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Tuesday August 29, 2000 12:00pm
Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church, NB)
Last night, amid the Northern lights and shooting stars over Mi'kmaq territory, was a calm ocean swooping into the Miramichi Bay. Along with the tide came a flotilla of DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans)& RCMP boats at approximately 2am.
The community, also expecting a possible assault from racist non-Native fishers, was on edge. As a result, many people around here haven't been getting a lot of sleep at night. To alert the community of the oncoming boats, trucks drove around sounding their horns. People gathered at the wharf, and along the edge of the Bay with spotlights to attempt to identify who was on the water.
The DFO has been removing lobster traps from the water. Airplanes flew overhead, doing surveillance. No one from the Esgenoopetitj entered the water until this morning. Eventually, Mi'kmaq fishers took to the water shortly after sunrise to confront the DFO. As a result, the DFO began chasing and ramming their boats. At 7:00am, a DFO boat purposefully ran over, and sunk a metal dory with two Mi'kmaq fishermen. They left them wading in the water for up to 20 minutes before arresting them. By 8:30am, the DFO had sunk another boat by ramming it with two others at an angle from behind. Within the hour, the DFO ran over another boat as the fishermen jumped ship to be rescued by their friends.
The RCMP are at
checkpoints at all road entrances to the community stopping people who are
trying to enter with boats. The DFO has recently left the waters, and all
is quiet for the time being.
Pierre
Monday, August 28, 2000
Hello,
There is so much going on here so fast that I apologize for posting press
releases that are dated (see press release by ARC following this mssg).
Today, (Monday Aug. 28th) the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development came to Burnt Church, but refused to meet with the community. At a press conference, the Chief addressed an empty chair:
"You can see, Mr. Minister, that we are not a rich community. You have seen with your own eyes the poor economic and social conditions of this community: the limited facilities, poor housing and infrastructure,... Homes are overcrowded with two or even three families. Our facilities are inadequate. We have a fire hall with no fire truck, a police car with no police station, and we do not have a band office. We ask ourselves why? Why should the Mi'kmaq people of Burnt Church live on welfare when people in surrounding communities make a decent livelihood from the fishery?"
The people of Burnt Church are fearing violence from non-Natives who are threatening to come into the area, promising to do worse than last fall. There are rumours of a flotilla of close to 100 non-Native boats. Meanwhile, DFO raids are impending and Warriors have a presense at the wharf.
The Mi'kmaq of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church) are exercising their right to fish, a right that they have always had. It was confirmed in the Marshall decision last year, even though when it comes right down to it, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to preside over the implementation of a Treaty. A Treaty is a Nation-to-Nation agreement, and a basic premise of law is third-party adjudication. That is, the Supreme Court is not an impartial body to settle a dispute between two parties (the Mi'kmaq Nation & the Federal Government). They are a colonial court that are picked by a colonial government. Although the Marshall decision affirmed the existence of the Treaties of 1760-1, it is not a progressive decision. But that is a lengthier writing that I may explain & post later. Incidentally, the Mi'kmaq (or the Maliseet and other Wabanaki Nations) have never signed treaties ceding any of their territories.
So the Mi'kmaq of Esgenoopetitj have developed their own fishing management plan based on principles of conservation. It is a community based system which is more responsible than any in the waters around these here parts today. They have their own Rangers (some of them down from Listuguj) and tag system. The media and government bellow cries of conservation, yet the DFO has no track record to stand on (ie: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific Salmon, etc...). The DFO defends the interests of the fishing industry. The Mi'kmaq fishers consist of 0.04% of the lobster fishery in this fishing area."
Esgenoopetitj has every right to maintain their own fisheries. They are refusing to sign agreements with the DFO which limit their fisheries to a pittance and refuse to recognize their sovereign right to regulate themselves. As I write, there are reports of an increased police and DFO presence outside the community.
I'll try to keep y'all posted as things happen.
Pierre
Both DFO and ESN have complaints about each other, leading to the breakdown of talks aimed at resolving the fisheries dispute.
At the preliminary meeting of the two sides on Friday, both had agreed to a joint count committee to conduct counts of the traps in the water. On Saturday, a meeting was held at the Wharf Inn, between DFO negotiator James MacKenzie, Frank Ring,Bob Allain, Jim Jones and from Esgenoopetitj: Wendall Metallic, Leo Bartibogue and James Ward. The DFO representatives told the Rangers and EFN community to go ahead alone to count the traps. They counted 877 traps. On Friday night, DFO had done their own count using aircraft. It was DFO, therefore, who did not abide by the agreed-upon joint count monitoring. According to Jim Jones (Regional Director General of DFO) on Monday evening, their count of EFN buoys was 900.
At the meeting on Friday, DFO had called for the community to be limited to 580 traps. This number was not accepted by the EFN representatives. The EFN countered with a statement that they would not exceed 1000 traps, and this is the number which they thought had been agreed to. The EFN representatives said that they would take this issue to a community meeting on Monday.
Also at the Friday meeting, the community members had described the area where they were fishing, and they believed that the DFO understood and accepted that. There was no actual map used by either side. Albert Martin, a retired RCMP officer and member of the EFN Band Council, drew a diagram which defined the area, and DFO agreed with it. All 877 traps were within that area. Later on the weekend, DFO provided a map of the fishing area which was not the same as the one accepted on Friday, drawn by Albert Martin.
When DFO started confiscating traps, there was great anger and disappointment in the community, and people spoke of being set up by DFO.
Monday evening, there were large numbers of RCMP seen around Neguac, leading EFN residents to believe that a raid by DFO would be imminent. RCMP cars were parked at every entrance to the community, leading the community to believe that any sources of support would not get through. In fact, RCMP did not prevent people from coming in, but their presence did generate fear.
Many people stayed up all Monday night. The raid began at 6am Tuesday morning. There were about 20 boats gathered in the bay, including 2 Canadian Coast Guard boats, 2 RCMP Zodiacs and about 16 DFO boats. DFO began to pick up traps. Four Listuguj Ranger boats (trained Native fisheries enforcement officers - NOT WARRIORS - who were invited to be there by the community) and about 10-12 community boats (mostly small, open dories) went into the bay to meet DFO.
Wendall Metallic, the head of the Rangers, was in Chief Wilbur Dedam's boat, along with an ARC-A Observer. Mr. Metallic called for all boats to stay together and stay calm until he and Chief Dedam had a chance to talk with DFO. All Rangers and EFN community members in the boats waited. As the Chief's boat approached a DFO boat, Mr Metallic called out who he was and said he wanted to talk about what was happening. The DFO officer shouted "Go to shore or you are all under arrest!" Mr. Metallic asked who the supervisor was, and was told there was no supervisor. Again, the shout was heard "Go to shore or you are all under arrest!" Mr Metallic said that he had the Chief of Esgenoopetitj with him and that they wanted to talk in order to avoid any violence, and the DFO officer shouted "Go to shore or you are under arrest, for the last time!" This behaviour on the part of DFO toward the leader of this community and leader of the Rangers was offensive and non-cooperative. It was seen to be belligerent and dismissive. The Chief's boat went back to the other Ranger and community boats. Mr. Metallic telephoned Jim Jones.
The EFN fishers could see that DFO wouldn't talk, saw that DFO was picking up the traps, and so went closer to see what was happening. In the midst of this frustration and helplessness, the rock-throwing incident occurred. Mr. Metallic asked Mr. Jones to call off his officers, or at least order them to be less intimidating and belligerent. He informed Mr. Jones and others that everything was being recorded on videotape by Observers. The DFO did, apparently, begin to calm down.
At least 2 of the boats present were RCMP Zodiacs, carrying 5-6 officers on each, also 2-4 divers. The RCMP officers had AR-15 assault rifles, as well as sidearms. They were dressed in flak jackets, with what appeared to be black bullet-proof hats.
In front of the cameras, the DFO appeared to be quite restrained. Meanwhile, out of sight of the cameras, there was another event happening near Fox Island. Two young men, Dominic and Curtis Bonnell, with their father, Chris, a band councillor, had decided to lift their traps before DFO took them. They realized that they were going to have too much weight (they had a small boat), so the father was put off on Fox Island while the sons pulled traps. Suddenly there were 2 DFO boats sandwiching them on each side, splashing water into their small boat. Then, one DFO boat cut in front and drove over the front of their boat. The boat actually hit Dominic and dazed him, knocking him to the bottom of the boat. Curtis unintentionally gunned the motor when this happened and got away, driven by fear. The DFO caught up with them, and 5 DFO personnel jumped into the boat. Three jumped on top of Curtis and 2 DFO were on Dominic, on the bottom of the boat. They choked the young men, and then handcuffed them.
One DFO officer finally pulled another officer off Curtis. The young men reported that the DFO officers used obscenities when ordering them to stop. They said that the DFO were definitely using excessive force.
The DFO took Dominic and Curtis and their boat to the Neguac wharf and handed the young men over to the Tracadie RCMP. The young men had no complaints about their treatment in RCMP custody. One of the Rangers picked up the father, Chris Bonnell on Fox Island, and returned him to the community. Curtis and Dominic are facing 5 charges, including illegal fishing and failing to yield to an arresting officer.
This reported rough treatment by DFO arresting officers is consistent with the experiences of another young male EFN fisher during the night-time raid by DFO 8 days previously.
The media has not adequately reported the experiences of the First Nations people, instead giving credence and airtime to Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) perceptions alone.
Send your comments and stories of police brutality to: ruitsdawtah@Hotmail.com
This page created August 31, 2000
