In Canada, solidarity activists rallied to try to make a “citizen’s arrest” of Indonesian president Suharto at the 1997 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, picking up on the example of Timorese activists who had put their country’s struggle at the centre of the 1994 APEC summit in Jakarta.
In Canada, solidarity activists rallied to try to make a “citizen’s arrest” of Indonesian president Suharto at the 1997 APEC summit, picking up on the example of Timorese activists who had put their country’s struggle at the centre of the 1994 APEC summit in Jakarta. -Bella Galhos presents media with photos of torture in East Timor outside the APEC summit, Vancouver, 1997 (Photo: Elaine Briere)
Photograph of East Timor Alert Network vigil outside the Indonesian Consulate in Toronto, date unknown [1990s]. Vigils took place on a weekly basis for some years in the 1990s outside the office building housing the Indonesian Consulate at 425 University Avenue, Toronto. The Consulate later moved to its own building on Jarvis Street.
East Timor Alert Network protest held in the back alley behind the residence of the Indonesian Consul-General in Vancouver. Pictured with sign is Jaggi Singh of ETAN and guests of the Indonesian Consul's reception on the occasion of Indonesian independence day, 17 August. This protest was one of a series that ETAN's Vancouver chapter held at Indonesian events to raise awareness about East Timor.
These photographs were taken at a demonstration in support of East Timor held in Ottawa on the 20th anniversary of the invasion, 7 December 1995. Demonstration organized by East Timor Alert Network/Ottawa. Key figures in images: Bella Galhos, Kerry Pither.
Abé ho Aloz in performance. Timorese-Canadian duo Abé Barreto Soares and Aloz MacDonald performed numerous shows across Canada in support of the Timorese cause.
In 1983, Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes became the first Timorese voice to speak in Canada since the 1975 invasion. He had recently been removed as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Dili – in de facto terms, head of the Timorese Catholic church – for being too critical of Indonesia’s human rights record. Msgr da Costa Lopes came at the invitation of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, meeting Canadian Catholics and also lobbying the government and speaking to the Canadian media.
The same year also saw the release of Peter Monet’s film “Betrayed But Not Beaten,” the first documentary to be produced in North America about East Timor. -Image: screen shot of Martinho da Costa Lopes from the film
Each year, a Canadian member of Parliamentarians for East Timor travelled to take part in international testimonies to the UN Decolonization Committee. -Dan Heap MP at the United Nations with José Luis Guterres of Fretilin and Charles Scheiner of ETAN/US
Photojournalist Elaine Briere was travelling the Southeast Asian “hippy trail” in 1974, a trip that brought her among other places to pre-invasion East Timor. She fell in love with the country. After its invasion, she found she had some of the very few high-quality images of pre-invasion East Timor. She shared them with solidarity groups around the world. Especially in Canadian activism, they became iconic. Some have even found their way back to independent Timor-Leste.
-Abé Barreto Soares went to the UN Human Rights Commission for ETAN/Canada in 1993, pictured here with Jose Ramos Hort anad other CNRM supporters in the halls of the Palais des Nations, Geneva
