Media Advisory - Church Members Vancouver

Media Advisory - Monday, October 6, 2008

Breaking News:

Illegal Trespass Warning Issued to Church members in Vancouver - Church Officials May Face Arrest

Participants at regular services at Anglican, Catholic and United Churches in downtown Vancouver were warned yesterday that they face imprisonment or fines for entering these church buildings.

Members of the Squamish Nation and Indian residential school survivors leafletted church goers with a legal notice that stated that, because their church officers have ignored a duly-filed Eviction Notice last March (* below), they were illegally trespassing on Squamish Nation land owned by hereditary Chief Kiapilano.

"This Eviction was prompted by the refusal of these churches to surrender the remains of children who died in their Indian residential schools ... Chief Kiapilano has therefore ordered these churches off his land" stated the leaflet.

In an interview with the community news network Homeless Nation, Chief Kiapilano's agent, Eagle Strong Voice said,

"This is the next stage in our campaign to bring these churches to justice for their murder of thousands of children. Under the laws of British Columbia, these churches are illegally squatting on Squamish land. If they don't vacate immediately, their officials may be arrested and brought into courts established under Chief Kiapilano's sovereign authority, where they will be tried for crimes against humanity in their residential schools."

Last April 10, Chief Kiapilano and Kevin Annett released a list of twenty eight mass graves near former Indian residential schools across Canada.

Escalating actions are being planned by Kiapilano and his people in upcoming weeks. Hereditary chiefs across Canada who support Chief Kiapilano's stand will be launching similar actions on their territories.

News of the event was picked up on European news wire services, and in London and Rome, where demonstrations against the Pope and the Queen of England are being organized by supporters of Canadian residential school survivors.

Information: www.hiddenfromhistory.org
pager: 1-888-265-1007

Issued under the authority of Chief Siem Kiapilano, Hereditary Chief of the Squamish Nation.

* Chief Kiapilano's Eviction Notice was filed on March 4, 2008 in the B.C. Supreme Court, Docket S036483.