[PEN-L:878] (Fwd) Tsek'ehne Nation needs your help

["James Michael Craven" <cravjm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 13 Aug 1998 18:03:51 -0600
To:            sovernet list <sovernet-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From:          Dayna <dchapman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:       Tsek'ehne Nation needs your help

Hi there-

A few days ago we received a desperate call for help from a family that is
singlehandedly blocking a logging road to protect the last intact watershed
in their traditional territory. Gilbert Chingee and his wife Winnie
Jagodics have broken away from the McLeod Lake Band (which is settling with
the provincial government under Treaty 8) and, together with their
children, have resurrected their traditional nation, the Tsek'ehne. They
have verbal support from about 1/2 of the Band, but unfortunatly, have no
physical support in their stand.

The Colbourne Creek valley, located in the Parsnip River drainage system
about 160 km north of Prince George, is the last pristine valley in
Tsek'ehne territory. It has been used by Gilbert's family for generations
as a trapping and hunting area, and is the location of many sites sacred to
the Tsek'ehne.

The Ministry of Forests has granted a licence to Carrier Lumber Ltd. of
Prince George to begin clearcut logging in the Colbourne valley. Winnie and
Gilbert have been blocking Carrier's access to the valley since July 1,
1998, but an injunction hearing has been scheduled for THIS MONDAY, AUGUST
17, 1998. If it is successful, they will be arrested in the next few weeks.
Gilbert and Winnie are desperatly trying to convince the Ministry of
Forests to award Carrier timber other than that in Colbourne Creek. They
have endured racism,  been patronized and belittled, had their home
vandalized, received death threats, and run into the usual colonialist
attitudes from every governement or industry official they've spoken with,
but they're still willing to fight.

They are in desperate need of:
-legal advice (re: injunctions, the Delgamuukw decision, lawsuits, etc.)
-MONEY (right now, they can't even afford to pay their phone bill)
-supporters on site, who are completly self-sufficient
-organizers around the continent to get the word out, rally support, and
fundraise
-letters written to:
	- David Zirnhelt (Minister of Forests),Legislative Buildings, Victoria,
	"BC", V8V 1X4 fax: (250) 387-1040
	-Cathy MacGregor (minister of Environment), Legislative Buildings,
	Victoria, "BC" V8V 1X4 fax: (250) 387-1356
	-Phil Zacharatos (District Manager, Prince George Forest District)
	2000 South Ospika Blvd., Prince George, "BC", V2N 4W5
	fax: (250) 5654-6771, phone: (250) 565-7125

 This is about as urgent as anything right now. Winnie and Gilbert
desperatly need your support. Please send them a fax ASAP at (250)
750-4561, and at least let them know they have support (they're getting
disenheartened). Also, please share this information with any individual,
Nations or organizations who might be able to help out.

Hope to hear from you soon...

Be well,
Dayna





Dayna Chapman
Forest Action Network
Box 625, Bella Coola, 'BC', V0T 1C0
ph: (250) 799-5800  fax: (250) 799-5830
website: http://www.fanweb.org


"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our
being, drive a spear into the land, and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers,
governments and corporations, 'Thus far and no farther'."
						-Uncle Ed Abbey

I hope none of us is a victim of "compassion fatigue". I know there
are so many worthy causes and struggles.

Jim Craven

 James Craven
 Dept. of Economics,Clark College
 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
 jcraven@xxxxxxxxx; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
(Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)

"...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
 extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend
the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the
system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where
you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the
culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their
extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange
for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to exchange
lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to spare
and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and
influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these
debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off
by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and
approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens
of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the
termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course
of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that
our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to
shut our hand to crush them..."
(Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for propertied white
people) to William Henry Harrison, Feb. 27, 1803)

*My Employer  has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------