Gitsegukla Chief Willie Blackwater responds to sexual harassment human rights complaints and, along with Gitxsan Spirit president William Mathews and Gitxsan hereditary Chief Gilbert Johnson, on what they see as a local failure of residential school healing efforts.
Blackwater told The Interior News that he felt like what happened with residential school, silence was damaging the healing process. He said he wanted a more community-based solution, with residential school survivors more involved.
Blackwater also explained the inclusion of the sexual harassment case in his press release as proof that there was a conspiracy to defame him that led to his not being told about an invitation for him to attend the government of Canada’s official residential schools apology.
Read the full story and interviews in the June 1 edition of The Interior News.
The following is the press release as received via email without changes to grammar or syntax, with two names withheld for legal purposes:
Blackwater et. al. and Gitxsan Spirit: Press Release:
Mav 24, 2016: Re. Indian Residential School Reconciliation I TRC:
Willie Blackwater and Gilbert Johnson are 2 of the initial 18 plaintiffs of the historical Indian Residential School litigation court case; Blackwater et. at. vs Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, United Church of Canada and named employees of Alberni Indian Residential School. William Matthews is a member of the Gitxsan Spirit; a societal registered Indian Residential School organization within the Gitxsan Nation.
Past Influences: Willie Blackwater learnt the authentic meaning of this when Gitsegukla First Nation had a recent Governance training facilitated by Matt Vickers; as Mr. Vickers started off the training explaining how this affects all aspects of Gitsegukla Band Council’s decision making process due to unaddressed IRS negative experiences.
The historical and precedent setting Blackwater et. al. court case ended the decades of silence pertinent to the sexual and physical abuse atrocities inflicted on First Nation Children throughout Canada. This press release is to once again end the silence and speak on behalf of Blackwater et. al. and the Indian Residential School Survivors right across Canada of our Truth in regards to “Reconciliation” from a survivor perspective.
The Blackwater et. al. historical IRS civil litigation court case concluded around 2000-2001. Named plaintiff Willie Blackwater has since had attempts of his character defamed; had his professional credibility and employment jeopardized and/or terminated. The following are sequences of events that happened in this regard.
Sto’lo Nation Health Society (SNHS): While Willie Blackwater had been the Health Services Supervisor at Sto’lo Nation Health; a female Indian Residential School Survivor [NAME 1 WITHHELD BY INTERIOR NEWS] manipulated 6 Sto’lo Health Services employees to file a Sexual Harassment allegation against Willie due to him restructuring the Health programs to align more towards accountability and transparency. Due diligence had not been adhered to; because the internal investigation process in this regard had not been implemented. Executive Director, Willy Hall utilized his authority; he did not consult with Sto’lo Nation – Health Director-Elizabeth Point about this allegation, instead he chose to immediately terminate Willie Blackwater.
Kla-how-eya Aboriginal Centre of SACS (KAC-SACS): Willie Blackwater left his employment with Sto’lo Nation Health in silence. Willie immediately found employment with KAC-SACS as an Executive Director. Willie again commence with his accountability and transparency process in Kla-how-eya and unknown to him; [NAME 1 WITHHELD BY INTERIOR NEWS] had a friend and a IRS survivor [NAME 2 WITHHELD BY INTERIOR NEWS] employed by Kla-how-eya; [NAME 1 WITHHELD BY INTERIOR NEWS] once again manipulated [NAME 2 WITHHELD BY INTERIOR NEWS] to convince 2 other female employees to also file a sexual harassment allegation against Willie with her.
Kla-how-eya Aboriginal Centre of SACS-Board of Directors (KAC-SACS-BODs): In this case the KAC-SACS BODs implemented their due diligence by implementation of an in-depth independent internal investigation in this regard. The end conclusion of this investigation warranted that these allegations didn’t have sufficient evidence to support the allegations. This also in essence enabled Willie to continue with his employment with Kla-how-eya.
Human Rights: The three complainants from Kla-how-eya then filed a <span
