Aug 28/95: Gustafsen Lake-Delegation to meet with embassy

NATIVE DELEGATION TO MEET WITH CANADIAN EMBASSY OVER GUSTAFSEN LAKE CRISIS

Ad-hoc Committee to Support the Secwepemc Nation
7615 Lake Drive
Manassas, Virginia 22111
703-222-7570
Fax: 222-9196

Contact: John Steinbach

28 August, 1995
For Immediate Release

A delegation of Native American leaders will meet with Canadian Government officials Tuesday, August 29, at Noon in the Canadian Embassy, 501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW to discuss the escalating crisis at Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia where a group of traditional Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation Sundancers is under armed siege. The delegation, which includes Billy Redwing Tayac, hereditary Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, Penny Williams, elected Chairwoman of the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation, and Rev. Ambrose Lane Sr, Radio Commentator for WPFW-FM, will meet with representatives of the Canadian Government in an effort to prevent a tragic ending to the crisis.

While the delegation is meeting with the Canadian Government, a large group of Native American and human rights activists will hold a picketline outside the embassy. Representatives of the Washington Peace Center, Native Youth Alliance, Shundahai, Gray Panthers, Associacion Nacional Indigines de El Salvador (ANIS) and Conversion to Reclaim Earth in the Americas (CREA) are among the groups who will be making statements during the demonstration. Louise Franklin-Ramirez, Chair of the Gray Panther Taskforce on Peace, Justice and Environmental Action declared; "It is incumbent upon all who respect the rule of law to abide by the treaties affecting Native Americans. We call upon the Canadian Government to quickly agree to a negotiated settlement to end the crisis, followed by a full legal hearing on the land rights issues involved."


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