Sign the petition to support William Paul and Paul MacDonald. It reads as follows:
Whereas, police officers belonging to the Cape Breton Regional Police Service (CBRPS) raided the premises of Sully’s Trading Post and Belly Busters Pizza & Donair on the unceded Mi’kmaw lands of Membertou First Nation on December 13th, 2022 and unlawfully seized Indigenous tobacco products belonging to Mr. William Paul and Mr. Paul MacDonald, members of the Membertou First Nation;
And Whereas, all members of Membertou First Nation have a constitutionally protected Aboriginal and Treaty Right to trade in tobacco on unceded Mi’kmaw lands;
And Whereas, this raid and seizure of tobacco products by the CBRPS was carried out in violation of sections 87, 88, and 89 of the Indian Act, which is a Federal law which protects Indians from taxation, provincial laws, and the seizure and removal of their property from lands reserved for Indians;
We the undersigned, demand of Membertou First Nation Chief and Council that the CBRPS’s policing agreement with Membertou First Nation be immediately terminated and not resumed until such a time as (1) the seized tobacco products belonging to Mr. William Paul and Mr. Paul MacDonald have been retuned to them by the CBRPS and (2) the leadership of the CBRPS has undergone cultural competency training to learn about Mi’kmaq Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and their protection by Section 25 and 35 of the Canadian Constitution and (3) publicly apologized to Mr. Paul and Mr. MacDonald for their actions.