[IPSM] Kanehsatake articles: Canada's legacy of crimes against Mohawk Sovereignty

[Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movment - Montreal]

The parallels between the current situation in Kanehsatake and the pieces
of history of the Mohawk Nation, which are recounted in the articles
below, are telling of the fact that little has changed in Canadian
colonial policy. There are two pieces, first a piece entitled Forcefully
Imposed Band Council Systems of Bovernment Under the Indian (Advancement)
Act of Canada (1884) on Haudenosaunee Territories of Akwesasne-Kahnawake
Kanehsatake - Tyendinaga. This is followed by a piece called The
Thunderwater Movement.  They can both be found at the following website:
hometown.aol.com/miketben/


FORCEFULLY IMPOSED BAND COUNCIL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE INDIAN
(ADVANCEMENT) ACT OF CANADA (1884) ON HAUDENOSAUNEE TERRITORIES OF
AKWESASNE - KAHNAWAKE KANEHSATAKE - TYIENDINAGA

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM THE BOOKLET/PAMPHLET: "THE BEST OF
AKWESASNE NOTES - HOW DEMOCRACY CAME TO ST. REGIS & THE THUNDERWATER
MOVEMENT" PUBLISHED BY: AKWESASNE NOTES (1974) ISBN # 0-914838-50-4

This pamphlet was the first of a series of reprints of articles of lasting
value from the pages of AKWESASNE NOTES, a journal for native and natural
peoples. AKWESASNE NOTES began publication in the winter of 1968 at
Akwesasne, a part of the Mohawk Nation in the St. Lawrence River Valley.
It is a reader-participation newspaper supported by its readers.

The articles in this pamphlet describe how historically the forces of
government oppress native peoples who are simply going about leading
quiet, peaceful, constructive lives. The articles can be written because
the documentary evidence is now in the archives, and available for
research. Indications are present today that the same type of behaviour is
still common in government circles - but the documentation is locked in
government vaults for some future generation to explore.

The issues presented here are still not resolved. The efforts of the
Canadian Government to impose a municipal structure on a Mohawk community
have still not succeeded, and efforts for legitimate protest and
constructive action by the people is still suppressed.


HOW DEMOCRACY CAME TO ST. REGIS

Based on research in Canada's Dominion Archives

Both in the United States and Canada, there has been much talk about
self-government for Indians. In Canada there is talk about revising the
Indian Act so that reserves could become similar to municipalities. In the
U.S., tribes which "are ready" are being "allowed" to manage their own
affairs.

None of this is new, however. It began in Canada in 1884. At Akwesasne,
the result was the death of one man, chiefs imprisoned as hostages, and
the institution of a foreign system of government. Today, there are many
who do not accept that government. Yet to Canada it is the only one which
exists.

This, then, is the story about how Indians have been oppressed in the name
of democracy. The setting is Akwesasne (St. Regis), and it is in the past
- but it has much to say to Indians everywhere about the future.



The INDIAN ADVANCEMENT ACT OF 1884 was passed by the Canadian Parliament
so that the "more advanced bands of Indians of Canada" could elect chiefs
"with a view to training them for the exercise of municipal powers." The
Deputy Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs wrote to all his Indian
Agents:

"The Department has no desire to force the adoption of the provisions of
this act upon any band of Indians, but it considers that it will be in the
interests of such as are capable of intelligently conforming to the
provisions thereof..........

"The object of the Department is to endeavour to promote their advancement
in civilization and intelligence with a view to eventually attaining to an
equality in those respects with the white portion of the population."

This Act, which was to apparently make Indians almost as intelligent as
white people, specified complicated laws providing for nominating
meetings, seconding of nominations, posted notification of election
meetings, etc. The Department seemed to like the idea, and promoted it
vigorously.

Oblivious to all of these goings-on in Ottawa, the people of Akwesasne
continued their usual existence. The community life went on quite
normally.

"The Indians in my agency for the last year have had a fair average crop,
and in general are prospering well. Last Winter was a busy time with them
in furnishing the demands called for in their line of basket-making. They
had ready sales for all they could make. The total Indian population is
1190. As usual, the Grand Procession was held here on Sunday, the 8th of
May last. They had a fine day and a large gathering. At one time there was
moored at the wharf four steamers."

So read the report of St. Regis' Indian Agent, George Long. Nearby, at
another Mohawk reserve, the agent was already skillfully involving himself
in the teaching of democracy to his wards. But what happened if the
Indians elected the "wrong people"? As usual, the Department had the
answer. This exchange of letters took place between the Agent and the
Secretary for Indian Affairs:

"I am informed that Archibald Culbertson intends to offer himself as a
candidate for re-election. Will you kindly advise me whether I shall
record his name as a candidate, for a number of the band are opposed to
his re-election?"

(Reply:)".....There would appear to be nothing in the law to prevent
Culbertson from offering himself as a candidate, but the Department would,
of course, reserve to itself the right to allow or disallow his election
should he succeed in obtaining the largest number of votes...."

The regulations specified the Agent was to be in charge of the elections
as returning officer, and he recorded who voted for whom on a permanent
record, person by person.

It was probably disillusioning to the Department that the people of this
Mohawk community, Tyendinaga, wanted to go back to their own system of
selecting chiefs. In a petition dated October 29, 1888, to the
Governor-General of Canada, the people clearly stated their idea of how
they wished their democracy to operate.

"Brother! As we understand that the majority must rule, and a very large
majority of the Bay of Quinte Six Nations Mohawks have on the 13th day of
October, 1887, renewed their Council Fire according to their rites, and
decided to do away with council men entirely, and have hereditary chiefs
take their places. Our brethren, the Six Nations Chiefs on the 15th of the
same month, and also on the 13th day of September, 1888, and by a large
majority, approved of the system of having hereditary chiefs instead of
council men. We therefore do not want our Council Fire extinguished
because it was the custom and manner of our forefathers......

"We lay before your Excellency of our main object to do away with the way
of electing council committee because they are working contrary to the
welfare of the Bay of Quinte Six Nations, that we have entirely lost
confidence in them, and that there is division among themselves which they
have unseated one without the consent of the people. And moreover, the
intoxicant liquors is used every election day......"

Because they did not receive a favourable reply, the people again wrote
out a petition, this time reminding the Governor-General of the
obligations which the British Crown had assumed in the past. It recalled
promises the British made to "remain in its own vessel, and the Indian in
his birch bark canoe", and that the "British will never make any
compulsory laws for the Six Nations and the treaties between them shall
remain unmolested forever." It reminded him of the Royal Proclamation of
1763, in which the Indian land would be secured to them free of
molestation. And lastly, it reminded them of the solemn promise of peace
and friendship:

"We will remind you of the Covenant Chain of Peace and Friendship between
the English people and the Six Nations. When our forefathers first made
the Covenant Chain with the English, both parties engaged to keep the ends
of it fast in their hands: that they would take care to keep it from
breaking, or from getting any rust or filth upon it. That they would be as
one flesh and blood so that if any enemies should intend to hurt or strike
one party, the other should immediately give notice, rise up and help him,
that a good road should always be kept open between them.

"We the old people (are sorely grieved) of receiving such a document from
the Privy Council stating that our wishes cannot be complied with.....It
fills us with great concern. Neither can we visualize any account for it,
having always lived in the strictest friendship with the British
Government and our forefathers faithfully served and assisted them in all
their wars back against the French, and in the Revolutionary War. We
therefore cannot but think extremely hard to be deprived from our
liberties, rights, and privileges, and also to be deprived from our
rational freedom and to suffer such treatment, in return to pass laws to
encroach our systematic constitution and also to our treaty rights in
which our forefathers in their great wisdom thought proper to enter into
an alliance with the English. And also the treaties were sealed in blood
of our forefathers to benefit and to promote their children's children's
welfare. It is necessary in order for the preservation of our liberties
and rights, privileges and customs.

"Brother! At the time of the formation of the treaties to be perpetuated,
the Six Nations Indians were found and looked upon as a people, and had a
systematic constitution. Therefore, they were enabled to form these very
important and sound treaties with the English nation....It was understood
by both parties in their treaties that each should maintain their own
constitutions, but in the present instance, it appears that the Silver
Chain is now tarnished upon these points.....

"The Canadian Government which does not recognize us fully looks upon the
Six Nations as minors and treats them as such.

"Brother! We quote the words of Lord Dufferin, one of your predecessors,
saying the people of Canada and the people of Britain will not cease to
recognize these obligations.....Never shall the word of Britain, once
pledged, be broken.......

"Brother! We now beg to assure you that our feelings of loyalty to the
British Crown are as deep, as sincere, and as true at this day as they
were in the days of our forefathers of old......

"We will give you the statement made by Agent Hill on the 10th of
November, saying that the Government are getting tired of us Indians, and
they'd rather get rid of us, and also stated that we Indians will be
paying taxes soon enough....

"..... We are your most obedient, and most humble and devoted friends."

The Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, to whom the petition was
automatically referred, was not impressed by the arguments raised, and
simply wrote the Privy Council his recommendation, which the Council fully
accepted:

"It would be inexpedient to make the proposed change, and Your Excellency
is therefore unable to acceed to their request, and that it is considered
unnecessary to prolong the correspondence."

Again, but this time by delegation, the Bay of Quinte people approached
the Governor-General in 1889, asking him:

"What is your power and authority to rule our people?"

"Rotiyaner (the chiefs) have at all times the power to legislate, oversee,
and supervise all matters of business, interest, advantages, and general
welfare of the people, when said Rotiyaner represents always to abide with
the pledge of keeping the War Club and war material of every description
buried in oblivion, by always propagating the policy of peace, justice,
between their allied nations of Indians and between man and man. Also to
be a moralist or spiritual advisor."

The petition was signed by the men who had been selected by the
clanmothers to perform the peaceful duties just listed.

Still not recognized by the Canadian Government, the people again by
petition lamented the deepening breach in the relationship between them
and the Canadian Government. In a lengthy petition to Lord Stanley of
Preston, Governor-General, they reminded him of the friendship they had
given to his people, and pleaded that now that their position was
reversed, that they would be treated equally as well:

"Brother! We remember still that when our forefathers first met with you,
when you came with your ship, and our forefathers kindly received you and
entertained you and entered into an alliance with you. Though our
forfathers were then great and numerous, and your people were
inconsiderable and weak, and they knew that, they entered into a Covenant
Chain with you and fastened your ship therewith, being apprehensive the
bark would break away and your ship be lost.....

"Brother! We are inconsiderable and weak, and you are now a great and
numerous people, and you know that we are entered into a Covenant Chain of
Brotherly Love, and therefore we also like to be entertained and recognize
our request concerning our just rights from the Government.

"Brother!...It is now 225 years since our forefathers and others have
signed an agreement. As Captain Joseph Brant long afterwards said in one
of his speeches that the Mohawks were determined to sink or swim with the
English. But Sir, we are sinking fast because our treaty right is
neglected."

At Caughnawaga (Kahnawake), at Oka (Kanehsatake), and at St. Regis
(Akwesasne), people were feeling much the same. In December, 1890, for
example, the Caughnawaga people wrote the Government of their intention to
remain with their traditional form of government:

"....Since every nation throughout the world retains their own customs,
rites, and ceremonies, and according to the British Constitution, it gives
them full privileges and entire power to create Kings, Queens, and Lords
and Peers as hereditaries.......

"Brother! We cannot account that why we cannot adhere according to our
customs, rights, and ceremonies, since it will give no hindrance to
advance civilization."

And at St. Regis, the people signed their names and marks on this petition:

"The Indian Act only breeds sorrow, contention, hatred, disrespect of
family ties, spite against one another, and absence of unity among us
Indians. It also creates two distinct parties at the elections. This law
was never authorized in its adaptation among Indians.....There is only one
way to recover brotherly feelings, that of substituting the seven lords
appointed by each of the seven totems according to the ancient customs
which we know gave us peace, prosperity, friendship, and brotherly
feelings in every cause, either for personal good, or for the benefit of
the entire band."

Over a thousand Iroquois from Oka and Caughnawaga and St. Regis met to
sign the petition quoted above. They were calling for a reuniting of the
Confederacy, now struggling for life against religious, political,
geographic differences.

Because of the hubbub of the mass meetings and the petitions which were
inundating the Governor-General, the Honourable T. Mayne Daly,
Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, and his deputy, went to
Caughnawaga for a public meeting.

The official minutes of the meetings were written by an assistant who
paraphrased the many emotional appeals in Mr. Daly's speech:

"What would their Ontario brothers say when they hear that the
Caughnawagas wish to go back to the old condition, and what would the
white people think? They had to consider their children's children, in
connection with the question.

"No matter what might be the views of different members of the band, the
responsibility of the decision would be upon him. If the decision resulted
in the Indians going backward instead of forward it was he that would be
held responsible. He had to consider and decide the question solely with a
view to their best interest. If he went back and told his colleagues in
the Government that the Indians of Caughnawaga, St. Regis, and Oka, the
most advanced and intelligent Indians in Canada, wanted to go back to the
old system, he would have great difficulty in convincing them that such
was really the desire of the Indians.

"Apart from the question which they had met to discuss, the Minister said
he had a few words of advice to offer. He then reminded them of the great
market which they had at the very door in the City of Montreal, and he
pointed out to them that if they would work the valuable land of the
reserve in raising vegetables and butter and food for that market, they
would in a very few years be as well off as any farmers in the country.

"He then dealt upon the evils from agitation, telling them that among the
Indians, as among white men, the man who talks the most did the least, and
in the end was the worse off. Of the 400 or more present, only about ten
spoke. When those who had said nothing, contenting themselves with
listening, thought the matter over at their firesides, they would
conclude, Mr. Daly thought, that when the Government applied the
Advancement Act to them, it was done in their best interest. He added that
it would take a great deal to lead them to revoke its application.

"If we do not meet your wishes, said Mr. Daly, you must not think hardly
of us, for we look upon every question solely from the standpoint of your
interests, and the experience gained in the government of all the Indians
of the Dominion is used in dealing with your affairs."

A year later, there was a new Minister of Indian Affairs, and the women of
Caughnawaga decided to try again. They wrote to the Honourable Clifford
Sifton:

"...We are simply women, but it is in the confidence of our noble and
gracious mother, the Queen of England, who, being a woman, and recalling
to mind that your mother was also a woman. Think it is she now that begs
and humbles before your feet. Kindly hear our words of petition, and do
not despise the words and voice of a woman.

"Listen to us as it were the voice of your kind and loving mother.....
Since the change of our chiefs, into councillors, our sorrows manifolded,
we have lost many advantages, it has caused many family disputes, brother
against brother. It has separated them, and it has caused an ill feeling
which is yet burning."

To this eloquent plea, Duncan G. Scott, who was to become the Deputy
Superintendent-General, wrote back simply,

"I regret that the petition of the Women of Caughnawaga cannot be
entertained.

"No attention can be given to any further representations in that regard
which may be made by them or any persons on their behalf."

So that was the general background. Now we look more closely at Akwesasne
(St. Regis) to see just how that was to work. The year is 1898. It was to
have been an election year under the Indian Act. But the election didn't
happen. This is what took place.

The Clan Mothers of St. Regis took up what was to be their last petition
before swinging into action. On June 2nd, 1898, they wrote the
Governor-General:

"We have considered the elective system as not being intended for us
Indians, and we would therefore return to our old method of selecting our
life chiefs, according to our Constitution Iroquois Government. As Your
Excellency must know, the ancient custom of creating the chiefs is that
they are selected according to the different clans, there being three from
each clan, and also three women who select her special chief from among
her clan. Of these chiefs, one is considered the head chief, the second is
'the big man' and the third is the 'crier'. As there is four distinct
clans, there is twelve life chiefs who hold their offices for life.

"But if any misdemeanor shall offend their clans, these women first hold
council with the women of their own clan, and if they find his offence of
sufficient strength to warrant his resignation, these women will call upon
the men members of their clan, and they meet and select another member to
represent them. They then turn the newly selected member to the twelve
life chiefs for their confirmation and ratification.

"The women councillors each watches over her special charge and informs
them of the rules of their chieftainship. First that he shall never touch
spiritous liquors. Second, never to be guilty of theft from the band, of
only twenty-five cents. Third, that he shall not commit adultery. This is
according to the old time laws and customs that only fit proper members
can hold offices."

The Department of Indian Affairs took little notice, but the women went
ahead with their meeting, and appointed and confirmed their chiefs, and
set up their own government just the same. They told Ottawa what they had
done. Predictably, the Department of Indian Affairs responded with a
bristle. The Secretary wrote the local agent, George Long:

"The Department is determined not to allow any of the Indians to set its
authority at defiance."

The war was on.

Twice the Department called an election. Twice the people forcibly
prevented the election from being held. Inspector McCrea was sent down
from Ottawa to hold a meeting, and he reported back directly to the
Superintendent-General:

"They were informed in the most explicit terms that even if a return to
what they consider their ancient system were allowed, of which no hope
whatsoever could be held out, the relations of the Indians to the law
would not be changed in any particular.

"They might as well look for the falling of the sky as to expect
recognition of their claim to hold the position of a practically
independent state."

He got action from the Superintendent-General who exercised unusual
executive authority:

".....the St. Regis Indians be informed through the agent that after
careful consideration, l have decided that no return to another system of
constituting chiefs than that provided by the Indian Act shall be
permitted......the Indians be informed that no further representations
will lead in any way to the modification of this decision.....that the
Indians be informed that the agitation carried on by those members of the
band who claim exception from the operation of the law has prevented the
distribution of the interest money....that the Indians be informed that as
soon as they show their willingness to abide by the law and elect a
council under the Indian Act, the interest money will be paid....that the
Indians be informed that until a council is elected under the Act, the
Department will administer as far as it may the affairs of the band."

Two months later, the Department of Indian Affairs again tried to hold an
election. They didn't, though, and the story of what happened came out in
the March 28, 1899 edition of the MONTREAL STAR in large headlines:



INDIANS REVOLT AT ST. REGIS



They refuse to allow an election to proceed
and assault Dominion police.
Troops may be called out.


"Cornwall:.....In August last, the time for the election of officers, the
Dominion Government despatched some of the Dominion Police to St. Regis to
maintain order and allow the election to be carried out according to law,
but the Indians on the reserve refused to allow the election to proceed
and the officers were forced to return to Ottawa.

"The election was again billed for Monday last, and Lieut. Colonel
Sherwood, commissioner of Dominion Police, sent Inspector Logan and
Constable Chamberlain to try their hand. At twelve o'clock, these two
gentlemen with Indian Agent Long and assistants went to the Village School
House where the election was to have taken place.

"They found it surrounded by about 200 aborigines. They were refused
admittance and a general riot took place. The police were badly assaulted,
and Indian Agent Long was seized and locked up in the school house. A
guard was placed over him, and the Dominion Police were driven away. At
six o'clock at night, Mr. Long was still caged up.

"Inspector Logan said he could do nothing further in the matter, and would
return to Ottawa and report to Commissioner Sherwood, who will in all
likelihood send a posse of men, or the 43rd Battalion down to carry out
the election.

"The Inspector said the tribe became infuriated, and imaged that the old
aborigine days had returned. With visions of the warpath before them, they
fought like demons and the officers state that had they used their
weapons, they would have been scalped by the frenzied mob."

The OTTAWA CITIZEN reported that the Indians had not injured the officers,
but had simply carried them away bodily after having taken away their
sidearms.


"INDIANS ARE QUIETER"
, the CITIZEN reported on March 31, 1899.

"The government is not likely to take any further action at present in the
trouble at the St. Regis Reserve, Colonel Sherwood, Commissioner of the
Dominion Police stated to a CITIZEN reporter.

"The Indians would probably make no further attempt for some time at least
to elect their own chiefs. They will probably quiet down and accept the
authority of the agency. It is believed a few hot heads in the tribe
started the trouble......Should they, however, persist in running an
election according to tribal custom, stern measures will be adopted with
them."

And so all was quiet on a warm day in May in the village of St. Regis. The
corn had just been planted, the church was preparing for the annual grand
procession, and the spring fish run was about over. It was time to begin
thinking of employment for the summer. A messenger went to the homes of
the Life Chiefs to say there were some men at the Agent's office to
interview workmen, and to see the chiefs about buying stone to rebuild the
collapsed piers of the Cornwall Bridge. When the chiefs arrived at the
office, they found no interviewers, but Colonel Sherwood himself, a
contingent of policemen, and warrants for their arrest. They had arrived
at the village via tugboat from Valleyfield in the early hours of the
morning to lay the trap. The full story is best told as it was read in the
House of Commons by the member of Parliament from Beauharnois:

"......Two or three, unsuspecting of any plot, hurried to the office where
they were seized and promptly manacled by the police. A squaw saw them
throw down one poor fellow and put handcuffs on him and hurried to tell
her brother.

"Furious at the intelligence, Jake Ice burst into the office and flew to
release his brother. Colonel Sherwood intercepted him, and a struggle
ensued during which Sherwood, stronger and younger than Ice, shot him
twice, the second shot being fatal.

"The police, with their prisoners, marched to the tug and left unmolested,
although the whole tribe was gathered at the wharf and could have
overwhelmed them had they not been what they really are, a quiet and
inoffensive people."

Even though the agent's office was full of policemen, and Ice was the only
Indian present without handcuffs, Ab Cawdron, the secretary to the
Commissioner, was quoted in the OTTAWA JOURNAL as saying:

"I tell you, we were as near death as I ever want to be, and had Colonel
Sherwood not shot Ice, none of the officers would be alive today."

The HUNTINGTON GLEANER, the nearest "local" paper, was outraged. In an
editorial which was published May 4, 1899, but which still seems
appropriate today, it said:

"That the killing of a man at St. Regis should have given shock to this
community is not to be wondered at, for we are neighbours to the Indians.
But we trust it will have a wider effect, that it may be the means of
calling public attention to the treatment of the St. Regis Band, and
induce the government to look into the causes of the trouble which had so
deplorable a result.

"Had the Indian Advancement Act not been made to apply to the St. Regis
Band, there would not be today a woman and three children mourning over a
dead husband and father, and the tribe would be spared the painful ordeal
they are now undergoing of being harassed by the officers of the law....

"It is because the Ottawa Department was determined on forcing the change
before these people are ready for it that the shocking collision took
place. A body of Dominion Police were sent from Ottawa to maintain the
majesty of Red Tape and departmental woodheadedness by arresting the
leaders of those who defeated the attempt to elect councillors.

"In reality, the whites have been the aggressors all through the wretched
affair, which has had so tragic an ending. It was the whites who passed a
law to interfere with the internal management of an inoffensive tribe, and
the Indians were merely resisting an attempt to change the customs that
are dear to them, and which concern themselves alone.....They simply ask
to be let alone, an independent community, ruled by themselves, and we do
not see why what they ask should be withheld. The Government can well
afford to call a truce, stop further proceedings, and send a message of
peace to St. Regis that it will be classed among the reserves exempted
from the operation of the statute they so much dislike."

But the Government was not about to call a truce. In fact, warrants were
issued for more of the chiefs. Upon hearing of this, seven chiefs went to
Beauharnois, voluntarily, where they were jailed. Louis David and a
friend, not knowing warrants were out for them as well, went to hire a
lawyer to aid the jailed men. They didn't make it to the lawyer's office,
however. The HUNTINGTON GLEANER reported what happened to them:

"Those who were present on the platform on the New York Central Station in
Huntington on the morning of the second were witnesses of the outrageous
manner in which the Indians [David and his friend] were arrested. Two
decent-looking red men were waiting to take the train to Beauharnois. They
made no concealment of who they were, or their errand, telling they were
on their way on behalf of the tribe to engage a lawyer to defend those
arrested on Monday. The two men were quite unsuspicious of danger, and
unconscious of having done wrong. Suddenly, a rush was made on them from
back and front, and one was seized and handcuffed by men who bore no
outward sign of officers, and who read no warrant....."

The Huntington paper went on to talk about the inquest into John Ice's death:

"Louis Sunday testified at the inquest that hearing an alarm, he ran to
the office, and just as he passed the door, he was felled by a blow over
the eyes. He is now in jail awaiting trial. Trial for what? The agent's
office is a public place, and any Indian had a right to go to it. Sunday
declared before the Coroner's Jury he went without malice, and in
ignorance of what was going on, and purely from curiosity. He is met at
the door by a stranger in everyday dress and knocked senseless.

"It is not the man who struck him who is arrested, but the Indian, who is
torn from his home, put in jail, and awaits his trial for assaulting an
officer of justice. And obstructing him in the discharge of his duty.
Considering all these details, we think it would be a mistake in the
Indians to make any compromise. The government ought to drop the
prosecution."

But the prosecution wasn't dropped. Although some of the men were
eventually released on bail, Louis David, Jake Fire, Joseph Thompson,
Mitchell Day and Louis Leaf -- all Life Chiefs -- were kept in jail. They
spent the Spring there, the Summer, watched the leaves turn in Autumn,
went through the Winter in their cells, and the following Spring were
finally brought to trial! That they were political prisoners is evident
from the letters from the Indian Affairs Branch secretary to the Deputy
Minister of Justice:

".....with respect to those Indians of St. Regis who were imprisoned at
Beauharnois in May last.....it has been decided that the whole of the
Indians on bail should appear, and that then, with the exception of two or
three of the most notorious elements, they should be discharged upon
giving proper recognizance to appear if required."

Not only was this to happen, but the Department of Indian Affairs planned
to make the Indians pay for the cost of their prosecution, as well as the
costs of their defense. The Inspector of Indian Agencies wrote Ottawa:

".......so as to establish the amenability of all to the laws of Canada,
and to dispel the fictions of the agitators, such two or three will be
tried, and if possible, convicted and sentenced.

"The costs of prosecution may be fairly borne by the band's fund, as the
prosecution was indubitably in the band's best interests."

The Inspector had made all of this very clear to the Indians. The
Departmental interpreter noted in a memorandum:

"The delegates wanted the government to intervene and stop the trial. Mr.
McCrea told them it depended altogether on their part. If at their
request, they should show good and proper spirit to obey the law, by
passing a resolution to have a lockup at that reserve and constables
placed there, the Department will try to intervene in the coming trial."

Even the Mohawk's own lawyer wrote to the Department of Indian Affairs:

"I pointed out that the results of the trial that take place......would
probably largely depend on whether the chiefs should decide to submit to
the departmental views of the situation or not."

And so the trial came and went, and strong warnings were given to the
accused: Thomas Sand, Louis Thomas, Jacob Fire, Louis David, John Skin,
John Nine Angus, John Angus Louis, Joseph Martin, Angus Papineau, Mitchell
Bova, Peter Day, Louis Terrance, Mitchell Oak, John Back, and William
Mussell.

Inspector McCrae gathered up a small group of supporters, took them over
to the city of Cornwall, where they staged an election among themselves
for the council as provided for under the Indian Advancement Act. As the
report was made to the deputy minister:

"There was only a small attendance, but twelve chiefs were elected."


And so today, only a small percentage of people at Akwesasne participate
in the elective system, and yet this system is the only group recognized
by the Government of Canada. At the Longhouse, hereditary chiefs still
counsel for the Mohawk people, both in the U.S. and in Canada, keeping in
mind the generations yet unborn.

Neither the United States or Canada will acknowledge that the hereditary
chiefs exist.

The stand of the larger governments is not justified in terms of right or
wrong, but rather in terms of strategies. As an agent remarked about the
hereditary system:

"No doubt you know the nature of Indians. If you yield a point in their
favour, they demand another, and you will not be done with them until
trouble will spread over the village and the reserve."

Rest well, Mohawks of Akwesasne. The Canadian Government has taught you
How Democracy Works.


THE THUNDERWATER MOVEMENT

The information contained on this webpage is taken from the booklet
entitled "THE BEST OF AKWESASNE NOTES: HOW DEMOCRACY CAME TO ST. REGIS &
THE THUNDERWATER MOVEMENT" Published by Akwesasne Notes Newspaper (1974) -
ISBN # 0-914838-50-4


THE THUNDERWATER MOVEMENT


Based on research in Canada's Dominion Archives

This article is being published for two reasons.

First, since Lewis Henry Morgan wrote THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS, North
American native peoples have been fair game for intensive examination by
people who term themselves "anthropologists". Many a study has been done
on the customs, rituals, social relationships, legends, and psychology of
various native peoples -- usually by European--oriented social scientists.

It is time that attention was focused on another peculiar social grouping
now in North America, hitherto overlooked. As viewed by native peoples,
they too have customs, rituals, strange behaviour patterns. I refer to
bureaucrats involved in "Indian Affairs".

Like any society, Indian Affairs officials have deviant members, such as
those who seem to be genuinely devoted to promoting causes native people
consider important. But too, their society has ways of dealing with these
individuals, usually expelling them from membership by invoking strong
sanctions, or by keeping them in low-status positions in their society, or
by depriving them of symbols of power in their ceremonial chambers, e.g.,
giving them an office without a telephone.

The fascinating culture explored here is centered around Ottawa, Canada.
It is reported that a parallel society is functioning in the vicinity of
the Potomac River near Virginia and Maryland.

This case study takes place in the decade during and after World War I.
Unfortunately, the society being studied, Indian Affairs Officials, is
secretive and its public utterances often differ from its internal doings.
It was only after its papers were considered harmless enough to be
committed to the Public Archives that we were able to examine its internal
workings in detail.

However, it is believed that there have been numerous examples of similar
cases during recent months, and that the deep-seated cultural responses of
the Indian Affairs Officials persists today -- in fact, recent revelations
about "Watergate" and "Plumbers' Units" indicate the unsocial activities
of Indian Affairs people may have infected the society-at-large.

The second reason we publish this article now is so that native peoples
can see how (in detail) leadership is killed, how initiative is denied,
how people are discredited, what divide-and-conquer is all about. By
studying the methods used in the 1920's, we can easier deal with the
situations we find today.

We look forward to further anthroplogical studies of this fascinating group.



Chief Thunderwater first appeared on the Canadian scene in November, 1914.
He was a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, who sought to form a fraternal
society known as The Council of The Tribes.

The purpose of the society were to be in improvement of reservation living
conditions, the control of the sale of intoxicating liquors, the
improvement of social and educational facilities and the bettering of
sanitary conditions.

Archive records begin with a meeting at the St. Regis Reserve (Akwesasne).
Although it was held on the American portion of the reserve, the Indian
Affairs Branch in Ottawa, Canada, was so sensitive to external threat that
it immediately set up its preconditioned defenses. A secondary official
known as an Indian Agent, was the first to sound the alert. He reported to
Ottawa headquarters, where powerful members of the Indian Affairs Branch
and their servants are centralized. His letter of warning reveals several
interesting traits:



"A man calling himself Ogema Niagara held a meeting at Cook's Hall on the
American side. He is somewhat of an agitator although he claims to be
working for the benefit of the Indians.

"The Indians are flocking to him with all their tales of long suffering
and great injustices that have been wrought upon them by everyone,
including government agents, customs officials, etc.....

"He promises to look into these claims, and assures them of a speedy
adjustment no matter if he has to take it to the highest court in the
land....

"You will note that I have been invited to attend these sessions, and
while I would like to get the status of this Indian and his work, I feel
not justified in attending as my presence might be construed as giving
approval to this society."



Over the next year or two, additional letters began to roll in from other
Indian Agents. Now communications in the Indian Affairs society is
generally slow because of awkward decision making processes, competition
among dignitaries for positions of higher levels in the society, and
because of a reliance on written data. Also, each level, by agreement,
communicates directly with the level immediately above and immediately
below. Society members believe that their presence is very powerful and
that by being seen or unseen, they can cause events to happen. For
instance, a very high official, known as the Secretary (Commissioner)
wrote:



"I understand that the Council elected on the Tyendinaga Reserve are Chief
Thunderwater's followers. There was some difficulty some time ago when
they thought they could pass minutes and send them to the Department
direct, but our agent, Mr. Campbell, was informed that no such minutes
would be recognized by the Department without their being certified by him
as agent for the Department, and sent through him here for necessary
action.....

"It was thought, I presume, by the Deputy Minister, that taking as little
notice as possible of Thunderwater and his followers would be the most
effective way of dealing with them...."



(With this introduction into the culture, then, the reader will be largely
left now to interpret the data which follows. We hope that your study will
reveal how this exotic group responds to culture-stress, so that its
undesirable effects can be minimized.)

At Caughnawaga (Kahnawake), John Dailiabout (Debo), P.J. Delisle, Mitchell
Morris, Peter Delormier, James Phillips, Frank Johns, and Charles Williams
were elected chiefs "independent of the government." Fearful of loss of
his status, agent J.M. Brosseau wrote Ottawa:



"I have followed instructions, and warned Chief Beauvais of Caughnawaga
about the evils of Thunderwater, but instead of following the advice of
the agent, the chiefs have carried on propaganda in favour of the said
Thunderwater......I think it would be good policy to take energetic
measures against the individual."



>From St. Regis (Akwesasne) the agent wrote:



".....I consider it to be the best interest of the Indians throughout
Canada that this man should not be tolerated at all. You should simply
request the immigration department to notify the Montreal office to deport
him as he is most certainly an undesirable and an expert agitator.....His
deportation would have a very soothing and salutary effect among the
Indians."



Often the Indian Affairs Officials believe that "foreign influence" is
generally responsible for problems it has with Indians. (In 1967, it was
reported in the House of Commons that radio broadcasts from Cuba were
causing the Prairie Indians to become restless about intolerable living
conditions.) In 1916, it was the Germans:



"Thunderwater's advice and counsel was of a nature not in harmony with
loyalty to the Crown.....It has been intimated that the funds he uses so
lavishly are furnished from a German source...."



The Indian Affairs Officials have alliances with other tribes, such as the
Immigration Department tribe, the Dominion Police tribe, and in times of
stress, it calls upon them for assistance. As the superintendent of
immigration wrote the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs:



"Upon receipt of information concerning the Indian in question, I
instructed our officers at the post on the International Boundary where he
would be likely to cross to refuse him admission if at all possible."



For a time, he continued to come into Canada, though, for the Agricultural
Representative, another kind of Indian Affairs Official, reported on a
speech Thunderwater had given at the Six Nations Reserve:



"He said it was a deplorable condition of affairs that Indians as
intellectual as the Six Nations Indians should have to be treated as
children by the Indian Department. He assured them that alone they could
do nothing to remedy this, but with his help they would be able to get
complete control of their own affairs....(emphasis in original document)

"He said the only way to fight the white man was with white man's colleges
and learning. Educate the young Indians and put them at the head of white
men's institutions. He advised taking all their grievances to the
newspapers, instead of the Indian Agent, as apparently papers are always
anxious to get that kind of news.

"He said that if Indians wish to prosper, they would have to keep their
money, and not give it to be a God to worship. He said the Christians's
God was Money.

"He spoke of education as being the greatest weapon that Indians could use
for betterment, but the Indian Department did nothing and that he was
going to force them to do more. He urged Indians to send their children to
school regularly.....

"If I might add, children of parents belonging to the Council of Tribes
are not in attendance at school. And the Indian Council who were selected
by Thunderwater are on the whole, uneducated and unprogrssive. Also, there
were no children of the Thunderwater faction in attendance at the School
Fair, nor did they make any exhibits.....

"These conditions are sure to work against the best interest of the
Indians, and will make it extremely difficult for Indian Department
Officials to do their work. I sincerely hope that some means will be found
to prevent Thunderwater's return to the Six Nations Reserve as it will be
sure to have a depressing effect on the work I have planned for the future
there."



Thunderwater nonetheless continued to take a strong stand in his campaign
to better conditions for the Indians. In an open letter "to the Indian
People", he said:

"I will present to the government the complaints of the Indians of Canada
through the public prints or newspapers of Canada so that all of the
people of the Dominion may understand the condition of affairs, as I have
tried the method of presenting the complaints of the Indians separately to
the Department of Indian Affairs, and have not received what I consider
proper attention. The Indian Office seems inclined to ignore our
existence, and it naturally follows we will go higher.....

"The Indians have a legal right to organize, and the only hope for the
Indians for self-protection is to do so, and when you are perfectly
organized, act together, make your appeal to the people of the
Dominion..."

A difficult assignment was given to C.C. Parker, Inspector of Indian
Agencies. He was to find out all he could about Thunderwater, but his
instructions read, "Don't attend any Thunderwater meetings or recognize
him in any way."

The resourceful inspector solved this problem by hiding in a closet in the
agent's office when Thunderwater was to be there. He then filed his
official report:

"I listened to him talking to the agent for three-quarters of an hour, and
there was nothing in what he said that could be considered slanderous or
threatening. He denied certain reported statements when asked about them
by the agent.

"I then (came out) and I tried to make him understand that he had no
standing as far as our Department was concerned, and that he should be
careful not to incite or encourage Canadian Indians to act rashly nor
overstep the Authority of our Agents.

"From what I could learn, there appears to have been nothing said that
could be taken exception to. He preaches temperance, better farming, and
compulsory school attendance.

"I would submit, as a suggestion, that an amendment to the Indian Act be
prepared which would cover such gatherings on Indian reserves, and the
right of an outsider organizing and holding such meetings."

The Toronto GLOBE had a reporter attend a Thunderwater meeting, and he
wrote under the headline,

"WANT LIQUOR BANISHED FROM THEIR RESERVATION".

"They want the Government at Ottawa to see that all Indian children are
educated at least as far as the high school entrance, on a par with the
white folks. They want schools established plentifully on every
reservation for this purpose. They claim the Indian Agent has no
right....to dictate to their chiefs or councillors."

Progressive? Bound as it was to its own culture, the conservative nature
of the Indian Affairs Officials caused them to fear change, and made them
reluctant to enter the mainstream of 20th Century thinking. So, Department
officials were informed:

"As you are aware, the Department is not in sympathy with the holding of
any meetings on the reserve by Thunderwater or his followers."


Agents were also encouraged to interfere in the democratic elections by
the Indians of their chiefs and councillors, if Thunderwater support was
indicated:

"You will note in enclosed letter that he refers to three of our chiefs;
Loran Jocko, Mitchell C. Jacobs, and A. Papineau, as having signed his
commission. I think it might be well to bear this in mind when holding the
election for chiefs next July."

 This can easily be contrasted with the style of democracy advocated by
Thunderwater:


"It is the work of the electors, and they should know the man better than
I do. Your people are living in contact with all of each other, and you
are in a better position to understand the characteristics of each other
than I do. At any rate, it is the business of all of the electors of the
reservation and not mine as who shall be nominated and elected."

One of the legends perpetuated by Indian Affairs Officials is that they
alone understand Indians. As C.C. Parker, the closet-hiding inspector
wrote Ottawa:

 "To the average person, or in fact to anyone not in active touch with
Indian Affairs, it must be admitted that Thunderwater and his Council of
Tribes would appear to be not only an organization of innocents, but even
an organization calculated to uplift Indians.....

"It is worthy of note, however, that what we look upon as the Better Class
of Indians have kept away from the man...Publicly he is careful not to say
anything incriminating. However, I am quite satisfied, in my own mind,
that he is stirring up the Indians in an effort to do away with some of
the Authority of the Department, and that promises made, which if carried
out, would not be in the interests of the Department and Its System of
Handling Indian Affairs.....

"A further indication is the disregard some of his followers now have for
their agent, and disrespectful language I have heard used in speaking of
The Department."

 When a delegation of eight Indians, several of them chiefs of their
tribes, came to Ottawa to see officials of the Indian Affairs Branch,
they were refused an audience. As the Ottawa CITIZEN reported:

 "Scott did not care to hold conversation with them, and said he wanted
nothing to do with the organization.....Mr. Scott had accused Chief
Thunderwater of being behind the organization for the purpose of robbing
the Indians.

"(Thunderwater) was enraged at this remark, and brought three chiefs from
Deseronto (Tyendinaga), St. Regis (Akwesasne), and Brantford (Ohsweken-Six
Nations Reserve) reservations into the Citizen office to testify to his
high character. They all said that instead of getting anything for his
work in organizing the Indians, Chief Thunderwater was carrying on the
work partially out of his own pocket.

".....Two sensational statements were made by Chief Thunderwater. He
declared that an attempt was made to obstruct his journey to Caughnawaga
(Kahnawake) by Immigration Officials at Prescott the other day, and that
the Department had placed one of its agents in hiding in the Deseronto
Reservation to see if they said anything with which they could get him.

"Thunderwater said that other than the Department, the only ones opposing
him are the whiskey sellers, bootleggers, and grafters."

"They were refused an audience by Dr. Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy
Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, this morning. They came here to
familiarize the Department with the work of the organization in bettering
the condition of the Indians...

 Another cultural trait of the Indian Affairs officials is that it
sometimes seems they become vicious against individuals who they feel
threaten their own programs. For instance, separate files were set up on
each Indian who appeared in the delegation mentioned above so that in the
future, any contact with the Department would recall they were
"Thunderwater people".

Sometimes, the visciousness even causes them to cut off their noses to
spite their faces, as the saying goes. For example, when Thunderwater
wrote Ottawa that he would be happy to encourage Indians to cooperate in
the production of additional food to aid the war effort, he said:

 "As a rule, the Indians have not much ready cash, but can produce in
large quantities. We have sent large quantities of socks, and in other
ways helped. In the States, we have purchased Liberty Bonds. We still set
aside and send to a specified place some of the crops, butter, etc., for
presentation to the government, thus aiding and feeding the soldiers
overseas or still here in camps.....

"I hope that your honourable body will suggest to the Department that
Indians be provided with sufficient seed, etc., to bring forth a mighty
crop this season.....Hoping that you will realize my sincerity and desire
to be or of real service......"

Indian Affairs replied with a flat refusal to cooperate in any way.

The vindictiveness can often be carried to such an extent that the
democratic operation of Parliament is sometimes thwarted. The Branch had
for a long time complained that Thunderwater's organization was not
legally incorporated. A number of Indians therefore attempted to get
Letters Patent to incorporate their organization. However, Indian Affairs
Officials then blocked their efforts to do so, by writing to the
Undersecretary of State:

"Since Thunderwater's real motive, as evidenced by his action, is to make
difficulties for this department and its agents, and to stir up among the
Indians distrust of the Department and opposition to the special laws
existing for the Indians....I do not think it is in the best interest of
Good Administration to allow its incorporation."

The Undersecretary complied, and refused to issue the charter. The Indians
then found a sympathetic member of Parliament to introduce a private bill.
Alarmed, Indian Agents wrote to Ottawa:

"I am sure you will not allow any such movement to secure a foothold, as
it is certainly not to the best interests of Indians of Canada."

The bill, which received first reading in the House of Comons on April 3,
1918, was "an Act to incorporate a council for the Indian Tribes of
Canada." It contained 171 names to show its authenticity, including John
Thompson, Tom Thomas, Alexander Barnhart, Thomas Benedict, Mitchell
Buckshot and John Bruce (a relative of former U.S. Commissioner of Indian
Affairs Louis Bruce) of St. Regis as well as Chief J. Delisle, grand
councillor of Caughnawaga.

The general purpose of the Council was stated to "make and formulate the
constitution to unite fraternally all Indian persons." The specific goals
were:

1. To give material aid in its power to distressed persons.
2. To educate its members socially, morally, and intellectually, and to
inculcate a loyalty to Crown and Country.
3. To encourage and compel the enforcement and observation of the
principles of compulsory education.
4. To encourage the observation of temperance and to insist on the
enforcement of laws regarding the sale of liquor to Indians.
5. To encourage hygenic principles in the diffusion of scientific facts
tending to improve the health and lower the rates of mortality against
Indians.
6. To promote increase in production of Indian lands as the result of
Indian labor, by directing the labor of Indians and their finances to
better and more scientific cultivation of the land.

The Indian Affairs Branch went into immediate action, and the Secretary of
Indian Affairs wrote to Indian Agents:

 "I have to request that you immediately draw up petitions to be signed by
all such Indians expressing their disapproval of the Society, and the
Bill asked for. You will give this your immediate attention, and see that
every available name is procured, and that the petition be forwarded to
the Department without delay."

When these "spontaneous" petitions arrived in Ottawa, they were sent to
the Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs (an elected official and not
a bureaucrat) with a list of reasons why the bill should not be voted into
law:


"There is no doubt that this Thunderwater is an adventurer, living on the
simple credulity of the poorer elements of the Indians who are led to
believe that the great things are to be obtained through him. (Instead of
inculcating loyalty to Queen and Country) the reverse is true. They have
been told the Indian Agent, the representative of the Government, had no
right to sit on their council and that it was their intention to
oppose.....certain sections of the Indian Act.

"Encouragement and enforcement of compulsory education is not likely to
come from this organization, as his followers are the greatest offenders.

"The provisions of the Indian Act forbidding the sale of liquor is
reasonably well enforced, and it does not appear how the proposed
incorporation could be of any assistance in this matter.

"I think it will be conceded that any assistance must come from without,
rather than from within the Indian Bands.

"The Department has an agricultural representative who visits reserves
annually giving instruction in agriculture and encouraging competition
among children as well as among adults at fall fairs. The children of this
organization take no part in such competition.

"Whatever the ostensible objects of this organization may be, the real
object of result.....is to have them revert to former conditions as much
as possible, to look forward to the recovery of their allegedly lost
privileges and rights rather than to take their places in civilized
communities, to conduct their own affairs in their own aboriginal way...In
view of the above facts, the Department would greatly regret the passing
of this bill."

And so it was that the bill did not reach second reading. But legally
incorporated or not, the movement continued to grow.

Completely frustrated by this time, the Department was determined to
hamper the organization by means fair or foul. The Deputy Minister for
Indian Affairs wrote his inspector:

"I should like very much, if at all possible, to get some hold upon
Thunderwater.

"I do not think it necessary to say anything further by way of
information, as I know you will appreciate the nature of the information I
wish to obtain."

They did find something to use. An Indian boy had been placed with
Thunderwater as part of a private adoption agreement. The mother later
married, and wanted the return of her son. She wrote the Department
alleging that Thunderwater was abusive to the boy, whereupon the
Department, with government money, hired a lawyer to prosecute her case.
Affidavits alleging abuse, brutality, and neglect were taken. However, a
short time later, the complainants withdrew:

"....We were a bit hasty in sending you the information collected in the
above investigation. For we found things to be a little different now. The
undertaker my wife got the information from has made a great mistake...

"I have found also that the Council of Tribes is incorporated in the State
of Ohio.....I believe this man is what he claims, a law-abiding citizen,
and a protector of Indians and Indian rights. As I have seen my mistake
and the wrong I have done this man, I wish to apologize for all that has
been written and said against this man."

Despite the retraction, the officials of the Indian Affairs Department
continued to utilize the original affidavits in their campaign against
Thunderwater.

Unable to deliver the death blow, however, they merely waited for their
chance. It came in 1927. Thunderwater had received an invitation from the
Louisville (Kentucky) HERALD POST to visit the city. He was received with
great ceremony by the Governor of Kentucky; he made speeches in the
schools, and the newspaper played up the stories big on the front pages.

A rival newspaper, the Louisville TIMES AND COURIER JOURNAL, wired Ottawa:
"SEND US INFORMATION." This was the big opportunity for Indian Affairs
Officials, and they did not miss it. The Deputy Minister himself wired
back:

"THUNDERWATER IS NOT CANADIAN INDIAN STOP HE IS AN IMPOSTER AND HAS GIVEN
CANADIAN INDIAN DEPARTMENT MUCH TROUBLE"

If he wasn't an Indian, the TIMES reasoned, what was he? A person that
dark could only be a BLACKMAN! The newspaper wired a cooperative Ottawa:

"CAN YOU GIVE US ANY LINE ON PARENTAGE AND RACIAL CLASSIFICATION..."


"The Department wired back that the TIMES could have complete access to
information and sent photostatic copies of selected documents. And despite
the fact that the Department itself had killed Thunderwater's chances for
a legal incorporation, they wired Louisville:


"COPY OF REPORT FROM CHIEF OF POLICE CLEVELAND 1915 STATES THUNDERWATER
ADMITTED TO POLICE THAT COUNCIL OF TRIBES HAD NO CHARTER..."

"KINDLY SEND ME TIMES ISSUES DEALING WITH THUNDERWATER EXPOSURE."

The balance of the story is that of a masterful hatchet job, more to
discredit the rival newspaper than to discredit Thunderwater. The
headlines the next day read:

"PRESIDENT OF CLEVELAND BLACK BELT IN LOUISVILLE SCHOOLS"

"....In 1917, the Post Office Department made an extended investigation to
ascertain if the mails were being used to defraud.....No direct evidence
was found.....The Canadian Indian Bureau wrote the United States Bureau
that it would like to have information about him as he had been a
continual source of annoyance.....

"The Bureau in the States wrote to Thunderwater that it is regarded that
his activities were exceedingly questionable....He has a notorious record
in Canada."



With the article were pictures of black children playing on Cleveland
streets, captioned sarcastically, "Some Indian Neigbours of Thunderwater."

Thunderwater immediately sued for libel. The Department of Indian Affairs
actively participated in the defense of the newspaper, collecting
interviews, sending out investigators, hiring lawyers. As the Secretary of
Indian Affairs wrote the newspaper:


"I feel sure that Mr. Scott (Deputy Minister) will be willing to cooperate
with you in any way that he can in this action."



However, the information that the Canadian Government supplied to the
American newspaper only muddied the waters, for the jury disagreed, and
the case apparently was settled out of court afterwards.

Thunderwater did not come back to Canada.

The Branch closed its "Thunderwater File."

And still today, Indian Affairs Officials say they are anxious to have
Indians step forth and assume leadership in improving Indian education,
self-government, and the development of Indian peoples.

But the record shows otherwise. Officials who act as advocates of the
native people are axed. "Militant" leaders are discredited through stories
fed to the media, by disruption of their activities, by spurious charges
against them to tie them up in the courts.

A proper understanding of the culture -- of Indian Affairs Officials --
seems necessary to meet the challenge. What anthropologist is willing to
do his thesis on this strange tribe?