Teepees start to come down at Justice For Our Stolen Children Camp near Saskatchewan legislature

Tepees are seen at the Justice For Our Stolen Children Camp near the Saskatchewan legislature, in Regina, in a June 27, 2018. (File photo CP)

Teepees are coming down at the Justice For Our Stolen Children Camp on the grounds of the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina.

On Friday, Justice Ysanne Wilkinson ordered that the protest camp be dismantled after the government applied for an eviction order.

“Police are hereby authorized to arrest, or arrest and remove, any person” who is violating the order to vacate the camp, she said.

No deadline was specified in Wilkinson’s order to take the camp down.

The province went to court seeking an order to evict the protesters, arguing the camp violated bylaws and made it hard to maintain the land across from the legislature.

Regina police say they are now in talks with the government and protesters.

Fifteen teepees were standing in front of the Saskatchewan legislature building.

There had been 15 teepees in the camp at one point, but that number was down to 10 by Monday morning.

At least two of the tepees came down after the court order, while others were taken down for the annual Treaty 4 Gathering in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.

Protester Richelle Dubois says it’s disheartening to see the number of teepees shrink.

“It shows the province’s true colours and how they feel about First Nation children and communities,” she said.

Since late February, the campers have been protesting racial injustice and the disproportionate number of Indigenous children in care.

The Canadian Press

Man facing charges after fireworks discharged at Justice for Our Stolen Children camp

Teepees are seen at the Justice for Our Stolen Children camp near the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina. June 27, 2018, THE CANADIAN PRESS

A man faces charges after fireworks were discharged towards the Justice for Our Stolen Children camp in Regina.

According to a news release, police were sent to the protest camp, located in Wascana Park at 2 a.m. on Sunday, after a man got out of a vehicle parked at the legislative building and discharged a Roman candle, which shot multiple flammable projectiles at the camp then fled in the vehicle.

Police said no one was injured as a result of the incident and the camp of teepees did not sustain any damage.

Twenty-five year-old Brent Holland, of Yorkton is charged with mischief under $5,000, uttering threats, assault with a weapon and arson with disregard for human life.

Holland was released from custody and will appear in provincial court in Regina on Sept. 17.

The camp has been set up in the park since late February to draw attention to racial injustice and the disproportionate number of Indigenous children apprehended by child-welfare workers

Saskatchewan Premier wants Police to remove Justice for Our Stolen Children camp

The Justice for Our Stolen Children camp has grown to nine teepees.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is backing calls for police to remove teepees that protesters have set up on the legislature grounds, forcing changes to Canada Day plans.

Moe says there are laws that cover the park surrounding the provincial legislature to ensure that it’s available to everyone.

“The fact (is) that the protests that we do see across the way are breaking laws here, and those laws should be enforced,” Moe said Thursday.

The Justice for Our Stolen Children camp was set up to protest racial injustice and the disproportionate number of Indigenous children apprehended by child-welfare workers.

The camp started in late February and was dismantled early last week before being set up again June 21 with more teepees.

Bylaws prohibit overnight camping, placement of structures and burning wood and other combustibles in the park.

The Provincial Capital Commission said on Wednesday that it has had to make alterations to its Canada Day festivities, because the space where the camp is situated normally has a concert stage and beer gardens.

Regina police have said there’s no need to step in at this point, because a meeting is scheduled for Monday between the protesters and five government ministers in the town of Fort Qu’Appelle.

Camp protester Robyn Pitawanakwat said Thursday that she thinks there are laws being broken by pushing out peaceful protests.

“There are charter rights that are being put in violation when that happens,” she said. “Breaking the law is not just one sided in this regard. Bylaws are very minor and charter rights supersede those.”

Moe said it’s the government’s expectation that the teepees will be removed either before or after the meeting. As of Thursday morning, there were nine teepees at the camp.

“We continue to work with First Nations leaders across the province on the issues that have been raised just here,” Moe said. “If the teepees are removed previous to that (meeting), that would be positive as well.”

Pitawanakwat said there needs to be a focus on justice before the teepees are removed.

“We need families coming home,” she said. “We need to have children put back in biological family settings that are open and willing to take them.”

Ryan McKenna, The Canadian Press

[SOURCE]

First Nations set up more Tipis at protest camp near Sask. Legislature

More tipis erected on Saskatchewan Legislature grounds. Photo 620 CKRM

More tipis are set up at the protest camp in front of the Saskatchewan Legislature.

There are now six tipis standing in Wascana Park.

CTV Regina reports, there were three tipis added over the weekend. They represent File Hills Tribal Council, Piapot First Nation and Pasqua/White Bear First Nation.

A fourth was sent by Peepeekisis Cree Nation early Monday afternoon; a fifth was added later in the day.

The original tipi at the Justice for our Stolen Children camp was dismantled last week after police arrested some of the protesters. Three days later the tipi was re-erected on National Indigenous Peoples Day.

RELATED:

• Tipi back up at Sask Legislature days after government officials, police dismantled it

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said on Friday that it will stand with the protesters.

The camp is expecting more tipis to arrive in the coming days.

Government officials have said they will meet with the group and wonder how it will affect Canada Day festivities in the park.

Justice Minister Don Morgan said that the camp is still illegal, and that he expects the Regina Police Service to enforce the law.

According to CBC News, police did not say if there was a plan for the camp to be taken down again but said they were participating in dialogue with all parties.

First Nations add tipis to protest camp.

The camp was set up in February after the acquittals of Gerald Stanley in the fatal shooting of Colten Boushie and Raymond Cormier in the death of Tina Fontaine.

Sask. justice minister says he expects law to be enforced, legislature teepee to come down

The teepee went back up before 7 p.m. CST on Thursday, which was National Indigenous Peoples Day. (Janani Whitfield/CBC)

Don Morgan says Justice for Our Stolen Children camp cannot continue at legislature grounds

One day after a teepee in front of the Saskatchewan Legislature was re-erected, Justice Minister Don Morgan said he expected police to enforce the rule of law, and that the grounds are not intended for overnight camping.

“The facilities just aren’t there for that. We expect that the police would take steps to resolve that and they have,” he said of the police response on June 18, when the teepee was taken down and six people were arrested for obstruction.

The Justice for our Stolen Children Camp was spurred by the acquittals of Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier in the Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine murder trials, respectively.

Three Regina Police Service officers carry a protester to a police vehicle on June 18. (CBC)

Founders of the camp said the intention was to draw attention to Indigenous lives lost or affected by factors like violence, foster care or addictions.

On Thursday — National Indigenous Peoples Day — the camp was re-erected and it remained standing at the site into Friday.

Morgan said he wouldn’t comment on police operations or why they had not dismantled the camp again.

“I would have thought it would have been dealt with now but they’ve indicated it may not be for a short period of time, and we leave it to them to make those calls.”

Police have said they have not taken any enforcement action yet, but are having discussions with all involved parties.

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, protesters held signs showing pictures of police arriving to dismantle the Justice for Our Stolen Children teepee at the Saskatchewan Legislature grounds. (Eagle from Sakimay First Nation/Justice for Our Stolen Children)

Camp organizers have requested meetings with government officials at the site and in the teepee, but Morgan said it wouldn’t be the appropriate site to discuss matters like specific cases of child welfare, even as he committed to having a dialogue with camp organizers.

The legislature and the teepee

Supporters of the camp gathered outside the legislature, with more than one calling attention to the contrasting sights of the legislature and the teepee.

“I don’t really see why it’s such a big issue to this government and to this authority that this teepee is here,” said Chief Nathan Pasap of White Bear First Nations.

“You have a huge building right there behind you, folks — the Saskatchewan Legislature.”

Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Bobby Cameron attended the Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp Friday, calling the teepee our house,’ while the government has its own house in the legislature. (CBC News)

The justice reform camp organizers are calling for is sorely needed in the aftermath of the Boushie and Fontaine cases, he said.

“It’s sad that such a simple thing, a call out for help, such as a teepee and someone camping in it, is such a wrong in a country as great as Canada, as resource rich as Canada is.”

FSIN talks meeting with Moe

Bobby Cameron, chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, was also at the camp, adding his voice in support of First Nations children and calling for them to be able to access good education, care and housing.

“As First Nations people, we will go the distance politically and legally to ensure our First Nations children are protected and that they have the best opportunities in life to succeed,” he said.

Cameron noted he and the government have been in contact, and he hoped to arrange a meeting between government officials, including Premier Scott Moe and Morgan, and camp organizers.

Camp not appropriate, says Morgan

Morgan said he would like to narrow down what protesters are asking for and what actions were within a provincial, rather than federal, scope.

When asked if there was a way for both the protesters and the government to find a mutually agreeable compromise, Morgan suggested that a sign or a protest that took place on the sidewalk would be ways for people to exercise their rights in a free and open democracy.

“A camp that doesn’t comply is something that just doesn’t work.”

CBC News · Posted: Jun 22, 2018

[SOURCE]