URGENT APPEAL
Please pass this on to all people of conscience.
I was in contact with Frank and Helen last night. They are still under extreme pressure from the RCMP and Vancouver Police and they have been evicted from their apartment, have no money for food or for medications Frank needs as a result of the horrible beating he suffered at the hands of the RCMP and Vancouver Police, they are trying to arrest FRank again on an old charge from 1992 for which they claim, now, after having had him in custody before, was not fully discharged, they need a lawyer desperately, and Frank has been told that he has been marked for death.
I know these people well, they have suffered horribly, they are genuine, they are victims of the Canadian Residential Schools and genuine freedom fighters for First Nations Sovereignty and are therefore designated as dangerous by the powers that be.
Please circulate this widely, send it to the office of the Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien with letters of protest, those of you in B.C. please bring together your forces to support them, if anyone can spare any money to help them with food, medicines or legal assistance, please send checks specifically addressed to Frank Martin or Helen Michell at Roderick Louis, Apt 2, 1568 East 3rd, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, V5N 1G9
I am in regular contact with Frank and Helen, I vouch that they are genuine freedom fighters who have genuinely suffered horribly and implore any and all to circulate this widely and help.
If there are any attorneys of conscience, trained in international law but particularly practicing either Civil or Criminal Law in B.C., please contact me at once as they desperately need legal help. Please also forward this to the U.N.
Thank you,
Jim Craven
Dear Mr. Young:
My name is James Craven. I am a Professor of Economics at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, USA, I am both a U.S. and Canadian Citizen and member of the Blackfoot Confederacy. I was a Tribunal Judge in a recent Tribunal (observed by IHRAAM, a UN NGO) in Vancouver, B.C. (June 12-14) dealing with crimes against Indian children in the Residential Schools of Canada. I have been in regular contact with Frank Martin and Helen Michell, cross-examined their testimony at the Tribunal, and found and still find them to be entirely honest, credible and highly committed to basic human rights for Indians and non-Indians alike.
It is my sincere belief that they have been marked for ongoing harassment and even worse by police and governmental forces in Canada as a result of damaging evidence that they have revealed and/or possess relative to a previous beating of Frank by the B.C. Police and/or other matters having to do with ongoing abuses of Indian children.
I implore your organization to at least listen to their complaints and evidence and give them a fair hearing as to their credibility and veracity on various matters they may choose to discuss.
Should you require any further elaboration or documentation from me, my address, phonenumber and e-mail are given below and also, I can arrange to meet with you personally in Vancouver, B.C..
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
James M. Craven Professor and Dept. Head, Economics Canadian Citizen, Member, Blackfoot Confederacy Biographical Subject in Marquis "Who's Who in: The World, America, The West, Science and Engineering, Finance and Industry" and the "Cambridge Dictionary of International Biography."
Last night (Jul 23 rd) Frank Martin (Bella Bella) and his wife Helen Michell
(Carrier) were arrested again--following a meeting on Indian activism
and plans for actions and protests.
Frank was arrested on the basis of an alleged previous warrant in
1992; the problem is, that he was just previously arrested (charged
with being an 'illegal alien) and nothing was said about any alleged
previous warrant and he was released on bail--"gating".
I am unaware of the charges against Helen but sincerely believe that
this latest round of arrests needs to be examined and questioned
thoroughly; my personal opinion is that his is clear reprisal for the
testimonies and activism of Frank and Helen related to issues
presented at the Tribunal at which I was one of the Judge's (Pro
Tempore) and possibly as a result of certain issues disclosed
recently on SISS related to the Vancouver Club about which they may
have had knowledge also.
I implore all people of conscience to call for an examination of
these latest rounds of arrests, intimidation and harassment. Helen is
presently in the Vancouver jail and Frank is at Maple Ridge as I
write this.
They have been made destitute and fear for their safety and that of
their children. I publish Helen's appeal again to urge all people of
conscience to assist these freedom fighters in any way possible.
Jim Craven
Urgent Action
These people recently testified at an Inter-Tribal Tribunal dealing
with the Residential Schools in Canada and almost immediately after
their testimony, actions commenced against them. I was one of the
Tribal Judges on that Tribunal and their testimony was moving and
very damaging to some of the "powers that be". Please circulate this
widely and help if possible.
Jim Craven
Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 15:12:34 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Steve Kisby <skisby at web.net>
Subject: Appeal from Helen Michell
July 6, 1998, update.
Frank, Helen Michell's husband, is being held in a Pentiction jail (in the
interiour of British Comumbia, Canada) and is being deniged his medication
perscribed by a Doctor in Vancouver. The Penticton, B.C., court file
number is 7247C.
Prior to being put in jail, Frank had lost 20 lbs as he couldn't eat
properly as a result of a beating by police, which broke his jaw. The
medication is for the injuries receive during the beating. So far, $150
has been raised toward his bail of $500 and we desparatly need people to
come forward with help toward the remaining amount.
In Helen's words:
------------------------------------------
Helen Michell
2985 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C.
V6K 2R2, Canada
July 3, 1998
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 25; (1) Every one has the right to a standard of living adequate
for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the
right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, DISABILITY,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his
control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy
the same social protection.
This is what my husband read out in the welfare office to the workers and
to the police officers before his arrest. I believe my husband is a
prisoner of war.
To the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates ;
On July 1, 1998, Canada celebrated one hundred years of GENOCIDE, on the
Indigenous people of this stolen land. The R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian
Mounted Police -- Canada’s national police force), also celebrated one
hundred and twenty-five years of GENOCIDE on the Indigenous peoples within
Canada.,
On July 2,1998, we as an Indigenous family of North Central British
Columbia, Canada’s most western province, are in need of protection from
the British Columbia and Canadian government systems, and the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police. Our need for protection is vital because we are
against this illegal “treaty” process happening now in this province.
And now a taste of GENOCIDE;
For the past six months we have been living in Port Coquitlam, just outside
of the city of Vancouver, and we are on welfare. The government welfare
workers have been very discriminating towards us as a indigenous family,
and I have seen many discriminating social workers throughout the province.
These workers would do a variety of things to us everytime such as
with-holding our rental cheques, cutting the amounts of our cheques down,
laughing at us because of our disposition, kicking us out of their office
without our cheques, or threatening to call the police. Throughout all of
this, the white people who visited their offices were getting their
cheques, with no problem. They usually have a security guard at the office,
but today, there wasn’t any, and so they must of planned to call the
police. Our son had moved in with us, that made the social workers mad.
She said we couldn’t live together because we were related. We found a new
place in Vancouver where we could all live together. That made the social
workers furious, but they paid my son’s rent in the new place for the month
of June anyway. Our rent was paid in Port Coquitlam. Now it is July, the
social workers refused to pay my son’s rent at his new home and refused him
his sustenance cheque. Our half of the rent was paid already . So we were
back at the office to try and get our sons rent paid. We were already under
stress and illness, so we were considering putting our belongings into
storage and living in our van again. The workers wouldn’t budge. Instead
they called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on my husband. There was no
charges laid but my husband got hauled away , by a rude and discriminating
police officer. My husband was not read his rights and was not informed
what the charges were. Except that they say they had a warrant for his
arrest for being an “Illegal alien” in Canada. I had not seen any warrant
to this day. We had already been arrested in the past, twice each, on this
same charge. The rude R.C.M.P. officer threatened to take me to jail if I
didn’t stop taking pictures with my camera. As indigenous people in North
America, we have “dual citizenship” in Canada and the United States. So
they violated their own laws in this country and also violated our
Indigenous Human Rights. The R.C.M.P. officer who arrested us on the
“illegal alien” charge was also an indigenous person. He couldn’t tell the
difference between his own kind and an alien. While they were arresting my
husband, I quickly jumped into my van and raced into Vancouver. I have
never been so scared and alone. Later my husband called me and said there
is a warrant for my arrest also, for being an illegal alien. I called the
office of the elected member of the provincial legislature for Port
Coquitlam at 4 p.m. the same day and spoke to the office worker there. She
did some investigating and said the government social worker had no right
to treat us like that. They should of transferred my son’s file to
Vancouver before July. So the social workers were in the wrong, but now my
husband is in jail. My sons cheque was mailed out that day at 4:30 p.m.
thanks to the elected member’s office worker. How many other Indigenous
families have to suffer as we do, just to survive everyday? Most welfare
workers act as if the money is coming out of their pockets.
This “illegal alien” charge is two years old this July, and they have never
bothered us all this time. We have been in their court rooms and police
station, they have been in my house in Port Coquitlam a few times. I think
because we are to out spoken against a fraudulent “treaty process” here and
to politically active that they want us dismantled and destroyed as a
indigenous family. They sure are doing a great job of it.
A few weeks after this illegal alien charge in July, 1996, my husband was
brutally beaten up, by ten Vancouver city polices in the downtown section
called gastown. Half of his face was completely smashed in from a police
flash light. That beating took place on August 8, 1996, and my family has
suffered terribly because of that incident. He was in terrible pain and had
two tumors in his head, 27 broken bones under his ear, and his jaw was
broken down the middle of his mouth. At one time, because of the tumors,
my husband went under, while riding on the bus. They took him to the
hospital in an ambulance. They were getting ready to do a brain operation,
without anybody’s consent. My husband said he woke up to knives in the
operating room. He quickly jumped up and grabbed his clothing and raced out
without putting on his clothes. He changed his clothes in the bushes
outside the hospital. Since the beating , my husband has been under two
special doctors care and is taking special medication for his head. This
arrest cuts him off his treatment, which is another human rights violation.
Since this brutal beating , the head sergeant of that Vancouver police
outfit died of liver cancer, a week before his retirement. Five other city
police officers have become mentally ill, of which one died this past
Saturday. We have no hand in what ever is happening to them. Justice still
wins in the end regardless of the injustices. They have offered Frank an
out of court settlement which started at $50,000 and the last offer was
$250,000. How much does a humans right to life cost? In my words no amount
of money could replace what we went through, a life of shambles and the
loss of many lives. Today is July 3, and it is my husbands birthday. Happy
birthday Frank, where ever you are. We all love you, be strong and stay
alive please. Maybe they will try to kill my husband while he is in
custody, so they don’t have to pay anything. I know they are already paying
for that brutal beating.
On June 30, 1998, we buried my cousin, who was murdered on the east side of
Vancouver. Her sister was buried a month ago. I think she was murdered
also. The cousin we buried on June 30, her face was smashed in, on the same
side as my husbands face, when he was done in. When I looked at her in the
coffin, one last time, I flashed on my husbands face when he was beaten up
by the police. We called for an investigation on her death. Now they say
there are ten more indigenous women murdered or missing from the east side
of Vancouver.
In 1993, our little family drove to New York city to lodge our complaints
to the United Nation, regarding our disposition in this country. It seems
like our lives went from bad to worse, after that journey. The United
Nations had no ears for indigenous peoples in Canada. Since going to the
United Nations , I have buried a brother and two nephews, and my oldest
sister. My brother was involved in a drug conspiracy case, he was a
witness. Both him and his girlfriend were killed. One nephew was run over
by a truck and killed instantly, his killer was never found or convicted.
Another nephew was stabbed six times, by a Canadian government supported
indigenous leader, who didn’t want to pay out settlement money owed to my
nephew, for the flooding out of his log houses and land. It’s weird that my
nephew knew when he was going to die, and who would do it to him. My sister
was contaminated with blood cancer, she passed away a month after the
Vancouver police beating on my husband. The same things happened to my
parents and my grandparents, who are also deceased.
My husband and I have been together for seventeen years now. In those
seventeen years we have never tasted an ounce of FREEDOM without fear of
prosecution or worse. Our life together has been spent in the court rooms
and on the run. They could never convict us on any charge, there was
always a stay of proceedings. Throughout most of our time together, we
spent most of our lives as fugitives on our own lands. Our children were
always with us . We also have a grandchild, who we haven’t seen in two
years, because they live in Prince George, in the center of the province.
I think the world should know what is happening to us and other Indigenous
people in Canada. who stand up for their international rights. We cannot
get a lawyer to represent us. No human being would represent us as humans.
In every way they violated our HUMAN RIGHTS, as an Indigenous family. Where
do we go from here? Can anyone help us?
Human Rights is fifty years old and many of the Indigenous people in North
America never live past that age, because of all the abuses and useless
policies, and discrimination is a disease more contagious than aids.
We are seeking funding for filing suits to sue the Canadian government, the
police forces, and Canadian supported indigenous governments. It looks like
there is no way, in this world, we could dare to go that far. With our past
experiences though, we know there is a higher power and miracles do happen.
We are fighting to survive in this heartless world, and it sure isn’t
getting any easier. For many of our people, suicide is the easy way out. We
plan to stand up for our rights as a family.
Please send letters that support us to the Canadian government.
Meci cho (Thank you very much)
Telqua (Helen Michell)
Bear Clan families of Maxan Lake
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
jcraven at clark.edu; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"Hitler's concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality
of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and
United States history. He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in
South Africa and for the Indians in the Wild West; and often praised
to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination--by
starvation and uneven combat--of the 'Red Savages' who could not be
tamed by captivity." ("Adolf Hitler" by John Toland, p. 702)
"Set the blood-quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid
definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed...and eventually
Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens,the
federal government will finally be freed from its persistent
Indian problem." (Patricia Nelson Limerick, "The Legacy of
Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West" p338)
*My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
jcraven at clark.edu; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." (Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
"...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to exchange lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to spare and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them..." (Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for propertied white people) to William Henry Harrison, Feb. 27, 1803)
*My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
jcraven at clark.edu; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." (Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
Those who take the most from the table, teach contentment. Those for whom the taxes are destined, demand sacrifice. Those who eat their fill, speak to the hungry, of wonderful times to come. Those who lead the country into the abyss, call ruling difficult, for ordinary folk. (Bertolt Brecht)
*My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)