Shots fired at Burnt Church, police inaction accused

Page 2

Shots were fired during a clash between Native and non-Native fishermen on the waters of Miramichi Bay on Sept. 16.

James Ward of the Mi'kmaq Nation Warrior Society reported that at approximately 4 p.m., 30 to 40 boats manned by armed members of the Maritime Fishers Union (MFU, the non-Native fishermen's union) moved toward an area off Burnt Church where a number of Mi'kmaq traps are located. Mi'kmaq Rangers and Warriors responded in seven boats and were fired upon by the MFU boats. At least five rifle shots were fired at close range, none of which caused any injuries or damage to the Mi'kmaq boats. After being fired upon, the Rangers and Warriors withdrew for a short time, and then returned to stand guard on the traps. The MFU did destroy a small number of traps, but most of the Mi'kmaq's traps remain in the water, Ward said.

Another version of events, from Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) observer Natasha Krahn estimates the number of MFU fishing boats at 50.

Several Burnt Church boats responded to protect their traps. Krahn was on board one Burnt Church boat and other CPT members were videotaping from shore, she said.

"One large non-Aboriginal boat tried to run over the small dory I was in. They threw beer bottles and cut buoys at us. Then we heard automatic gunfire and retreated to shore. Someone is going to get killed here. Please pray right now for an end to this violence," Krahn said.

CPT observers also reported seeing six Royal Canadian Mounted Police boats, two Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) boats, and a large Coast Guard cutter in the bay, but these boats have made no moves to stop the attack on the Native fishery.

This is the third year Christian Peacekeepers have felt the need to monitor events at Burnt Church. The organization's Canada co-ordinator, Doug Pritchard, told Windspeaker the group's American delegates on the scene were shocked by what they saw to be police inaction.

"In the delegates' meeting the next day, American participants recalled the famous incident at Little Rock, Arkansas, when, due to a Supreme Court ruling desegregating schools, police officers risked their lives to escort nine black children to a white school each day, past hostile members of the surrounding white community. Delegates expressed their deep concern that the RCMP was not adequately protecting the Native community, who have a constitutional right to their lobster fishery, from possible attacks from non-Native fishers," Pritchard reported.

The next day, the second anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada Marshall decision that ruled Mi'kmaq people have the treaty right to make a "moderate" living by harvesting resources in the region, Fisheries and Oceans minister Herb Dhaliwal condemned the "vigilante action" of the non-Native fishermen.

"A number of commercial herring fishers decided to protest the closure of the herring fishery. In so doing, they took their boats into the fishing area that has been opened for Burnt Church First Nation's lobster food fishery. Some of them cut trap lines and damaged property belonging to the First Nation," the minister said. "These actions-which are completely indefensible-led to a confrontation that has already received significant media attention. You have no doubt heard some reports that firearms were discharged, and one boat burned in the conflict. At this point, we have no reports of personal injuries to any parties."

Dhaliwal pledged to lend his department's assistance to the investigation of the incident.

An RCMP spokesman dismissed the CPT allegations that police stood idly by while the fishermen broke the law.

"A number of non-Native fishers indicated to us that they were going to conduct a peaceful protest on the waters near the community of Burnt Church. Based on that information, since all citizens have a right to protest peacefully, we had our boats in the water to ensure that it would be conducted in that manner," Sergeant Francois Bidal said. "Whe the 55 or so boats reached the coastal waters of Burnt Church, when they got by the police officers, they decided otherwise so they then charged the fishing zone and attempted to destroy the Native fishing gear that was in the water."

He said when the RCMP realized what the fishers were up to, the Burnt Church community was alerted and asked to stay out of the area to avoid a confrontation.

"We had a helicopter up above and video cameras in place and basically our role in that kind of situation is to record evidence and deal with the evidence afterwards. The Native fishers chose to ignore our advice and there were some confrontations on the water," he said. "We monitored that and we were still in a position to respond should an actual physical confrontation take place. Given the fact that there were approximately 55 vessels plus the Native vessels that were in the same waters, as you could probably imagine, it was a difficult situation to try to manage. We're not in a position to board 55 different vessels at the same time."

There were no injuries and no direct physical confrontation, he said.

"Now we have a team of investigators following up. During that on-water confrontation there were some shots fired and we made certain observations in relation to the discharge of firearms and we're pursuing our investigation in relation to that," he added.

"One of the white's . . . well, non-Native's boats got stranded on a sand bar and Native fishers approached that vessel and took the two gentlemen that were on it to the Burnt Church wharf and a team of police officers arrested the men and took them away. At the same time, mysteriously enough, that boat caught fire. We're investigating that fire because it's our belief that the fire was set perhaps in retaliation for the action taken by the non-Native fishers. But we haven't been able to reach any conclusion yet."

He said the amount of damage to the fishing gear was surprisingly low considering the number of vessel milling around in the water.

Bidal said the boats arrived in the area at 6:15 p.m. and the incident was over by 8:15, during which time darkness fell, making the video evidence from the camera aboard the helicopter less useful than it might have been. But officers at ground level observed enough to commence an investigation, he added.

"We are following up our investigation to make sure individuals are held responsible for their action, regardless of ethnic background or anything else. Those are criminal acts and we consider them serious," he said.

The RCMP officer said the force believes it learned a lesson from this incident.

"I can tell you we may decide to change our strategy should a group of people decide they're going to use the terms 'peaceful protest' again with us," he said. "I sort of empathize with the people, I really do. Because, you know, you have that amount of boats, you have the police in the water and the first question that comes to mind is 'Why didn't the police stop them?' The sheer mass of it, it's chaotic at best-55 vessels-and our use of force continuum, we can't use any type of deadly force to prevent property damage. We use what we call the measured approach. Our intervention has to be measured to the threat and the risk of the criminal action that's taking place."

He said the investigation will take time because of the number of boat operators involved.

"We're going to take time. We all know what can happen when you rush an investigation," he said.