The following is an excerpt from SKWEKWEKWELT SOLIDARITY. Much of British Columbia is unceded First Nations territory. In many cases there has been no land claims settlement, no agreements, no treaties, and no end to resistance.
January 2013 – A young Indigenous land defender and father (name currently withheld) living on unceded Secwepemc territory has been detained and deported south of the colonial border by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).
No One Is Illegal-Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories has been organizing in solidarity with Secwepemc land defenders for a decade. We have known this warrior and land defender for many years. This Indigenous Taino brother and his Secwepemc family have inspired people across Turtle Island to protect the land, to practice traditional ways, to raise proud and decolonizing families.
Increasingly, the Canadian government is spending millions of dollars to arm border guards, to build detention centers, to pass racist and exclusionary policies, and to arrest, incarcerate, and deport those deemed “illegal.” As our deported Native brother says, “The illegal government has no right to say that we cannot be with our own people. They are illegally occupying our land and keeping Indigenous families away from each other. The border is an illegal man-made facade to have control over the population. Our people never had borders and we don’t acknowledge any.”
It is no coincidence that CBSA and the Canadian government interrogated him extensively and targeted him for deportation. He was even questioned by Canadian Security Intelligence Service(CSIS) at length while in detention, who alleged that he was part of so-called terrorist activities as a land defender. However, we know who is committing the real terroristic and criminal acts against Indigenous families, the animals, and the land, water, and air.
Lingit Latseen 