Criminalization of Indigenous Communities

Voices-Voix, August 1, 2017

In January 2017, Public Safety Canada (PS) disclosed that the Government Operations Centre (GOC) gathers information on Indigenous rallies for the purpose of “maintaining awareness” of events that may impact the safety and security of Canadians and events effecting the national interest. According to PS, the information gathered consisted generally of the date, location and purpose of the protests and rallies, including in relation to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Natural Resources Canada also reported that they monitor publicly available information such as Twitter, Facebook and media reports regarding protest activities that may impact the department, its employees or facilities.

Injunctions, RCMP deployment “classic pacification”: Professor

RCMP protect equipment brought in for construction at Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project, July 2017.

By Justin Brake, The Independent, August 3, 2017

Nalcor’s use of court injunctions and the government’s approval of RCMP deployment to quell resistance to Muskrat Falls are common tactics used to remove Indigenous people from their lands and facilitate resource development, says Shiri Pasternak.

Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”

Police arrest a protester against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannonball, North Dakota, December 2016.

by Alleen Brown, Will Parrish, and Alice Speri, The Intercept, May 27, 2017

A shadowy international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first detailed picture of how TigerSwan, which originated as a U.S. military and State Department contractor helping to execute the global war on terror, worked at the behest of its client Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, to respond to the indigenous-led movement that sought to stop the project.

The Federal Government Is Trying To Imprison These Six Water Protectors

by Will Parish, Shadow Proof, May 18, 2017

In February, a federal grand jury issued indictments of four Standing Rock water protectors on charges of Federal Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Crime.

The federal investigators accused the four men—James White, Brennan Nastacio, Dion Ortiz, and Brandon Miller-Castillo—of involvement in setting three highway barricades on fire, which obstructed police during a highly-militarized October 27 raid of the “Front Line Camp” just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Grand Jury Resistance at Standing Rock

by It’s Going Down, December 9, 2016

On or around December 3rd, 2016 a water protector at Oceti Sakowin received a summons to appear before a federal grand jury that has been convened in relation to the resistance of water protectors. What we know about grand juries is that they have a long history of being used to target those in resistance to the state and engaged in political or revolutionary movements.

The Anti-Terrorist Law vs. the Autonomist Mapuche Movement; Contributions to the Debate by Hector Llaitul

Chilean riot cops raid Mapuche community.

from Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, August 7, 2014

Neoliberal governments, like their economies, need certain commodities in the course of their development with the ends to consolidate, improve and deepen their dynamics, which may not necessarily be easy for the elites. This is why they build stories that empathize with people’s needs, with its deep and heartfelt demands, fill solutions in the framework of populism, but under no circumstances promote participatory processes where the model is questioned and new cultural and economic practices are generated.

Vancouver police raid suspected anti-pipeline graffiti ‘taggers’

Mural artist Milan Basic standing in front of his mural that has been spray-painted with “Oil Spill.”  FYI Milan, your mural is part of an effort by the city, the cops, and business owners to stop graffiti, the original street art.

By Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, June 6, 2014

A police raid of an east Vancouver home earlier this week as part of an investigation of anti-pipeline graffiti is being criticized as disproportionate to the alleged crime.
Five people were arrested during the raid, but all were released and no charges have been laid, Vancouver police Const. Brian Montague said Friday.
“I expect that charges will be recommended at some point down the road,” Montague said. “It is linked to an investigation related to the ‘no-pipelines’ tagging we’ve seen around town.”
The raid, however, drew criticism in a blog post on Warrior Publications by author identified only as “Zig Zag.”

Federal agency seeks to widen surveillance beyond Idle No More to any demonstrators in Canada

Police videotaping anti-Olympic protesters in Vancouver, 2008.

David Pugliese, National Post/Postmedia News | June 5, 2014

The federal government is expanding its surveillance of public activities to include all known demonstrations across the country, a move that collects information even on the most mundane of protests by Canadians.
The email requesting such information was sent out Tuesday by the Government Operations Centre in Ottawa to all federal departments.
“The Government Operations Centre is seeking your assistance in compiling a comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations which will occur either in your geographical area or that may touch on your mandate,” noted the email, leaked to the Citizen.

“We will compile this information and make this information available to our partners unless of course, this information is not to be shared and not available on open sources. In the case of the latter, this information will only be used by the GOC for our Situational Awareness.”
The Government Operations Centre or GOC is supposed to provide strategic-level coordination on behalf of the federal government “in response to an emerging or occurring event affecting the national interest.”

Police raid house in East Vancouver, with guns drawn, on pretext of anti-pipeline graffiti

by Zig Zag, Warrior Publications, June 3, 2014

At around 9AM on June 3, 2014, approximately 16 cops from the Vancouver Police Department raided a house in East Vancouver under the pretext of investigating six mischief charges related to graffiti tags dating from June, July, and October of 2013. The four residents of the house, and one guest, were removed one by one by police aiming pistols at them. One person inside the house looked out their bedroom window and saw a cop pointing his pistol at him.

The house targeted by the raid is comprised of radicals involved in Indigenous resistance as well as anarchist projects in the city (including myself, the editor of the Warrior Publications wordpress site).

Support Jailed Mi’kmaq Warriors: Court Roundups & Fundraising

Mi’kmaq warriors at tire fire blockade, December 2013.

Reclaim Turtle Island, April 3, 2014

The Mi’kmaq Warriors, Germaine Jr Breau & Aaron Francis who have been held in custody since the day of the raid on Oct 17th, are now facing trial in Moncton courts. They are currently facing indictable charges for being true to their inherent responsibilities as L’nu people by protecting the lands and waters against corporate imperialists, SWN.