mounting everything in sight

Content warning for police violence, anti-indigenous racism, ableist language, and sexual violence.

RCMP officers referred to First Nations pipeline opponents as "orcs" and "ogre" during a police raid at a blockade of Coastal GasLink pipeline construction in November 2021, according to audio recordings played in court Wednesday. The recordings were played as evidence in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers in an abuse of process application filed by Sleydo', also known as Molly Wickham, a Wing Chief of Cas Yikh, a house group of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation; Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet'suwet'en family ties and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, which straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders.  The accused were found guilty last week of criminal contempt of court for breaking a 2019 injunction that impedes anyone from blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.  The abuse of process application alleges RCMP used excessive force when they were arrested and that they were treated unfairly while in custody. The filing asks that if the judge doesn't stay their charges, then it would be appropriate to reduce their sentences based on their treatment by police.

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

Marilyn Monroe photographed with the RCMP, 1953.

Why Are Indigenous Women Disappearing Across Canada?

The formation of 'residential schools' in Canada was and remains a cultural genocide. Canada -a current white settler nation -has a responsibility to take accountability for the continued disproportionate amount of violence that Indigenous women face in this country, as Indigenous women are 4 times more likely, compared to the national average in Canada, to be victims of violence.

Since 1980, thousands of Native women have gone missing and have been murdered, and their cases have been either entirely dismissed or under-investigated. I have spoken about this on my page before, and although this short piece by Vice does not delve into the history of the RCMP -there is rampant anti-Indigenous racism in their ranks.

These issues are ongoing and epidemic, and we must always keep raising awareness about and talking about MMIW. This is only one of many videos on some of these issues, but I wanted to share this today.

With the RCMP's 150 anniversary celebrations still for some reason going on, unfriendly reminder that Canada's police force is both past and present nothing but a genocidal machine that stands for colonial violence against Indigenous and Black people.

head of the RCMP fighting to keep using police tactics that are already proven to kill. given what the RCMP is known for i will give exactly one guess as to what demographic this shit is used against and why the mounties want to keep it.

@allthecanadianpolitics

Whitewashing History 101: The police “cleaned up” those “sleazy” whiskey traders :)

The RCMP Was Created To Control Indigenous People

Although the North-West Mounted Police didn’t become the RCMP proper until it absorbed the Dominion Police in 1920, its paramilitary origins are still highly visible in everything from its training depot to how it organizes its officers into troops, right down to the horse and the uniform, Hewitt says.

And while Canadians may like to position ourselves in opposition to the United States, citing their “even worse record in terms of treatment of Indigenous people,” Hewitt says that’s just a myth we tell ourselves to feel better.

The job of the Mounties “effectively, was to clear the plains, the Prairies, of Indigenous people,” he says. “Ultimately, they were there to displace Indigenous people, to move them onto reserves whether they were willing to go or not.”

History books, commissions, inquiries and public apologies reveal what happened next: Indigenous people who resisted were starved onto reserves. The federal government brought in the Indian Act and used Mounties to forcibly remove Indigenous children from their homes, placing them in residential schools rife with abuse.

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Vintage Pulp - North West Romances (Fall1949)

Fiction House

Constable Vrbata

This is a lovely commissions done by @rhaeneryaarts 🥰🥰🥰 If you want an excellent quality commission, go show her some love; she’s open! 🎨🖌️🎨🖌️🎨🖌️🎨🖌️🎨

In one of my head cannons, Tomas is living a peaceful, happy and successful life away from the troubles and responsibilities of Mortal Kombat.

The back story: Tomas’ grandparents immigrated to Canada to escape the second world war ravaging Europe. There, his grandparents parents gave birth to his mom, who married another Czech-Canadian, and had him and his twin sister, along with two more younger siblings. Tomas has always been passionate about justice and is always willing to help others who can’t help themselves, therefore he eventually lead to him choosing a policing career to “Maintain the right” (RCMP motto) ☺️

Who thinks that he deserves normalcy for once? I think it’s safe to say that we all do 😉😘

While there has been much public scrutiny and research on police interactions and violence towards sexual minorities in the United States, there is a gap in the current literature on how sexual minorities fare with law enforcement contact in Canada. A new study published in the Annals of Epidemiology aims to fill this research gap by examining the relationship between sexual orientation and experiences with police contact, including intrusion and harassment from the police, in Canada. Among a sample of 940 adolescents and young adults across Canada, the study found that the prevalence of police contact was highest among persons identifying as bisexual (28%) compared to those identifying as heterosexual (21%). Furthermore, despite Canada's comparatively progressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ rights, sexual minority participants, specifically bisexual participants, were more likely than heterosexual participants to report police contact that included harassment.

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

The Mounties have been a respected national symbol for 150 years

After a spring 2023 research mission, Amnesty is expressing concern about reports of heavy-handed police raids, aggressive and intrusive surveillance tactics, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and detention, racial discrimination, and criminalization of pipeline opponents.  The conduct amounts to "a concerted effort by the state to remove Wet'suwet'en land defenders from their ancestral territory to allow pipeline construction to proceed," the non-governmental organization says in its report. The report says significant police and private security presence has imposed heavy surveillance and control, where Wet'suwet'en are regularly followed, filmed and photographed.

RCMP raids enforcing a court-ordered injunction against blockades and activist camps were disproportionate, deploying semi-automatic weapons, helicopters and dogs against unarmed activists, the report says.Amnesty met with officials from Coastal GasLink and the company said it followed all procedures in line with international human rights standards and domestic consultation and permitting processes, Gebresilassie said.In a statement, parent company TC Energy cited Coastal GasLink's agreements with 20 First Nations along the pipeline route and equity option agreements with 17 of them as evidence of its respect for Indigenous rights. It said it has taken "extraordinary measures" to consult with all Indigenous groups, including the hereditary chiefs. Security measures were necessary given "significant acts of violence," the company said.

The RCMP has racist foundations -they were created to enforce laws that terrorized, suppressed, and forced Indigenous people out from their communities, and within -and they still continue to do this. They also, despite denying it so wholeheartedly; are guilty of racial profiling, have systemic racism in its ranks right now, and have biases and/or have ingrained anti-Indigenous racism.

Thus, it confounds me every single time I react their statements (or lack thereof) about being insistent they aren't violating Indigenous people's rights. I am not at all surprised Amnesty found out that they -like their colonizing buddies in the gas company -were committing human rights violations. This pipeline should have NEVER been built to begin with, and I need more people to know just how disgraceful the RCMP truly is. My solidarity is with Wet'suwet'en land defenders.

Action- Please Call for accountability!

I know phone calls are hard. Are you actively uncolonizing? Do you support Indigenous Sovereignty and the Land Back movement?

@allthecanadianpolitics

Mar 31 2023

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