Vancouver Solidarity with Sechelt Nation

Vancouver Solidarity with Sechelt Nation

By Wii’nimkiikaa
Friday, July 6, 2007

About 70 people demonstrated today at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory, against the recent Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) attack on members of the Sechelt Nation. About half of those attending the demonstration were members of the Sechelt Nation and the soccer team who were pepper-sprayed while they celebrated on the reserve Monday night.

Rally participants held up posters for the event reading, “Stop RCMP Abuse”. Young members of the Sechelt Nation held up their soccer tournament trophies and wore their medals, while adults from the community spoke against the RCMP assault and the Sechelt band council chief’s hasty acceptance of an RCMP apology for the incident, before even consulting his community. Songs, drumming and the Unity/Warrior flag were also part of the rally.

About nine officers from the Vancouver Police Department engaged in surveillance of the demonstration from the sidelines, including bicycle and motorcycle cops.

14 Sechelt Natives Pepper-Sprayed by Cops

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OPEN LETTER TO THE RCMP

RCMP Headquarters
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R2

From local Indigenous groups active on Coast Salish Territory

July 5, 2007

We greatly condemn the RCMP’s vicious and sinister use of violence against a six-month-old baby in the Sechelt community in BC. While the baby’s face and scalp was severely burned from the RCMP’s use of pepper spray on him, the RCMP chose to claim that they were justified in the violence.

There is absolutely no justification in the deliberate administration of violence and bodily harm against a small baby. Further we also condemn the use of aggression the RCMP used against the Sechelt community members who were celebrating a youth soccer championship victory. It is clear in this case that the RCMP wanted to cause trouble and attacked members of the community, many whom were young people and moms, arbitrarily.

The situation points to the extremes the RCMP will go to attempt to assert irrational and arbitrary powers in our Indigenous communities. It is an example of why we need to stop depending on and giving legitimacy to racist, cruel and violent state oppressors like the RCMP. We stand in solidarity with the Sechelt people and support whatever actions they wish to take against the RCMP and in their community. We assert that the guilty RCMP officers and cohorts, who violently attacked a Sechelt baby, and other members of the community, should be removed from the force immediately. In addition, we feel that the RCMP should be banned from Indigenous communities permanently given the longitude of their abuses against our children, youth, Elders, women, and men.

Sincerely,

The International Indigenous Youth Conference Secretariat
Redwire Native Youth Media
The Indigenous Action Movement

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