A confrontation erupted outside the Assembly of First Nations in Vancouver, where chiefs from Indigenous communities across the country gathered to elect a national chief.
The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is reporting the confrontation began when Ivy Kennedy took exception to an anti-Trans Mountain pipeline protester writing “Our colonisers love Perry” on National Chief Perry Bellegarde’s campaign T-shirts.
Bellegarde, who was re-elected Wednesday, has been criticized during the campaign for being too cozy to the Canadian government.
Video of the incident shows Kennedy and the protester, later identified as Kiwis Hamilton, both grabbing on the T-shirt and arguing while several bystanders look on.
“We’re supposed to have respect for one another,” Kennedy says at one point in the video.
Then Hamilton responds with: “Well if you had respect for us, you wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing right now.”
Eventually, Kennedy leaves the area and Hamilton criticizes her for what had just happened.
“Freedom of speech is a thing, especially when I’m on my own land,” he says. “Somebody should never come up and just try and take something from me because they believe it’s right.”
Hamilton says he was gifted the shirts from Bellegarde’s campaign team.
“I was just making sure that when I wear them that they look good and they actually represent what I believe about Perry Bellegarde,” he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
A confrontation took place today in Vancouver | APTN NewsA confrontation took place Tuesday in Vancouver where chiefs and proxies are gathered to elect a national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. A number of members from Camp Cloud, an anti-Trans Mountain pipeline expansion group, set up in nearby Burnaby were at the AFN assembly. A problem started when the sister of incumbent Perry Bellegarde, Ivy Kennedy, spotted a member of Camp Cloud, Kiwis Hamilton, defacing her brother’s campaign t-shirts.
Posted by APTN National News on Tuesday, 24 July 2018
