Treaty rights advocate gets a little help from friends

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A concert and silent art auction was held at the Provincial Museum of Alberta on March 5 to increase awareness and raise money for the Brett Janvier treaty defence trust.

The trust was established to help the Janvier family fight charges against their son Brett for selling fish on reserve land without a provincial licence.

Janvier faces charges stemming from a sting operation mounted by Alberta Fish and Wildlife, he explained.

"They have taken away my livelihood and labeled me a poacher," said Janvier, a member of the Cold Lake First Nation and a Treaty 6 Indian.

He catches fish and believes he has a treaty right to maintain a modest living, which includes the sale, barter or trade of fish for money or food for his family and extended family, which is large on his home reserve.

Janvier recalled how a man dressed in coveralls and in an environment company truck offered him work gathering water samples from Cold Lake.

"He was going around the community looking for help with water samples," said Janvier.

As the man got to know him better, Janvier said, he started asking questions about fishing, such as who do you fish with, where do you set your nets, and what do you do with the fish that you catch.

While all this questioning was going on, the man kept asking for water samples, Janvier said. The man even hired his boat to go to the other side of Cold Lake in order to collect more water samples.

By this time the two men were friends and associated together, going on field trips quading, and having dinner together.

After establishing a relationship, Janvier said the man asked for some fish for his family and friends.

Janvier went out and set his nets on his family's reserve were he lives, and caught some fish, which he sold to the man while on reserve land. He did this on three or four occasions, he said.

Eventually, Janvier got a job in the oil field and he stopped associating with the man, but this did not stop the man from continuing to call and asking for fish. Janvier moved and the man tracked him down, again asking for more fish.

Janvier became suspicious at this point and broke off contact with the man. After about two months, the RCMP showed up at his door with a subpoena, charging him with selling fish without a licence according to provincial law.

The man Janvier had been associating with, he said, was an officer from Alberta Fish and Wildlife.

Janvier's trial began in Cold Lake on March 15, 2004, and will continue May 9 to 13 in Edmonton.

His defence is based on a treaty and constitutional challenge to the provincial law concerning fishing, Janvier said.

At the concert and fundraiser, the powwow band Northern Cree participated in the evening. Steve Wood of Northern Cree stated that treaty rights do not designate a time of year or any certain place that Aboriginal people can fish and hunt.

"Our treaty rights are because of an agreement signed by two countries," said Wood. "If you sign a loan or bank agreement you can't back out half-way," he said.

"Maybe our music will carry a positive feeling to the Creator about this evening," said Shane Dion, also of Northern Cree.

Artist Florence Shone was also at the fundraiser, and donated her painting of Many Swans, her great, great grandfather and a signatory of Treaty 7 .

"It is important to support the Janvier family because our treaty rights are being threatened," said Shone, whose works are in the offices of deputy prime minister Anne McLellan and the late Lt. Gov. Lois Hole, as well as with the Alberta Foundation of the Arts.

Dale Auger, PhD, a senior Aboriginal artist, was the master of ceremonies for the evening and is very well versed in the issues surrounding treaty rights.

"This is not a new issue with First Nations," said Auger.

"There is an ongoing campaign by the Alberta government in that they don't want First Nations on the land.

"This is an entrapment campaign and it is not the fir time it has happened. The Alberta government is trying to separate two parties-First Nations and the land.

"This kind of evening is one of the oldest forms of gathering for First Nations people. It is a very powerful way to speak.

"We will initiate the first move to make the Alberta government accountable. More will come. Maybe politicians need to be directed as to how this issue affects the livelihood of our people," he said.

Janvier said that he feels he has a reputation as a troublemaker with Alberta Fish and Wildlife, and that is why they sent an undercover officer after him.

More than once Janvier has said to Fish and Wildlife officers that provincial law does not apply to First Nations, who are doing what they have done for centuries and what is protected by federal treaty.

Janvier alleges harassment by Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers. He said that one time, while being pulled over and not in possession of any fish, Janvier asked why he was being stopped. He alleges the officer said "I'm going to pull over every Indian that is coming off this lake."

As a result of the harassment, Janvier has stopped fishing.

"Our whole way of life has been affected. It has affected the entire family," said Jacqueline Janvier, Brett's mother.

"We feed the family with fish," she said.