4 — Sunday, January 26, 1992 — North Shore News Spain Says it’s sorry aiter all these years | AFTER TWO weeks of searching through Caribbean waters, Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd, with a dozen native British Columbians on board, had failed in its effort to in- tercept the replicas of the three most famous ships in his- tory. Just 20 minutes before the Sea Shepherd caught up with them, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria had reached the safety of a marina in a port called Puerto Del Rey, not far from San Juan, where they were under the protec- tion of the U.S. Coast Guard. Captain Watson had had no choice but to turn away, taking his ship up the coast of Puerto Rico to San Juan so that those who wanted to leave — like me and my lady cameraman — could catch planes. We were a dejected lot, to say the least, as we glided into harbor in oily darkness, and sought out the old wharf where we'd docked before. As soon as we were ashore, a few of us headed disgruntedly for the nearest bar. More responsibly, the three main leaders of the protest, Wet’Suwet'en chief Ron George, who was also president of the Native Council of Canada, Wii Seeks, a hereditary Gitksan chief, and Gordon Sebastian, a Wet’Suwet'en lawyer, made the best of the situation by arranging to meet the Spanish consulate the next day to discuss an apology. I didn’t think that was hard news, however, so I was going to leave, That is, until Art Loring, Wing-Chief of the Eagle Clan, decided, along with Wet’Suwet’en cousins Ron and Lloyd Austin, rather late that night, to seize the Santa Maria the next morning... We were a bleary-looking lot as we squeezed into two taxis at San Bob Hunter STRICTLY PERSONAL Juan’s Pier $ at 7 a.m. to begin the hour-long run back along the coast to Puerto Del Rey. Art was wearing his bear-claw necklace and a headband around his long black hair, looking every inch the warrior. Ron and Lloyd were snoring spectacularly. By rights, from the moment we got to the marina, this particular protest should have been over. There was a barred iron gate and a guard. It was a private, obviously ex- pensive club, But for some strange reason — it might have been my yachting whites — the guard smil- ed and waved us through. A golf-cart-type dock shuttle showed up immediately. The pret- ty driver asked our destination. | Separate yourself from the ordinary! J. Collins is having a January fumiture sale, Sur fen so are a tot of other stores . but aren't solitg ; All sales offer you savings. 7] j Our sale offers you savings on the things you want. Which proves that all sales are not equal. JANUARY FURNITURE SALE SAVE UP TO 50% ——= Now Two Big Locations CA‘IADA‘’S LARGEST THOMASVILLE GALLERY lL Oot $ THOMASVILLE GALLERY 685-3414 1080 Mainland Street Vancouver, B.C. Main Floor The Yale Town Gatieria Bldg. 435-5566 4240 Mandor Street Burnaby, B.C. (Half a block west of Sheraton Villa Hote!) the good stuff. told ker the Columbus ships. And off we hummed, chortling merrily, while Art, Lloyd end Ron un- packed their feathers, drums, makeup and a talking stick. Moments later, along with a Sea Shepherd supporter, Jimmy Lebl- ing, the warriors scrambled on board the Santa Maria. Art pounded his talking stick on the foredeck to get the attention of the sleepy Spanish crew, and announced: ‘‘We are seizing this ship until wrongs have been righted. We’re not gonna leave.” Let us just say that Christopher Columbus would not have known what to make of this scene: three unarmed Indians ‘‘seizing’’ the Sania Maria from a couple of dozen burly Spanish sailors, whose only response, apart from getting out their cameras, was to call the cops. The cops arrived in force. Over the next four hours, I counted at least three dozen uniformed Puer- to Rico police on the dock, all brandishing truncheons. Later I was to learn that almost all of the rest of the crowd that gathered — at least as mariy peo- ple again —- were plainclothesmen while snipers, explosives experts and divers had been deployed out of sight ait around the marina. Yet no one faid a hand on the protesters, or even told them to leave, as though the war paint and feathers and drums were casting some kind of spell. The presence of our TV camera might just have been a factor, too, of course — although by the time the Spanish consulate and the hereditary chiefs arrived, having changed their meeting from “a PREVIA LE 4wWD Fully optioned, as-new condition. "30 VOYAGER Fully LE ned, as-new condition. downtown San Juan to Puerto Del Rey, the dock was crawling with so many cameramen and reporte:s that there was hardly any room io stand. A meeting was organized on board the Santa Maria. After half an hour, to nearly everyone’s utter astonishment, the Spanish consulate accepted a document handed to him by the chiefs, which included a line about Spain apologizing for ‘‘500 years of oppression and genocide,’’ and signed it right in front of the cameras. With Spanish sailors watching intensely from the rigging, cam- eras rolling and clicking, and scores of cops nodding important- ly among themselves, the docu- ment was in turn signed by the chiefs. Speeches were made. And then it was announced that PERM SPECIAL PERMS $40 till FEB.29/S2 THE HEAD SHED 1 130 West I6th St North Van 985-3439 a Open 9-5pm, Mon-Sat. | °86 MAZDA. 626 TURBO 91 COROLLA SRS COUPE Excellent condition, bal. of factory warranty. the Santa Maria would be turned back over to her captain. With that, the natives left the boat and marched away to the beat of drums and the sound of chanting down the dock, leaving a lot of Spaniards shaking their heads, wondering if they had just been royally done-to in scme spectacular media fashion, or whether something historic had actually happened. It felt historic, but how do you know until a lot later? On the plane back home the next day, | picked up an edition of U.S. Today, and found a story datelined San Juan, which described the protest as being - “against Christopher Columbus’ treatment of Canadian Indians.”’ Especially his treatment of B.C. - Indians, eh? 87 NISSAN MAXIMA