Saskatchewan takes down protest camp

REGINA A months-old camp on the Saskatchewan legislature lawn where people had been protesting racial injustice and the disproportionate number of Indigenous children apprehended by child-welfare workers has been dismantled.

Protester Prescott Demas said Friday that he wasn’t surprised when authorities came to take down the tents around dawn.

“They do want us gone for Canada Day,” he said. “They want to kick the Aboriginals off their land again so that they can celebrate 151 years of cultural genocide and celebrate the land and the riches and the resources that are … provided for this government.”

A white teepee still remained with a fire burning inside. Demas said he has been told it needs to be taken down by Sunday at noon, but he has no plans to leave.

The protesters included the mother of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man who was killed by a farmer in 2016. She said the dismantling of the camp was peaceful.

A spokesman for Premier Scott Moe said the government respects everyone’s right to peaceful protest.

But Jim Billington said the camp violated a ban on overnight camping, burning wood and putting up signs in the park surrounding the legislature. He said the protesters had been told several times since March that they were breaking the law and were given an eviction notice on June 5.