Hidden from History:
The Canadian Holocaust

Human Rights Activist Rev. Kevin Annett Faces Arrest For Defying Court Ban On Free Speech

please circulate this widely

Saturday, October 19, 2002
Coast Salish Territory ("Vancouver, Canada")

The government of Canada, through its paid agents Judge James Taylor, Chief Ed John, Marvin Storrow, Q.C., and his law firm of Blake, Cassels and Graydon, is attempting to permanently silence one of its most vocal critics, Rev. Kevin Annett, after he defied a ban on free speech issued by Judge Taylor in August of this year.

A writ has been issued against Rev. Annett as of Friday, October 18, which is suspected to be either a bench warrant for his immediate arrest or a summons for him to appear before Judge Taylor prior to imprisonment.

This probable arrest is occuring on the eve of the release of Rev. Annett's sensational book, Love and Death in the Valley, which recounts his ten year long investigation of Genocide against indigenous people by the Canadian government and churches. Part of this story describes the ongoing eviction of native people from their lands in northern British Columbia by tribal chiefs acting at the behest of the Canadian government and foreign corporations like Alcan and The North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA). This book is scheduled for release by First Books (www.1stbooks.com) on November 1, 2002.

During this past summer, one of the chiefs so named for such complicity, Ed John, began a defamation suit against Rev. Annett and six other people in order to silence their critcisms of his proven role of signing secret contracts with foreign corporations against the wishes and land rights of his own people in the Carrier-Sekani region of northern BC. Without even proving that Ed John had been defamed or damaged by Rev. Annett's mere repeating of statements about John made under oath by other persons, John's lawyer, government solicitor Marvin Storrow, nevertheless secured an injunction against Rev. Annett and others on August 22, 2002 from Judge James Taylor, which destroyed their constitutional right of free speech by making it illegal for them to discuss either Ed John or the court proceedings.

This same Judge James Taylor of the Supreme Court of BC had been the lawyer acting for the Law Society of BC in April, 1994, when it had disbarred and incarcerated lawyer Jack Cram after he had made similar statements as Rev. Annett concerning corruption and possible pedophilia among the judiciary, politicians and native leaders of BC.

Despite this unconstitutional injunction, during September and October, 2002, Rev. Annett continued to exercise his God-given freedom of speech and described the court proceedings and the conflict of interest of Judge Taylor over his open-line radio program, Hidden from History, on Vancouver's Co-op Radio. It is for this act of free speech that Rev. Annett is now facing arrest.

As official head of the state-funded First Nations Summit, the main treaty-making body for native people in BC, Chief Ed John is situated to sign other agreements in the interest of foreign corporations and the Canadian government that will consign his own people to poverty and slow death from landlessness. These corporations, the Canadian government, and chiefs like Ed John have a vested interest in silencing whistle-blowers like Rev. Annett who have exposed such ongoing Genocide against indigenous peoples in Canada.

For this reason, the attack on Rev. Annett is a covert offensive on all native people who stand in the way of the further rape and despoiling of their lands and resources. It is also a way for the government to legally ban the further circulation of both of Rev. Annett's books, including Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust, which documents in detail the history of Genocide in Canada by mainline churches and the federal government. (see this website: http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org)

This same government is trying to imprison and silence one of its critics through the court system. For this reason, The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada, formed in September, 2000, calls on Amnesty International to intervene and monitor the attacks on Rev. Kevin Annett and declare him to be a Prisoner of Conscience if he is arrested and/or imprisoned.

The Truth Commission also calls on all people and organizations committed to human rights and the native people of Canada to rally now to the side of Rev. Kevin Annett as he faces the consequences of his exercising free speech, and of his courage and determination to see justice done for the victims of state-sponsored Genocide in Canada.

Here are specific ways to help:

1. Contribute to a Legal Defense Fund for Kevin Annett by making out a cheque or international money order to Lori O'Rorke, and mailing it to:

260 Kennedy St.
Nanaimo, B.C.
Canada V9R 2H8 (ph: 1-888-265-1007)

2. Sign the Petition on behalf of Rev. Annett found at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/genocid1/petition.html

3. Contact Rev. Annett directly at kevinannett@yahoo.ca to offer more direct support to him, or on his pager (in Canada) at 1-888-265-1007. Also, arrange to have a reading by Rev. Annett from his new book in your area.

4. Contact Amnesty International and urge them to adopt Rev. Annett as a Prisoner of Conscience and monitor the court and other proceedings against him. Send copies of your correspondence to the media and The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada at its email: genocideincanada@yahoo.ca

5. Educate yourself about Genocide in Canada, past and present, by reading the Truth Commission's report authored by Rev. Annett, "Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust", found at: http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org

6. Contact your Member of Parliament and the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa and demand that the attacks on Rev. Kevin Annett stop.

With thanks for your continued support for Rev. Kevin Annett and the cause of justice and human rights in Canada,

Matthew Helm, Ph.D.
Convenor, The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada (Vancouver)