[IPSM] Colonialism and Kanehsatake: Are dispossession and forced integration ongoing?

[Devin Butler]

Colonialism and Kanehsatake: Are dispossession and forced integration 
ongoing?
by Kim Petersen
August 25, 2004

(http://dominionpaper.ca/firstnations/2004/08/25/colonialis.html)

The Mohawk Nation in Kanehsatake in southern Quebec is the site of a long, 
simmering dispute-a dispute that has deep implications for Mohawk and First 
Nations sovereignty, and which calls into question the Canadian Government's 
commitment to ending its legacy of residential schools, forced integration, 
and dispossession. The Mohawks' ability to determine and control their own 
economy, security, justice system, and ruling structure is at stake. The 
focus of the conflict is a stealthy land transfer carried out under the 
auspices of James Gabriel, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kanehsatake.


The year following the Oka crisis of 1990, Gabriel began talks with the 
federal officials to secure lands purchased for Kanehsatake. At this time, 
Gabriel made concessions, unbeknown to the people of Kanehsatake, which led 
to Bill S-24, the “Kanehsatake Land Based Governance Act.”


Gabriel signed Bill S-24 in secret and called for a referendum to ratify the 
Act, allegedly without informing the Mohawk community of the details. Under 
these conditions, the referendum vote passed by a slim margin of 239 to 237.


Mohawk journalist Dan David describes the details: “Chief Gabriel signed the 
agreement that transferred $14 million worth of land purchased by the 
federal government to the control of a private corporation–not the 
band–called Kanesatake Orihwa’shon: a Development Corporation.” Mohawk lands 
would be converted into “fee simple” estates, Mohawks would lose their 
tax-exempt status, and band by-laws would be harmonized with the by-laws of 
Oka–a municipalization of Kanehsatake, and an end to meaningful sovereignty.


In January 2004 Canadian authorities began funding a 60-man police militia, 
under the control of Gabriel. This militia was accused by the Mohawk Council 
of Kanehsatake of “actively provoking incidences on the Territory,” such as 
attempts “to run community volunteer patrol drivers off the road.” The 
residents of Kanehsatake rebelled, surrounded the police station, and ousted 
what they called the “invasive” police force. Some of the dissenters, 
provoked by the police use of tear gas against them, responded by torching 
Gabriel’s house. Warrants were subsequently issued for the arrest of many 
Kanehsatake dissidents.


Particular members of Gabriel’s police force, brought in from outside the 
community, had incurred the enmity of Kanehsatake residents. Among them was 
non-Native Richard Walsh, a criminal with a previous conviction for 
impersonating a police officer. Two other policemen, Terry Isaac and Larry 
Ross, led a police operation in 1999 that resulted in the shooting and 
paralysis of Mohawk Warrior Joe David, who has since passed away.


In February of this year, journalist Ross Montour asked Gabriel why he 
brought Isaac and Ross back into the community despite their checkered past 
in Kanehsatake. Gabriel’s verbatim reply was, “Well Ross, history aside, 
those people [i.e., what Gabriel calls the “criminal element” in 
Kanehsatake] know that when those two men were there, they kicked a lot of 
doors in.” Montour considered this a “rather chilling statement for any 
leader to make.”


Concerned community members subsequently assumed responsibility for 
patrolling the territory of Kanehsatake and remaining vigilant for outside 
police seeking to enter the community uninvited. On August 9, Kanehsatake 
Interim Chief of Police David Thompson, much appreciated by the community, 
resigned in a “last ditch effort to force both the governments of Canada and 
Quebec to respect their word and provide the safety” of the community.


A twice-elected Grand Chief, Gabriel was removed from office by a 
non-confidence vote of 207 to 130. A Canadian court overturned this 
decision. Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer found the exclusion of non-resident 
Mohawks from voting to be discriminatory and the vote to be contrary to the 
Election Code.


This is, however, a Canadian court ruling on a Mohawk Nation matter. As 
Kanehsatake Chief John Harding points out: “To begin to have an 
understanding of the current situation in Kanehsatake, one must first 
appreciate the two fundamental differences between governance in a Mohawk 
Community, and governance in non-native society.”


“Primarily, what is important to understand about governance in Kanehsatake 
is that the people, not the Chiefs, are the final authority on all matters 
relating to ourselves and our territory.”


“Secondly, decisions taken by the community on important issues must be 
exercised with responsibility. Decisions must be reached by consensus, not 
by a slight majority vote.”


Nonetheless, at a subsequent election Gabriel gained three more supporters 
on the council. Montour: “This gave him [Gabriel] both quorum and a superior 
voting bloc, one which has enabled him to move forward his agenda as he 
pleases.”


Montour cites the opposition argument that Gabriel possesses a mailing list 
of all off-territory members, which he exploits by manipulating the image of 
Kanehsatake for his own ends.


According to Montour, two issues make this possible:


One is the failure of the Council to draft and adopt a membership code 
defining who is and is not a member of the Mohawks of Kanehsatake. The other 
is modifying the electoral code, which, among other things, defines who may 
and may not vote in the community’s elections. The two are tied together. 
Those who live in the community and oppose Gabriel argue that only those 
people who live in the community and know the issues should be allowed to 
vote.


The conditions and date of the next election are currently the subject of a 
court battle.


Some also contend that their sovereignty has been undermined by an enforced 
reliance on federal money. Many Mohawks have sought to establish economic 
independence by building their own businesses, including the growing and 
selling of their own tax-free tobacco, staunchly opposed by the federal 
government. Under Gabriel, the band budget had accumulated a deficit of over 
$1 million by 2003. The Department of Indian Affairs seized upon this to 
unilaterally place Kanehsatake under financial trusteeship of 
PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers trusteeship saw 
Kanehsatake plunge deeper into the red with the deficit reaching $3.1 
million. Ongoing legal battles continue to be an economic drain on the 
resources of the Mohawk community.


The corporate media is accused by some Natives of collaborating with the 
government agenda by demonizing Mohawks as a narcotics-smuggling and 
otherwise criminal society. Media coverage, they say, has allowed the 
conflict to be framed as a battle between law and order and a criminal 
element, ignoring efforts to undermine sovereignty and place land under the 
control of private interests.


Policing has also been a flashpoint in Kahnesatake. The Quebec government 
refuses to continue financing Gabriel’s police force. A joint police force 
of Kahnawake-Akwesasne oversees security in Kanehsatake. Gabriel, whose 
power in Kanehsatake rests on the backing of federal and provincial 
politicians, has been stymieing attempts at negotiating an end to the issue. 
Said Gabriel, “You don’t mediate law and order. You respect it.”


With law in mind, three Kanehsatake women brought the issue of Mohawk 
sovereignty and human rights before the UN. Canada took the extraordinary 
step of walking out of the forum. Article 1 of the UN International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights states, “All peoples have the right of 
self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their 
political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural 
development.” Canada, as a signatory and having ratified the Covenant “shall 
promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall 
respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the 
United Nations.” Chapter 1, Article 1 of the UN Charter moreover binds 
Canada. It states that among its purposes and principles is “respect for the 
principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.”


Mohawks are demanding a full investigation into the Gabriel affair. In 
respect of Mohawk sovereignty, there are calls for the matter to be settled 
within the Mohawk community.


Gabriel and his police remain exiled from Kanehsatake, and are staying in a 
hotel at the government’s expense. Gabriel threatens Mohawk sovereignty by 
working secretly towards assimilation into Canadian governance. With 
memories of the federal government’s 1994 plan for a 6,000-troop invasion of 
Mohawk Nation still lingering, Mohawks stand ready for the continued 
possibility of an armed invasion

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