Davis Inlet’s former Chief, Katie Rich, and another woman from her community were recently jailed for evicting a judge from their community in 1993.
“We should be the ones who should judge our own people,” Rich said in a statement from the Stephenville Women’s Correctional Centre. “We were saying the whole justice system does not work for the Innu and does not meet our needs to heal.” She and Nympha Byrne were charged with contempt of court. They left four and six children behind respectively. They were expected to have to spend three weeks behind bars.
The story goes back to 1992 when two of the community’s young people decided on their own initiative to take a policing course at the First Nations Tribal Police Institute in B.C.
The community was policed at the time by the RCMP. Davis Inlet approached the province for recognition of its new peacekeepers and more training for them. The province refused and threatened to charge the peacekeepers with impersonating police officers.
The situation came to a head on Dec. 16,
1993 when Rich and other women in the community threw out the provincial judge. The government threatened to invade the community with military helicopters and heavily armed RCMP officers.
Davis Inlet was isolated, its airstrip ordered shut by Ottawa and all air traffic ordered not to come within seven miles. Negotiations on land claims and social programs were suspended and remain so today.
Nonetheless, the Innu forced the government to sit down and finally start talking about justice issues. An interim policing agreement was signed. But the courts issue remains unsolved.
In a statement, the Innu Nation advises that letters of protest can be sent to: Premier Clyde Wells, P.O.B. 8700, Confederation Building, St. John’s, NF,
AIB 4J6, or fax (709) 729-5875. Or to: Prime Minister Jean Chretien,
Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON,
KIA 0A6, or fax (613) 957-5556.
