Finding out that I was a publisher, Sto:lo Indian, Kwitsel Tatel (Halqe’meylem for “grizzly bear mother”) approached me and asked if I would take information that she created and researched for presentation in a Chilliwack Court. She wanted to create a publication for use in an upcoming court presentation on Jan. 14, 2013.
She informed me of the following:
On Wednesday, July 14, 2004, she, a Federal Indian living in the Fraser Valley, possessed 396 sockeye salmon, earmarked for a Sto:lo cultural family gathering. BC’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) seized her 396 fish and advised her that they were going to investigate the possibility of charging her. On July 15, 2004, DFO sold 296 fish. DFO charged her with possession of fish on July 3, 2008; that same day, she was found guilty in a BC provincial court by Chief Justice of BC, his Honour Judge Thomas Crabtree.
In an 8-year and counting trial (47476), now extending to nearly 200 days of court time, on Jan. 14, Tatel intends to defend all Aboriginal rights in a “Phase 2” (Stage 2) of the same case in the same court. In doing so, Tatel plans to present a substantive letter to Judge Crabtree in defence of Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982.
The 150-page, 5.5″ x 8.5″ unpublished, but printed, book includes her letter to Judge Crabtree, maps, an analysis and preface to her “grandfather” Dan George’s Centennial speech by University of Lethbridge professor (globalization studies in the department of Native American Studies), Anthony Hall and Dan George’s Centennial speech.
(Dan George was the head of the family that adopted Kwitsel Tatel after she was orphaned at the age of 13 years, with the death of her mother. Kwitsel Tatel’s father, Patrick Kelly, had died when she was 8-years old. Thus, Kwitsel Tatel, born Patricia Kelly, refers to Dan George as “grandpa.”)
Tatel’s notes that provincial and federal laws conflict particularly with respect to Section 35 of the Constitutional Act. She will be presenting 35 infringements of Section 35 and make strong recommendations for remediation.
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