Innu protesters miss Dutch minister

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A recent Native protest against low-level bombing in Labrador did not quite work out according to plan.

A group of about 50 Innu from Shesatsui broke through the gates around Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay and went out on the runway to show visiting Dutch Minister of Defense A.L. ter Beek they were fed up with the low-level bombing runs.

But the group missed the minister about two hours, said base spokesman Lieut. Luc Plourde.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "The Innu apparently had an agenda."

The protesters walked across the runway and parked themselves under an F-16 fighter, said Innu spokesman Daniel Ashini. Some of the protesters even marked up the jets with slogans like "This is Innu Land." "Dutch air force go home."

"We wanted to welcome him in our own way and show him that we were strongly opposed to the illegal use of our airspace their air force. We made it quite clear that the Innu have not given up their opposition and their struggle to see an end to the military training that is conducted illegally here."

Once on the runway, however, the group of protesters were almost immediately set upon military police, Ashini said.

"We were on the runways, the Dutch F-16s, for about one hour before they took us away. It took the RCMP and the military police a long time before they could arrest us and take us to the buses. Nobody was going to be co-operative and walk to the buses."

The low-level flights create havoc for both humans and wildlife in the bush, Ashini said.

"The noises that these war machines create are very, very scary," Ashini said. "A lot of people have referred to these kinds of things as though they were in a tranquil, peaceful church praying and all of a sudden somebody blasted a shotgun from behind your ears."

The Innu also have studies showing detrimental effects of low-level flights on wildlife. Animals such as foxes often eat their young when exposed to jet fighters flying overhead.

The protesters were taken to the RCMP detachment in Goose Bay, an RCMP spokesman said. Some 18 women, 13 men and four young offenders were charged with mischief. They are scheduled to appear in court Oct. 26.