Emergency Action Update ALGONQUIN YOUTH AND SUPPORTERS REFUSING TO LEAVE CONSERVATIVE MP LAWRENCE CANNON'S OFFICE Support Urgently Needed for Algonquins of Barriere Lake Today a group of Algonquin youth and supporters entered MP Lawrence Canon's office to demand a meeting with him. They are refusing to leave until this happens. Anyone able to come to the Buckingham constituency office to lend support is invited to attend. They've been told they will be arrested unless they leave. Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the Federal Department of Indian Affairs has ousted the Customary Chief and Council and illegally appointed a minority faction as the leadership, in an attempt to scrap the agreement. ==============================

================== CONTENTS 1) UPDATE FROM INSIDE MINISTER CANNON'S OFFICE 2) THE DEMANDS 3) BACKGROUND INFORMATION 4) MINISTER CANNON'S OFFICE LOCATION AND CONTACT INFO ================================================ 1) UPDATE FROM INSIDE MINISTER CANNON'S OFFICE: "Our group, composed of Algonquin youth and supporters, successfully entered Minister Cannon's Buckingham riding office, 25 minutes from Ottawa, at 11:30am today, Thursday, June 26th. Minister Cannon is not around and his staff have been mum about his whereabouts. But spirits are high and people are settling in and getting comfortable, despite the fact the Minister Cannon's staff have turned off the air conditioning in an attempt to force people to leave the office. At first Minister Cannon's staff offered to arrange meetings with low level bureaucrats instead of a meeting with Minister Cannon, but we are refused to take the bait. Now we've been told that Minister Cannon has no involvement or responsibility for Barriere Lake, and that if we do not leave we will be arrested. We intend to stick it out until our demands are met. We would love to have supporters form the surrounding region come to Minister Cannon's office to join us. The more the merrier, and supporters may help deter any police action. Alternately, if you can't come to Minister Cannon's office, we encourage people to call or fax his various offices and request that he meet with us." 2) DEMANDS We are members of the community of Barriere Lake and their supporters. We are peacefully occupying Minister Lawrence Cannon's office. We demand: i) A meeting with Lawrence Cannon, MP for the Barriere Lake community. ii) That the government oversee a leadership re-selection process, with outside observers, recognize the resultant Customary Chiefs and Council, and end all interference in the internal governance of Barriere Lake. 3) BACKGROUND INFORMATION [ ] NO COUPS D'ETAT ON ALGONQUIN LAND [ ] END INDIAN AFFAIRS' MANIPULATION OF TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT [ ] HANDS OFF BARRIERE LAKE For twenty difficult years, the small Algonquin community of Barriere Lake, 3 hours north of Ottawa, has been struggling to hold the government to their word. In 1991, they signed a landmark resource co-management and sustainable development agreement with Canada and Quebec to protect Algonquin land uses, to conserve the forest and wildlife, and to give them a share in the resource revenue from the logging and hydro projects on their traditional territories. Corporations extract $100 million a year -- Barriere Lake receives nary a penny. The Canadian government walked away from the agreement in 2001. Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the Federal Department of Indian Affairs has ousted the Customary Chief and Council and illegally appointed a minority faction as the leadership, in an attempt to scrap the agreement. * Despite several Quebec Hydro dams on their territory, the community is forced to use aging diesel generators to provide power. * The housing crisis in the community has reached tragic proportions, with most living in moldy, often condemned houses. As many as 18 people live in one house. * The Surete du Quebec has been used to forcibly impose and maintain the authority of the government-backed minority faction. * Children have been prevented from speaking Algonquin in school by teachers hired by outsiders—a grim throwback to residential schools. Join us in Gatineau, and support the community as it demands that the government respect the law and uphold their agreements. MORE INFO: barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com CONTACT: barrierelakesolidarity@gmail.com 4) MINISTER CANNON'S OFFICE LOCATION It's about a 25 minute drive from Ottawa. The address is: 127 Joseph Street Buckingham, Qc J8L 1G1 Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=127%20joseph%20street%20gatineau%20quebec&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl All of his contact info is described here: http://www.lawrencecannon.com/EN/contact_lawrence/ ***UPDATE***

From the Dominion (See http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/lia_tarachansky/1903 for a short video and more info) After a six hour occupation of MP Lawrence Cannon's Office in Buckingham, QC, yesterday, six Algonquin activists and allies were arrested by Sûreté du Québec police officers. The arrestees were detained for four hours and were finally released at 9:30 p.m. into the arms of cheering family and friends outside the Gatineau Police Department building. Among the awaiting crowd was Customary Chief Benjamin Nottaway (seen in video) whom the government attempted to revoke from power in the Barriere Lake reserve by imposing a minority appointed government. The so called Coup D'etat was the latest in a long series of governmental interventions in the impoverished reserve and led to the office occupation which took place yesterday. Previously, the indigenous representatives attempted to raise awareness of neo-Colonial intervention in their community by camping on Parliament Hill one year ago. Please do not reply to the listserve. Reply to mohawksupport@riseup.net