Can warrior societies survive in a post-9/11 world?

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In the face of what members of the West Coast Warrior Society describe as pressure from the government, and disheartened by a lack of support for their efforts from their own people, the group has announced it is disbanding.

The demise of the society leaves observers wondering whether political activism can exist today in the form of warrior societies, which find themselves operating in the shadow of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, and the more recent attacks by Islamic extremists in other parts of the world, including the London transit bombings in July.

Members of the West Coast Warriors were the recent targets of investigation by the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET). INSET is responsible for investigations under Canada's Anti-terrorist Act. The West Coast Warrior Society believes that government and law-enforcement agencies are using public fear to allow anti-terrorism resources in the country to be used to investigate and curtail Aboriginal activism in Canada, and thwart the legitimate efforts of Indian warrior societies to protect Aboriginal interests across the country.

The incident that sparked the end of the society occurred June 27 on the Burrard St. bridge in Vancouver. Three Aboriginal men were arrested in a military-style operation after they had made a legal firearms purchase at a Vancouver gun shop.

RCMP tactical team members carrying sub-machine guns blocked off the bridge and arrested the three men, who were released hours later without charge. Police confiscated the firearms and gave no reason for the takedown.

Sergeant John Ward of the Vancouver RCMP soon after told Windspeaker the action was a national security team investigation arrest, and the firearms were seized as part of an ongoing investigation that he could not discuss.

Vancouver RCMP's INSET was behind the operation, which also involved Vancouver RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department.

David Dennis, leader of the West Coast Warriors Society, and James Sakej Ward of the East Coast Warrior Society have identified themselves as two of the three men arrested on the bridge.

Dennis called RCMP INSET, "a right-wing, out-of-control organization ... that has in its mind to jail everybody from environmentalists to marijuna activists to Native activists.

"Unfortunately, what is going to happen in the end is that people, fanatical people, will win, and I think that is the legacy of 9/11 for Indigenous people. It has shown us that the government, or portions of the government, has always wanted to use this kind of Custer 'Let's go after the Indians' kind of approach," said Dennis, who claims the government is using 9/11 to develop a "shopping list" of concerns against any and all activists.

Dennis said the firearms seized were 14 Norico M305 semi-automatic hunting rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition purchased from Lever Firearms in Vancouver.

Josh Muir, manager of Lever Firearms, called the purchase large, but not unusual and legal by all accounts.

Dennis said the purchase was registered with the Canada Firearms Centre and the transfer of ownership was complete the day before the purchase was picked up.

Dennis said the firearms were purchased for the Outdoor Indigenous Traditional Training (OITT) course for the Tsawataineuk First Nation in Kingcome Inlet. The OITT course is intended to reconnect youth with traditional values and skills, such as hunting, said Dennis. An assertion supported by Twaswataineuk Chief Eric Joseph.

John Cummins, the Conservative member of Parliament for Delta, B.C., insists, however, the firearms purchase was for warrior training.

"If you allow this to continue and you allow that society to grow and to train these people and to indoctrinate these people that violence is the best solution to whatever problems they may have ... there is going to be a major confrontation and somebody's going to get hurt," said Cummis in a Vancouver Sun article.

Kingcome Inlet was the scene of a blockade by members of the Tsawataineuk First Nation in February, protesting logging rights granted to International Forest Products in Tsawataineuk traditional territory.

Cummins is in regular attendance at confrontations, such as Burnt Church in 2000 where members of the East Coast Warriors clashed with New Brunswick fishermen over the vandalism of Native lobster traps. He was also at Cheam, B.C. in 1999, a blockade by the Native Youth Movement over proposed parkland which led to the formation of the West Coast Warriors.

Jean Crowder is the NDP member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Cowichan, and is an Aboriginal Affairs critic.

Crowder sees the Burrard St. bridge takedown as an example of a threat to civil liberties in Canada due to the Anti-terrorism Act.

"What we are looking at is an erosion of civil liberties. It has been really difficult to confront it in any kind of way because it is all done behind closed doors. This is an example of something that is not open to public scrutiny," said Crowder.

Dennis denies the firearms were to be used to train members of the warriors' society, but if that was a real worry INSET could have stopped them from getting the firearms and ammunition by blocking the application with the firearms registry before the purchase was made.

Instead, he said, the very public Burrard St. bridge takedown was intended to discredit the West Coast Warriors, turn the public against them and intimidate the families of warrior society members.

Ward, who at one time was a member of the United States Airborne, said the investigation of the West Coast Warrior Society and the planning behind the Burrard St. bridge takedown has all the markings of Joint Task Force Two (JTF2) involvement.

JTF2 is the Canadian military's special forces unit that is trained in anti-terrorism planning and tactics.

In 2002, RCMP INSET raided the home of John Rampenen, a then-West CoastWarrior Society member, in search of weapons. No weapons were found despite the use of state-of-the-art thermal imaging equipment. Rampenen said he was branded a criminal in the eyes of the public, despite never having broken any law. Rampenen told Windspeaker his family was so terrified by the RCMP invasion that he decided to leave the warrior society.

Rampenen said that modern warrior societies seek to capture public and media attention to make Aboriginal issues known. One of the side effects of that goal is police attention.

"I believe that this is a kind of pre-emptive strike, an underlying message that (governments) feel has to be delivered to Indian people that if you get into this kind of organizing this is what is going to happen to you," said Dennis.

"The people from the American Indian Movement (AIM) are saying that this is Rapid City all over again," said Dennis.

"At the height of (AIM's) popularity, the FBI sponsored goon squads, murdered a number of people," alleged Dennis. "There was a counter-intelligence program that was enacted by the FBI during that time. Its deliberate purpose was to undermine the support of (AIM), to criminalize the group, and to terrorize their families."

That could have been INSET's original intent. And the tactic seems to have worked, with Dennis asserting that the decision to disband the West Coast society was made because of RCMP harassment, intimidation and the criminalization of the warrior society.

Rampenen was sympathetic.

"I didn't cease being a warrior, I just refocused my attention and energies towards those things that I felt were more pertinent. I can understand the decision made by the West Coast Warriors Society to disband and to refocus their energies and attention on things that will have a more profound impact in the First Nation's community," said Rampenen.

In a communique written Aug. 2 by warriors' advisor Dr. Taiaiake Alfred, the society insists it does not advocate violence to advace any particular cause, but does believe in defending Indigenous peoples against any threat resulting from "racist policies and overzealous law enforcement agencies."

Alfred told Windspeaker he believes the Burrard St. bridge takedown was intended to protect corporate logging interests in Kingcome Inlet, with the Canadian government using anti-terrorism legislation to protect those interests.

Alex Swann, a spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan's office, called the arrest on Burrard St. bridge a "criminal investigation," and said the Anti-terrorism Act does not discriminate on the basis of race. McLellan is responsible for both the RCMP and the administration of the Anti-terrorism Act. Swan would not comment on why RCMP INSET was in charge of the takedown if it was a simple criminal matter.