Speeches from the 2008 Vancouver Prison Justice Day Rally
Stark Raven Media Collective
This rally was held on August 10, 2008 at the Claire Culhane Memorial Bench at Trout Lake Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Filis Iverson, Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee Organizer, provides an introduction to each of the speakers.
1. Betty Krawczyk is an author, environmental activist, and mayoral candidate in Vancouver who has spent time in jail for protesting the destruction of old growth forest. She speaks about the late Harriet Nahanee. Harriet was a 71-year-old native elder who died of pneumonia last year after serving time in the Surrey Women's Pre-Trial Centre. She had been sentenced to 9 days in jail after her original arrest for protesting the destruction of Eagle Ridge Bluffs - a sensitive ecological area being turned into a highway for the 2010 Olympics.
2. Eddie Rouse is a lifer who works with the West Coast Prison Justice Society and the New Page Foundation. Eddie has been active supporting prisoners inside and outside for many years. Eddie talks about the Prison Justice Day movement and the conditions causing prisoner deaths.
3. Adriaan de Vries is the director of the Prison Outreach Program at the BC Persons With AIDS Society. He supports prisoners who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. Adriaan talks about the need for medical care and HIV/AIDS education inside prisons.
4. Seis'lom is from the Lil'Wat First Nation. He was instrumental in helping native prisoners in the 1980's to win the right to practice native spirituality inside prisons. He speaks about the link between native residential schools and prisons.
5. Larry Howett is a former prisoner who supports prisoners through his work with L.I.N.C. (Long-term Inmates Now in the Community). Larry talks about the increasing number of violent incidents inside Matsqui prison and the political climate which is causing this unrest.
6. (no intro from Filis) Asia (pronounced Asha) Czapska works with Justice for Girls, an organization that supports girls under 19 that are low income and homeless. (www.justiceforgirls.org) The organization used to do outreach work with girls inside the Burnaby Youth Correctional Centre to educate them about their rights. Last year, Justice For Girls discovered that girls were being given breast and pelvic exams during psychological assessments. After complaining to the Ministry of Public Safety, Justice for Girls was banned from the prison.
========================================== STARK RAVEN MEDIA COLLECTIVE A closer look at prisons & criminalization ==========================================
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