PUBLIC EVENT (MONTREAL):
Defending the Land: Struggles for sovereignty and self-determination at Six Nations and Akwesasne (June 16) at the Native Friendship Center of Montreal
IN QUOTES:
"What the border has done to far too many of our First Nations communities is horrific and atrocious on so many levels -- and it has poisoned our minds to think in singular factions, instead of a full circle...Which way is going to best resolve this situation I’m not sure of yet but I do know we have a right to stand up for our own community, which will never solely be in Canada or the United States. We belong to Mother Earth in whom no one has claim over – and where there aren't any borders." – Jessica Yee, Kanionke:haka (writing in rabble.ca, June 5, 2009)
"When the people make their decision, that's what needs to be carried out, and the people have made their decision: there will be no firearms carried by customs agents on our territory." -- Sakoietah, member of the Men's Traditional Council at Akwesasne (in an interview with No One Is Illegal Radio, June 4, 2009)
“[The Canadian Border Service Agency] is a foreign oppressive force who occupies our sovereign community and territory. (They are) unwelcome, uninvited and now carrying firearms. For lack of a different description, that is considered by some an act of war.” – Larry King, member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory (quoted in the Ottawa Citizen, May 29, 2009)
"They'll have to accept armed border officers there." – Peter Van Loan, Canadian Minister of Public Safety, responsible for the Canadian Border Services Agency (quoted by Canadian Press, June 7, 2009)
[further updates, comprehensive chronology, and backgrounder included below]
RECENT ARTICLES, AUDIO, VIDEO & ANALYSIS:
1) "Akwesasne under siege" (rabble.ca, June 5, 2009):
2) Mohawks continue struggle at border (Indian Country Today, June 5, 2009):
3) AUDIO: Interview with Sakoietah, member of the Men’s Traditional Council at Akwesasne (No One Is Illegal-Montreal Radio, June 4, 2009):
4) Interview with Brendan White, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (Ottawa Citizen, June 3, 2009):
5) VIDEO: Kanietakeron gives message to CBSA agents (video by Neddie Thompson, May 31, 2009)
6) VIDEO: Protest at border crossing by Akwesasne Mohawks
7) Mohawk Nation News (MNN) Articles:
8) Akwesasne Forums:
9) PHOTOS from Akwesasne (by independent journalist Sandra Cuffe):
10) Previous No One Is Illegal-Montreal Updates:
UPDATES FROM MAY-JUNE 2009
* June 7, 2009: Tyendinaga Mohawks issue a release stating "Tyendinaga Answers Akwesasne’s Call, Shuts Down Skyway Bridge in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory." The release in full:
“The community of Akwesasne has been living without the freedom of mobility for one week. People have been cut off from family and friends, barred from access to elder relatives in need of care, unable to get to work and hundreds of children have had their school year disrupted.
It is no secret that there are significant tensions between the community of Akwesasne and Canadian Border Services Agency. Hundred of complaints have been filed for incidents like conducting a cavity search on a teenager, subjecting a pregnant woman to repeated x-rays and interrogating children after forcibly removing them from the care of adult family members.
As a result, the community of Akwesasne has clearly stated that it has substantial concerns over the arming of these same guards. The position of the Federal Government that it refuses any discussion with Akwesasne is ludicrous and will only engender further mistrust and frustration.
Tyendinaga understands this frustration and calls for the Federal Government to enter into meaningful discussions with the community of Akwesasne.
Ignoring the concerns of First Nations communities will not make the issues go away.”
* June 6, 2009: Akwesasne band council chief Tim Thompson states that despite claims by politicians of dialogue with Akwesasne, federal politicians are not in discussion with Akwesasne leaders. The only concrete discussion was a request from CBSA to remove equipment out of the customs facility, but the Akwesasne leader rejected the request.
* June 6, 2009: “A sense of emergency is in the air, but tensions remain cool on Cornwall Island in light of the ongoing dispute over the arming of border guards. Akwesasne residents have been chipping in to assist one another in numerous ways as the international passage that bisects their community remains closed as a result of the dispute. A food drive has been set up on the U. S. side of Akwesasne, and food, supplies and money are being dropped off and shipped to the island by boat.”
* June 5, 2009: Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan states that permanently "moving the border crossing off the Akwesasne reserve" is a serious option being evaluated. Peter Van Loan says the government is examining all options, including moving the port of entry that now links Cornwall, Ont., and Massena, N.Y. Appearing Sunday on a national political television program, he refused to say when a decision would be made.
* June 3, 2009: Canadian Border Services Agency states it is considering entering third-party mediation with Akwesasne Mohawk leaders. Guy Lauzon, Conservative MP for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, said he has been told a mediation process to settle the dispute is currently "in play". Akwesasne band council chief Larry King said, as far as he knew, the band council leadership had yet to be informed of the mediation proposal, but said they were open to more talk.
* June 2, 2009: Mayor Bob Kilger of Cornwall is calling on the federal government to resolve the current dispute in Akwesasne.
* As of 5 pm on June 1 2009, the bridge to the Akwesasne reserve is opened for residents to return home, according to Akwesasne's Chief Tim Thompson. The border crossing to the US remains closed.
* On June 1, 2009, the federal Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, states that the Canada-U.S. border crossing near Cornwall, Ont. won't reopen until the Mohawk community accepts that guards at the border will be armed with handguns.
* On June 1 2009, during the afternoon, the federal Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, said the Cornwall Island crossing will not be exempted from arming because the Conservative government plans on committing to its promise to arm all 4,800 border officers at land and sea ports of entry by 2016.
* June 1, 2009 (5:35am): More than 50 protesters are maintaining a presence near the Canadian customs building on Cornwall Island. There are at least five fires burning to keep demonstrators warm. Many more residents and supporters are expected to be on-site as the morning progresses.
* On midnight of May 30, 2009, Canadian Border Services Agency workers left their posts on Cornwall Island, citing safety concerns, in advance of the Akwesasne Mohawk demonstration. Soon after the Canadian guards left, their U.S. counterparts did the same thing and police on both sides barricaded the crossing. Vehicular traffic onto the Seaway International Bridge has been shut down by police on both sides of the border, although pedestrians were still being allowed to access the bridge.
* On May 29, 2009, over 100 Akwesasne Mohawks marched on the border and served CBSA with yet another notice and demand that the CBSA not arm the guards and that their demand be sent to officials in Ottawa. "What we are waiting for is an answer from Ottawa. We don't get that answer, action has got to be taken by the people," said Thomas Stacy. "We are not getting anywhere with the government. The government is going to come over here and take over everything."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- CBSA agents were due to be armed at the Port of Cornwall (Kahwehnoke) crossing on June 1 2009, a policy universally opposed and condemned by the Akwesasne Mohawk Community -
The Mohawk territory of Akwesasne straddles the jurisdictions of Ontario, Quebec and New York State, and is a major international border crossing between Canada and the United States. Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) guards began arming in 2007, and there are currently more than 800 armed CBSA guards across Canada. The entire CBSA aims to be armed, in stages, by 2016. The CBSA announced that their agents at the Port of Entry at Cornwall (at Akwesasne) would be armed by June 1 of 2009.
As written in Mohawk Nation News on May 3, 2009: "For the next month Mohawks of Akwesasne will be protesting colonial Canadian border guards arming themselves with Beretta 9 mm handguns in the middle of our community. They hope to start on June 1. Akwesasne is on both sides of the foreign Canada-U.S. border and home to the whole community regardless of this imaginary line... A letter was sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to have meetings with Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and his predecessor Stockwell Day over a year ago. There has been no response. We hear that the European settler experience at the border is completely different. They are often waved through without harassment." (For full article visit:
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=1076 )
The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne passed resolution #318 on February 28, 2008 forbidding firearms to be carried by Canada Border Services Agents CBSA on the territory of Akwesasne.
On May 8, 2009 over 250 Mohawks marched on the U.S.-Canada border. As written in Mohawk Nation News: "We are the most policed people in the world. Almost 20 U.S. and Canadian enforcement agencies traverse our community." Daily disagreements have been instigated against Mohawks who must pass through the checkpoint on a daily basis. There have been serious injuries, hospitalizations, charges and assaults. So far there have been no fatalities. There has been a steady increase in racial profiling and slurs direct at us sanctioned by Canada. Incidents are being provoked to justify armed guards. Hundreds of complaints have been filed with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, Canada Justice Department and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. No peaceful resolution has come forward."
During the month of May, the community attempted to pressure and negotiate with the federal government and lobby at the international level. On May 26, 2009 Cornwall city council passed a resolution that no guns should be given to the CBSA guards. On May 28, 2009 Skarohreh Doug Anderson of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy presented a request to the Secretary of the UN Security Council to ask the UN to send officials to Akwesasne. Kenneth Deer of Kahnawake raised the issue of guns at Akwesasne with the Permanent Forum on Indigenous People.
Excerpt of statement to Secretary of the UN Security Council in New York: "On June 1 the Canada Border Services Agency guards will try to carry 9mm Berettas, which are meant to kill people. The UN must stop this attempt at ethnic cleansing at Akwesasne. Canada at the behest of the U.S. is trying to commit genocide on us, the real people of mother earth. The reasonable decision of the Haudenosaunee, our friends and supporters, is that there should be no guns anywhere on the Canada-U.S. border on the Canadian side. Canada is setting a precedent that any visitor arriving will have the barrel of a gun in their faces, so to say. We want the border station to be removed from the middle of Akwesasne. We know the power they presently exercise without the guns. They ridicule and demean us as we come through the border. They use their power of intimidation to pull us into their building away from the protective eyes of our friends and relatives. We have no choice but to cross many times a day to carry on our normal lives. The violence will always be directed at us and not at them. We want peace. These supposed peace officers are acting like war zone combatants. What a contradictory message Canada sends out to the world."
The Akwesasne Mohawk Council Chiefs offered several compromise positions to senior Canada Border Services Agency officials during a meeting in Ottawa, but were rebuffed on May 28, 2009, according to Chief Larry King. During the Ottawa meeting, the chiefs unsuccessfully asked that the move be delayed for at least a year or until the end of CBSA’s arming process in 2016 to allow more time for community consultations as well as time for officers to be trained in cultural sensitivity by the community. The meeting ended with a declaration from CBSA president Stephen Rigby that our position is what it is; to which the chiefs responded, whatever happens will happen said King. (Source:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Armed+border+guards/1644877/story.html )
SOME ADDITIONAL HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:
-> Many members of the Akwesasne community currently opposing armed border guards have referenced the story of Saiowisakeron (Jake Ice), a traditional Mohawk man who was shot and killed by Dominion police in 1899. There is a statue of Jake Ice at Akwesasne, which has become a focal point to express opposition to armed border agents. More information about Jake Ice available here:
www.wampumchronicles.com/saiowisakeron.html
-> In 1968, members of the community blocked the border-crossing bridge against the policy that forced Akwesasne residents to pay duty on purchases they made in the United States, despite the fact that the Jay Treaty of 1794, also known as the “Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation” affirmed that they were not required to do so. An NFB documentary by Mort Ransen is available online at:
http://intercontinentalcry.org/you-are-on-indian-land/
For an extensive backgrounder, read “Forty-one year legacy of Mohawk resistance at Akwesasne border” by Mohawk Nation News: click
HERE.
[Information compiled by Harsha (No One Is Illegal-Vancouver) & Jaggi (No One Is Illegal-Montreal). Please send information for future updates to BOTH noii-van@resist.ca AND nooneisillegal@gmail.com ]
