[PEN-L:281] Re: Urgent Appeal

["AK Sinha" <aks1v@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim,

Could you please give us more instructions about what a person
like myself can and should do in this case. My best. ajit sinha

> Last night (Jul 23 rd) Frank Martin (Bella Bella) and his wife Helen Michell
> (Carrier) were arrested again--following a meeting on Indian activism
> and plans for actions and protests.
>
> Frank was arrested on the basis of an alleged previous warrant in
> 1992; the problem is, that he was just previously arrested (charged
> with being an 'illegal alien) and nothing was said about any alleged
> previous warrant and he was released on bail--"gating".
>
> I am unaware of the charges against Helen but sincerely believe that
> this latest round of arrests needs to be examined and questioned
> thoroughly; my personal opinion is that his is clear reprisal for the
> testimonies and activism of Frank and Helen related to issues
> presented at the Tribunal at which I was one of the Judge's (Pro
> Tempore) and possibly as a result of certain issues disclosed
> recently on SISS related to the Vancouver Club about which they may
> have had knowledge also.
>
> I implore all people of conscience to call for an examination of
> these latest rounds of arrests, intimidation and harassment. Helen is
> presently in the Vancouver jail and Frank is at Maple Ridge as I
> write this.
>
> They have been made destitute and fear for their safety and that of
> their children. I publish Helen's appeal again to urge all people of
> conscience to assist these freedom fighters in any way possible.
>
> Jim Craven
>
> Urgent Action
>
> These people recently testified at an Inter-Tribal Tribunal  dealing
> with the Residential Schools in Canada and almost immediately after
> their testimony, actions commenced against them. I was one of the
> Tribal Judges on that Tribunal and their testimony was moving and
> very damaging to some of the "powers that be". Please circulate this
> widely and help if possible.
>
>                                                        Jim Craven
>
>
>
> Forwarded Message Follows -------
> Date:          Tue, 07 Jul 1998 15:12:34 -0700
> To:            (Recipient list suppressed)
> From:          Steve Kisby <skisby@xxxxxxx>
> Subject:       Appeal from Helen Michell
>
> July 6, 1998, update.
>
> Frank, Helen Michell's husband, is being held in a Pentiction jail (in the
> interiour of British Comumbia, Canada) and is being deniged his medication
> perscribed by a Doctor in Vancouver.  The Penticton, B.C., court file
> number is 7247C.
>
> Prior to being put in jail, Frank had lost 20 lbs as he couldn't eat
> properly as a result of a beating by police, which broke his jaw.  The
> medication is for the injuries receive during the beating.  So far, $150
> has been raised toward his bail of $500 and we desparatly need people to
> come forward with help toward the remaining amount.
>
> If you can help, please contact Helen Michell c/o 2985 West 12th Avenue,
> Vancouver, B.C., V6K 2R2, Canada.  Messages may also be left with Dimitri
> at 604-738-4260.
>
> In Helen's words:
>
> ------------------------------------------
> 	Helen Michell
> 	2985 West 12th Avenue
> 	Vancouver, B.C.
> 	V6K 2R2, Canada
>
> 	July 3, 1998
>
>
> Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
>
> Article 25; (1) Every one has the right to a standard of living adequate
> for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
> clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the
> right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, DISABILITY,
> widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his
> control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
> assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy
> the same social protection.
>
> This is what my husband read out in the welfare office to the workers and
> to the police officers before his arrest. I believe my husband is a
> prisoner of war.
>
> To the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates ;
>
> On July 1, 1998, Canada celebrated one hundred years of GENOCIDE, on the
> Indigenous people of this stolen land.  The R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian
> Mounted Police -- Canada?s national police force), also celebrated one
> hundred and twenty-five years of GENOCIDE on the Indigenous peoples within
> Canada.,
>
> On July 2,1998, we as an Indigenous family of North Central British
> Columbia, Canada?s most western province, are in need of protection from
> the British Columbia and Canadian government systems, and the Royal
> Canadian Mounted Police. Our need for protection is vital because we are
> against this illegal ?treaty? process happening now in this province.
>
> And now a taste of GENOCIDE;
>
> For the past six months we have been living in Port Coquitlam, just outside
> of the city of Vancouver, and we are on welfare. The government welfare
> workers have been very discriminating towards us as a indigenous family,
> and I have seen many discriminating social workers throughout the province.
>  These workers would do a variety of things to us everytime such as
> with-holding our rental cheques, cutting the amounts of our cheques down,
> laughing at us because of our disposition, kicking us out of their office
> without our cheques, or threatening to call the police.  Throughout all of
> this, the white people who visited their offices were getting their
> cheques, with no problem. They usually have a security guard at the office,
> but today, there wasn?t any, and so they must of planned to call the
> police.  Our son had moved in with us, that made the social workers mad.
> She said we couldn?t live together because we were related. We found a new
> place in Vancouver where we could all live together. That made the social
> workers furious, but they paid my son?s rent in the new place for the month
> of June anyway. Our rent was paid in Port Coquitlam. Now it is July, the
> social workers refused to pay my son?s rent at his new home and refused him
> his sustenance cheque. Our half of the rent was paid already . So we were
> back at the office to try and get our sons rent paid. We were already under
> stress and illness, so we were considering putting our belongings into
> storage and living in our van again. The workers wouldn?t budge. Instead
> they called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on my husband.  There was no
> charges laid but my husband got hauled away , by a rude and discriminating
> police officer.  My husband was not read his rights and was not informed
> what the charges were.  Except that they say they had a warrant for his
> arrest for being an ?Illegal alien? in Canada.  I had not seen any warrant
> to this day. We had already been arrested in the past, twice each, on this
> same charge.  The rude R.C.M.P. officer threatened to take me to jail if I
> didn?t stop taking pictures with my camera.  As indigenous people in North
> America, we have ?dual citizenship? in Canada and the United States.  So
> they violated their own laws in this country and also violated our
> Indigenous Human Rights.  The R.C.M.P. officer who arrested us on the
> ?illegal alien? charge was also an indigenous person. He couldn?t tell the
> difference between his own kind and an alien.  While they were arresting my
> husband, I quickly jumped into my van and raced into Vancouver. I have
> never been so scared and alone.  Later my husband called me and said there
> is a warrant for my arrest also, for being an illegal alien.  I called the
> office of the elected member of the provincial legislature for Port
> Coquitlam at 4 p.m. the same day and spoke to the office worker there. She
> did some investigating and said the government social worker had no right
> to treat us like that. They should of transferred my son?s file to
> Vancouver before July. So the social workers were in the wrong, but now my
> husband is in jail. My sons cheque was mailed out that day at 4:30 p.m.
> thanks to the elected member?s office worker. How many other Indigenous
> families have to suffer as we do, just to survive everyday? Most welfare
> workers act as if the money is coming out of their pockets.
>
> This ?illegal alien? charge is two years old this July, and they have never
> bothered us all this time. We have been in their court rooms and police
> station, they have been in my house in Port Coquitlam a few times. I think
> because we are to out spoken against a fraudulent ?treaty process? here and
> to politically active that they want us dismantled and destroyed as a
> indigenous family. They sure are doing a great job of it.
>
> A few weeks after this illegal alien charge in July, 1996, my husband was
> brutally beaten up, by ten Vancouver city polices in the downtown section
> called gastown. Half of his face was completely smashed in from a police
> flash light. That beating took place on August 8, 1996, and my family has
> suffered terribly because of that incident. He was in terrible pain and had
> two tumors in his head, 27 broken bones under his ear, and his jaw was
> broken down the middle of his mouth.  At one time, because of the tumors,
> my husband went under, while riding on the bus. They took him to the
> hospital in an ambulance. They were getting ready to do a brain operation,
> without anybody?s consent. My husband said he woke up to knives in the
> operating room. He quickly jumped up and grabbed his clothing and raced out
> without putting on his clothes. He changed his clothes in the bushes
> outside the hospital.  Since the beating , my husband has been under two
> special doctors care and is taking special medication for his head. This
> arrest cuts him off his treatment, which is another human rights violation.
>
> Since this brutal beating , the head sergeant of that Vancouver police
> outfit died of liver cancer, a week before his retirement. Five other city
> police officers have become mentally ill, of which one died this past
> Saturday. We have no hand in what ever is happening to them. Justice still
> wins in the end regardless of the injustices. They have offered Frank an
> out of court settlement which started at $50,000 and the last offer was
> $250,000. How much does a humans right to life cost? In my words no amount
> of money could replace what we went through, a life of shambles and the
> loss of many lives.  Today is July 3, and it is my husbands birthday. Happy
> birthday Frank, where ever you are. We all love you, be strong and stay
> alive please. Maybe they will try to kill my husband while he is in
> custody, so they don?t have to pay anything. I know they are already paying
> for that brutal beating.
>
> On June 30, 1998, we buried my cousin, who was murdered on the east side of
> Vancouver. Her sister was buried a month ago. I think she was murdered
> also. The cousin we buried on June 30, her face was smashed in, on the same
> side as my husbands face, when he was done in. When I looked at her in the
> coffin, one last time, I flashed on my husbands face when he was beaten up
> by the police. We called for an investigation on her death. Now they say
> there are ten more indigenous women murdered or missing from the east side
> of Vancouver.
>
> In 1993, our little family drove to New York city to lodge our complaints
> to the United Nation, regarding our disposition in this country. It seems
> like our lives went from bad to worse, after that journey. The United
> Nations had no ears for indigenous peoples in Canada.  Since going to the
> United Nations , I have buried a brother and two nephews, and my oldest
> sister. My brother was involved in a drug conspiracy case, he was a
> witness. Both him and his girlfriend were killed. One nephew was run over
> by a truck and killed instantly, his killer was never found or convicted.
> Another nephew was stabbed six times, by a Canadian government supported
> indigenous leader, who didn?t want to pay out settlement money owed to my
> nephew, for the flooding out of his log houses and land. It?s weird that my
> nephew knew when he was going to die, and who would do it to him. My sister
> was contaminated with blood cancer, she passed away a month after the
> Vancouver police beating on my husband. The same things happened to my
> parents and my grandparents, who are also deceased.
>
> My husband and I have been together for seventeen years now. In those
> seventeen years we have never tasted an ounce of FREEDOM without fear of
> prosecution or worse. Our life together has been spent in the court rooms
> and on the run.  They could never convict us on any charge, there was
> always a stay of proceedings. Throughout most of our time together, we
> spent most of our lives as fugitives on our own lands. Our children were
> always with us . We also have a grandchild, who we haven?t seen in two
> years, because they live in Prince George, in the center of the province.
>
> I think the world should know what is happening to us and other Indigenous
> people in Canada. who stand up for their international rights. We cannot
> get a lawyer to represent us. No human being would represent us as humans.
> In every way they violated our HUMAN RIGHTS, as an Indigenous family. Where
> do we go from here? Can anyone help us?
>
> Human Rights is fifty years old and many of the Indigenous people in North
> America never live past that age, because of all the abuses and useless
> policies, and discrimination is a disease more contagious than aids.
>
> We are seeking funding for filing suits to sue the Canadian government, the
> police forces, and Canadian supported indigenous governments. It looks like
> there is no way, in this world, we could dare to go that far. With our past
> experiences though, we know there is a higher power and miracles do happen.
>
> We are fighting to survive in this heartless world, and it sure isn?t
> getting any easier. For many of our people, suicide is the easy way out. We
> plan to stand up for our rights as a family.
>
> Please send letters that support us to the Canadian government.
>
> 	Meci cho (Thank you very much)
>
> 	Telqua  (Helen Michell)
> 	Bear Clan families of Maxan Lake
>
>  James Craven
>  Dept. of Economics,Clark College
>  1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
>  jcraven@xxxxxxxxx; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Hitler's concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality
> of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and
> United States history. He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in
> South Africa and for the Indians in the Wild West; and often praised
> to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination--by
> starvation and uneven combat--of the 'Red Savages' who could not be
> tamed by captivity." ("Adolf Hitler" by John Toland, p. 702)
>
> "Set the blood-quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid
> definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed...and eventually
> Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens,the
> federal government will finally be freed from its persistent
> Indian problem." (Patricia Nelson Limerick, "The Legacy of
> Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West" p338)
>
> *My Employer  has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>