Indigenous women speak on the John Graham, Leonard Peltier and Anna Mae Pictou Aquash cases (2005-2007)

This page contains writing or words by Harriet Nahanee, Lee Maracle, Monica Charles, Kahentinetha Horn, Billie Pierre, the Native Youth Movement, Chusia Graham, Gloria George, Mary Lafford and Rebecca Julian.

-Ed

“No justice, no peace. We are still here. We exist. We fight.”
– Harriet Nahanee, elder-warrior of the Pacheedaht/Nuu-chah-nulth Nation (also married into the Squamish Nation) and supporter of John Graham and Leonard Peltier, during a demonstration outside the Supreme Court in Vancouver after Graham’s extradition was approved, February 21, 2005

Quote from CBC news videos “Wanted man faces extradition to U.S.” and “Suspected killer of Pictou-Aquash should be extradited: court”

Outside the courthouse, Vancouver, Feb. 21, 2005, Photo: Joni Miller
Centre: Elder-warrior Harriet Nahanee and Chief Te Kapilano of the Squamish Nation

Harriet Nahanee arrested, Eagleridge Bluffs, May 25, 2006
Photo: Christopher Grabowski

Lee Maracle’s Support Letter for John Graham

I first met John Graham in the living room of the home I shared with my first husband in the semi industrial neighborhood of East 8th Avenue near Main Street in Vancouver some 28 years ago. I had been a social activist, struggling for First Nation’s rights for nearly 10 years by this time. I had seen the inside of a number of First Nation’s organizations, both ‘mainstream oriented’ and radical. I had been and still am an avid Leonard Peltier supporter. I did not believe then and believe less now, that American courts could hand out justice to Peltier. But, by the time I met John I had become jaded: the American Indian Movement leaders were showing themselves to be little better than those they accused of miss treatment of First Nation’s people. One of the leaders had shot another in a alcohol driven brawl; another had physically attacked someone he thought was a communist; still others were rumored to be violent toward their women partners, and still others, were rumored to have raped women supporters.

More significantly, in the aftermath of the siege at Wounded Knee paranoia gripped the activists as it came to light that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Canadian Royal Canadian Mounted Police had used informants and illegal surveillance to disrupt and monitor First Nation’s, Black and Student organizations. During my activist years from 1972 through 1988 accusations of ‘being a cop, a snitch, an informant’ etc. abounded. I too, was accused. Like a good Sto:loh woman I faced my accusers and they backed down. I began to realize that some of the American Indian Movement members were bullies and like all bullies when confronted they turned tail and run.

Not only that, but our communities are plagued with violence, the leftover hangover of colonial besiegement. 90% of First Nation’s women are victims of violence and rape; the majority has been sexually and physically abused as children and adults. First Nation’s children are 40% more likely to be victims of violence in school then any other race of people in both Canada and the United States. I too, have been a victim of violence in public school on a daily basis. I endured 37 attempted rapes beginning as a five year old when a white man whose name I still remember attempted to rape me. My elder brother rescued me. Only one of my perpetrators was a First Nation’s man and 36 white men, one of which was successful by the time I was eighteen.

I had worked on a “Street Patrol” fashioned after the Black Panther Party just as the Minnesota American Indian Movement members did during the late 1960’s. We monitored and reported police abuses of First Nation’s downtown eastside citizens. By 1970, the violence we were struggling to prevent was less and less First Nations versus White violence. More and more it was violence between First Nation’s people. We began the first Native Counseling and Referral Center in Canada as a result. I was barely 20 years old at the time. That Center still operates in Vancouver. But by the mid-1970’s family and a terrible sadness over the state of affairs of First Nation’s people made me withdraw from politics for a brief period. Not only do we have to fight for our very survival, but also we had to fight to end the violence from within. It was disheartening for me as youth.

So, when John entered my living room I was cool and polite. “Show me you are different from the rest” was the foremost thought on my mind. Over the course of 28 years John has shown me he was very different from many of the First Nations men I have known. He showed me not only his own kindness, but he also showed me how to find kindness inside myself, kindness for my children and for other human beings. He taught me that “fighting against the government” is not what justice is all about. Justice is a fight for our very humanity. It is a struggle not so much against someone, but a struggle with the self, a struggle to bring up the best in you and then it is a struggle to share that goodness with everyone, not just First Nation’s people, but people of all races. He taught me to respect myself as a woman, as a mother and as a First Nation’s person.

He was one of the few men in my children’s life who has proven himself to be worthy of their trust. He is respectful, kind, generous and committed to Justice. I can’t believe they have selected John Graham as the patsy for this murder. It makes no sense whatsoever that of all the American Indian Movement members who have a proclivity toward violence, that they should choose the one who had the biggest and kindest heart. Perhaps it is because he is easy pickings, a Canadian will have little support in America and so the trial will be swift and a guilty verdict assured, particularly since the homeless alcoholic who is serving a life sentence already is committed to naming John as the shooter.

But that isn’t what scares me most. America is governed by a right wing president who is alleged to have cheated the electoral process both times in the past two elections. As we await John Graham’s fate, there exist laws in the United States which gives the government and the police the right to remove human rights if “terrorism” is suspected and they have been referring to the accused in this case as a terrorist. In fact, the whole history of the American [Indian] Movement activism is being referred to as “domestic terrorism”. America was found guilty of human rights violations as recently as 1998 by the United Nations. All kinds of evidence of torture, abuse and humiliation of prisoners arrested under the new terrorist laws abound. Leonard Peltier still has not received a new trial despite overwhelming evidence that he was wrongfully accused. Why would Canada turn any Canadian over to the United States for a highly charged and political trial in this circumstance?

Forwarded by the Vancouver chapter of the Native Youth Movement in March of 2005

Letter from Monica Charles

May 23, 2007

To The John Graham Defense Committee:

I believe in the innocence of Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham. Moreover I believe in their right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Arlo was not accorded that opportunity in his trial. No concrete evidence was presented against him. The United States Government has no concrete evidence against John to warrant his extradition to South Dakota.

We know from the railroading of Arlo Looking Cloud that John Graham will not receive a fair trial in South Dakota. We also have the precedent of Leonard Peltier’s extradition and trial. I believe the cases of Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham to be a mop up of the FBI’s war against Indian People. They are assigning blame for their crimes back into our own Indian communities.

I believe that Anna Mae was killed primarily for her research into uranium mining on Indian Reservations in the United States. Is it coincidental that John Graham is a leader in the anti-nuclear movement in Canada?

Anna Mae Aquash was no vapid victim of the American Indian Movement. Her words and actions state otherwise. She was a strong, intelligent Indian woman that lived her life in service to Indian People.

The American Indian Movement and all activist groups were under heavy surveillance during the 1970’s. If John and Arlo kidnapped and murdered Anna Mae there would have been surveillance photos and tapes to substantiate that. It would have been presented at Arlo’s trial. There was none.

If the United States Government has concrete evidence of John’s guilt in the murder of Anna Mae Aquash then they must be required to present such proof to extradite him. We will not give up any more of our People to cover up crimes committed against us.

Monica J Charles
Elwha Klallam Tribal Elder
Veteran of the occupation of the BIA 1972
Veteran of the occupation of Wounded Knee 1973
Member of Lummi Smokehouse 1977
Member of 1910 Indian Shaker Church 1996

From the book ‘Voices from Wounded Knee: 1973’ by Akwesasne Notes

ANOTHER LEONARD PELTIER SCANDAL IN THE MAKING – U.S. EXTRADITION ATTEMPT OF JOHN GRAHAM FOR ALLEGED MURDER OF ANNA MAE AQUASH

From Mohawk Nation News (MNN), published by Kahentinetha Horn

MNN. May 12, 2007. John Graham, an Indigenous man from the Yukon Territory in Canada, is being accused by the U.S. authorities of participating in the murder of Indigenous woman, Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, another “Canadian”. This happened more than 30 years ago. Both were members of the American Indian Movement [AIM]. Since when did the U.S. ever go after someone for killing an Indian? What’s behind it? John Graham is currently awaiting an extradition hearing in Vancouver, scheduled for May 17th, 2007. He has been under house arrest there since his apprehension in December 2003.

John Graham is well known for his lobbying on Turtle Island and Europe against Uranium mining in Canada and the Black Hills in South Dakota. This could be a factor in his being victimized by the U.S. and the FBI. They want to destroy an articulate Indigenous spokesman. Due to his strict bail conditions he can’t work. His main resource is worldwide support for his advocacy.

Forgotten by the U.S. and FBI is the reign of terror in the 1970s on Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. This was after the take over of “Wounded Knee” by the Lakota and their supporters. There has never been an investigation into the deaths of 64 native people. Many of these cases have been well documented and made public since then. Authorities have done nothing to try to achieve justice in these cases.

Just like the Leonard Peltier case, true to form, U.S. government agents are not using real evidence against Graham because they have none. Their case is based on hearsay “evidence” concocted by coerced witnesses. Peltier was convicted over 30 years ago for allegedly killing two FBI agents in a shoot-out on Pine Ridge reservation. It’s all been discredited. This time they are relying on testimony of another Indigenous man even though it is “so full of big holes you could drive a truck through it,” as John Graham’s lawyer has put it.

A well known FBI tactic used as part of COINTELPRO [counter intelligence program] was “bad-jacketing” where AIM members were falsely accused in order to cause internal conflict. Other well documented FBI tactics are infiltration, also with the purpose of causing internal conflict, and falsely charging and jailing innocent people. One of the first rumors initiated by the FBI was that Anna Mae was an FBI informant. This was ridiculous! After her death, the FBI then spread the rumor that she was killed by AIM.

A lot of people know John. No one has seen any evidence that he is capable of violence. No matter what our people do, we don’t have a tradition of killing our own. We are not Europeans.

There are all kinds of weird issues like the two autopsy reports. After the first autopsy, the FBI said she died of exposure. The family insisted on a second autopsy, which clearly showed she was shot in the back of the head. There have been lots of violations of due process. Canada has not even asked to look at the evidence.

Why is Canada so anxious to turn John Graham over to the U.S.? Is it to legitimize an unethical extradition treaty?

It’s a standard tactic to tie people up in court, take their resources and keep them from doing resistance work. This reflects the Canadian government’s racist approach. Canada is taking an unexamined approach to this case, passively following the U.S. lead.

The US and Canada have essentially agreed to rely on a handshake and a brief procedural review of the documents. Canada pretends to assume the US Government will act in good faith when prosecuting a case against a Canadian citizen. The lawyers are not allowed to see the evidence, even though they have raised many important issues which are not being addressed.

It is unconstitutional and a violation of international law for the Canadian Government to uphold only the rights of the United States in these proceedings. These practices do not allow Canadians to be protected as in other court proceedings. In this case, as an Indigenous person who never agreed to become “Canadian”, John isn’t a “citizen”. He’s deemed to be a citizen by the colonial state of Canada.

Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and sovereignty are in question when it allows a foreign nation with such an evil history of prosecutorial abuse to override its laws. Canada fears defending this individual against the foreign government’s claim, even though there is plenty of reason to expect that the charges are false and malicious.

At the very least the Government of Canada, and the Ministry of Justice should make sure there is hard evidence submitted that can withstand reasonable scrutiny; that John Graham be provided with sufficient funding to mount a complete defense; and that the proceedings for extradition be open and accountable to the public.

The U.S. is in the habit of walking all over Canada. They’ve done it time and time again. Amnesty International has condemned the FBI for using false evidence to extradite Leonard Peltier from Canada in 1976. He’s been in jail every since. Amnesty International has called for his immediate release on the grounds that he no longer has adequate recourse to justice.

Once again the US authorities are presenting questionable evidence, this time to extradite John Graham. Violations of established legal standards seems to have become habitual in the U.S. Note the international outcry over U.S. violations at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. We have to wonder why Canada is pandering to a known human rights abuser.

Amnesty International in 2003 demanded that “there must be scrupulous respect for due process and fair trial proceedings…” They demand to know about “possible political interference in the course of justice”.

This case is another example of what the U.S. does. They want to destroy Indigenous opposition by publicly crucifying us. They know we have the legal interest to the land and resources and will protect it. This is a tactic to scare us, by extraditing us and putting us on big public trials and a media show to try to paint us as criminal and unworthy people. The U.S. way relies on fascist policing and terrorizing the opposition.

The world community has to get involved. Human Rights organizations, First Nations Chiefs, trade unions and other groups have expressed their concern about John Graham’s case. Please add your voice now in defense of justice by emailing or writing to the following:

The Honourable Robert Douglas Nicholson, Justice Canada
East Memorial Building, 4th Floor, 284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0H8
Telephone: (613) 992-4621 Fax: (613) 990-7255 E-mail: nicho.r@parl.gc.ca

Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada
E-mail: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca

Contact: The John Graham Defense Committee, 15 Firth Road, WHITEHORSE Yukon Y1A 4R5 CANADA
info(at)grahamdefense.org
website: http://www.grahamdefense.org

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2(at)yahoo.com & katenies20(at)yahoo.com
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US Renews War on the American Indian Movement:
The Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash Story

by Billie Pierre, Nlaka’pamux/Saulteaux Nation
Earth First! Journal January/February 2006

In the past few years, the memory of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash—an American Indian Movement (AIM) leader from the Mi’kmaq Nation in Nova Scotia, Canada—has been reduced to that of a helpless woman who was murdered by her own allies. In reality, her murder is part of a ruthless campaign waged by the US government—a campaign that, far from being ancient history, is still unfolding today.

Thirty years after the death of Pictou-Aquash, the US government has renewed its war against the last remnants of AIM. As in the 1970s, this attack is only part of a larger war to gain control over Native lands and resources.

The US made its first violent attack against AIM in [1972], in what became known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Takeover. Natives had been conducting a peaceful protest outside the BIA headquarters in Washington, DC, when they were attacked by riot police. In response, the Natives barricaded themselves inside the building, smashed up offices and took top-secret documents. These documents proved that the government was illegally handing out reservation land, water and mineral rights to corporations.

That same year, AIM launched a campaign on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Dick Wilson, the corrupt tribal president, had created a paramilitary force with stolen federal program funding. With his control of the reservation secured by force, Wilson set about ceding uranium-rich areas of the sacred Black Hills to the federal government. AIM assisted in protecting Pine Ridge’s traditional families from the constant onslaught of violence, which culminated in the AIM occupation and government siege of Wounded Knee in the Spring of 1973. From 1973 to 1976, the people of Pine Ridge lived under the “Reign of Terror”—more than [67] Natives, mainly traditional Lakota and AIM members, were murdered, primarily by Wilson’s Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs).

On June 26, 1975—while Wilson was in Washington, DC, signing away an eighth of the reservation—the FBI launched an attack on an AIM camp at Pine Ridge. The US was dealt a humiliating blow—two FBI agents lost their lives. Although Joe Stuntz Killsright, a Native warrior, was killed in the shoot-out, an estimated 40 Native men, women and children escaped.

In extreme rage, the FBI violently harassed Lakota families. They drafted a list of people that they suspected were present at the shoot-out, and they blamed Leonard Peltier, Bob Robideau, Dino Butler and Jimmy Eagle for killing the agents. The four young men went on the run. Butler and Robideau were eventually arrested, tried and acquitted by an all-white jury, so the FBI targeted Peltier for the “murder” of the agents. Of course, there has never been an investigation into Stuntz Killsright’s death.

At this time, Pictou-Aquash was “snitch-jacketed” by the FBI. This tactic of the FBI’s Counter-intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) undermined valuable members of a group by casting them in suspicious situations. Wherever Pictou-Aquash went, arrests would follow. She’d be released, while other AIM members were slapped with charges and high bail. In September 1975, FBI Agent David Price attempted to force her to sign an affidavit implicating Peltier for the murder of the two FBI agents. She refused to cooperate, and Price promised her that she wouldn’t live to see the year’s end.

Pictou-Aquash went underground, turning to AIM for protection and putting her fears of the FBI in writing. In late February, her body was found outside of [Wanblee], on Pine Ridge. Four FBI agents joined the “investigation,” including Price. They cut off her hands for “fingerprint analysis,” and despite the visible bullet hole in the back of her head, they determined that the cause of her death was exposure. They quickly arranged for her to be buried as a Jane Doe. After this cover-up came to light, the FBI released a statement announcing that Pictou-Aquash was not a government informant. As intended, this statement insinuated that AIM might have believed Pictou-Aquash to be an informant and murdered her.

After nearly three decades of dormancy, law enforcement attempts to “solve” the murder of Pictou-Aquash recently resumed, with a surprising number of former AIM members accepting and promoting the FBI’s version of events. On March 30, 2003, two Native men were accused of her murder—John Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud. There is no credible evidence linking either man to the crime, and their prosecution seems like nothing more than an effort to destroy what little remains of AIM.

US Marshal Robert Ecoffey has played a prominent role in resurrecting the investigation. Ecoffey got his start in law enforcement as a GOON in the 1970s, and he participated in the Oglala shoot-out. In the 1990s, after becoming the first Native US Marshal in history, Ecoffey resurrected the Pictou-Aquash murder investigation and followed FBI claims that AIM was responsible. Ecoffey and Denver, Colorado, Detective Abe Alonzo spent years visiting and questioning Looking Cloud about the murder.

Looking Cloud is an Oglala Lakota and a father of two. He also has serious substance abuse problems that were exploited by Ecoffey and Alonzo during their investigation. In March 2003, in an alleged confession video-taped by Ecoffey, Looking Cloud admitted to being under the influence of alcohol. Alonzo then fed him leading questions, and Looking Cloud slurred contradictory answers. He allegedly confessed that he had been the unwitting accomplice in Pictou-Aquash’s execution by AIM. He stated that he witnessed Graham take her to the edge of a ravine and shoot her in the back of the head.

Looking Cloud was denied the right to choose his own lawyer. During his trial, every witness for the prosecution presented AIM in the most negative light possible, and they contradicted each other in their testimonies. Many people could have been called as defense witnesses, to testify that Pictou-Aquash had been afraid of the FBI, not AIM. But the defense called only one witness—FBI Agent Price! He was questioned for 10 minutes on Pictou-Aquash and whether she was an FBI informant. Looking Cloud’s lawyer made few motions and did not challenge Ecoffey and Alonzo’s manipulation of his client. Looking Cloud was not allowed to take the stand to defend himself; all that was shown was the videotaped interview that he had given. In February 2004, after a four-day trial, Looking Cloud was convicted of aiding and abetting in the murder of Pictou-Aquash, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Looking Cloud’s subsequent appeal was denied. In October, Looking Cloud fired his most recent lawyer. Unfortunately, without much more widespread support in the US and Canada, he is unlikely to challenge the dirty tactics used to convict him.

Sadly, many former members of AIM are now cooperating with the FBI’s renewed war on the movement.

Robideau now lives in Spain, where he operates a “Native museum” and does workshops on “Native art” for Europeans. Robideau has also profited from Robert Redford’s Incident at Oglala, a documentary about the 1975 shoot-out. In this movie, Robideau perpetuates rumors of a “Mr. X”—the man who really murdered the FBI agents. Rather than exonerating Peltier, this creates an opportunity for the FBI to possibly prosecute more AIM members for the shootings. Robideau also perpetuates the rumor that Peltier once interrogated Pictou-Aquash with a gun, suspecting that she was working for the FBI.

In the wake of Pictou-Aquash’s death, Robideau stated that the FBI killed her “because they knew she was one of us and wouldn’t talk.” But in February 2004, he claimed: “I for one applaud the verdict of guilty in the Arlo Looking Cloud case.” A month later, Robideau resigned from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) “after several discussions with this group regarding the ongoing support and comfort that the LPDC… continues to give to John Graham and the John Graham Defense Committee…. I personally will be overjoyed when the Canadian courts rule to return John Graham… to the US to answer for this brutal murder. I will pray that his extradition contributes to an escalation of this case.”

Another turncoat is Russell Means, the charismatic national director of AIM during the 1970s. Since then, he has moved on to Hollywood, starring in The Last of the Mohicans and Disney’s Pocahontas. Means also has assisted the Republican Party in campaigning on Pine Ridge.

In 1998, Means publicly accused Graham and Looking Cloud of murdering Pictou-Aquash and demanded that the courts hand down indictments. Following Looking Cloud’s conviction, however, Means called it a travesty of justice. Obviously, he is on whatever side brings him the most attention.

Kelly White, a former AIM member, runs a Native issues radio show in Vancouver. A few years before Graham was arrested, she began to target him for defamation. At a Peltier support event in Vancouver, she got up on stage and accused Graham of murdering Pictou-Aquash, although she didn’t have any evidence to back this up. Her personality is vindictive, and over the years she’s targeted various people in the community, including those who have supported Graham’s struggle against extradition.

This behavior is unacceptable; a basic principle of any resistance movement is non-collaboration with the enemy. As Peltier has written regarding the arrest of Graham: “When we talk of sovereignty, we must be willing to solve our own problems and not go running to the oppressor for relief…. We have been and still are at odds with the most dangerous, well-funded, strongest military and political organization in the history of the world.”

John Trudell, a onetime AIM spokesperson turned actor and musician, is also helping the FBI pin Pictou-Aquash’s murder on former AIM members. Trudell’s testimony at Looking Cloud’s trial can be summed up as: “Though I have no recollection of ever meeting Looking Cloud, he tracked me down and confessed his role in Anna Mac’s murder—but until this time, I chose to stay silent.” Graham’s extradition was made possible by Trudell’s positive identification of him to the FBI.

Former AIM member Kamook Nichols also gave testimony at Looking Cloud’s trial. She stated that Dennis Banks, her former husband and cofounder of AIM, and Peltier believed that Pictou-Aquash was working for the FBI. Nichols stated that they had planned to bomb strategic locations on Pine Ridge and wanted Pictou-Aquash’s fingerprints on the explosives.

Not only did the FBI give Nichols immunity, it also gave her $42,000 for her cooperation. She also admitted to wearing a wire for the FBI over the. years. It is suspected that Nichols may have implicated her exhusband for personal reasons; it has been documented that Pictou-Aquash and Banks were having an affair—something Nichols has known of since August 1975. Nichols’ testimony is suspect for another reason: In September 2004, she married Robert Ecoffey, following a five-year-long relationship.

On December 1, 2003, John Graham, a Southern Tuchone from the Yukon and a father of eight, was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, for the murder of Pictou-Aquash. To raise his $50,000 bail, his family had to sell their trapline, their traditional way of living off the land. In early 2005, the government of British Columbia approved his extradition to the US. His appeal is scheduled for June.

Graham is a warrior. As a young man, he went to South Dakota to join the AIM campaign on Pine Ridge. Over the years, he has continued to make great contributions to indigenous resistance to uranium mining. I’ve met many people who’ve worked with him and have heard only good things about him. Unlike many former AIM members, he refuses to cooperate with the FBI and refuses to implicate anyone for any reason.

Graham has stated that Pictou-Aquash was his sister and that they stuck together because Natives from Canada tended to be given a hard time by their US brothers and sisters. His job was to transport Pictou-Aquash, who was hiding from Agent Price and a violent infiltrator named Douglas Durham. Graham has stated that he drove her from Denver to a safe house on Pine Ridge.

Graham says that the FBI started to visit him in the Yukon during the mid-1990s. On four separate visits, they offered him immunity and a new identity if he testified that any of the former AIM leaders had ordered Pictou-Aquash’s execution. He refused. On their last visit, they stated that this would be his final chance to cooperate; if he would not testify, they would charge him with her murder.

During Graham’s extradition hearing, Peltier submitted an affidavit stating that he had been offered his freedom within ten days if he signed an affidavit to implicate John Graham in Anna Mac’s murder, Peltier refused. There is no physical evidence against Graham, only more unreliable, FBI-tainted testimony. Furthermore, US and Canadian court systems have no jurisdiction or authority over indigenous people. We have the right to practice our own justice system—something recognized in Canadian law.

Graham’s current legal struggle reflects the political repression faced by Native activists who have defended their land and their traditional way of life. Most of British Columbia has never been ceded to any colonial government, and the indigenous nations living there have full jurisdiction over their lands and resources.

British Columbia is very rich in natural resources—it has the eighth-highest mineral potential in the world. The province also has plans to carve up the mountains with wall-to-wall ski resorts by 2010. Currently, there is much indigenous resistance to mining and resort development. The most extreme case was the Gustafsen Lake standoff in 1995, when the government deployed 400 Royal Canadian Mounted Police tactical-assault-team members to kill about 20 Natives who had defied a trespass notice and were living within their traditional tribal territories. Since then, dozens of Native people who have defended their lands have been criminalized.

John Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud’s current struggle for their own freedom is a clear message being sent out to all Native land defenders. This is a threat being made against anyone who dares to stand up to the corporations that are stealing our lands. Now is the time to come together and make a strong stand. We will be tested more in the coming years.

For more infomation, contact the John Graham Defense Committee, 15 Firth Rd, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 4R5, Canada; (867) 633-2480; email; John Graham Defense Committee; Native Youth Movement (NYM)-Coast Salish Territories, email.

Billie Pierre is a Nlaka’Pamux/Saulteaux woman based in Vancouver. She’s a NYM OG and joined in 1995.

Native Youth Movement – Statement on the Arrest of John Graham

February 7, 2004

Note: NYM Vancouver, as elsewhere, was equally if not primarily led by Indigenous women. – Ed

On Monday, December 1, 2003, John Graham was arrested in Vancouver, Canada. He is charged by the FBI with the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia whose frozen body was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

Presently free on bail, John Graham faces extradition to the US.

At this time, the Native Youth Movement (NYM) Vancouver feels it necessary to state its position in regards to this case.

Anna Mae has been an inspiration and example to our movement for many years. She symbolized the warrior spirit and our people’s determination to resist. This is also the legacy of the American Indian Movement, to which she belonged.

It was because of this spirit that AIM was targeted by the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTEL-PRO) in the early 1970’s, and why so many AIM members in South Dakota were killed during this period, including Anna Mae Aquash.

If, as alleged, her killing was ordered by AIM’s leadership (under the pretext she was an informant), those ultimately responsible for her death are US government officials, including the FBI – for it was under their orders that a deadly counter-insurgency campaign was waged against AIM, which included portraying genuine movement members as informants.

This strategy was used to create paranoia and division, to turn members against one another (just as the FBI had done against the Black Panther Party). Anna Mae was herself the target of an FBI “bad jacket”. FBI agents had threatened to kill her in the year prior to her death. When her body was found, despite being on an FBI wanted list, agents had her hands cut off for fingerprint analysis. During the first autopsy, the government coroner determined the cause of death to be exposure, somehow missing the bullet hole in the back of her head.

Leonard Peltier, we recall, was extradited from Vancouver in [1976] under false evidence provided to Canadian courts by the FBI. He was subsequently tried and convicted for the 1975 shoot-out at Oglala, South Dakota, in which two FBI agents were killed. During this same incident, the FBI shot and killed AIM member Joseph Stuntz Killsright.

A basic principle of any resistance movement is non-collaboration with our enemy. As Peltier recently stated in regards to the arrest of John Graham:

“When we talk of sovereignty, we must be willing to solve our own problems and not go running to the oppressor for relief . . . We have been and still are at odds with the most dangerous, well-funded, strongest military and political organization in the history of the world [the US government].”

We must therefore oppose the attempt to extradite John Graham to South Dakota by US authorities, and denounce the efforts by certain individuals in our own community to facilitate this process.

In particular, we must clarify that Kelly White, a local (Vancouver) Native radio show host who has conducted an ongoing campaign against John Graham, has never been a leader, member, or advisor to the NYM. Furthermore, NYM Vancouver does not consider information provided by Ms. White to be credible.

In conclusion, no member of NYM was involved in the conflicts of the 1970s. We weren’t there. We cannot say with certainty that John Graham did – or did not – kill Anna Mae. We have neither the information nor witnesses at our disposal to make such a decision.

What can be said is that Anna Mae Aquash, along with many others, died as a direct result of her commitment to the struggle for her people. She is an example of all we aspire to be as a resistance movement. She was a warrior, a veteran of the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee in 1973, a community worker who helped set up schools and camps. She promoted traditional culture and spirituality. She gave her life for us, knowing all along the consequences. That is why she is called a Brave-Hearted Woman.

Whatever the result of any trials conducted in the court rooms of our oppressor – the same ones’ ultimately responsible for Anna Mae’s death – we will continue to advance in our movement towards victory, inspired by her memory and her spirit.

Native Youth Movement
Vancouver Chapter

We Are Wolves Not Sheep

Women with the Native Youth Movement of Vancouver show support for Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Leonard Peltier and John Graham, outside the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver (March 1, 2004)

Secwepemc NYM Announces Official Support for John Graham

Unceded Secwepemc Territory, nymcommunications(at)hotmail.com

February 20, 2005

Secwepemc Native Youth Movement stands with our Brother John Graham.

Secwepemc NYM believes that no Indian should be forced into the white man’s courts or prisons. The white man has come here to our Land and invaded every aspect of our lives. They have waged war on us and that has forced us to fight back and resist their invasion and forced assimilation. When we fight for the freedom of our People we have always been criminalized and thrown in their prisons. This is not new and this will keep on happening until we are Free.

To our brother John Graham, keep on fighting, stay strong.

Warriors Unite. Free Leonard Peltier.

In the Spirit of Resistance,
Secwepemc Native Youth Movement

NYM press release March 2007

unceded Coast Salish Territory
nymchapter604(at)hotmail.com

March 30, 2007

Harriet Nahanee, a 73 year old Pacheedaht Grandmother, Elder, and Warrior passed away on February 24, 2007, in the manner that she lived her life. Standing strong defending Our Land and Our People. She died from pneumonia and undiagnosed lung cancer after serving 2 weeks in prison for her part in the 2006 blockade to defend Eagle Bluff, from the expansion of the Sea to Sky Highway, on her husband’s Skwxwu7mesh territory. The highway expansion is a key development project for the corrupt Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics.

In her lifetime, Harriet Nahanee was a loyal, supporter of AIM Warrior, Leonard Peltier, who was extradited from Vancouver in 1976, and convicted of the murder of 2 FBI agents. AIM had been actively supportive in the Lakota struggle to defend their communities in Pine Ridge from the FBI instigated war for the uranium in the Sacred Black Hills. The 2 FBI agents died in 1975 in a gunfight they started against an AIM family style camp. Since Leonard Peltier’s conviction, the truth has come out that the FBI fabricated testimony and evidence to extradite and convict Leonard Peltier of these murders.

Today, the FBI is attempting to pin Anna Mae’s murder on her trusted friend and comrade, former AIM member and Warrior John Graham. When Anna Mae’s body was found, the FBI attempted to cover-up her murder, but failed when a 2nd independent autopsy made the discovery of a bullet lodged in her head. Since that time, the FBI has worked hard over the years to pin Anna Mae’s murder on her own organization, AIM.

Since John Graham’s arrest in Vancouver in December 2003, for the 1st degree murder of Anna Mae, Harriet Nahanee, has stood by John through his 4 years of living under house arrest, and through his 2005 Extradition hearing that was approved. During Harriet’s last days in the hospital before she passed away, her close friend Jennifer Wade of Amnesty International visited her. Her last words to Jennifer were about her biggest concerns. First she brought up her 78 year old Eagle Bluff Comrade Betty Krawczyk, who is currently serving a 9-15 month sentence for her part in the blockade. Then Harriet brought up John Graham and his May 17, 2007 extradition appeal. Jennifer Wade reassured her that John’s loved ones, his supporters, and his lawyers would work hard to fight John’s extradition.

On behalf of Harriet Nahanee, a strong Pacheedaht Elder, who has passed away standing up for Our People, we ask that people look at the facts in this murder case, and to stand strong beside John Graham. This murder case has nothing to do with delivering justice for Anna Mae, and is only a part of the FBI smear campaign that is set out to destroy any pride Natives may have about the contributions made to Our People by the American Indian Movement.

All My Relations.

Vancouver Native Youth Movement.

Free John Graham
Supreme Court set to decide Graham’s extradition fate

By Chusia Graham
Common Ground
September 2007

John Graham with his daughters: Naneek (left) and Chusia (right)

In the ‘70s, traditional Lakota people opposed the leasing and selling off of reservation lands for mining operations. While the Elders of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation cried out for help to protect the Lakota’s sacred ground and traditional way of life, which was in jeopardy, the US government supported and funded the tribal government, headed by Richard Wilson who favoured uranium mining. It was clear that violence would be applied against any opposition; the FBI was supporting the tribal police with weapons and training.

On June 26, 1975, a shoot-out took place at Pine Ridge, resulting in the deaths of two FBI agents and one Native American man. Based on fabricated evidence, Leonard Peltier, a citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota Nations, was extradited from Canada for the murder of the two FBI agents. The primary evidence against Leonard was provided by Myrtle Poor Bear, who, according to some sources, was mentally unstable and apparently tricked into it. She had never met Leonard Peltier.

Fast forward to 2003 when John Graham, a citizen of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations of the Yukon, Canada and a Canadian citizen, along with co-accused Arlo Looking Cloud, is charged with the 28-year-old murder of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Anna Mae Pictou. Graham and Pictou were friends and both had been involved in the struggle for Native rights. At the time of his arrest, John had been living in Vancouver for several years. Arlo Looking Cloud was convicted of first degree murder in a trial that lasted three days (The same judge is assigned for John Graham’s trial). Twenty-three witnesses were called by the prosecution, and one for the defence. One prosecution witness admitted she was paid $43,000 to cooperate with the FBI. Her testimony was mainly focused on Leonard Peltier’s case. The purpose of her testimony was to have on record that Leonard Peltier had confessed to killing two FBI agents in a shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Reservation on June 26, 1975. Leonard Peltier has always maintained his innocence.

The evidence in John Graham’s case is hearsay and an attack on the First Nations People. Having lied and fabricated evidence in the past (with Leonard Peltier), the US government should have to provide real evidence – forensic, date of death, credible witnesses (vs. hearsay or paid-off individuals) before any citizen of Canada is handed over to the US, ever again. This is not just a First Nations issue; it is everybody’s issue because the laws are set up to accommodate the US. All a willing (paid-off) person has to say is that they heard you did it and that constitutes enough “evidence” to extradite someone. In fact, all that is needed for the extradition to occur is a description of you.

With respect for Anna Mae Aquash and the 65 others who died in the ‘70s at Pine Ridge, a full, private investigation needs to happen. What happened at Pine Ridge must be recognized as a massacre. The rumour accusing Anna Mae Aquash of being an FBI informant originated with the intention of separating American Indian Movement (AIM) members and turning them against each other. Another rumour circulated that caused an even larger split: “Native man kills native women.” The struggle and separation grew larger and created a distraction.

On June 26, 2007, the BC Supreme Court denied John’s extradition appeal. At the same time, Cash Minerals Ltd. released a report about the amount of uranium found in the Yukon, where John Graham was born and raised. Cash Minerals is a Canadian-based company focused on uranium exploration in the Yukon Territory. The company released a report about its 2007 exploration program in the Yukon. As of June 26, 2007, Cash Minerals and joint-venture partner Mega Uranium Ltd. had drilled more than 4,000 meters, of which 2,700 meters were drilled at the Odie property, one of 19 properties under the Yukon Uranium project. Uranium mining contributes to the destruction of the planet. The killing of Anna Mae Aquash and the 65 others was to turn us against each other and start the finger pointing.

We are currently asking for permission to be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada. We are sitting in a position of not knowing if Canada will extradite another innocent man or not. We are preparing for the worst, which is extradition to South Dakota. We need all the help, support and interest that we can get.

John Graham is a political prisoner. I will fight until John Graham, my dad, is free to live his life in peace and to exercise his right to protect Mother Earth.

The John Graham Defense Committee would appreciate the public’s support in writing letters to government on behalf of John. It would also welcome volunteers and talent for a proposed fundraiser.

More info at http://www.grahamdefense.org
email: grahamdefense(at)hotmail

Opening song from the 32nd annual Prison Justice Day, August 10, 2007 at Trout Lake Park, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory

Excerpts from the article ‘Canadian woman killed in U.S., Bid to have Indian’s death probed fail’ from the Globe and Mail, May 14, 1976

Efforts to have the Canadian Government request an investigation into the handling of the case of a murdered Canadian Indian in the United States have so far been unsuccessful, Gloria George, president of the Native Council of Canada, said yesterday.

The Native Council and five other Canadian organizations have been pressing the External Affairs Department to ask Washington for a probe into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of an autopsy and investigation into the death of Anna Mae Aquash, a Micmac from Antigonish, N.S.

Miss Aquash, belived to be 25 was found dead Feb. 24 by a rancher on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the scene of the 1973 Indian occupation of Wounded Knee and the subsequent slaying of two FBI agents last June.

During an autopsy under the supervision of the FBI, Miss Aquash’s hands were severed and sent away for fingerprints and cause of death was listed as exposure although an autopsy conducted at the insistence of friends turned up a bullet in her head.

Miss Aquash was a close friend of Dennis Banks, a leader of the American Indian Movement, who is being sought by U.S. authorities in the slaying of the two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Mrs. George said pressure for an investigation came because some people at Wounded Knee think she [Aquash] may have been killed by FBI agents or Bureau of Indian Affairs police because of her involvement with AIM members.

[…] Duke Redbird, vice president of the Native Council said that Canadian groups are upset at the “discrepancy in reported causes of death, the mutilation of her body and the disrespect shown her family, who were not informed of her death for nine days.” […]

About the Afterword to the book, ‘The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash’

by M.Gouldhawke, August 2020

Mary Lafford, one of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash’s sisters, wrote the afterword to the 1978 book The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash, by Johanna Brand.

In the afterword, Lafford wrote that she believed the person or persons involved in her sister’s murder may be connected with the FBI, either directly or indirectly, and that their identities may never be found. Given how powerful the FBI are, Lafford said, Pictou Aquash couldn’t have hurt them, so killing her was the result of ignorance on the part of her killers.

Lafford wrote that Pictou Aquash was an educated person who also had common sense, and that she worked for the American Indian Movement out of dedication, not out of interest in publicity or headlines. Lafford stated that “the real Indian people” like her sister should be in control of the movement.

Lafford wrote that she had learned from all the things that her sister had told her, and that the same things that were then happening in South Dakota would happen in Canada.

In a separate Rolling Stone magazine article from 1977, Lafford was quoted as saying that her sister Pictou Aquash had called her on the phone in late 1975 and spoken to her in the Mi’kmaq language in order to subvert police surveillance.

Lafford explained that Pictou Aquash said the FBI thought she had information on who killed the two FBI agents on Pine Ridge in June of 1975, that they would arrest her again, and sooner or later she would be shot, so she asked Lafford to raise her children if anything should happen to her.

In a letter written to her other sister Rebecca Julian, as quoted in Brand’s book, Pictou Aquash wrote, “South Dakota is a very racist state, I am sure I will be sent up even though it is my first arrest… I knew that it would come… My efforts to raise the consciousness of whites that are so against Indians here in the United States were bound to be stopped by the FBI…”

Anna Mae Pictou Aquash’s History of Resistance (actions and activities she took part in)

1969
– Aquash is arrested in Boston after jumping onto a group of police when they arrested a friend of hers who was assaulted at a bar.

1970
– Boston Indian Council and AIM demonstration against Mayflower II, Thanksgiving Day.

1972
– Trail of Broken Treaties leading to occupation of Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington DC.

1973
– Armed liberation of Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge, Lakota territory

1974
– Training in Karate at AIM gym.
– Armed re-occupation of Anicinabe Park in Kenora, Ontario, by the Ojibway Warriors Society.
– Research, teaching and creating programs for the Red Schoolhouse, AIM Survival School in St. Paul, Minnesota.
– Re-organization of Los Angeles AIM chapter, fundraising and expulsion from office of then suspected FBI informant Douglass Durham (later confirmed).

1975
– Armed occupation of religious building in Gresham, Wisconsin, by Menominee Warrior Society.
– Farmington, New Mexico, AIM convention related to racist murders of Navajos.
– Security and health for traditionalists at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Lakota territory.

John Graham’s history of resistance (actions and activities he took part in)

Early 1970s
– Beothuck patrol by the Native Alliance for Red Power, monitoring police harassment of Natives in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

1974
– Native Peoples’ Caravan to Ottawa and occupation of abandoned Carbide Mill (Native Peoples’ Embassy).
– Mohawk warriors armed re-occupation of Ganienkeh territory in New York State.

1975
– Security at Farmington, New Mexico, AIM convention related to racist murders of Navajos.
– Security and safe transportation for traditionalists at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Lakota territory.

1980
– Caravan for Survival from Regina to uranium boomtown, La Ronge, Saskatchewan, to protest Key Lake uranium mine government board of inquiry.

1981
– Anna Mae Aquash Survival Camp near Pinehouse, Saskatchewan, on Key Lake road to stop the development of what became the world’s largest uranium mine (John was instrumental in the founding and naming of the camp).

1983-1984
– Red Peoples Long Walk from Victoria to Ottawa and Akwesasne for survival and against assimilation.
– European speaking tour against uranium mining.