Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
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Secwepemc Territory. Saturday, November 17, 2001 - "It was a shameful way to act", says Chief Arthur Manuel of the out-of-control RCMP officers at the Secwepemc McGillivray Lake village near Sun Peaks. "Our people found their brutality terrifying. But they will not buckle under to police terror tactics. Our Elders, land-users and youth have made it very clear they will not be bullied or intimidated into leaving our McGillivray Lake village."

Chief Manuel was referring to an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon when six RCMP officers accompanied B.C. Assets and Land Corporation officials, and officials from Sun Peaks Resort, to seize all of the goods, dwellings and materials of the Secwepemc McGillivray Lake village. After an angry exchange of words with the residents, the police went “out of control” Secwepemc witnesses said, in attempting to arrest a youth for wearing what they said was camouflage clothing.

"They used pepper spray and brutally threw a young woman to the ground", said Janice Billy, the spokesperson for the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Centre. "It was terrifying to see the hatred in their eyes as they assaulted our people."

"What makes all this even more frustrating", Chief Manuel said, "was that it was completely unnecessary. In recent days we have been in contact with both the Attorney General and a Senior RCMP official asking them to continue the dialogue and to use the courts, if necessary, but not naked force against our people."

In a letter to the Honourable Geoff Plant on November 14 th , Chief Manuel had pointed out that the arrest of the Elders, land-users and Youth for "trespassing" on their own territory would "do great harm to the prospect of our peoples reconciling their interests in this part of the Province." He then suggested the Attorney General take "the more honourable path of open dialogue without preconditions." Manuel added that "the arrests would not deter us from using our Aboriginal title lands as we have from time immemorial."

In his letter of November 15 th to a Senior RCMP official, Manuel wrote that "if BCAL thinks they have rights under the Land Act, they should be directed by the RCMP to get a court order and this matter can be heard before a judge. It would be a great injustice, and provoke further tensions, if the police allowed themselves to be used to remove Aboriginal people from their land without even a court order to do so. As peace officers, your duty is to protect the legal and constitutional rights of the Aboriginal people, as well as those of the developers and their partners in government."

"What we saw with these latest arrests was the RCMP moving in with BCAL officials and Sun Peaks officials and acting outside of the direction of the courts. It is as if they see their job as protecting the interests of one economic sector 'and one race of people' against the interests of our people, which have been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada. We will not be treated like squatters on our own land."

Chief Manuel said that he had a videotape of the police brutality during the arrests and he would be making it available to the news media. "The people of British Columbia, the rest of Canada and the world should know how far these people are willing to go in their attempt to make an extra-legal seizure of our land."

For more information, or for a copy of the video tape, please contact: Chief Arthur Manuel (250) 314-7179