[Indigsol] Support the Mohawks of Akwesasne! Car Caravan to Akwesasne on July 1st

[Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa]

Support the Mohawks of Akwesasne! Car Caravan to Akwesasne on July 1st

Car Caravan to Akwesasne
Wednesday, July 1st
Leaving Ottawa at 10:00am
ipsmo at riseup.net

On July 1st people from around “Ontario” will be heading to Akwesasne in
support of the Mohawk community’s resistance to the arming of the Canadian
Border Service Agency on June 1st.

On June 1st, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) border guards were
scheduled to carry sidearms, but community resistance resulted in the
closing of the border by the Canadian government.  Since then, the Mohawk
Community of Akwesasne continues to resist the imposition of armed border
guards by the CBSA.

The caravan from Ottawa will be leaving at 10:00am.  If you want to come
down, contact us at: ipsmo at riseup.net

If you have a vehicle, and you want to take people down, contact us at:
ipsmo at riseup.net

Community members have emphasized that it is important for supporters not
to escalate the situation.

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)


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 -

[CBSA press release (May 9, 2009):
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/release-communique/2009/2009-05-09-eng.html
]

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.

-> June 2008: Mohawk grandmothers attacked by CBSA guards; more info here:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/06/cbsa-attack.html

-> Katenies, a member of the Akwesasne community, has openly challenged
the colonial “Canada-US” border. She refuses to recognize the authority of
the Canadian courts to judge her for “border violations”.  Article/Audio
compilation here:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/06/katenies-cbsa-background.html


[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 at resist.ca AND nooneisillegal at gmail.com ]