By Jeff Shantz and Eva Ureta, May 25, 2020
On May 21, 2020, British Columbia health officials announced another outbreak of COVID19 at a federal prison in the province. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reported an infection at Matsqui Institution, a medium-security prison in Abbotsford.
That same day Correctional Services Canada (CSC) confirmed a case of COVID19 at the Mountain Institution, another federal prison in British Columbia, this one in Agassiz. According to CSC, the patient is one of 15 prisoners who were admitted to Matsqui Institution on May 4. At Matsqui they were undergoing a 14-day isolation period before being transferred to other prisons. CSC reports that three of those prisoners were moved to Mountain Institution on May 18. There, one of them reported COVID19 symptoms to a nurse. CSC claims those symptoms were mild but does not provide detail on what exactly that means. All three prisoners were tested, with one of them testing positive for COVID19.
This means there have been COVID19 outbreaks at three federal prisons in the province’s Fraser Valley region. These follow an active outbreak at the Mission Institution federal prison, where there have been 132 reported cases and the death of one prisoner. Mission Institution had been the site of the largest outbreak of COVID19 at a carceral institution in Canada, until being surpassed by Bourdeaux Prison in Quebec, where prisoners have staged a courageous hunger strike over two weeks in response. One prisoner has died at Bourdeaux of COVID19.
On May 24, 2020, family members, prisoner justice organizers and prison abolitionists held noise actions at the Matsqui Complex in Abbotsford, so-called British Columbia, unceded territory of the Matsqui and Sumas First Nations, specifically Matsqui Institution and Pacific Institution. We attempted to enter the grounds of Fraser Valley Institution for Women but were blocked by guards. These actions were held in solidarity with prisoners at those institutions and with all communities harmed by incarcerations—recognizing the disproportionately devastating impacts on Indigenous communities within the settler colonial Canadian state.
These #freethemall noise actions have been undertaken over more than a month, with previous actions being held at Surrey Immigration Detention Centre, Mission Institution, Fraser Regional, Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, and Surrey Pretrial. At various stops people inside have made noise along with our demos, as well as hanging banners saying, “Thank you,” and “Help us.” At Pacific, one of our participants using binoculars could see people waving from inside.
It should be noted that at the main entrance to Matsqui Complex our caravan was blocked by Correctional Services Canada staff, including one who wore a fascist blue lives matter badge alongside his name tag. The blue lives matter symbol (Canadian version is a Canadian flag with a blue line running horizontally across) is a recognized fascist symbol, displayed by many fascists and far Rightists. The US version came to prominence among police after the Black Lives Matters protests against racist police violence especially following the police killings of Mike Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner on Staten Island. It is used as an attempt to discount and diminish victims, and communities, subjected to racist police violence. There is a reason that many people say, “Cops and Klan go hand in hand.” Blue Lives Matter symbols are a sign of it.
