Calgary Herald, Friday, September 21, 1990 POLICE CHANGE TONE ON BATTLE MONTREAL (CP) - Quebec provincial police - faced with evidence that contradicts their previous claims - no longer deny they fired shots in a July 11 gun battle with Mohawks. And the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has joined other native leaders in condemning a Canadian Police Association newspaper advertisement that describes the actions of Mohawk Warriors at Oka, Quebec, and nearby Kanesatake as terrorism. In earlier statements, police spokesmen have consistently denied that they fired any shots in the gun battle that triggered the current Mohawk standoff. The July 11 shootout, in which one officer died, followed an unsuccessful police raid on a Mohawk barricade near Oka and triggered the crisis. "We cannot comment further on any previous statements which we may have made about this matter," police spokesman Denis Hachez said Wednesday. The change in tone of official police statements follows several recent developments. In an official letter to the parliament of the European Community dated Sept. 14, Quebec Native Affairs Minister John Ciaccia says police "exchanged shots" with the Warriors at Oka on July 11. In a statement made under oath last week to Quebec Court, provincial police Cpl. Gilles Charette said "a shootout took place with armed and masked individuals of the Mohawk community." The Canadian Police Association, which took out advertisements in newspapers across the country defending the actions of its Quebec colleagues during the raid, has also modified its position. Earlier ads, which ran under the headline "We oppose terrorism" said that police "fell into an ambush laid by the Warriors ... which led to the murder of Cpl. Marcel Lemay." A revised version of the ad issued this week says only that the Warriors "fired upon" police and that the gunfire "resulted in the death of Cpl. Marcel Lemay." Ovide Mercredi, vice-chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said Thursday that the ads may make it impossible for Mohawk Warriors to get an impartial trial should charges be laid in Lemay's death. ************************************************************************ COMMENT: The above mentioned ad also ran in the Calgary Herald. Not only the statement of whether the police actually fired shots, in addition to tear gas and concussion grenades, is controversial, but several other statements in the ad distort the truth as well. There is also evidence that some newspapers simply refused to run the ad because of the demonstrably false claims made by the Canadian Police Association, and that some newspapers only ran it after revisions to the original ad were made. The only newspaper that supposedly ran the ad in its original form was "La Presse" in Montreal. After reading the ad the Committee Against Racism felt it had to respond publicly to this deliberate distortion of the events in a letter to the editors of the Calgary Herald. ************************************************************************ ABORIGINAL RIGHTS SUPPORT GROUP Committee Against Racism P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6 The Calgary Herald Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 2400, Stn. M Calgary, Alta. September 20, 1990 Re: Canadian Police Association Ad - Calgary Herald he Committee Against Racism objects to the Canadian Police Associations' attempts to deliberately misinform and inflame the public. We find the use of emotion-laden words like terrorism' reprehensible. The Police Association claims that the Surete du Quebec were fired on at Oka "by Warriors hidden from their view". As some of the millions of Canadians watching this on the news, we can safely say that was not what we saw. The Association states that the Surete never returned any gunfire! This is untrue. In fact, 2 officers have admitted firing their guns. The ad states that Corporal Lemay was killed by Mohawks. To date it has not been determined by a court who was responsible. This advertisement would serve to prejudice any future court case involving this death. It was also stated that the Quebec police retreated out of consideration for "innocent women and children". This is not true. They retreated when their tear gas blew back on them. The citizens at Chateauguay were not as peaceful as the ad claims. When native residents, including an elderly man needing medical attention tried to leave Kahnawake, they were stoned by a mob, while the Surete stood by and watched. The Police Associations did not report these facts in their ad. Therefore, their claim to any neutrality has been undermined. We oppose the misinformation in this ad, the use of words like "terrorist" to describe the native population, and call upon the press to present the true situation to the public. On behalf of The Committe Against Racism: Wendy Reeves Beverly Latham ************************************************************************ The Assembly of First Nations, following an Emergency Chiefs Meeting, is calling on supporters everywhere to show their support and solidarity. On Sept. 23, people are asked to organize and participate in a Day of Prayer for the Mohawks. On Sept. 24, rallies or other activities should be held to send a strong message to the Canadian Parliament, which will reconvene on that very day, to immediately deal with this ongoing crisis. ************************************************************************ For more information contact web:car by e-mail or in writing Aboriginal Rights Support Group Committee Against Racism P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6