Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee - 1935-2007

Hat tip to Larry Gambone who left a comment on my post "August 2001 - Remembering Kimberly Rogers": about the state imprisonment and death of Elder and Warrior Harriet Nahanee

This is one of many examples of the state’s vile mistreatment of Indigenous people, in particular those who expose and dissent Canada’s illegal theft and occupation of Indigenous lands.

Harriet was a 72-year old Pacheedaht grandmother, married into the Skwxwu7mesh Nation, who was arrested and imprisoned for protecting the Eagle Ridge Bluff site that is slated to be destroyed in the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway for the 2010 Olympics.

Despite her frail health, Harriet was sentenced to fourteen days at the Surrey Pretrial center; a men’s prison and notorious hell hole. While in jail, where she was inflicted with abuse, and not given proper medical care in a cell with tens of other inmates subject to racist treatment, Harriet Nahanee contracted pneumonia. After one week of release from custody, she was hospitalized and passed away within a week.

Harriet represents hundreds of other Indigenous people who are criminalized and abused by the Canadian state when they choose to stand up against and not assimilate into Canadian capitalist society.

Harriet was well known for her use of the Royal Proclamation to explain how unceded Indigenous lands are illegally occupied and governed by the Canadian government. The Canadian and provincial governments continue to attempt to extinguish Aboriginal title and rights (through litigation and the BC treaty process), dispossess Indigenous people from their lands, and destroy traditional territories through mega-development projects.

Sources:

• http://www.eagleridgebluffs.ca/
• http://www.cameronward.com/
• http://www.firstnations.de/indian_land.htm?01-4-ecological-paragon-1.htm
• http://www.firstnations.de/development.htm
• http://npsbc.org/Newsletter/article03.htm