Letter to Royal Canadian Mounted Police from Chiefs of Ontario

October 18, 2013

Defenders of the land in Elsipogtog First Nation and the RCMP on October 17, 2013 – APTN photo

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
National Headquarters
Attn: Commissioner Bob Paulson
73 Leikin Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R2
Sent Via Fax: (613) 993-0260
Dear Commissioner Paulson:
Further to my correspondence to you on July 17, 2013 and your reply on August 16, 2013, I am questioning the neutral, measured and balanced approach to the situation in Elsipogtog First Nation that you are referring to when I am seeing pictures such as the one below regarding the situation today:

The use of violence against First Nations is not acceptable and must stop. First Nations in Ontario are very upset about this situation now that it has escalated to the same scale as Ipperwash and Oka. It is being very wrongly handled by the RCMP and accountability for these actions will be expected.
Sincerely,
CHIEFS OF ONTARIO
Stan Beardy,
Regional Chief.
c.c. First Nations in Ontario, Chiefs of Ontario Political Confederacy
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne
National Chief Shawn Atleo, Assembly of First Nations
Regional Chief Roger Augustine, Assembly of First Nation Chiefs of New Brunswick/PEI
James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples