CPTnet
May 25, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG UPDATE: Spring 2004
Murders and Beatings in Kenora
On Friday, April 30, another Indigenous man was beaten nearly to death in
down-town Kenora. No one has yet been charged with the crime. Kenora is
the nearest town to Grassy Narrows and is where Grassy Narrows citizens
usually go for groceries, medical care and recreation. On Monday, May 3,
CPT members Lisa Martens and Matt Schaaf held a short prayer at the site of
the beating.
The attack was part of a longer story. Police killed Geronimo Fobister, a
young Anishnaabe man, probably intoxicated with alcohol, at Grassy Narrows
in August 2003. In Kenora, another Anishnaabe man, Max Kakegamic, was
beaten to death in 2000. Police charged one person and later released him.
The other suspect present at the crime scene was never arrested. He was a
nephew of one of the investigating officers.
Friends of CPT talk about indigenous people who are beaten up in Kenora but
who are afraid to report the crimes to the police. The town is home to a
gang called the KIB -- Kenora Indian Bashers. Grassy Narrows and other
Anishnaabe citizens have identified racism in Kenora as one of the greatest
threats against their community.
Meeting with the Deputy Chief of Police, Round 1
CPT members Scott Kerr and Lisa Martens met with Deputy Chief Dan Jorganson
on March 5. Jorganson said that since reserves don't want to deal with some
of their own people, those people end up on the streets in Kenora and the
police have to deal with them. Days after the meeting CPT members read in
the newspaper that Jorganson reported to a superior the investigating
officers' failure to follow up on the nephew in the Kakegamic case. A judge
then ruled publicly that the investigation was flawed.
Grassy Narrows citizens at the table with Federal, Provincial and Company
Representatives
Some Grassy Narrows citizens are choosing to sit at the table with
representatives of Abitibi Consolidated, the Province of Ontario and Canada
to talk about logging on Grassy Narrows traditional land. This opportunity
arose only after Grassy Narrows citizens spent about a year slowing and
stopping logging trucks on their land. It is unclear whether any trust
will be built between Grassy Narrows and the other parties at these initial
meetings. Trucks still do not run on the roads where Grassy Narrows citizens
stopped them.
CPT meets with the Mayor and engages the Police
Grassy Narrows community members informed CPT that some people in Kenora
expect that if the pulp mill were to close that Grassy Narrows citizens and
Indigenous street people will feel the repercussions. In response, CPT
members wrote to Deputy Chief of Police Dan Jorganson urging a public
statement against violence or threat of violence in order to de escalate a
potentially explosive situation. Jorganson wrote back acknowledging CPT's
concerns but saying he could not make generalized statements that were not
in response to a specific crime.
CPT members also met with the Mayor of Kenora, Dave Canfield, and requested
he make a public statement against violence during the delicate
negotiating period. Mayor Canfield did not give a clear response. The
Mayor stated that a half million dollars worth of wood still out in the bush
(due to the blockade actions) was a blow to the mill. Canfield wants to
visit Grassy Narrows this summer, and that plans to urge the Federal
government to take responsibility for its Treaty obligations. He saw the
best possibilities for employment of Indigenous people in forestry and
mining. Canfield serves part time as Mayor and holds a part-time position
at Abitibi-Consolidated.
Kenora Work
In discerning how CPTs work in Kenora may look over the next two years, the
team has been gathering inspiration, warnings and information from Kenora
contacts. Two women working for a federally-funded Anti-racism / Diversity
committee explained that the Kenora Indian Bashers is a wing of an older
Canada wide gang. On a different subject related to racism and schooling,
they emphasized that the government allots $9000.00 a year for each child in
Kenora schools while on reserves, the amount is $4500.00 per child. They
plan to do anti-racism work in Kenora schools.
CPT has attended the meetings of a citizens coalition against violence
directed at Anishnaabe street people.
Trout Lake Community's Struggle to Return to the Land
On April 11-12, CPT members Martens and Schaaf visited friends in a nearby
Anishnaabe Community called Trout Lake. Most indigenous people there have
been displaced and their communities damaged over recent decades by disease,
residential schools, hydroelectric flooding, and the incursion of outside
commercial fishers and tourist camp owners. Some people indigenous to Trout
Lake are working to return to the land. One such woman, Kaaren,
runs Indigenous Learning Programs in their traditional
territory.
Snow-mobiling across the lake with Kaaren and her partner, Martens and
Schaaf saw twenty caribou walking across the ice, migrating northwards for
summer. Kaaren said that Caribou populations in the area have greatly
diminished since her childhood. Trout Lake Community's work may eventually
include an invitation for CPT's presence.
Delegations
Two short term delegations visited the Anishnaabe Nation this spring,
including eight students from Minnesota universities. The Kenora Abitibi
mill sells most of its newsprint to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
newspaper. CPT members Scott Kerr and Jessica Phillips traveled to
Minneapolis in April to present the impact of clear-cutting on Anishnaabe
Treaty rights. Two more delegations from that city are in the planning
stages.
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