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Funds needed! G20 defendant and Indigenous political prisoner Ryan Rainville still behind bars

by Friends and Supporters of Ryan Rainville





FUNDRAISING REQUEST: There is an urgent need for defence-related funds for Ryan by next week. You can mail cheques to: No One Is Illegal-Toronto, 90C Beverley Street, Toronto, M5T 1Y1. Please be sure to indicate “Ryan Rainville” in the memo. You can also make a secure donation online through Paypal here: http://bit.ly/cIC7Qf. Please be sure to send an email to nooneisillegal@riseup.net and let us know you have donated and what amount.

Tuesday October 26, Mississauga New Credit –

Today on Tuesday October 26, Ryan Rainville appeared in an Ontario Superior Court to argue for his release on bail. The Judge adjourned the application for Ryan to be released to a First Nations Bail Program citing ‘inadequate supervision’. In considering Ryan’s bail application, the judge also did not take into account Gladue factors, which forces the judicial system to consider the systemic marginalization and over-incarceration of Indigenous people as result of colonialism and poverty.

Ryan is a young Indigenous man from the Sakimay Nation and is charged with several unfounded charges stemming from June demonstrations against the G20 in Toronto. Ryan has been imprisoned since August 5 when he was arrested at his home in Waterloo, and has since been denied bail once before in September. While targeting strong voices of dissent is part of the state’s desired culture of fear, the repression and attempted silencing of Indigenous resistance is part of the ongoing legacy of criminalization and colonization for 500 years across Turtle Island.

According to Indigenous supporters of Ryan:

“Ryan has been strong in his denouncements of injustice and has spoken out without fear. He is honest, humble and respectful toward his family and people around him. He has also honoured his role as a man in the community by standing beside Indigenous women when we needed support. As native people, our bodies and our minds are constantly under attack from the state. Their power rests on our degradation, and their violent exploitation of the land and water feeds and profits the colonization of every poor and oppressed person.

There is nothing new or unusual about Indigenous people - whether Haudenoshonee or Mapuche, Anishinaabe or Palestinian - being targeted, violated and locked up under racist, classist and sexist guises of "law and order" or "justice". We denounce the ongoing state repression of all people resisting the austerity measures which are designed to force our relations, friends and allies into enslavement to a faltering system, to assimilate those of us coerced into submission, and exterminate those of us who refuse to bend to colonial terms.

Freedom for all prisoners and detainees, including the Tamil women and children still held behind the walls of a detention centre, and who are now subjected to the same four walls which face Ryan.” Ryan appears in court again on Thursday November 4th at 9:30 am at 361 University Avenue. Ryan’s supporters are requesting people to attend court on Thursday morning to show their support for Ryan and for all who are being targeted by the state.

For more information please contact: thesheelephant@yahoo.com or mcorbiere@hotmail.com or hwalia8@gmail.com