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ᑖᓂᓯ  ᓂᐚᐦᑰᒫᑲᓇᐠ  ᐁᑿ  ᓂᑑᑌᒼᑎᐠ᙮ 

tânisi niwâhkômâkanak êkwa nitôtêmtik,

Hello my friends and relatives,

Over the last couple years, IndigiNews reporter Aaron Hemens has been covering ongoing colonial court cases for Secwepemc land defenders opposing resource extraction on their homelands.

Recently, Aaron wrote a story about the Tiny House Warriors (Tiny House Warriors found guilty of all charges related to altercations at TMX worksite).

I’m always happy when Aaron reports on court stories, because they’re important, and I don’t feel like I would understand the situation without his careful and considerate reporting. But when I asked him how he finds court reporting, he told me that he finds it exhausting.

“The days are long, and you always feel completely drained by the end of it,” he said.

"But I don't mind going to court and covering big cases such as this one. It's important to be a witness to the colonial court system and documenting their treatment towards Indigenous peoples.”

Photo by Aaron Hemens

Understanding how tiring it is for him to do these kinds of stories makes me even more grateful for Aaron's time and energy on these matters.

I asked him what the most interesting part of covering this story was, Aaron spoke about the courtroom supporters of the Tiny House Warriors who refused to stand when the judge entered the courtroom.

“No matter how many times the sheriffs, courtroom clerks and the judge herself demanded that supporters stand, supporters remained grounded and steadfast in not doing so. It takes a lot of courage and conviction to deny the colonial court system the honour that they heavily insist on receiving from people,” he said.

Aaron described the situation in the courtroom as “tense,” and said Judge Bennett called their actions “interfering with the administration of justice.”

“I don't see it as ‘interfering with the administration of justice,’ he said, “but rather Indigenous people exercising their right to refuse to honour a system that has -- and continues to -- violently oppress them.”

You can read more of Aaron's reporting on the Tiny House Warrior here.

ᑮᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᓇᐘᐤ

Kînanâskomitinawaw

I am grateful for all of you,

Aunty Eden

Eden Fineday is a nêhiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) from Sweetgrass First Nation, Treaty 6 territory and the publisher of IndigiNews, an Indigenous-women-led journalism outlet. Eden and her colleagues at IndigiNews are leaders in trauma-informed journalism, prioritizing the cultural safety of staff and community members while decolonizing the practice of journalism. She is a grateful resident on the ancestral lands of the Tsawwassen First Nation.

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