councilor.org
| Source | Jim Craven |
| Date | 99/05/31/15:23 |
| Greetings, It is our understanding that you are being asked to investigate Professor Jim Craven's use of Clark college email in terms of his activities supporting survivors of residential school abuse. As one of the groups working on this issue, and as a group that has worked with both Jim Craven and Kevin Annett for over a year, we feel we must comment on this case. In September 1998, Jim Craven posted a notice issued by Circle of Justice, a group of residential school survivors who had been working with Kevin Annett. In that notice, Jim stated: "I was contacted by the Circle of Justice on September 24th and told that Mr. Kevin Annett had been dismissed from the COJ on September 23rd. This was followed by faxes sent to me asking that I put this out on the Internet as no-one has access to the Internet and because the Circle of Justice feels that some things were put out on the net on which they had not voted and about which they had no knowledge." Whether or not the allegations Circle of Justice made against Kevin (that he was distributing their personal stories on the internet without their permission) are true is something we will never know. And you are not being asked to judge the substance of those allegations. What you are being asked to do is judge whether or not Jim Craven violated a code of ethics by using university email to distribute information relating to the Circle of Justice and Kevin Annett. The issue of intellectual property as it relates to indigenous people is a key issue internationally, with declarations on the rights of indigenous people to maintain control of intellectual use of their cultures, languages, and histories. It is recognized internationally that use of indigenous peoples' life experiences without their consent violates every recognizable code of ethics. Additionally, the allegations against Kevin Annett include charges that he had misrepresented himself in relation to the Circle of Justice for personal profit and gain. In his emails, Professor Craven attempted to address this very serious issue by giving Circle of Justice access to the internet, so that they could voice their concerns. As a group who was working with Kevin Annett prior to learning of the Circle of Justice's allegations, we are very grateful to Professor Craven for making these concerns known. Had he not done this, we would have continued to distribute information that the Circle of Justice alleges was, in part, misinformation, and also information released without consent of the indigenous people involved. When we became aware of these serious allegations, we informed Kevin Annett that we would be discontinuing distribution of his posts until he and Circle of Justice had helped us better understand what had happened. Kevin refused pointblank to assist in any investigation and then sent emails to a wide variety of international groups and listservs accusing us of participating in a coverup campaign, accusing us of collaborating with the RCMP to cover up abuses at residential schools. Shortly thereafter, he began a campaign to shut down Professor Craven's email. As a group that has been directly involved from the beginning, we find it ironic that Kevin Annett is accusing Professor Craven of misconduct and unethical behavior. Even if the allegations by Circle of Justice are untrue, Kevin Annett's use of University of BC email since that time has, in relation to spreading misinformation about our group, been profoundly unethical. (We would be happy to provide you with those emails if you should deem it useful.) In contrast to Kevin Annett's deliberate disinformation campaign, Professor Craven has, at every instance, urged concerned parties to directly contact Circle of Justice. He has never concealed any information and has offered to send copies of all correspondence to anyone who expressed interest. He has stated repeatedly that he has nothing to hide. We feel Professor Craven's use of Clark College email has been an appropriate vehicle for providing students and community groups with the opportunity to hear directly from native people concerned, with no personal profit or gain. Whatever Mr. Annett's reasons for pursuing this campaign against Jim Craven as vigorously as he has, we urge you to rule Professor Craven's use of Clark College email as a legitimate and ethical way of challenging academic abuse of power. If we can be of any assistance in the investigation, please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Joshua Goldberg Co-founder, Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty (S.I.S.I.S.) :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho