PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 23, 2004

Council of Canadians Condemns Arrest of Indigenous Activists at Sun Peaks

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: The Council of Canadians joins the Union of BC
Indian Chiefs, the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Centre and national and
international supporters in condemning the arrests of three Indigenous
protestors on Tuesday, September 21 at the Sun Peaks Ski Resort in Kamloops,
BC.

“These arrests show that the Gordon Campbell Liberals are willing to use
police force to keep BC open for business as usual”, says the Council of
Canadians’ BC-Yukon Regional Organizer, Tara Scurr. “The provincial
government is willing to openly defy a Supreme Court of Canada ruling for
dealing with Aboriginal interests in traditional territories in order to
allow the Sun Peaks expansion to occur in time for the 2010 Olympics”.

On September 6, Sun Peaks Resort took Secwepemc protesters to court and was
granted an injunction and enforcement order to remove them from occupying
Phase II of the expansion site. Rather than stepping in to protect
Aboriginal Title and Rights as mandated by the Canadian Constitution, the
Attorney General of British Columbia appeared in court to support the Sun
Peaks motion to obtain the injunction. The provincial government is willing
to facilitate corporate control over Aboriginal territories at the expense
of Canada’s national and international obligations.

Chief Nathan Matthew of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council (SNTC) stated in a
joint press release with the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Centre, “there will
be conflict between the Secwecpemc and the federal and provincial
governments as well as developers until the federal and provincial
governments live up to their legal obligations and implement the Delgamuukw
and Haida Supreme Court decisions through good faith negotiations rather
than through narrow, sharp dealing decisions that result in direct action
and the criminalization of the Secwepemc people”.

The Council of Canadians works with grassroots activists throughout Canada
to protect the commons and will continue to support a community-led process
in Secwepemc Territory that seeks to uphold judicial and constitutional
obligations that affirm Aboriginal Title and Rights. We are encouraged that
a solid working relationship between the SNTC and the Skwelkwek’welt
Protection Centre has emerged to work for the protection of these rights.

We will continue to inform our members about the efforts to exercise
Aboriginal Title and Rights in Secwepemc Territory. We ask that the Canadian
government stop the criminalization of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada who
exercise their rights and to instead strengthen the mechanisms by which
Aboriginal Peoples can assert their Aboriginal Title and Rights.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:             Tara Scurr, BC-Yukon Regional
Organizer, 604.688.8846 or Laura Sewell, Media Officer: 1.623.233.4487 ext.
234

Tara Scurr, BC Regional Organizer
Council of Canadians
#700-207 West Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7
(Toll free)1.888.566.3888
(Phone) 604.688.8846
(Fax) 604.688.5756
www.canadians.org