Political prisoners denied basic human rights

The Elsipogtog protest against fracking seems to be over for everyone except Mi’kmaq men Aaron Francis and Germaine Jr. Breau who have been held in custody since the RCMP raid on October 17th 2013. The two men have been held without trial for the last three months and according to Suzanne Patles the Southeast Regional Correctional Center in Shediac, New Brunswick has been denying their requests for spiritual assistance.

Correctional facilities in Canada have policies to give indigenous prisoners access to sacred bundles and medicine bags. This specific facility said they do not allow traditional ceremonies such as prayer and smudging with sage despite the constitutional rights provided in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Under human rights law, Correctional Service Canada has a duty to accommodate Aboriginal spirituality to the point of undue hardship. From 1867 to 1945, the Canadian government made it illegal for Indigenous Nations to practice their spiritual and cultural traditions.

The family and friends of these two men are asking for people to call prison superintendent Jonah Brian (506) 532-7885 and demand spiritual access for Aaron Francis and Germaine Jr. Breau. The political prisoners can be written to at 435 Lino Rd. Shediac, NB E4P 0H6, Canada.

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12 Comments

  1. my boyfriend is in southeast correctional center he is not part of this group but wanted to say this jail is denying them of their basic rights my boyfriend has been in stag entry for a month an a half now only allowed out 1 1/2 hours a day an under going useless strip searchs on a regular basis someone needs to investigate how this prison operates

  2. Update to my comment below. I just received a call from a friend in the Okanogan Valley, that she rose early today to call the prison and voice her concerns about Aaron and Germaine being denied their spiritual rights which, in turn, is a violation of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling known as the GLADUE ruling. he called from B.C. just now and said that in her conversation with prison authorities, the calls are actually pouring in from all over Canada. So c’mon Six Nations. If a non-Native from B.C. can do this for our brethren from Elsipotog, surely we can do no less. Can we at least agree on that? Please…..make the call.

  3. Another example of how Kanata disavows it’s legal and Charter of Rights and Freedoms responsibilities. It seems to flagrantly disregard the very laws they created while at the same time, screaming their faces off that WE, the victims, bend to the Rule of Law. When idiots like Gary Mc-whatever bitch about there being two sets of laws, one for Natives and one for non-Natives, he’s absolutely right and there’s no one who knows that better than Kanata’s Indigenous peoples. Let’s not forget about those who stood up for you at Brantford, Caledonia, Hagersville & Red Hill Valley who also paid a price for believing in the good fight.
    I’m going to copy this entire article and forward it to literally everyone on my e-mail list asking, even to begging for their support and to call or write as indicated in the above article. 12,000 calls to the prison and letters to Aaron and Germaine from Six Nation would be good, for a start. Can Six Nations people do that? After all, their fight IS our fight and to think otherwise is pure folly.

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