BRITISH COLUMBIA —_______

Gov't talk

Faced with overwhelming public support

for the Haidas’ courageous stand against

logging of their ancestral lands in the Queen
Charlottes, the Social Credit government

agreed to meet with the representatives of

the Haida Nation Dec. 10 to discuss the
long-unresolved issue that has seen 72 peo-
ple arrested and nine given suspended sent-
ences for contempt for their action in
blocking logging.

Attorney-General Brian Smith met with
Miles Richardson, chairman of the Council
of the Haida Nation, and other representa-
tives for three hours last Tuesday and
agreed later to further discussions, although
no date has been set.

“It's a step forward — but it’s just a
beginning,” Lori Davis, Lower Mainland
co-ordinator for the Haida Nation, told the
Tribune following the meeting. “We hope
the government will go from here to nego-
tiate on the land claims issue.”

Davis said that the Haidas, in the course
of the discussion “were able to make the
government understand a little more than it
did before why we had to take the actions
we did.” Inter-governmental Relations
Minister Garde Gardom also took part in
the discussions along with Smith,

But there was no real movement on the
part of the ministers on the land claims
issue, she cautioned. Gardom particularly,
has hinted at continuing confrontation with
Native peoples over land claims.

Smith was to discuss the meeting with the
Socred caucus and to raise some of the
outstanding issues, including the possibility
of a halt to logging on Lyell Island before a
further meeting would be held, at some
unspecified date.

Some of the urgency has been taken out
of the logging issue with last week’s winter
shutdown of logging operations on Lyell.
Frank Beban Logging, the contractor for
Western Forest Products which holds the
tree farm licence on Lyell Island, shut down
Dec. 13 and operations are not expected to
resume until late January.

The agreement by the Socred govern-
ment to hold talks with the Haidas followed
quickly on the dramatic day in Supreme
Court Dec. 6.and the subsequent mediation
efforts by federal Indian Affairs Minister
David Crombie.

yP |

HARDSON. . .meetings a

MILES RIC
Start.

GEORGE WATTS...future “‘up to Ben-

S ‘only a beginning

Hundreds of people filled the courtroom
and the adjoining corridors as ten Haidas,
dressed in traditional blankets, together
with Burnaby NDP MP Svend Robinson,
awaited sentencing from Supreme Court
Justice Allan MacEachern.

The ten, Michael Nicoll, Willard Wilson,
Diana Brown, Colin Richardson, Gary
Edenshaw, Arnie~ Bellis, Roberta Olsen,

John Yeltatzie, Martin Williams and Law-

rence Jones, had all been convicted of con-
tempt in Prince Rupert the previous week,
at which time they were given a week to
“purge their contempt” or face four to six
months imprisonment. Justice MacEach-
ern told them that purging their contempt
would entail refraining from any further
interference with logging and a pledge to
stay away from Lyell Island for a six-month
period.

As court convened in Vancouver on the
morning of Dec. 6, the ten rose to make
their statements to Justice MacEachern.
“T’m not pleased to be caught between your
sense of law and my sense of justice but I
cannot betray my sense of justice,” Nicoll
stated.

Davis said that the ten had “met far into
the night” before the court appearance and
“sincerely believed that they would be going
to jail.”

But as the court filled to overflowing for
the second time that day, Justice MacEach-
ern issued five-month suspended sentences
against nine of the defendants. Wilson
received no sentence because he had stated
that he would not return to Lyell.

NDP MP Svend Robinson, who Justice
MacEachern noted had not apologized for
his actions in breaking the law, was handed
a $750 fine with one month to pay.

The political implications of the senten-
ces that had been threatened a week earlier
were Clearly apparent as trade union lead-
ers, aldermen, religious and Native leaders
packed the courtroom. During the noon-
hour adjournment some 200 supporters had
gathered in a silent demonstration in nearby
Robson Square.

Justice MacEachern noted in his opening
remarks that it clearly was “an escalating
dispute”, adding that the Haidas had
sought repeatedly to put the question of
their land claim on the record and had been
repeatedly rebuffed.

He stated that he intended “to go as far as’

possible not to send anyone to jail.”

4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 18, 1985

Robert Davidson (r) joins Lyell Island defendants

“I hope it is not their (the Haidas’) stra-
tegy to go to jail but if it is it will be on their
heads,”’ he said.

He warned that the suspension of the
sentences was conditional upon none of the
nine returning to Lyell Island for six
months. A breach of that condition would
result in their being brought before the
court, he said. Justice MacEachern also
stated that he hoped the Haidas would
“take advantage of the opportunity” to
meet with the Socred government ministers
to discuss the continuing dispute.

But it was clear that that opportunity had
only come about because of the Haidas’
action and the public support it generated.

And any future action depends on the
government, the Haidas have declared. -

Outside the court, that position was
echoed by George Watts, chairman of the

(r tol) Roberta Olsen, Arnie Bellis, Willard Wilson, John Yeltatzie and Gary
Edenshaw in singing outside Supreme Court following sentencing Dec. 6.

Nuu-Chah-Nalth Tribal Council which —
blocked logging on Meares Island and has
backed the Haidas in their stand.

“It’s up to Bennett — does he want a
negotiated process or does he want us to go
to jail?” he said.

“If he tells us next week that there will be
no negotiations on land claims and that
we'll all have to go back to the reserve
system, then you’ll see those people back on
Lyell Island,” he warned.

“We're certainly going to continue to

. defend our land,” Davis told the Tribune .
“The government has to make a decision
that it is prepared to settle the land claim.
They can’t expect that we will sit idly by —
while they make up their minds.”

She said that the Haida Nation would be
meeting this week to discuss the next step in
the campaign.

Season's

from

Greetings

Marine Workers
and Boilermakers
Industrial Union,

ee

Season’s Greetings and
Best Wishes for the New Year to all
our friends in the labor movement

'NTERNATIONAL

LONGSHOREMEN'S
& WAREHOUSEMEN
UNION (een 233 5°