The Cheam fighters closed the road April 7 in response to government inaction and encroachment on their land. Provincial authorities state they will not negotiate until the Cheam nation removes its barricades.

"The provincial government wants to turn this land into provincial parks without our input and make our land claims invalid," explained Cheam nation member Denise Douglas. Cheam nation chief June Quipp added that the government is continuing to stall in resolving land issues that go back some 40 years.

"It is time to take action, never mind just talking any more and being educated because it's been a long time that they have been stealing our lands," she said. "They talk about blockades. But they've been blockading us for many, many years, doing it very silently, and getting away with it."

Cheam leaders have said if there is no progress made they will escalate their action and set up a toll on Highway 9, a major road running through the reserve.

Polarization around the issue is evident in the area. There is racist graffiti scrawled on boulders stating, "This is white man's land" and "will kill f--ing indjan." Young Cheam fighters, who make up the majority of those defending the roadblock, joke that "these racists can't even spell properly."

The Cheam have received broad support for their actions and have indicated that support has increased since the beginning of the blockade.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which represents close to 1 million Native peoples in Canada, passed a resolution, noting that the "federal and provincial governments have consistently, for the last 40-odd years, trivialized, ignored, and stonewalled the concerns of the Cheam Indian Band."

Leaders of the AFN from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta have visited the blockade. First Nations representatives from every nation in British Columbia have spent time with the Cheam fighters, according to Quipp, and have expressed their solidarity, as have many non-Native people from nearby communities.

The vitality of the Cheam fight is evident in the comments of the youth who are defending their rights. Dwayne Douglas explained, "To the government this may just be swamp land, but it's our land. We've been fighting for it for a long time. We are going to spend our lives here, we are going to fish here, and we can't let them take it away from us."

Thirty-two Native youth had just completed a month-long course in self-defense, involving physical training as well as study, when the roadblock was established. Bobby Douglas, another young Cheam, said they decided to learn self-defense following a number of incidents of harassment and intimidation by armed Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officers, who have repeatedly clashed with natives asserting their right to fish.

The dispute with the government involves some 25 square miles of land. This has already been infringed upon by the Canadian National railway, British Columbia Hydro power lines, highway construction, and a gas pipe line.

The 200 Cheam living on the reserve now face the loss of a major source of income, a landfill they operate on the site, because the federal Department of Indian Affairs is threatening to shut it down, claiming the Cheam need a permit to operate it. The federal government has pressured the trucking companies to pull out of dealing with the Cheam.

The Cheam roadblock is part of the increased disenchantment with the treaty negotiation process in British Columbia. The vast majority of the province was never ceded to the European colonizers through treaties.

Ned Dmytryshyn is a member of Machinists Local 11 in Delta, British Columbia. Derrick O'Keefe is a member of the Young Socialists.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home