Da: "hippocampe" Oggetto: [stop-polabuse] JUSTICE FOR JOE DAVID! Data: mercoledì 23 gennaio 2002 3.07 JUSTICE FOR JOE DAVID! Who is Joe David? Joe is a Kanehsatake Mohawk who was schooled in traditions of the Longhouse. He is an artist - he used to sculpt and paint but now due to paralysis, is looking into other mediums. Joe participated in the resistance of the summer of 1990, known as the “Oka Crisis”, or the “Seige of Kanehsatake”. In 1999, Joe was the victim of police brutality. He has yet to see “justice” served in this matter. While Joe’s story could be dated back till “time immemorial”, we will start it in 1990 with the Oka crisis. What was the “Oka Crisis”? Although it symbolized much, much more the issue behind the crisis was 18 hectares of Mohawk ancestral territory including a hand-planted forest of pine trees, and a graveyard in which both of Joe’s grandparents were buried. The town of Oka was hell-bent on letting the local golf club expand it’s course 9 holes, right over the Mohawk burial site. And then, to add insult to injury a private developer was going to be permitted to construct 60 luxury homes all around the golf course perimeter. Resistance to this project began March 9th, 1990 with what many deemed an ineffective march of about 100, to the golf club parking lot. But frustration quickly led to determination. March 10th marked the first day in what would become a 6 ½ month occupation of the “disputed”, yet unceded territory of the “Pines”. Joe spent many nights doing security for this camp. On July 11th, the first of a 78-day “seige of Kanesatake”, the Surete du Quebec (SQ) arrived en masse to raid the encampment. They fired teargas at the women and children holding the front line, attacked the main blockade with a bulldozer, and finally entered into the camp with their guns firing wildly. In the teargas, gunshots and confusion that followed, one SQ officer was killed. In all likelihood his death was the result of “friendly fire”. Tensions between the SQ and the occupiers were at a peak. And the government, unwilling to negotiate from a position even coming close to equality, wasn’t helping ease these tensions. Their governments’ solution? From August 20th,-Sept. 26th the Canadian government launched its largest ever domestic military operation. They called in 2,650 soldiers of the Canadian army, vehicles, armored personnel carriers, tear gas, concussion grenades and thousands of rounds of machine gun ammunition. While the army used tactics of psychological terror, Joe worked with the faithkeepers in conducting spiritual ceremonies for the people in the Pines. He also joined the negotiating team at the Trappist monastery and because nobody else wanted the job, became the military liaison. Well, the army would only do what they knew best - following orders from a superior. They eventually encircled the encampment, made incremental moves forward, and squeezed the remaining occupiers into the Treatment Center (TC). On Sept. 26th, when the warriors decided it was time to fight from home, Joe and 50 others were arrested. Joe went to court as part of what was called the “TC Forty”. They were all found “not guilty” by a Canadian jury in July 1992. Was the crisis over after Oka? No. Due to the social unrest displayed during the Oka Crisis, and the widespread support their resistance garnered throughout Turtle Island, the federal government wasted no time in launching it’s 1991 “First Nations Policing Policy”. In a whirlwind of activity federal funding magically appeared, tripartite agreements were signed between 58 native councils and federal and provincial government bodies, and subsequently, native peacekeepers and/or police forces were established on these reserves. By 1998, 111 bands (68% of those eligible) had signed on for stand-alone policing. Kanehsatake got its police force in 1997 - the Kanehsatake Mohawk Police (KMP). Needless to say, there were some who did not welcome this development. Those opposed felt that entering the tripartite agreement - an agreement which in essence says: “we will allow you to police your own territories: If you agree to enforce federal and provincial laws; If you get trained at our provincial police institutes; and If you agree to be ruled by the provincial police act” - was in itself a voluntary relinquishment of their rights to sovereignty. At best, Kanehsatake would be left with the standing of a municipality - with a little autonomy to create by-laws, but ultimately under the jurisdiction of the state. For Joe, community acceptance of the police force, especially by some Longhouse people, was a de facto renunciation of traditional ideals - the ideals that galvanized the “grassroots fighting spirit” during the Oka crisis. In popular sentiment at Kanehsatake, this belief is expressed in the referral to the KMP as the “brown SQ”. Bringing in the police force has done nothing to help resolve community conflicts, rather it has exacerbated, crystallized and created new factions. The Criminalization of Sovereigntists Under the Canadian governments’ own colonial rule-of-law, First Nations peoples have never ceded their territories, nor given up their inherent right to sovereignty. For the government of Canada to craft the 1991 First Nations Policing Policy in the midst of a resurgence of native militancy was indeed crafty. You see, taking a stand against band council authority (as a foreign government created by the federal Indian Act ) is one thing, but opposing, and not surrendering to the authority of the police…well, that’s quite another. In the first instance, a person may be deemed as a trouble-maker by those who do not share their political views, but at least they are still seen as acting within their rights. In the second scenario to not submit to, or to challenge the authority of the police, well that is in and of itself a “crime”. This shift is a significant one. Despite the fact that the police in Canada were created to contain and repress First Nations’ populations, and have continued to act in this capacity into the 21st century, they have also been able to foster an image of impartiality, that they are genuinely there to “serve and protect” the collective wishes of the people. In this context anybody who challenges the police, or heaven forbid, disobeys, is deserving of whatever force the police deem necessary to attain compliance. In this way, those not willing to accept the colonial authority of the First Nations police can be picked off one by one. Crisis #2: Joe Takes a Stand and Gets Gunned Down On June 6th, 1999 Joe was shot twice by the KMP after a tense twelve-hour standoff. The first bullet hit Joe in the leg, the second lodged in the back of his neck and exploded. As Joe lay face-down, unconscious on the ground, the police handcuffed him. The cuffs were not removed, nor did anyone check to see if Joe could breathe, until his cousin Pam arrived and started yelling at the officers. It was impossible for the doctors to remove all the bullet fragments. Joe is now paralyzed from the chest down and experiences an enormous amount of pain due to lead poisoning. Both lead bullets, and bullets that explode upon impact have been outlawed by the Geneva Convention for use during war. I am uncertain of their status locally. But that’s jumping ahead a little too fast. It actually all started on June 5th , 1999 when a 15 year old boy was caught driving his four-wheeler on Joe’s property creating huge ruts in the land. Joe, who was on foot, ran towards the boy yelling and gesturing for him to get off of the property. The boy went home, phoned the police, and told them that Joe had threatened him. A couple hours later, two KMP officers showed up at Joe’s house and Joe could see from his window that they were arming themselves with shotguns. Joe, who was outraged at the brown SQ’s unannounced appearance on his land, went to get his rifle too. He would meet them as an equal, with equal power. But when he opened the door all he could see was an empty patrol car. Or as Joe put it: “By the time I got outside - I guess they saw me through the window - they had hauled ass and left the car there”. Joe’s house, like 73 others in the community, was bought by the federal government at the end of the Oka Crisis from non-aboriginal holders. These houses were supposed to be handed over to the band council for them to administer. When Joe moved back to Kanehsatake in 1996 after a 3 year absence the negotiations were still dragging on. Many people had decided to squat the houses. The band council would try to collect rent, but several squatters refused on the basis that the band council was a foreign government. Some like Serge Simon had even come under attack by the band council goon squad who fired gunshots at his house to force him out. Living in one of these houses became an act of resistance in itself. So Joe was always a little apprehensive knowing that his housing was on shaky legal ground. Because of this, and because Joe suffered post-traumatic stress he didn’t want to leave his house very often. Joe, like many others in the community, had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the Oka Crisis and its aftermath. For the peoples of Kanehsatake the Oka Crisis exacted a huge cost in terms of mental health, factionalism and community stability. So when Joe saw the police car left behind in his driveway he reacted strongly. He says of the incident: “After all the build up through the years, I just pumped my rifle dry into their car. And it felt good.” Joe wanted to send the message he said, that the officers should leave his land. They did, and they left their car behind. Later, Joe walked down to the end of his driveway where the police had set up roadblocks and were creating quite the scene. They were dressed in all-black SWAT-type gear, and were scooting around quickly like they were involved in some major operation. All the witnesses who have testified about this scene, have characterized the police as being quite provocative contrary to their claim that they were trying to de-escalate the situation. When Joe got close to an officer, he demanded that they come remove their vehicle from his property. He also exchanged these words: “[you] are just like the ones who killed Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and I’d much rather be me than [you]”, then went back up to his home. The standoff lasted all night, but was quiet. Until 5am… At 5am. a drunk civilian neighbor knocked on Joe’s door and asked for a beer. Joe thought this was very weird and told the guy to go away. After a couple minutes Joe opened the door holding his rifle to check out if anything was happening. The four officers, who had been using the civilian to lure Joe into an ambush, fled when they saw him. One officer, in his haste, dropped his weapon on the ground. Joe went back into his house and closed the door. A few minutes later, hoping that the cops had left, Joe went back outside. He saw the cop’s rifle and picked it up. Then he ventured further to see if he could see the officers. He said: “I walked past the cedars at the edge of my house and I saw this group of them, and they weren’t hiding very successfully behind an oak tree. I went yelling after them. That’s all I had in mind, yelling at them, telling them to get off my land. ‘You have no jurisdiction here’. I fired off a round in the air.” Joe was shot twice, once in the leg and once in the back of his neck… Challenging the police excuses… First off, it seems pretty clear that Joe felt he was defending his land and was outraged that the police -fellow community members - were using the power vested in them by the colonial state to pull a power trip on him, to treat him as less than an equal. He was angry, yes, but…? The story from the police is that Joe was trying to murder them. They say they shot him in self-defense. What seems more likely is that they over-reacted from the start and created a “situation”. Then they wanted to cover up their mistakes but just kept making new ones. So for several hours the electricity has been cut from Joe’s home and all is quiet, except for the police darting to and fro. The decision is made to ambush Joe; to use a drunk civilian to lure him out of his home so that the police can jump him. But if this is such a major operation, the question remains: “why are they using an untrained, intoxicated, and known ‘hot-headed’ civilian to carry it out”? When their shoddily laid plan fails them, they make up the story that Joe was coming after them firing. Again it would seem more likely that they were caught off guard, without a plan, were scared, and over-reacted. The police claim Joe fired many more shots than he did. Many more than witnesses are saying they heard. But strangely enough, the police did not collect evidence from the crime scene. They didn’t even declare it a crime scene until several hours after Joe had been taken to the hospital. They just left the area unguarded. They claim that when they returned to the property, the place had been “cleaned up” - all the bullet casings were gone. This is a rather convenient story. Joe’s bloodstained shirt conveniently disappeared as well. If it is true that the police are lying to cover up their own incompetence, over-aggressiveness, negligent, rash and improper actions, we must help ensure that this truth is revealed and the officers stopped from being able to act with impunity. We must help ensure that Joe receives the compensation he needs to be able to enjoy a decent quality of life with his special needs as a quadriplegic. Staying quiet No way! Marie David, Joe’s sister, filed a complaint with the Police Ethics Commission against KMP officers Larry Ross, Tracey Cross, Terry Isaac and Bobby Bonspiel. As a person who was present on the scene throughout the night, Marie felt that the police had totally mishandled the situation. In fact, members of the David family had been assured several times over that the police were going to “wait things out” with Joe, to let the situation cool down. The Davids had ideas about how to de-escalate the situation, and had even negotiated some of these with Terry Isaac (Chief of KMP). But ultimately, the David family were betrayed. The police gave them no notice that they were about to try to ambush Joe using a civilian who had just returned from the bar. Nor did they ask any of Joe’s family members to escort them. The intent, it is clear despite the words of the Chief (and maybe even without his command!) was not to de-escalate but to put their SWAT training to use. And the police, well they got their man. The Police Ethics Commission The inquiry consists of four sessions, which range from 3-5 days in a week. Although most of the testimony from Joe’s side have been heard, we have still yet to hear Joe’s testimony, or his sister Denise’s cross examination. Other than that, the rest of the time will be the cop’s testimony. This will be a strategically important time to fill up the courtroom. We must let the police know that they can not act with impunity. We can learn about police operations and how police construct their stories to cover their asses. The next dates scheduled are: March 6th -8th , and then again from March 11th - 14th. The hearings are taking place at the Palais de Justice, Rm 5.05. and run from 9:30am-4:30pm. So far, there has still been no publication ban, as requested by the cop’s lawyer. And you can feel safe knowing that security does give the cop’s a patdown before they are allowed in the courtroom, thanx to the insistence of the Crown Prosecutor. You too will be searched and be made to leave some of your possessions - those that can be construed as a weapon - in a room that is watched by security. Solidarity Joe and his family are tired of police abuse stories staying hidden within Kanehsatake. They want their story to be heard. They want justice to be served. Going forward with the inquiry requires extraordinary courage on the part of those still living in Kanehsatake; the KMP officers and Kanehsatake band council are not only an occupying arm of the colonial Canadian state, but also the David’s neighbors in a very small community. The Mohawk police, like police everywhere, are attempting to cover this story up. Most often, police murders, brutality, maiming and harassment are “punished” with no more than a paid vacation from work. We must let the police and the courts know that we are watching, and apply pressure when necessary. Come out and support Joe and the David family. Concrete acts of solidarity are much appreciated. What else can you do? Joe David has launched a civil suit against three of the offending officers, which are very lengthy and expensive endeavors. The civil suit is necessary to receive concrete justice for Joe, since as a quadriplegic he has many medical needs while his ability to work and support himself taken away. Personal donations, or fundraisers, are currently the priority as the legal fund is dangerously low (ie.empty!). Please send donations to the “Justice For Joe David Fund” by cheque or money order and mail to: Justice For Joe David 2035 St-Laurent 2e étage Montréal, QC H2X 2T3 For more information phone: (514) 521-2839 or email: shelly@tao.ca COBP (French Acronym for Collectif Opposed to Police Brutality) cobp@hotmail.com