The situation was complicated by allegedly armed and racist ranch hands who impaled the notice on a sacred spear. The occupiers believed their religion was under attack. Although guns were already present at the camp, the 1995 Sun Dance leader, Splitting the Sky called for an armed defensive stance. The involvement of local elected Shuswap leadership further aggravated occupiers who saw elected leadership as a functionary of the Canadian state. Initial press releases from the occupiers in June and July called Sun Dancers to the site, claimed their right to practice their religion was being violated, and re-asserted the belief that the grounds were part of a larger tract of unceded indigenous land.