walks between the tall pickets of the batey and the concrete walls of the first floor of the Casa de Alto, above where we kids sleep, walled in by double walled raw, not even planed Spanish cedar. We fear these walls for the floor of the Casa de Alto, above where we kids sleep, walled in by double walled raw, unplanned, Spanish cedar. We fear these walls for the scorpions that abide within them. Eliodoro turns north and walks with his burden of milk through the gate of the inner batey. He has done this for many years, the milk does not spill. Re-latching the gate he steps over the long exposed roots peeking through the swept earth under the mango tree. The chickens scatter as he passes through. From their perch above his head, the Cuban amazon parrots squark a greeting. He opens the gate of the kitchen veranda, deftly our maneuvering a marauding chicken that wants to steal food from the kitchen, and delivers his load to Elva the cook. She stands there slim in a worn dress that extends to her knees but shows her brown legs and worn working shoes. Her hair is bound with a ribbon and it an her face shows she is still young. Elva takes each bucket in turn and in one smooth pouring motion empties them in white wave into the great gray cylindrical aluminum pot. Elva's thin arms surprisingly easily lift over forty pounds of milk and pot on to on to the hot surface of the great wrought iron wood stove. Through the open iron door on the left side of the stove we can see the well dried wood burns hot yellow and white flames heat the black surface of the stove until it is almost red hot. Utiliano, Tano, the honest, hardworking, slow minded eldest son of Chita chops wood well with the thoroughness that he does all chores. As Tano walks he limps a little the sores on his legs which nearly killed him never complete healed. On the great stove, the milk boils fast and a thick mat of fat and protein the prized nata rises to the top. Elva stirs the nata with a big wooden spoon. Elva takes the coffee grains that Chita had so carefully roasted in the shallow iron pot over the embers of a hardwood fire below the mango tree. The grains are perfect chocolate colored hemispheres, each grain with a perfect crease, a virginal invagination on the flat side. The very best caracolillo grains are those from single cotyledon berries. One cotyledon has aborted to leave a more "experienced looking" cowry or The very best caracolillo grains are those from single cotyledon berries. One cotyledon has aborted to leave a more "experienced looking" cowry or clam shelled grains are kept for their more experienced palates of old important men. Lewd boys in early adolescence sometimes play with the caracolillo grains nesting them between the crotch of two walking fingers, deep crease forward, in obscene pantomime of female genitalia. The workmen see the boys at this and laugh. The boys watch out for Aunt Aida the dragon lady; she will breathe fire. There will be hell to pay, if she, the dragon lady, sees them at this game. This fear makes the game more forbidden and exciting. However, there is no caracolillo here, this is every day coffee so it is not crushed in the pilon, in the hollowed out piece of tree trunk, Chita used Taino style as a mortar. Instead, Elva has one of us kids, or her young son Sergio do it. Or perhaps Tano, who is the arrendao, the handyman, will after he has chopped the firewood, grind the coffee. We grind the coffee in a gray cast-metal grinder attached firmly by a strong vise type wide winged screw to the strong table bench on the veranda of the kitchen. We kids like to do it. We like it because it is great fun. So one of us loads the coffee into the attached funnel on top of the grinder, and turns the crank handle. We watch the metal worm screw seize the coffee from the funnel and rotate spiraling the coffee grains to feed the grains to the crushing disk. We can hear the sharp chink, chink sound as the grains are crushed in tiny shattering explosions, and smell the glorious aroma of fine, well, roasted coffee released like an intoxicating drug into the air around us. Ground coffee appears in flattened powdery clots from in between rotating and the stationary plates of the crushing disk at the exit of the coffee grinder. The ground coffee falls into a white blue edged enamel metal pan. This is Cuban coffee, shade grown coffee. No beans were picked green. No beans were overheated when they were sun-dried. Placido and his silent brother have seen to that. The beans were dried on concrete, thus there is no strange fruity flavor of fermented fungal infected of berries dried on pounded earth. There is no bitterness in the aroma. This is not the bad tasting robusta coffee of Africa, nor is it the bitter cafe amarillo of the "tierra brava" hot lands. This is good Burbon coffee cloning perfectly, breeding true by apomixis, reproducing parthenocarpically, from its cotyledons since almost two centuries ago the French fleeing Haiti brought coffee to Cuba. Picky garrulous old men, sipping tiny cups of coffee half the morning, have for generations ensured no sport or cross appears that spoils the true taste. Coffee is planted only from the truest best seed. The roasting is perfect there is no burnt taste of over-roasting. The coffee is kind and a little gentle. Cuba's mountains are not quite as high as those of Haiti and Jamaica, the sun's ultraviolet rays have not scorched these coffee bushes through the thinning atmosphere of higher elevations. Elva takes the coffee filled pan and mixes in brown sugar and a little salt. She pours, helping with a spoon, the mixture into the well washed but gray stained cloth funnel. We have good clean water. Elva pours it hot, boiling, from a kettle heated over the stove. Water is from the well that Uncle Rafael dug on the rise of the vega, the riverside meadow, west of the lagoon. The water has been bled from the deep underground flow that comes cold, flowing in ancient layers of mineral rich volcanic laja rock for years before it reaches the Bayamo River. The well pump's gasoline engine will, with booming staccato sounds, shatter the quiet evening as the pump strains to raise the water up the cliff to the high tanks. However, now is all is quiet except the low of cattle and bawling of calves as the milking continues quiet except the low of cattle and bawling of calves as the milking continues. The coffee drips slowly from the cloth funnel, jet black and as thick a syrup. This is real Cuban coffee, there is nothing else like it.... Using a big white enamel covered metal cup, Elva fills a big, also white enamel, pitcher with sugared hot milk. She adds a ration of nata on top with the spoon, adds cloth and most especially the sugar filtered strong Cuban coffee with its touch of salt. Walking south across the great kitchen she passes the pitcher through the square vertical wooden bars on the window to the workers dining room. The wooden bars keep the workers from bothering the cooks when they are working; such bother will have to wait until the night when it will be more happily received. There is sexual banter between Elva and her girl kitchen helpers and the workers. We kids ignore this, and wonder at the dings on the enamel that leave sexual banter between Elva and her girl kitchen helpers and the workers. We kids ignore this, and wonder at the dings on the enamel that leave mysterious patterns of blue and black on the surface of the enamel containers. On the wooden trestle table workers sit on benches, they workers pour the "cafe con leche" into their mugs, and dip their galletas, their four inch round, dimpled, well larded, hard tack, salted biscuits into the coffee and milk and eat their full because the day's work has just begun and there will be much heavy work to do. Boiled and then well fried crisp brown yuca, manihot, strips follow, and maybe a heaping plate of boiled white sweet potatoes. For now the workers rest and eat; the pleasant odor of strong coffee, fried viands and boiled milk override all other smells. Larry Daley, copyright@1998, permission to copy granted for non-commercial purposes. --------- "RE: RCMP Jail Cree Mother and Infant" --------- Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 22:48:03 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: RCMP jail Cree mother and infant :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: WOMAN ACCUSES RCMP OF HOLDING HER AND BABY IN CELL OVERNIGHT Saskatoon StarPhoenix, July 15, 1998 [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.] SASKATOON (CP) - A 19-year-old woman is accusing RCMP in Big River, Sask., of keeping her and her sick, three-month-old baby in a jail cell overnight. "It was terrible," said Cynthia Torre, who was picked up on a warrant after she failed to appear in court as a witness in a case. "He was wheezing something awful that night." Torre has complained to the RCMP public complaints commission with the help of the Elizabeth Fry Society. She's heard no response from the force. In a letter to RCMP, an official from the society described Torres detention as "ruthless and unnecessary." "The idea in and of itself of throwing an infant in jail in those circumstances is bad enough, but when he's sick you really have to question the judgment exercised," said Torres lawyer Ron Piche. Big River RCMP wouldn't comment on the case Wednesday. Rick Wychreschuk of the Regina RCMP said he couldn't comment on the specific case, but said RCMP officers are generally very careful to look out for the well-being of children. In most cases where a parent is being arrested, the children would be put in the care of a spouse, relative or friend, Wychreschuk said. "We would usually go through all sorts of extreme efforts to make sure a child was looked after. Wed certainly never leave a child unattended, for example," he said. Torre was called to court last summer to be the chief witness in an assault trial in Debden, a 20-minute drive from her home at the Big River First Nation. She said she failed to show up for court because she didn't have a ride and couldn't find a babysitter, so a warrant was issued for her arrest and the trial was rescheduled for mid-February. Two days before the trial began, an RCMP officer showed up on her doorstep and took her away in the police car with her baby boy, Torre said. "I thought they were just taking me in to make sure I knew I had to be in court," she said. Because the child was sick, the threesome went to hospital, where the baby was diagnosed with a lung infection. Doctors wanted to admit him, but Torre refused, saying she had an appointment with her own doctor the next day. She said they went to the police station, and the officer asked if anyone could babysit the child for her. "I couldn't because I was breastfeeding," she recalled, adding she was shocked when she came to the realization the officer intended to keep her and the child in a cell for the night. "I kept his snowsuit on (the baby)," she said. "It was a cold night. I was real angry and I was frustrated. At one point I was crying to the cop." :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Log Theft" --------- Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 22:13:54 -0700 (PDT) From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: BC Pirates and Thieves Report: "Log Theft" :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: IF A TREE IS STOLEN IN THE FOREST, DOES THE NDP NOTICE? BC Report, June 22, 1998, Page 27, by Robert Brunet [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.] The Supreme Court of Canada's Delgamuukw decision prompted Indians to lay claim to all manner of natural resources . The December ruling did not grant clear title to natives but, as predicted by critics of the decision, uncertainty fostered by the decision fuelled demands for compensation for timber and minerals extracted on land claimed by Indians. Now, according to B.C. Mounties, the ruling may be responsible for up to a half-billion dollars in BC log theft annually. RCMP Corporal Colin Worth, head of the Mounties' four member forest-crimes unit, revealed in his April 1 annual report that "Part of the native population seems to believe that the resource belongs entirely to them." The report suggests that log theft - defined as timber harvesting without the proper permits - is believed to be a $350 million to $500-million-a-year industry in BC. Cpl. Worth suspects organized crime is involved in the theft, but concedes he has no evidence to support this. He also admits that the report's evidence is based on anecdotal evidence. One thing is clear, however. There have been several documented cases of illegal logging by Indians where the government has refused to prosecute. If the situation remains unchanged, Cpl Worth predicts, "The stuff that's going on in New Brunswick could be happening here tomorrow." He refers to natives in the Eastern province who have been cutting timber in defiance of a recent court decision affirming New Brunswick's ownership of crown forests. Cpl. Worth's report, circulated June 2, by BC Liberal MLA George Abbot, was given the cold shoulder in Victoria. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Dale Lovick and Forests Minister Dave Zirnhelt claimed ignorance of the matter. "I would ask the RCMP to verify those numbers and show us which studies they were related to," said Mr. Zirnhelt. "Our estimates are $10 million to $20 million in lost [stumpage] revenue." Cpl. Worth will not reveal details of his investigation, but stands behind his report. And he maintains that the NDP should be counting the value of the missing timber, not just the revenue lost to the government on stumpage - collected at a rate of $28 per cubic metre. "If it's not there to harvest tomorrow, we've lost that value," he says. "Certainly there are groups of people that have got together to plunder the forest." The weak response to the Worth report by the Ministry of Forests does not surprise L. Ward Johnson, editor of Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter. "The topic is so sensitive even I won't touch it," he says. Mr. Johnson says that cedar, used for shakes and shingles, is particularly valuable. It is also very easy to transport. "You can easily chop up four-foot cedar sections, dump them in your truck and cut them into shakes at home." Mr. Johnson's main concern rests not so much with who is stealing timber, but how to control the problem. "BC has 150,000 miles of logging roads. How do you police them effectively?" he asks. Unlike Mr. Johnson, however, the Reform Party is most interested in Cpl. Worth's comments on Indians. Reform spent much of last week in the Commons outlining the numerous problems caused by Delgamuukw. On June 8 Caribou-Chilcotin MP Philip Mayfield asked Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart what Ottawa is doing to diffuse the powder keg of anti-Indian sentiment in his riding. The minister avoided the issue by saying negotiations are the only way to resolve the mess the Supreme Court created. "She is relying on flowery rhetoric to avoid taking responsibility," Mr. Mayfield complains. That day Reform leader Preston Manning attended a news conference with Skeena MP Mike Scott, party aboriginal affairs critic, and called on the government to "legislate an end to this uncertainty and establish sound and fair rules on title." But the most explosive Reform broadside came from Nanaimo Cowichan MP Reed Elley, who on June 10 tried unsuccessfully to table a letter showing that Ms. Stewart's department is actually assisting illegal timber harvests on the Chemainus native reserve near Nanaimo. "Indian Affairs knew about the logging but did not exercise their legal option to seize the logs," he charges. The letter in question, written by an Indian Affairs official, acknowledged that illegal harvesting had taken place and that the logs should be seized; it also suggested, however, that a "one time" exemption could be allowed for the sale of the timber because "if the issue is quickly resolved, the chance of publicity will be greatly reduced." Ottawa's complicity notwithstanding, critics insist that it is up to Victoria to combat log theft, and they point to New Brunswick's success in tackling this politically explosive issue directly. Last month the province's Ministry of Natural Resources launched a campaign to curtail illegal wood-cutting. In a two-week period it seized 11 trucks loaded with illicit timber. "We know there are groups still operating and they have to comply with the law," declared department spokesman Louella Wood. The action prompted native leaders to negotiate a settlement with the provincial government. On June 10 the government announced it will allow one of the province's largest bands, the Tobique First Nation, to harvest trees on crown land. In return $2.1 million in stumpage fees will be paid to the province, and a portion of this sum will be returned to the band. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to BC Report - mailto:bcreport@axionet.com 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. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Spirit Wolf" --------- Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 21:26:54 EDT From: Lupospirit@aol.com Subj: Visionary Wisdom UUCP email SPIRIT WOLF Visualize this, if you will. You are among the tree top foliage of a vast forest. It is night time. There is a ground fog, swirling among the lower branches and lying along deer paths and in the underbrush of the forest. A huge golden moon hangs low in the sky, illuminating the fog as if lit from within. You hear the running patter of four feet, almost silently, but you hear. A black wolf comes into view running the twisting turns of a path. You are pulled into movement above her, keeping pace with her, flying through the branches above her, looking down at her from enough height to see her entire body. It is cold, frost lies whitely upon the guard hairs of her shoulders and back. You see her breath come out in chuffs and sail back over her shoulders into the night. Suddenly, with no warning, you fall....in a twisting, turning movement you fall towards the black wolf, and then, more suddenly, you ARE the wolf. ...a moment only of vertigo, and then you feel your muscles as they pull the ground under your feet, you hear the whoof as your breath leaves your lungs and feel the ground with a slight jolt as you leap over a fallen log, feel the strain in strong legs as you run faster. In the underbrush you hear the frightened rustle of small animals trying to flee, because they know a hunter is abroad in the night. But, on this night, they need not fear, because you do not hunt. You are running for the sheer joy of the exertion, for the freedom of living in this night cold world, away from men and their desire for your death. You twist and turn and leap, and happiness almost bursts your heart....you slow into a trot, stop and spin and lift your face to the moon, and a long, mournful, calling howl comes trilling from your throat, and is answered, again and again and again, from all directions. And here, the dream fades, and the sound of the wildness in the howling goes with the dream. Because this is a dream. My dream...on many, many nights. From this dream my Guardian and Medicine comes....the black wolf. And the poem below comes as honor to the black wolf for my vision...... SHUUNKA MANITU TANKA WAKAN SAPA I am Spirit of the Black Wolf Shuunka Manitu Tanka Wakan Sapa The Lakota know me. I move unseen through the forest My feet pad silently in the mist I have been on the Earth For a million years I have been here forever. White Man now walks Where I once hunted In pride and dominance..... He believes. But...hear me, Wasichu! In a future unknown to you The Red Man and I Will walk upon your graves! (c) l99l Nelda Castleman Mitakuye Oyasin, my friends ....... --------- "RE: Vernon Moves Camp Update" --------- Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 19:49:13 -0500 From: SEAL Subj: Vernon Moves Camp, Update UUCP email Here are the Complete Facts of my case with Documentation to verify and prove each and every instance herein brought forth. KIDNAPPED AND PLACED IN THE SOUTH DAKOTA PENAL SYSTEM WITHOUT ANY TYPE OF DUE PROCESS OR CHARGE OF ANY KIND BY THE SOUTH DAKOTA STATE PENITENTIARY, AND SOUTH DAKOTA BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES, SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA, BY MISUSE OF JUDICIAL OFFICE ALL ACCOMPLISHED UNDER COLOR OF LAW AND DONE WITH IMPUNITY AND BE DAMNED SOUTH DAKOTA CODIFIED LAW, CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH DAKOTA, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. FOR EVERY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IS AWARE AND COULD CARE LESS, FROM THE GOVERNORS OFFICE TO STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE FBI. On September 27, 1996, I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a Civil Rights Mediation Training and thereafter was enroute home to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While enroute Home, the vehicle I was a passenger in was involved in a accident in the early morning hours of September 28, 1996. The Yankton Sioux Tribal Police investigated and ran a police check on all persons involved in the accident. The Police check was answered by the South Dakota State Penitentiary stating that they had an Arrest Warrant for Vernon Moves Camp. That I was placed under arrest for this Fabrication of the South Dakota State Penitentiary stating they had a warrant for my arrest, when in Fact No Arrest Warrant or any type of Warrant ever existed. On September 30, 1996, I was transported to the Jameson Prison, Sioux Falls, from the Lake Andes County Jail, Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation. This was all accomplished without a warrant of any kind, without a charge of any kind, and for no known reason whatever. NOW HAD I JUST PICKED ANYONE UP AND LOCKED THEM UP, I WOULD BE HUNTED DOWN BY EVERY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY KNOWN WITH AN ALL POINTS POLICE BULLETIN BEING PUT OUT AGAINST ME. So, upon a Fabrication being made against me by the South Dakota State Penitentiary I was eventually placed in prison without any type or kind of Due Process of Law. On October 10, 1996, I was given a Preliminary Hearing at the South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls. This October 10, 1996, Preliminary Hearing was conducted upon false and perjurous Judicial Government Documentation. This false and perjurous documentation brought forth perjurous testimony. The false and perjurous testimony was brought forth by Jon E. Tveidt. Mr. Tveidt testified that he had contacted a Winner Parole Agent by the name of Joe Hockett, and that Mr. Tveidt contacted Parole Agent Joe Hockett because Joe Hockett handled the Pine River Indian Reservation, and Joe Hockett had contacts on the Pine River Indian Reservation who might know the whereabouts of Vernon Moves Camp. Mr. Tveidt stated this Fantasy at this October 10th Preliminary Hearing. During the course of Mr. Tveidt's testimony I requested to speak and was told to wait my turn. Then upon being granted to speak, I asked Mr. Tveidt if he was aware that there was NO PINE RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, but, that a Pine Ridge Indian Reservation did exist. And so upon being Kidnapped under color of law I was then forced to sit and hear Fantasy Stories of places that did not exist come into existence with actual people said to exist in these fantasy places, with an actual Parole Agent said to have inquired of fantasy people of a fantasy place as to my whereabouts. I requested a copy of the Preliminary Hearing Transcript and a copy of the tape recording and was denied my request. That a Hearing Officer's Report was made up or fabricated into being as a Judicial Legal Government Document from this Preliminary Hearing in total contradiction of the actual Preliminary Hearing as a basis for my presence to be required before the Board of Pardons and Paroles for the State of South Dakota. This Preliminary Hearing and Hearing Officer's Report of the Preliminary Hearing was so fantastical in nature that the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles tried to make the Preliminary Hearing a fantasy by denying the Preliminary Hearing even happened. That from one instance of fabricating stories to fabricating documents, I was forced to face more and more Perjurous stories and documentation and be damned Due Process under any Statute of Law or Constitution of Anywhere. Then I was given two Parole Revocation Hearings based upon the Preliminary Hearing. These two Parole Revocation Hearings in front of the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles were in violation of South Dakota Codified Law, South Dakota Constitution And the Constitution of the United States a