4 November, 2007
Occupied Coast Salish Territory Dear friends, new and old: It's a rainy morning here in the downtown eastside of "Vancouver", and so many of our people are struggling right on the doorstep of where I write this, reminding me that our work and witness is just beginning. But its impact is spreading like wildfire: for instance, three native men whom I've never met greeted me on east hastings street this morning, and one of them, an older guy, exclaimed excitedly, "We heard you went to the Six Nations to look for the residential school kids who died. I can tell you something about that ... I saw a murder ...". In the past few years, I've seen a real grassroots movement begin to grow across this land, whose aim is to bring those responsible for genocide in Canada to justice, and the murdered children home. It was a delight and an honour for me to speak at sixteen gatherings in "Quebec" and "Ontario" during the past two weeks, and to experience the wonderful support and interest from all of you for our film UNREPENTANT, and our work. It is hard for me to summarize all the feelings aroused by our film and this trip, but many times I was brought to tears by what I witnessed. The tears and outrage of so many of you, and the genuine desire to right this wrong and stop the ongoing crimes against our people, will carry me for many more days. In this spirit, I want to share with you some of what happened on this recent speaking and film tour, and to plan my next excursion among you in the new year, scheduled tentatively to begin during the week of January 29, 2008. Here are some bare facts: 1. Over a ten day period, I spoke to over 800 people at sixteen public meetings at Montreal, Kahnawake, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Hamilton, and Toronto. Most of these events were on college campuses or with community service groups, and several of them were among groups of residential school survivors. I distributed 75 DVD copies of our film UNREPENTANT (please keep burning copies!), six copies of my book Hidden from History, and helped to form several new groups of supporters who plan to conduct research and education in support of our Truth Campaign, including organizing for a National Week of Action for the Disappeared between April 15 and 22, 2008. 2. Media coverage of these meetings was sporadic, and was confined mostly to the campus and alternative press. I did one "mainstream" TV interview in Windsor, and four radio and six newspaper interviews with campus media in Montreal, Ottawa and Windsor. 3. The average attendance at our gatherings was 47 people, and some of the meetings drew over one hundred. The level of interest and support at these events was better than anything I've ever experienced, with about one third of the people attending offering to work with us more in the future. I am deeply gratified by this response, although one of the "problems" I have after such a successful tour is following up with all those who want to work with us! That's why I need more of you to take on the local organizing tasks where you live. I often said at the close of these meetings, "Now that you know the truth, this knowledge makes you responsible to change things". And so exactly what to do now was often the most common issue in the discussion period. The work of our Truth Campaign is divided into three general areas: a) Research and Documenting: Gathering and recording the stories and other evidence of genocide against native peoples, through interviews, researching archives and searching for new sources and informants; b) Public Education: Organizing showings of our film UNREPENTANT, disseminating the film and my books throughout libraries and colleges, holding conferences, postering and leafletting outside churches and government offices, and organizing speaking events for me; c) Public Action: Holding protests and vigils, especially on Sunday mornings outside the churches that ran the residential schools (Catholic, Anglican and United), and organizing for a full public inquiry into genocide in Canada. This work is based on a simple five point program of our Truth Campaign, which should guide all our actions. We call and work for: 1. A full, public, non-governmental inquiry into Genocide in Canadian residential schools and hospitals, conducted by an International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada, to gather the evidence to indict Canada and its churches before the world for crimes against humanity;
2. An international boycott campaign against Canada and the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada, including a boycott of Canadian tourism and trade and the 2010 Olympics; 3. A domestic non-cooperation campaign aimed at these churches and the Canadian government, by denying these bodies all funding and association, relying on non-violent mass civil disobedience; 4. The creation of sovereign indigenous courts of justice to search for the evidence of genocide in Canada, and to arrest, prosecute and sentence the perpetrators of residential school and other crimes against humanity and the land, past and present; 5. The active and ongoing de-colonization of "Canada" through the abolition of all institutions and practices responsible for the destruction of our land and its peoples, and the creation of new sovereign nations that will care for the land and all people: to be achieved through the building of a Reclamation Movement embracing native and non-native peoples that will take back our land, our personal sovereignty, and our communities from the corporate and genocidal systems presently threatening them with destruction. That's the big aim! The more immediate steps we can work on are many, but they begin simply by getting our film and our book into wide circulation so that the basic awareness of genocide, past and present, is first raised among all our people.
Please consider this program and the three areas of work of our Truth Campaign, and let me know where you think you can best contribute. But most important, please start making arrangements now to book me in to speak in your community and show UNREPENTANT during the week of January 29 to February 5, 2008. The focus of that next tour will be to organize a National Week of Action for the Disappeared from April 15-22, 2008. To help with this, please share this link to UNREPENTANT with everyone you can, especially your elders, professors and colleagues, libraries, and media contacts: Please make this work a priority in your life. The lives of so many of us depend upon your ability to turn compassion into action. I look forward to hearing from you soon, and seeing you in the new year, with my thanks, and in respect, Kevin Annett / Eagle Strong Voice website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org email: hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.ca or kevin_annett@hotmail.com phone: 250-753-3345 or 1-888-265-1007 (pager) Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org “Kevin is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than many who have received it in the past.” - Dr. Noam Chomsky Institute Professor Emeritus Massachusetts Institute of Technology “A courageous and inspiring man." (referring to Kevin Annett) - Mairead Corrigan-Maguire Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Belfast , Northern Ireland
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