CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS - Canada Office (CPT)
1562 Danforth Ave, Box 72063, Toronto ON M4J 5C1 
ph. 416-421-7079, fax 416-467-1508, cptcan@web.ca 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Pierre Shantz
September 12, 2000
ESGENOÔPETITJ (Burnt Church, N.B.) - 


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ENDANGERS 
FISHERIES MEDIATION PROCESS

Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officers, 
with the assistance of the RCMP, arrested sixteen
people on Miramichi Bay about 11 a.m. today. Three people, including a
human rights observer, were thrown into the choppy waters when their boat
was rammed and sunk by a DFO vessel. Those arrested include Esgenoôpetitj
Chief Wilbur Dedam, Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) human rights observer
Tracy Sinclair of North Bay ON, five Mi'kmaq Rangers (Fisheries Officers)
and nine Mi'kmaq fishers.

The incident began when a fleet of DFO and RCMP vessels seized Chief
Dedam's fishing boat. RCMP officers tear gassed the Esgenoôpetitj Rangers
who responded to Dedam's distress call. Arrested fisheries officer Roland
Joe said, "When the smoke cleared, the federal officers were pointing
machine guns at us." An RCMP vessel rammed and sank a second Ranger boat,
piloted by Mi'kmaq fisheries officer Brian Caplin, throwing three Mi'kmaq
fisheries officers and ARC observer Tracy Sinclair into the ocean.

Donald Barnaby, a Listiguj Ranger thrown from the boat, was injured in the
raid and is being monitored at the Tracadie Hospital. Barnaby sustained
back injuries earlier, on August 16, 2000, when a DFO boat intentionally
rammed his boat. As police officers led Esgenoôpetitj Ranger Curtis
Bartibogue into the Tracadie police station in handcuffs, he told CPTer
Pierre Shantz that he and the others had been pepper sprayed while still in
the water.

CPTer William Payne of Toronto spoke with jailed ARC observer Tracy
Sinclair. "They are treating me completely differently from the Mi'kmaq
teenager I am with," she reported. "He has been in handcuffs for several
hours but they took mine off while I was still on the water." She added,
"They have taken my video camera and tape of the incident and are refusing
to let me have them."

CPTer Pierre Shantz, waiting outside the Tracadie RCMP detachment for an
update on the status of those in custody said, "It is clear that the RCMP
have lost every semblance of neutrality and are being used as a tool of the
DFO and the federal government. I think that it is time for the United
Nations and Amnesty International to send observers here."

Maintaining a human rights observer presence at the Esgenoôpetitj
community's wharf, CPTer Jamey Bouwmeester of Elgin IL said, "Agreeing to
mediation one moment, sinking boats and pepper spraying those thrown
overboard the next moment, the DFO is either totally incompetent or coldly malicious."