Another Case Of Indigenous People Denouncing Kevin Annett

Here’s a case of a group of indigenous residential school victims and families who worked with Kevin Annett in 1998 and eventually realized that he was a danger to his cause. Read through their concerns and you will see evidence of the same pattern we have been seeing from Annett- taking money, slandering people who question him, and screwing-up evidence.

To those out there who still support Annett- think about it. Here we have a non-native man who has been denounced and asked to stop his ‘work’ by scores of native people- yet, he still continues the deception. It is time to stop enabling Annett from the damage he is doing and help the people who have been hurt begin their path of healing.

This is not about Annett, it is about all of the people who have been hurt…

You can find the original link here.

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Introduction:

We, the members of the group known as “The Circle of Justice” hereby give you notice that you are to cease any statements, implications or representations that you represent our group in any capacity or have any association with our group. We also hereby give you notice to cease the use of the name of The Circle of Justice or the name of any individual of the group in any association with you in any book, newspaper, on the internet, television or through any medium or in any conversations or representations with anyone.

We also give notice to you Kevin Annett to cease any and all fundraising in the name of the Circle of Justice and to turn over and account for any monies collected in the name of The Circle of Justice or when the name of The Circle of Justice was associated with your name in any way. We also demand that you turn over any and all materials in whatever form taken specifically through your interviews and other work with Survivors of the Canadian Residential Schools.

Bill of Particulars and Concerns:

As you well know, we of The Circle of Justice are firmly committed to justice for the Canadian Residential School Victims and indeed are committing to the cause of justice for all victims. With respect to Residential School Victims and in solidarity with all Victims of All Nations, we seek to have: facts uncovered; true stories told; lessons learned; Victims justly compensated; victimizers exposed and punished; true histories told and written; historical and present-day injustices and conditions of oppression exposed and recognized; educational curricula changed to tell the truth about various forms and instruments of oppression of First Nations Peoples and other Victims of Oppression; past and present forms and instruments of genocide recognized and eliminated; support systems for Victims suffering trauma from Residential School abuses and other forms of abuse.

Our missions and goals put us in conflict with very powerful and very ugly forces seeking the opposites of the above-mentioned missions. These forces are very determined, in positions of power and influence and possess resources we do not possess. Therefore, we act as a democratic collective because what each does, affects the security and welfare of the others as well as the name, credibility and effectiveness of the Circle of Justice as an organization. For these reasons, we take very seriously anything represented or done by any member of the Circle of Justice, in the name of The Circle of Justice that has not been democratically discussed, voted on, ratified and authorized by the organization. Further we take very seriously any allegations or documentation of unethical, disruptive, divisive or destructive behavior on the part of any member of The Circle of Justice especially when such behavior has been done in the name of The Circle of Justice as a whole.

You were asked to attend a meeting of The Circle of Justice on Wednesday, September 23, 1998. You said that you would attend that meeting but would be late. In fact, not only did you fail to attend that meeting, you failed to call and notify anyone waiting to see you that you would not attend and failed to contact the members for some time after that. You routinely sign your name on the internet as associated with the Circle of Justice but showed contempt and arrogance when requested to attend a meeting to discuss matters critical to the survival, effectiveness, missions and credibility of The Circle of Justice.

Had you attended that meeting on September 23, 1998, you would have been confronted with and given an opportunity to respond to the following allegations with supporting documentation:

a) That you have repeatedly in print and in word represented certain views, allegations and representations as having been voted on ratified and supported by The Ciricle of Justice that in fact had never been brought before the Circle of Justice or voted on or authorized by the Collective as positions of the Circle of Justice;

b) That you have repeatedly in print and word spread unproven gossip, conversations given in confidence for reasons of security, information, sources of information and ongoing investigations that could compromise and has compromised First Nations activists and certain struggles and activities;

c) That you have repeatedly in print and in word, slandered and libelled, without evidence, trusted and dedicated First Nations activists (who dared to disagree with you or pose some penetrating and tough questions) with summarily-declared labels like”RCMP agents” or “The Eyes and Ears of the RCMP” or “Government-paid stooges” and with no regard to the damages done to them personally or to the struggles of which they have been trusted and effective instruments;

d) That you have summarily and for purposes of self-promotion, assigned to yourself and used in print and in word non-existent titles like “Advisor”, Chief Researcher” (we have not seen even one piece of your research), “Chief Expert Witness to the Vancouver Tribunal” and others that were neither authorized nor voted on and ratified by the Circle of Justice;

e) That you have summarily and without authorization or vote/ratification by the Circle of Justice, using The Circle of Justice as your authority and base, declared for yourself self-conducted and self-declared supposed missions with unstated goals and objectives to organizations like Amnesty International in London;

f) That you have in word and print designated yourself as the sole contact person for raising monies to support the work of The Circle of Justice and given no accounting or release to the Circle of Justice, certain donations known to have been specifically raised and designated for use by the Circle of Justice as a whole;

g) That you have demanded of others to release to you and not others of the Circle of Justice, tapes, personal testimonies and other materials associated with abuses of Residential School Vicitms that were not properly released for general use by those who had them in their possession and, when asked the same of you, for tapes and other materials of Residential School Abuse Victims in your possession, you have delayed and obstructed release of those materials back to those who have legitimately requested them and suffer daily wondering how they might be used by you;

h) That in print and in word you have raised monies designated to send Victims of Residential School Abuse to Geneva, given no notice that you, a non-victim of Residential School Abuse planned to use some of the monies to send yourself, and that you have conflicting accounts of the actual amounts raised and given no actual accounting of monies raised, by whom they were donated and how many Victims could be sent to give representations to UN bodies about Canadian Residential School Abuse and Genocide in Canada;

i) That in print and in word, you have released the names of Circle of Justice Members and allies, and sensitive and confidential conversations that could compromise the security and welfare of others if released, without authorization or vote by The Circle of Justice;

j) That you have sought inside and sensitive information from Residential School Victims and their allies and given no sensitive and needed information in your possession in return, in order to inflate an image and public perception of your own degree and depth of involvement in the Circle of Justice and various struggles and investigations;

k) That members of The Circle of Justice have left the Collective and given as their reason, problems with what they considered to be opportunism, self-promotion, duplicity and disruptions on your part;

It is our honest opinion, formed on the bais of evidence and without malice, that the above allegations are warranted and/or have enought merit that we have no choice but to act. We believe that you sensed what the meeting on September 23, 1998 was to be about–to present and give you an opportunity to attempt to rebut these charges–and we know that you made several calls to attempt to find out what the meeting was to be about, and sensing the possibilities, simply summarily avoided hearing and answering these charges after first promising that you would attend the meeting.

We invite you at any time to answer these allegations in writing and we will acknowledge any allegations found not to be substantiated, but in as much as so much is on the line and our work and credibility and membership are suffering as a result of these allegations, we have no choice but to act based on our opinion that you have been aprised/are aware of these allegations and have chosen to repond not by attending a meeting to answer them or with counter-evidence, but rather with slander and accusations against anyone who dared raise them with you and invite responses from you.

Signed:

Amy Talio, Intermim President
Jim Belcourt, Interim Treasurer
Caroline Nelson
Irene Starr
Ethel Wilson
Dennis Talio
William Quinn
Sterling Talio
Rita Blind