Jul 12/98: Some of the reasons for the Gustafsen coverup

SOME OF THE REASONS FOR THE GUSTAFSEN COVER-UP...

Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty (S.I.S.I.S.)
SISIS@envirolink.org
July 12, 1998


"'Finally the buck stops here,' [BC Attorney-General] Dosanjh said, taking ultimate responsibility for whatever happens at Gustafsen Lake."

- Vancouver Sun, August 29, 1995


"Any contention that the newcomer judge and jury in the present action can be seen to be 'independent and impartial'... patently and blatantly is unsupportable. The jury and judge, qua newcomers, are partis pris. As newcomers, they are effectively adjudicating upon their own complicity in genocide, which genocide occurs in consequence of the newcomers' premature application of their criminal law process to the Aboriginal people occupying yet unpurchased territory."

- petition/motion/constitutional question, introduced by defence during trial and dismissed by BC Justice Bruce Josephson.


"You will probably have no difficulty concluding that the alleged offence occurred at the time and place alleged in the indictment."

- BC Supreme Court Justice Bruce Josephson to Gustafsen jury, May 8, 1997


"I'm in constant contact with the RCMP at the highest level."

- Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, The Province, August 28, 1995, Page A5


"The CO commented and I agreed that we need to clean them out entirely and not have any hanging issues similar to what occurred at Oka."

- disclosed notes of RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brown, August 10, 1995


"Did you find somebody else that could help us with a disinformation or smear campaign?"

- RCMP videotape of proceedings of their "Crisis Management Team" (CMT), spoken by Dennis Ryan RCMP. Quoted in The Province, Jan. 21, 1997


"Smear campaigns are our specialty"

- RCMP media liaison officer Peter Montague. CMT videotape disclosed at trial. Quoted in The Province, Feb. 6, 1997


"We're all going to do damage control here when things have to really go off and people are going to get killed."

- Doug Hartle, RCMP Crisis Management Team, police videotape B6


M: "So we could have some dead fucking terrorists?"
S: "No, no we don't."
M: Not that lucky."

- RCMP Press liaison Peter Montague and Sgt. Martin Sarich, RCMP videotape, Aug. 27, 1995.


"Kill this [Ts'peten Defenders' counsel Dr. Bruce] Clark, smear the prick and everyone with him."

- CMT RCMP videotape negotiator Dennis Ryan attributed this remark to his superior; quoted in The Province, Feb. 18, 1997.


"No one can really determine what they want or just what the issues are. We kind of thing they're fanatical and they're terrorist - and they seem to want to engage in war for some reason."

- RCMP Commander Len Olfert, Edmonton Sun, August 20, 1995


"It was necessary to ensure that the public perceived a continued threat from the people in the camp."

- RCMP Commander Len Olfert, court testimony, Jan. 6, 1997


"The coverage reminded me of CNN's handling of the Gulf War, with the reporters locked up in steady contact with the generals and the military's spin doctors...The rush to sweep the Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash affairs out of the news the moment the physical standoffs were removed, shows all the signs of a classic coverup."

- Tony Hall, in Canadian Dimension Magazine, December 1995


"The excessive force being used by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the misrepresentation of the situation by the Office of [then] Premier Harcourt, added to the fact that no food, water, or medicine is being allowed into the Ts'peten Sundance site calls for immediate intervention of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights."

- Coordinating Commission of Indigenous Organizations and Nations of the Continent, letter to UNHCR Sept. 16, 1995


"There is a line and that line is that there shall be no alien intervention in the affairs of this state."

- BC Attorney General and Human Rights Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, in Vancouver Sun, Sept. 15, 1995, p. A1


"The political terrorism waged against Indigenous Peoples and the manipulation of the crisis by the Canadian authorities continue to remain as root causes of the conflict which erupted at Ts'peten. From the beginning, the Canadian government and the provincial authorities of BC attempted to criminalize the Sundance Camp defenders without addressing the issues of sovereign rights on unceded Indigenous Territories"

- Observer Tupac Enrique (Tonatierra), Sept. 25, 1995


"Gustafsen Lake could help propel BC into a fall election, political analysts said Sunday... NDP support has strengthened over the summer, a phenomenon analysts say shows voters approve of the way the government of Premier Mike Harcourt has handled native Indian militants... One high placed government source predicted Harcourt will call an election before next week."

- Vancouver Sun, September 18, 1995, p. A3


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