My name is Tori Cress and I am the single mother of two kids,
Lucas 21 and my 20 year old special needs son Marty. I am an Idle No
More community organizer and advocate for Indigenous rights and
environmental protections for our lands and waters across Turtle
Island.
We live in the home that my ex-husband and I built to be our
matrimonial home on land I bought and paid for. At that time of my
life, I was in full swing in the native tobacco industry and used
all the profits I was making to build this house that I am currently
living in with both children. We had previously been homeless and I
believed that by building this home we would never again have to be
split up due to housing insecurity. We moved in before the house was
even finished - so that we could be together again. Slept together
in the living room, and ate meals cooked on a coleman stove outside.
On the morning of November 15th at approximately 9:45 an
unidentified non native man arrived at my home, refusing to tell me
who he was. I told him he was trespassing and he laughed at me
telling me “No I’m not!”. He never said who he was but insisted he
had something for me, which I could see was a letter. He left it on
my deck bannister and left my property.
I opened the letter and found that my ex’s father was evicting
me from my home and my land. This letter stated that I had to be out
of my home on November 17th 2016 and that my locks will be changed
at 5 pm. I have been threatened with police actions should I refuse
to leave my home and whatever possessions I do not take will become
Mr. Schell’s property to dispose of at his discretion.
I will be using this money for a legal defense fund to defend
our home from absolute theft. My youngest son’s very well being
depends upon his strict routine and he is currently in his last year
of school attending Gravenhurst High School. He is a self identified
man and we have had a lot of struggles along his path of self
discovery. Immediate removal from our family home and uprooting him
from his regiment will upset his delicately balanced routine and
will put him in immediate risk of self-harm again. This cannot be
allowed as we know there is little to no resources for at-risk,
on-reserve First Nation youth.
My immediate need is to find and hire a human right’s lawyer
because the date of my divorce left me in a very vulnerable place,
with seemingly no rights to the land and home I provided us all
with. While seeking out a potential legal representation, I must
begin fundraising for this immediately. I can no longer leave my
home - in the event that anyone shows up to try and take it while I
am at work. I am not prepared to leave the security of our home and
let it be out right stolen from beneath us! While he is not the
father of my children, there is still no excuse for this blatant
human rights violation, on the land of our Ancestors. Please help!
For some background here is the most recent APTN coverage of
what we are facing:
Mother and two children ordered
to leave on-reserve home
Investigates | November 15, 2016 by Holly Moore
Past APTN coverage of our family:
