Algonquins of Barriere Lake Peacecfully Blockade Highway 117

UPDATE:
SQ riot squad arrest 5 Algonquins, including Acting Chief Benjamin Nottaway

[Other updates and original release below]
November 19, 7:30pm

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - SQ officers and a Riot Squad arrested five Barriere Lake Algonquins, including a targeted arrest of Acting Chief Benjamin Nottaway, after forcing community members off highway 117, during their fourth in a series of blockades over a period of seven hours.

"Chief Nottaway sent a letter to Premier Charest on Monday requesting that the government resolve political issues through negotiations rather than police violence," said community spokesperson Norman Matchewan."Blockades are a tactic of last resort. For two decades now all we've asked is that Quebec and Canada honour signed agreements but they prefer to play with our lives."

As the community was pushed off the highway for the last time at 2:30 pm, riot police broke out of formation to chase and arrest Acting Chief Nottaway. His was the second targeted arrest of the day. Community youth spokesperson Marylynn Poucachiche, mother of five and organizer of the community school, was arrested at one of the morning blockades after being reassured by police that no arrests would be made since protesters had agreed to leave peacefully.

One community member was pushed to the ground and kicked by several SQ officers before being arrested.

"The police dragged him with his head on the ground all the way to the police car," said one community member.

Another woman from the community fell while being pushed back onto the access road leading to the Barriere Lake reserve, and hit her head. She was subsequently arrested.

***
UPDATE - 9:30pm
The following email was received by AW@L from a friend who is at Barriere Lake as a part of the solidarity presence:

"Marylynn Poucachiche,
Benjamin Nottoway (the traditional chief)
Sunny (an active youth)
Rose (an elder who's been politically active for 2 decades)
Mindy (a politically active woman in the community)
and Louisa (Indig Sol member from Ottawa)

have all been arrested. Sunny had been grabbed at blockade #2 by a line of police. They bashed his head in and kicked him while he was down dragged him on the road.

Marylynn was arrested on blockade #3 after very successful police negotiations, the police asked her to come forward and instead of agreeing to everthing they agreed to in the negotiations took advantage of her being a foot ahead of the supporters and snatched her. She has no record, she is being charged with 1 count of mischief but they're holding her overnight in Hull/Gatineau

Benjamin Nottoway was arrested after the police dismantled all the blockades and riot police showed up. They pushed us rather violently up the access road to the reserve. They marched slowly, and then when they had a chance to get at Benjamin, three of them ran ahead and snatched him while the rest were violently pushed.

This is how they also got mindy and Louisa... slowly moving up the road. It took them roughly 3 hours to push us roughly 3 clicks up the access road each time speeding up and briskly forcing everyone to run, then snatching someone.

Rosa was caught at one of the times the riot police decided to walk fastly. She fell and hit her head on a tin tea pot. She couldn't get up and I don't know if she was unconscious from the head trauma. The police didn't let her family pick her up but instead arrested her.

We have had roughly four camera people and are currently working on a news piece to produce and publish within 24 hours. I will be working on a more context piece when I get to Toronto.

Good news- a lot of outlets from all over the continent called for interviews. Several showed up and did interviews. The UN called. Will tell later, now have to work.

Total blockading time: 6:30am-6:30pm

***

UPDATE, early afternoon [Original Release Below]:

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - The Barriere Lake Algonquins have blocked highway 117 by gathering in the middle of the road, after Quebec police dismantled their log blockades earlier in the day, and have now been put on notice that the Riot Police will arrive momentarily.

Community spokesperson Marylynn Poucachiche has been arrested for obstruction and mischief and is currently detained.

***

Barriere Lake Algonquins peacefully blockade highway 117 in Northern Quebec a second time: despite fears of more police violence, community wants Quebec and Canada to respect agreements and Canada to endinterference in leadership selection

November 19, 2008

UPDATE - late morning [Original Release Below]:
This morning at 7:30am, 70 members of the Algonquin community of Barriere Lake and 30 non-native supporters peacefully blockaded highway 117 in Northern Quebec, while a Christian Peacemaker Team observed the action.

The Government-backed minority faction currently in power had fed information about the blockade plans to the Quebec police, who established a significant presence before the blockade was set up. They issued threats of mass arrest, dismantled the blockades, and followed protesters down the highway in a high-speed chase until the access road to the Barriere Lake reserve, where Algonquins and their supporters are maintaining a presence.

Community spokesperson Marylynn Poucachiche has been arrested for
obstruction and mischief and is currently detained.

Once again, the community needs the public to make it clear right now that this treatment is unacceptable, that the Algonquins have suffered enough division at the hands of the government, and that the signed agreements need to be honoured.

On October 6th, the first peaceful blockade of Highway 117 - a tactic of last resort, after months of being ignored or dismissed by the Canadian and Quebec governments - was met with violent repression, including tear-gassing and pain compliance. In the last few weeks, forestry companies were discovered cutting new logging roads without consent from Barriere Lake's legitimate leadership - a violation of the November 2007 ban on new forestry
operations in the Trilateral territory. Despite decades of struggle and these recent developments, the community refuses to back down.

"Instead of doing the dirty work of the federal government, Quebec should implement its agreements and immediately lobby the federal government to deal fairly with our community," said Norman Matchewan, a community spokesperson. "Charest's brutal treatment of our community shows his government has absolutely no respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples, which should be an urgent matter of debate during the provincial election."

The Algonquins were promising to maintain the blockade until Canada and Quebec committed in writing to honour their agreements and Canada appoints an observer to witness and respect the outcome of a new leadership selection in Barriere Lake in accordance with their Customary Governance Code.

*** What you can do right now to help: ***

We need people to let the government know that they support the demands. Barriere Lake has been fighting for for decades.

Please take 15 minutes to phone or fax a letter
[A Letter will be posted by AW@L shortly]
Write your own letter or support [here].
----------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL RELEASE:

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - This morning at 7:30am,Barriere Lake community members of all ages and their supporters once again peacefully blockaded highway 117 outside their reserve, demanding that Quebec and Canada send in negotiators rather than resort to police violence. During the Algonquin's first blockade on October 6th, 2008, Quebec police used tear gas and "pain compliance" techniques against a peaceful crowd that included Elders, youth, and children, arrested nine people, and hospitalized a Customary Councillor after hitting him in the chest with a tear-gas canister, drawing criticism from international human rights groups, the Chiefs of Ontario, and the Christian Peacemakers Team. [http://blip.tv/file/1391794 ]

The Algonquins promise to maintain the blockade until Canada and
Quebec commit in writing to honour their agreements and Canada
appoints an observer to witness and respect the outcome of a new
leadership selection in Barriere Lake in accordance with their
Customary Governance Code.

"Instead of doing the dirty work of the federal government, Quebec
should implement its agreements and immediately lobby the federal
government to deal fairly with our community," said Norman Matchewan, a community spokesperson on-site at the blockade. "Charest's brutal treatment of our community shows his government has absolutely no respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples, which should be an urgent matter of debate during the provincial election."

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

"To avoid their obligations, the federal government has deliberately violated our leadership customs by ousting our Customary Chief and Council," said Matchewan. "In what amounts to a coup d'etat, they are recognizing a Chief and Council rejected by a community majority. The Quebec government is cooperating with the federal government because they are using the leadership issue as an excuse to bury the 1991 and 1998 Agreements they signed with our First Nation."

In November 2007 the legitimate leadership of Barriere Lake had issued a ban on new forestry operations in the Trilateral Territory until Quebec implemented their agreements, but the province and forestry companies have used the leadership change as an opportunity to cut new logging roads [in preparation for logging operations] without permission from the legitimate Barriere Lake representatives.

On March 10th, 2008, for the third time in 12 years, the Government of Canada interfered in Barriere Lake's internal customary governance. They rescinded recognition of the Customary Chief and Council and recognized individuals whom the Barriere Lake Elder's Council says were not selected in accordance with their Customary Governance Code.

"The federal government pretends this is simply an internal issue,"
says Marylynn Poucachiche, another Barriere Lake spokesperson on-site. "But we can only resolve the situation if the federal government appoints an observer to witness a new leadership selection that is truly in accordance with our Customary Governance Code, promises to respect the outcome, and then stops interfering in our internal affairs."

In 2007, Quebec Superior Court Judge Rejean Paul issued a report that concluded that the current faction recognized by the federal
government was a "small minority" that "didn't respect the Customary Governance Code" in an alleged leadership selection in 2006 [2]. The federal government recognized this minority faction after they conducted another alleged leadership selection in January 2008, even though an observer's report the government relied on stated there was no "guarantee" that the Customary Governance Code was respected [3].

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

In Montreal at noon, supporters of Barriere Lake will rally in front of the office of Premier Jean Charest at the southeast corner of McGill College and Sherbrooke.

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