MEDIA ADVISORY OF PRESS CONFERENCE: Official Complaints Filed Regarding the Victoria Police Department’s Conduct toward Indigenous Youth Demonstrating their Support for Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Leadership
MEDIA ADVISORY OF PRESS CONFERENCE: Official Complaints Filed Regarding the Victoria Police Department’s Conduct toward Indigenous Youth Demonstrating their Support for Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Leadership
January 28, 2020
For Immediate Release
WHAT: Indigenous youth who were arrested last week for peacefully occupying the Ministry of Mines, Energy, and Petroleum Resources in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en will host a press conference condemning police and RCMP conduct toward Indigenous peoples. The purpose of this occupation was to amplify the demands of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary leadership for the RCMP to stand down and remove their blockade on the Wet'suwet'en yintahs and for Premier Horgan to meet directly with hereditary leaders. Instead, a contingent of over thirty officers from the Victoria and Saanich Police forcibly removed each youth and a Ma’amtagila elder between the hours of 2:00-6:00 a.m. PST. Premier Horgan has not yet agreed to meet with hereditary leadership.
WHERE: UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories - Student Union Building, Upper Lounge, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2
WHEN: Wednesday January 29th, 9:00 a.m. PST
SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE:
- Ta’Kaiya Blaney, Tla’amin
- Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, Gitxsan
- Shay Lynn Sampson, Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan
- Alexia Manchon, legal observer
- Chief Don Tom, Tsartlip First Nation, Vice-President, Union of BC Indian Chiefs
Livestream: Indigenous Climate Action, https://www.facebook.com/indigenousclimateaction/
OPEN LETTER: Vancouver Police Board Must Provide Immediate and Rigorous Oversight of BMO’s and VPD’s Racist Mistreatment of Indigenous Man and Granddaughter
January 23, 2020
Vancouver Police Board
2120 Cambie Street
Vancouver BC V5Z 4N6
Via Email: [email protected]
OPEN LETTER: Vancouver Police Board Must Provide Immediate and Rigorous Oversight of BMO’s and VPD’s Racist Mistreatment of Indigenous Man and Granddaughter
Dear Vancouver Police Board,
It has been one month since an Indigenous man and his twelve-year-old granddaughter were racially profiled and wrongly handcuffed at a Bank of Montreal (BMO) branch in Vancouver. Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter, Tori-Anne, were subject to an appalling and traumatizing display of racism, one with roots in Canada’s colonial history of institutionalized discrimination and violence towards Indigenous peoples. In the days since, public statements by BMO have minimized the incident, framing it as “unfortunate” or as a learning opportunity.
Read moreFNLC Calls for RCMP Restraint Toward Protesters of the TransCanada Coastal Gaslink Project
News Release
For Immediate Release
January 16, 2020
FNLC Calls for RCMP Restraint Toward Protesters of the TransCanada Coastal Gaslink Project
((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C., BC – Jan. 16, 2020) – The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is growing increasingly alarmed that violence may erupt between the RCMP and First Nations who are peacefully protesting the TransCanada Coastal GasLink project. RCMP are gathering personnel and equipment and implementing isolation protocols on the Morice West Forest Service Road near Houston, BC, as they did last year before they raided the Unist’ot’en camp.
Read moreBritish Columbia Human Rights Tribunal releases “transformational” report on Indigenous human rights and access to justice
British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal releases “transformational” report on Indigenous human rights and access to justice
Key partners commit to an action plan to transform human rights for Indigenous Peoples
Today, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) released a report addressing serious access to justice concerns for Indigenous peoples bringing human rights complaints to the tribunal. The report, entitled Expanding our Vision: Cultural Equality and Indigenous Peoples Human Rights, makes far-reaching recommendations that, according to Human Rights Tribunal Chair, Diana Juricevic, could transform human rights in this province.
Read moreMEDIA ADVISORY Legal Complaints Filed Against RCMP Exclusion Zone in Wet’suwet’en; Indigenous, Civil liberties, Human Rights & Labour Groups Condemn Exclusion Zone
MEDIA ADVISORY OF PRESS CONFERENCE ON JANUARY 15, 2020
Legal Complaints Filed Against RCMP Exclusion Zone in Wet’suwet’en; Indigenous, Civil liberties, Human Rights & Labour Groups Condemn Exclusion Zone
Tuesday January 14, 2020
For immediate release
VANCOUVER, Coast Salish Territories – The Union of BC Indian Chiefs, BC Civil Liberties Association, British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union, and Professor Margot Young from the UBC Allard School of Law will be speaking at a press conference at UBCIC office, 312 Main Street, 4th floor boardroom, on Wednesday January 15, 2020 at 1 pm regarding the RCMP Exclusion Zone established at the 27km mark on the Morrice Forest Service Road West in Wet’suwet’en territories.
Read moreFirst Nations Leadership Council Condemns Ongoing and Persistent Racism in BC
First Nations Leadership Council Condemns Ongoing and Persistent Racism in BC
News Category
Press Release
(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver) The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is deeply concerned about the outright display of continued and persistent racism as seen in recent high-profile incidents including, but not limited to, the arrest of a First Nations Elder, Maxwell Johnson, and his 12 year old granddaughter at a Vancouver branch of the Bank of Montreal, and the troubling position Candice Servatius attempted to advance in School District 70 to disallow education about Nuu-chah-nulth culture and ceremony in the school system.
Read moreCourt’s Decision in Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70 Upholds Reconciliation and Protects Indigenous Learning
Press Release
January 8, 2020
Court’s Decision in Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70 Upholds Reconciliation and Protects Indigenous Learning
((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – January 8, 2020) Today the Supreme Court of British Columbia made its decision on Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70 and ruled in favor of the Alberni School District, supported by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) who served as intervenors. The Supreme Court concluded that the petitioner, an Evangelical Christian parent, could not establish that the demonstrations of Nuu-chah-nulth culture and spirituality at her children’s school constituted an infringement of religious freedoms.
Read moreWet’suwet’en Jurisdiction and Governance Must be Upheld
UBCIC Statement
January 7, 2020
Wet’suwet’en Jurisdiction and Governance Must be Upheld
((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – January 7, 2020) On December 31, 2019, the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation who have been defending their sovereign and unceded territories from the impacts of resource extraction projects, including a proposed 670-km long liquified natural gas pipeline. The Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans rejected the Court’s decision and issued an eviction notice.
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