Born With A Tooth supporters rally in Calgary

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Peigan Lonefighter Milton Born With A Tooth waved from behind the smoky window on the top floor of the Calgary Remand Centre to dozens of his supporters as they gathered below on a cold, windswept sidewalk in a Nov.8 protest. They chanted their greetings and their opposition to the justice system's decision not to allow bail to the Lonefighters Society leader.

Born With A Tooth led a standoff against government officials and the RCMP during the Lonefighters' attempt to divert the Oldman River in the last months of summer. In September he was charges with weapon offenses after shots were fired during the final days of the confrontation. The Peigan Native has been denied bail twice and remains locked up pending a Nov. 23 preliminary hearing.

"Milton is just a cog in the plunder of Native rights. To the government he is an economic, social and environmental prisoner," Ed Wolf, spokesman for the Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC), barked through a megaphone to the crowd of supporters and media braving the snow and chilly winds while the noon-hour lunch crowd hustled down Calgary's 6th Avenue.

"You have to ask why the provincial government is going to such lengths to keep him behind bars."

Born With A Tooth, who is shuffled between the Lethbridge and Calgary Remand Centers twice a week, has been incarcerated since his arrest in mid-September and according to the CCC is a "political prisoner" of the Alberta government.

"It is the coalition's position Milton is a political prisoner. Denying him bail in this instance is not only unjustified but unprecedented under Canadian law," Wolf maintained in a release handed out at the protest.

When questioned, Calgary city police officers who had the protest under surveillance would only say they were there "as a measure of crowd control" and were not observing "anyone in particular."

Merly Watz, CCC spokesperson, said "Milton is in the Calgary remand because he did not feel safe and comfortable in Lethbridge because of the amount of hostility there. He travels back and forth to meet his court dates.... but he should not in jail anywhere."

She said later that she had visited Born With A Tooth following the protest, which he had been allowed to watch. He was "very uplifted and appreciative of the support being shown."