Gustafsen Lake activist released

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Jones William Ignace, known across Canada as Wolverine, was released from custody on Feb. 4 and is back home on his farm near Chase, B.C. Ignace has been in custody since 1995. He was imprisoned for his role in the Gustafsen Lake month-long occupation of ranchland near 100 Mile House in British Columbia.

Ignace was originally scheduled to walk out the front door of the Elbow Lake Correctional Facility near the Vancouver suburb of Mission upon his release, but Corrections officials decided at the last moment to release the 66-year-old in Kamloops, B.C.

Ignace's supporters say his release was transferred to Kamloops to disrupt their plans to stage "a hero's welcome" for the Shuswap man.

John Hill, also known as Splitting the Sky, told Windspeaker that the Ts'peten Defenders, who have overseen the Free Wolverine Campaign, will continue to demand a public inquiry into the entire Gustafsen Lake debacle. Other groups, including the Assembly of First Nations and various labor groups in the province, have also called for an inquiry.

Ignace was convicted of "willful mischief endangering life by obstructing lawful operation of property (the James cattle ranch) valued in excess of $5,000; possession of dangerous weapons, firearms and explosives; discharging firearms at peace officers; assaulting peace officers with firearm."

Ignace claimed during their trial that the Gustafsen Lake defendants were upholding Aboriginal rights on unceded Aboriginal land and that the RCMP, who exchanged fire with Ignace and the other demonstrators during the Gustafsen Lake siege, were the real law-breakers. That argument was rejected in the British Columbia courts.

Ignace made a short statement upon his release, saying his struggle is far from over.

"Although granted parole, I am not free. Shuswap territory is not free. Lil'wat territory is not free. Turtle Island is not free. Mother Earth and her peoples are not free," he said. "From the militarized Mayan villages of the Chiapas to the continuing cruel and inhuman punishment of our brother Leonard Peltier - who was handed over to the clutches of the FBI by British Columbia and Canada 23 years ago - to the crooked treaty theft of Nisga'a and other lands of sovereign Indigenous nations, we are still being attacked by the colonizer. We are still not free. Gustafsen Lake is not over. We stood on law. They stood on fraud, force and racist terror."

He renewed the call for a public inquiry and thanked his supporters before getting into a car and driving away.