Tag Archives: October 17 raids
HMC: Prelude to the Raid: Interview with Warrior Society District chief suggests Irving-owned security, RCMP, engaged in pre-October 17th charge trumping
SOURCE: http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/prelude-raid/19596
Prelude to the Raid
Interview with Warrior Society District chief suggests Irving-owned security, RCMP, engaged in pre-October 17th charge trumping.
Why did this Industrial Security Limited employee approach a sacred fire, while armed, on October 15th? [Photo: Miles Howe]
REXTON, NEW BRUNSWICK – The dominant police-fuelled discourse circulating is that on October 17th, the police were forced to raid an armed camp of anti-shale gas protestors along highway 134, near Rexton, New Brunswick.
Adding fuel to this narrative is the fact that the police have laid several charges, ranging from threats to assault to unlawful confinement, in relation to events that they claim occurred on October 15th and 16th.
The end result is a story in which the RCMP, despite drawing in Emergency Response Teams from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and New Brunswick; despite raiding an until-then peaceful encampment with guns drawn in the pre-dawn on the 17th; despite firing numerous rounds of less-lethal ammunition into unarmed people at point blank range; and despite spraying men and women with pepper spray, were simply de-escalating a tense situation.
However, an interview with Signigtog District War Chief Jason Augustine – himself present at the encampment since it's inception, and now facing numerous charges – begins to peel back the layers of the RCMP's imagery, and presents a very different recounting of events that occurred over October 15th and 16th.
It's a story that shows a clear attempt by Irving-owned Industrial Security Limited to taunt and bait members of the Warriors Society on October 15th and 16th – in some cases going directly against already-negotiated agreements that existed between the Mi'kmaq Warriors Society and the RCMP – in order to create a fiction in which the Warriors could be later charged with a variety of accusations that supposedly occurred on those two days.
It's also a story that shows the RCMP negotiating in extremely poor faith..
Since late September, 2013, Irving-owned Industrial Security Limited was the main security unit patrolling the fenced-in compound where SWN Resources Canada's equipment was being held along highway 134. Generally, and for the duration of the life of the encampment, there were between about four and ten security guards patrolling the fenced-in area.
The fenced-in compound had one main gate, at the corner closest to the access road to highway 134. But the fence around the compound itself was not a permanent structure, and pieces could quickly be latched and unlatched, creating make-shift gates at any desired point.
Indeed, because the one main gate opened onto the 134 access road, which had become one of the main traffic points of the encampment, Augustine notes that the Warrior Society and the RCMP had earlier negotiated that ISL shift changes would take place via an already-built back road that opened onto an off-ramp of highway 11.
ISL guards would leave the fenced-in compound at the extreme opposite corner of the compound, about 200 meters from the main gate, through a make-shift gate. This was a scenario that had been taking place in good faith for numerous days prior to October 15th.
"We had already set a negotiation [regarding] the backside [of the compound]", says Augustine. "We made them a road where [ISL workers] could go in and back out. And each time the shift change started there were always two Warriors and four RCMPs [to escort the workers]. We negotiated that with Denise Vautour and Marc Robichaud (two of the RCMP's negotiators). We negotiated that and we all said 'That's pretty good, we're in a working [compromise] right now.'"
Yet on October 15th, in a situation that Augustine cannot remember happening during the duration of the encampment, an ISL security guard, later identified as former New Brunswick Highway Patrolman Gary Flieger, opened the front gate of the fenced-in compound and began wandering around an area of the encampment where a sacred fire had been lit.
He had crossed a line of cedar that had been placed on the gravel road in front of the sacred fire, and was standing – armed, according to Augustine – in front of the fire. This was where Coady Stevens, another member of the Warriors Society, found Flieger.
It is of particular importance to note that – according to Augustine – the Warrior Society and the RCMP had even negotiated for the possibility that an ISL security guard would want to come and pray at the sacred fire. The guards could come and pray any time they wanted, but neither they, nor anyone else, was permitted to bring weapons of any kind to the sacred fire.
"[ISL] already knew," says Augustine. "When we negotiated the first time, when an ISL worker comes out to the sacred fire – because they were welcome, anytime they were welcome – as long as they don't have any weapons. [But] they could come and pray with us anytime they want. And that was part of the negotiations. They could come out at any time and pray with us, or go out the back way and shift change then."
Augustine describes a brief altercation that then took place, one that he suggests Flieger took to a physical level. But for one quick push of Flieger, and for escorting Flieger back through the front gate of the fenced-in compound, Coady Stevens – who remains incarcerated and who was denied bail – faces charges of assault, threats and unlawful confinement. All these charges are, of course, pre-October 17th.
Lost in the dominant narrative is why Flieger left the front gate of the compound on the morning of the 15th and wandered, armed, to a sacred fire. Lost also is how, with an already-built back gate that was frequently used, any of this constitutes unlawful confnement.
There was no shift change taking place at the time. Indeed shift changes took place at the exact other end of the fenced-in compound. If Flieger wanted to pray at the sacred fire, not something he had done during any of his other shifts, Augustine suggests that he was welcome to do so – provided he approached the fire unarmed.
This is especially problematic if, as Augustine suggests, RCMP negotiators Denise Vautour and Marc Robichaud had already negotiated these terms in good faith with the Warriors.
Augustine notes that on the evening of the 15th, RCMP negotiator Denise Vautour again texted him, asking about the altercation that had happened.
"On the night of the 15th I got a text from Denise [Vautour] saying 'What's going on down there? How come a Warrior is pushing ISL?'" says Augustine. "Right off the bat we told them 'Hold it. ISL came out to the sacred fire with his weapon out. Remember when we negotiated that they're not supposed to have weapons around the sacred fire.' She said 'OK, we didn't know that.' Then she asked if we could meet. I said 'Yes, we've got to meet and talk about this and resolve this as quick as possible, in a peaceful way'…That night we all agreed that: 'Yes, everything is peaceful again. Let's keep it that way.'"
The morning of the 16th, apparently, was out of the ordinary as well. Augustine notes that ISL staff was being especially belligerent to the Warriors who were stationed at the fence.
"When I came out I told [ISL]: 'Whoa guys you have to be peaceful,'" says Augustine. "This was from the RCMP. I told them right of the bat that we'd been negotiating all this time for peace, and that you guys have to cooperate with us."
Several Warriors have been charged with threats related to the 16th of October. It is assumed that these charges are related to this series of verbal altercations.
Augustine notes that the Warriors had also already negotiated with the RCMP in order to create a neutral 'no-go' zone around the fenced-in compound, in order that ISL security working within the fenced-in compound would not be verbally harassed by over-exuberant activists.
"It was always a concern for their safety too," says Augustine. "We wanted them safe, because we knew that they were only there for their jobs.
"That morning, when things were escalating, right off the bat we went to Denise [Vautour] and Marc [Robichaud] and said 'You've got to help us. These guys are not being peaceful. You guys have got to help us bring in the RCMP instead of ISL.'"
Mid-morning of the 16th, another meeting was held between the Warriors Society and the RCMP. In effect, what was being negotiated was a replacement of ISL security – which over the last two days had begun to act in an aggressive manner – with an RCMP contingent that would either remain in the fenced-in compound or patrol the 'no-go' zone – and monitor SWN's equipment. In the interim, Augustine notes that he asked for the Warriors to vacate the 'no-go' zone to de-escalate the situation.
According to Augustine, after analyzing the situation, RCMP negotiators Vautour and Robichaud came to a similar conclusion as the Warriors: It was ISL security who was escalating the situation, not the Warriors.
"Denise [Vautour] and Marc [Robichaud] came along and said: 'Jason, the RCMP are coming now, they're going to take [ISL] out for you. We finally realized that they're the problem too.' So they were taken out right away."
Augustine notes that the security duty exchange between ISL and RCMP took place between 3 and 4pm.
By the night of the 16th, Aboriginal RCMP negotiators had been brought in, supposedly in an attempt to calm the situation. Augustine again notes that these new negotiators, a constable 'Fraser' from Saskatchewan and a constable Walter Denny from Nova Scotia, confirmed with him that it was ISL security who was acting in a provocative and aggressive manner.
"Fraser and Denny] said: 'These guys were very disrespectful, and on your guys' part, you guys were just here trying to keep the peace," says Augustine. "'[ISL] was so disrespectful that they were even disrespectful to us, because we were Natives.'"
With RCMP officers now replacing the "disrespectful" ISL security force, Augustine notes that the Aboriginal RCMP negotiators made further attempts to court peace with the Warriors.
"That night, around 10pm, constable Fraser and constable Denny came up to us. They wrapped tobacco in red felt and told us: 'From now on it's going to be peaceful.' And they handed me the tobacco," says Augustine. "They handed it right to me and said: 'This is for peace. We understand that you guys only want peace. So everything's going to be peaceful now. Negotiations have to start now.'
"We took the tobacco, me and Jim [Pictou]. We all shook hands. And we gave them tobacco too. I took tobacco out of my cigarette pack, broke it, and gave one to Walter [Denny] and one to Fraser and I told them 'Yes, it's now peaceful now.' I took the tobacco back to our sacred bag. We had a bag full of a lot of our sacred stuff; sweet grass, sage, buffalo sage and all the medicines that we have there. And they left."
Having successfully negotiated for the removal of the ISL security team, to be replaced by a patrol of RCMP officers, and having been given tobacco by two Aboriginal negotiators who allegedly confirmed the disrespectful nature of the Irving-owned employees, Augustine notes that the rest of the evening of the 16th, up until the morning of the 17th, was entirely uneventful.
The raid of the 17th , in which dozens of RCMP officers surrounded the Warriors encampment with a variety of weaponry already drawn, was a surprise to Augustine, both in terms of the amount of armaments, but more importantly in terms of the RCMP's intent of the night before.
"That morning when I woke up to do my traffic control, I started about 6:30," says Augustine. "I got my coffee ready and I didn't even start drinking my coffee when the RCMP came out with guns drawn on us. The night before was peaceful. Even the RCMP was kind of happy that it was peaceful now. Nobody was escalating. Everybody was laughing. Everybody was drumming. Even the RCMP would drive by and wave to us. They knew it was peaceful.
"But all of a sudden that October 17th morning…Holy. All of a sudden they came up with guns drawn…Where's that peace?"
When analyzing the potential of ISL – and their Irving paymasters – knowingly crafting a scenario involving trumped up charges against members of the Warriors Society, all the while working in collusion with the RCMP – and their Crown paymasters – it is also important to remember that a public hearing against SWN's injunction against protestors was set for the morning of October 18th in Moncton.
The injunction named all of New Brunswick – under John and Jane Doe – as being potentially on the legal hook for inhibiting SWN's access to it's seismic testing equipment. Pre-18th legal opinions put forward on social media sites suggested that the injunction didn't have a legal leg to stand on – indeed the injunction was subsequently overturned – but it did serve the purpose of intimidating activists concerned about their own estates from attending the encampment.
The 18th, and the potential of the public hearing overturning the injunction, presented a situation that may well have seen a surgin renewal of people at the highway 134 encampment. Crafting a narrative to negate that potential through strange actions, including having ISL guards leaving a front gate not used for shift changes and approaching a sacred fire while armed, and taunting Warriors who had made a habit of not only peacefully escorting ISL security during shift changes, but feeding the guards with home-cooked meals, resulted in a series of pre-raid charges.
Just the narrative needed for a pre-18th raid.
With these charges in their back pocket, the RCMP was free to create an 'escalating tension' scenario that they could then feed to a mainstream press. Coupled with the photogenic imagery of burning police cars and a press conference with a table full of armaments – neither of which can be yet, if ever, attributed to members of the Warriors Society – and the justification for the pre-dawn raid was set.
According to Augustine, from one side of their mouths RCMP negotiators spoke of peace, offered gifts and agreed that it was ISL security who was the incendiary side of the equation. All the while, however, a series of pre-raid charges, which still hang over numerous members of the Warriors Society, was being levied against them.
Posted in Accounts and Testimonies, Alternative Media Coverage	| Tagged Elsipogtog, October 17 raids, policing, RCMP, solidarity, Warriors
APTN: Amanda Polchies, the woman in iconic photo, says image represents 'wisp of hope'
Amanda Polchies, the woman in iconic photo, says image represents 'wisp of hope'
National News | 24. Oct, 2013 by APTN National News | 0 Comments
TO VIEW VIDEO, CLICK HERE: http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2013/10/24/amanda-polchies-woman-iconic-photo-says-image-represents-wisp-hope/
It's a picture that has been viewed around the world.
And helped define the events of the raid on an anti-fracking barricade in Rexton, New Brunswick last week.
It's a photo of a Mi'kmaq mother kneeling in front of a line of riot police.
APTN's Ossie Michelin now with her story.
Posted in Interviews, Mainstream Media Coverage	| Tagged Elsipogtog, Elsipogtog Solidarity, images, interviews, October 17 raids, RCMP, resistance
Rabble: Everything you need to know about Elsipogtog
Everything you need to know about Elsipogtog
Though I will be writing on the events that took place on October 17, 2013 when the RCMP raided a peaceful blockade by members of the Elsipogtog Mi'kmaq First Nation, for now I just want to provide people with some already available and excellent resources on the subject. What I won't be doing is linking to the plethora of unbelievably racist articles that are pouring out, branding the people of Elsipogtog as everything from terrorists, to puppets of environmental NGOs. These pieces already have mainstream attention, capture mainstream attitudes towards indigenous peoples, and are pretty successfully creating the official narrative.
If you want to delve deeper, or need resources with which to counter these portrayals, here you go!
If you have time for only one article, then you need to read this one, written by Martin Lukacs: "New Brunswick fracking protests are the frontline of a democratic fight."
It does an excellent job of refocusing attention on the reason the blockade existed in the first place, and on the fact that the area in question has never been ceded to Canada, and thus is not owned by Canada. The people of Elsipogtog have been branded as law breakers, but the legality of Canadian actions in that area are completely undermined by this very central fact.
To keep us in that vein, here is an article from 2012 which discusses the fact that 67 per cent of people in New Brunswick support a moratorium on fracking. This is an intensely controversial practice and people throughout Canada and the US, native and non-native alike, stand in opposition to it. The people of Elsipogog are not on the fringe of an issue here, they are in the majority.
For a really good breakdown of the order in which things happened, Daniel Wilson provides us with, "Out of order: Indigenous protest and the rule of law". He brings up some important issues about the public's love affair with the 'rule of law' from such a distinctly one-sided perspective, which ignores the underlying illegitimacy of Canadian claims to the land in question and the unceasing violation of the 'rule of law' by the Crown.
This article: "Elsipogtog "Clashes" 400 years in the making", by Dru Oja Jay, goes into good detail about some of the history of the area, and how high tensions have run between the Mi'kmaq and the Canadian government. State violence against the Mi'kmaq people has been an ongoing problem, and Elsipogtog is merely the latest in a line of such.
Leanne Simpson, in her brilliant piece "Elsipogtog Everywhere" brings more context to the deeper issue of the land, and the way in which reconciliation cannot occur without a conversation about that land. If you need to know what deeper acts of resurgence are occurring outside of reactive blockades to deal with lack of consultation and the prioritising of corporate interests over the wishes of all people living in the area, then this article provides it. This is one of the most honest and hopeful pieces I have read on the subject, and it helped me deal with the flood of emotions I've been experiencing since watching this all go down on October 17th.
By the way? What the heck is fracking? Here is a video that provides a simple, clear description of the process of fracking, summarising the pros and cons: "CNN Explains: Fracking".
Recently, a claim was made by He Who Shall Not Be Named (because the guy literally gets paid to troll, and every little mention puts more money in his bloated pocket) that the people of Elsipogtog are basically puppets of foreign environmental groups. The article "Fracking Indigenous Country" (under the donation appeal) is a very long, but detailed rebuttal of any such claims. If you were at all wondering about whether this could be true, this article does an amazing job of completely demolishing these fantasies.
Rex Murphy really put his foot in it as well. Here are two very good responses to his patronising, racist article: "Rex Murphy and the Frames of Settler Colonial War" by Corey Snelgrove, and "Dear Rex: Colonialism exists, and you're it" by Nick Montgomery.
Jian Ghomeshi put out an audio essay on the incident, summarizing the different opinions and posing some of the important questions the public needs to be asking. He also helps you learn how to pronounce Elsipogtog!
There have been a lot of conspiracy theories going around about provocateurs and US military involvement and so on. Here is an incredibly detailed article by Gord Hill about the tactics and equipment used during the raid which should help dispel some of the most outlandish rumours without downplaying the level of violence initiated by the RCMP: "Overview of RCMP deployment against Mi'kmaq blockade, Oct 17, 2013."
Another article by the same author questions the rumours about provocateurs setting fire to the RCMP vehicles: "Statement on Provocateurs, Informants, and the conflict in New Brunswick." Snitch-jacketing, or labeling people as provocateurs or agents of the state is an incredibly divisive and dangerous practice and whether the rumours are spread by law enforcement or our own communities, we have to be careful.
While this next article is not about Elsipogtog, it is nonetheless a very important read. "An open letter to peaceful protestors" debunks a lot of the myths about way peaceful protest was used during the Civil Rights Movement, and clarifies the difference between peaceful, and legal. The need to be organised rather than simply reactive, is highlighted and explained. Every person wanting to be involved in any sort of protest, solidarity action or larger movement, needs to read this article and really think about what it is saying.
To wrap up, I want to thank the artists who have so quickly responded with their support of the movement.
âpihtawikosisân, Chelsea Vowel is a 34 year old Métis from the Plains Cree speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. She is the mother of two energetic girls and holds a BEd and an LLB from the University of Alberta. She moved to Montreal two and a half years ago, fell in love with Roller Derby and decided to stay permanently. Her passions are the Cree language, strapping on roller skates and smashing into other women, and attacking the shroud of ignorance surrounding indigenous issues in Canada. She blogs at apihtawikosisan.com
Posted in Analysis and History	| Tagged background, Elsipogtog, Elsipogtog Solidarity, Mi'Kmaq, October 17 raids, RCMP, solidarity
HMC: Mi'kmaq Warrior risks losing leg after being shot by RCMP rubber slug in Thursday's cop attack
SOURCE: http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/mikmaq-warrior-risks-losing-leg-after-being-shot-r/19398
Internal bleeding went untended for two days due to shock.
Tyson Peters addresses a crowd today at a community meeting in Elsipogtog. [Photo: Miles Howe]
Elsipogtog, New Brunswick – It has taken three days, but sadly there is now the potential of a very serious injury arising from last Thursday's early morning RCMP attack on the anti-shale gas encampment that occurred on a piece of Crown land adjacent to highway 134.
Tyson Peters, a member of the Mi'kmaq Warriors Society, today appeared at a community meeting in Elsipogtog using two friends for support. His left leg was heavily bandaged. He tells the Halifax Media Co-op that after being shot in the leg by a 'rubber bullet' shotgun blast, fired by an RCMP officer at close range, there is extensive internal bleeding in his leg. Doctors have advised him that they will know better tomorrow whether the leg will require amputation.
Peters, who was asked by his uncle to join the Warriors Society, was amongst several people shot by the RCMP with rubber bullet shotgun shells during the violent arrest of 40 people on Thursday. Peters was at the second confrontation between anti-shale gas activists and police, which occurred after an RCMP tactical squad arrived in the pre-dawn hours with about 60 guns drawn to serve an SWN Resource's Canada injunction to about 15 odd people.
"I had to jump in front of a woman and take a rubber bullet," says Peter. "I didn't go for help for two days. I was walking on it for two days and couldn't feel it. I was in too much shock.
"[Doctors at St. Anne hospital in New Brunswick] told me I might be losing my leg."
While the RCMP has been very forthcoming in their public display of three apparently-seized rifles from the Warriors encampment near highway 134 (none of which were ever used at the encampment), the police have remained totally mum on their use of rubber bullet shotgun shells during both confrontations with anti-shale gas activists on the 17th. Numerous incidents of maiming and blinding by rubber bullets and slugs have been documented over the history of their use.
The Halifax Media Co-op will update this story as new becomes available.
Posted in Alternative Media Coverage	| Tagged elispogtog, Elsipogtog, fracking, injuries, October 17 raids, police brutality, RCMP, Warriors
CBC: Pamela Palmeter on NB protests
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2412799896/
News | Oct 17, 2013 | 7:59
Mi'kmaq lawyer on N.B. protests
Pam Palmeter is Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University
Posted in Interviews, Mainstream Media Coverage	| Tagged background, Indigenous, interviews, Mi'Kmaq, October 17 raids