FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Premier, MPP, Mayor, Continue to Inflame Vigilante Violence

For 33 days, Haudenosaunee Land Defenders have maintained a peaceful presence at 1492 Land Back Lane. Our community seeks to live within our territory, free to practice our laws and customs.

We are in a process of determining a future where we are able to safely practice our culture and honour our relationship to the land and future generations.

In order to have a future for our community we must call attention to the injustices we face today.

While we continue to reject the unjust process of land development that has taken place within the Haldimand Tract and Plank Road, settler politicians Doug Ford, Ken Hewitt, and Toby Barrett have harmed our efforts to seek a peaceful resolution.

We fear that instead of engaging with us in good faith, they have instead chosen to vilify us. This is a tactic meant to legitimize their claims over our territory, and in doing so, they encourage vigilantism.

Members of our community are being targeted on social media by individuals who seek to intimidate us and our supporters, and disrupt our fundraising efforts.

We have also witnessed vigilantism in the form of surveillance that include following community members in their vehicles, the use of private drones to surveil our community, and emboldened individuals coming to our community to engage in confrontations.

These individuals have also targeted members of the media, attempting to discredit journalists through impersonation.

Elected officials are failing to lead their people to peace and understanding of the complex social, political, and historical circumstances we are in.

The Haldimand Proclamation pre-dates Canada as a country. Our community has existed here for over 200 years and our rights and title are entrenched in the Canadian Constitution. Denial of this reality is racist and validates people who wish to cause harm to our people.

Our community has raised our concerns about the lack of fair process undertaken, yet we are under the constant threat of police violence. The OPP have continually threatened violent enforcement of an injunction meant to silence our pursuit of justice and land defense.

While we continue to engage our community to find peaceful resolutions and to de-escalate this conflict, we insist that the OPP commit to not enforcing the injunction in place, and that settler politicians apologize for the harmful language they have used to describe our people.

By continuing to criminalize Indigenous Peoples, the province and it's police force maintain their colonial legacy of racism, inhumanity, and genocide.

We will continue to resist violence and forced removal from 1492 Land Back Lane. Our community of Land Defenders and Allies will continue to protect our people. As always, unity amongst our people and safety is at the forefront of our minds.

Land Defenders have been negotiating in good faith with police, removing construction equipment as requested, maintained access through the blockades for emergency vehicles, removed barricades from Highway 6, and kept open lines of communication.

The Land Defenders at 1492 Land Back Lane are engaged in a traditional decision making process. We are working hard to de-escalate the situation and to find a peaceful resolution.

“We are here because we are committed to upholding our sacred responsibility to the land and future generations. Every day our community makes progress in our discussions and our healing from the generations of oppression we have experienced.

The tactics, timelines, and threats of the OPP and politicians are unrealistic and unreasonable given how complex the issues are that are being dealt with here.” Spokesperson Skyler Williams.

We call on our allies to continue to amplify our demand for peace and safety. Please continue to support us on social media and through donations on GoFundMe and e-transfer. https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-1492-land-back-lane