[IPSM] Kanehsatake Public Assembly & Mobilizing Meeting - Saturday Nov. 27

Wed Nov 24 10:44:03 PST 2004

Kanehsatake Public Assembly & Mobilizing Meeting

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When? Saturday November 27, 2004

Time?  13h00 - 17h00 (free lunch)

Where? UQAM, Pavillion de Gestion, room # RM120

Metro? Berri-Uqam, Exit Ste. Catherine

Free childcare, call Samir @ 830-3623

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On Saturday November 27th members of the Mohawk community of Kanehsatake
and Indigenous People’s Solidarity Movement will speak out against the
current colonial attempts by the Canadian & Quebec governments to
undermine Indigenous Land Title and Rights and the crisis this has created
in Kanehsatake. This assembly is being organized to recruit groups and
individuals to participate in a mass public education campaign, solidarity
action planning, and fundraising for the Kanehsatake Legal Defense Fund.
>From 15h00 to 17h00 we will be breaking into education, action, and
fundraising committees.

For more info, contact ipsm at resist.ca or 514.398.7432

KANEHSATAKE BACKGROUNDER / UPDATE

For the past ten months, the Mohawks of Kanehsatake have successfully
prevented ousted Grand Chief James Gabriel’s illegitimate police force
from entering Kanehsatake, and thus the implementation of Tripartite
Policing Agreement secretly negotiated between Quebec, Canada and Gabriel.
During this time, both the SQ and RCMP have offered armed assistance to
help Gabriel and his goons take control of the community. Due to political
circumstance, this invasion has yet to occur.

Since mid-October there been a resurgence of media attention focused on
Kanehsatake. Reports of Gabriel and his loyalist’s visit to the Quebec
National Assembly to plea for RCMP and SQ intervention were sympathetic.
The media parroted his claim that Kanehsatake was “lawlessness” and that
he and his goons were not getting enough support from Chagnon or the SQ.
This lack of support, Gabriel claimed, was due to racism.

On two separate occasions, the media reported high-tech cameras had been
found hidden within Kanehsatake territory and that residents felt they
were being spied on. The SQ, who immediately claimed ownership of the
cameras, lied and said they were not spying, but the cameras were being
used for surveillance in “criminal investigations”. Besides, they added,
“normal people” don’t care if they’re being watched. Only criminals care
if cops infringe on their right to privacy.

Chagnon responded to allegations of lack of support and racism by stating
the problems in Kanehsatake are not of a criminal, but rather political,
nature. This begs the question then - why does the SQ have cameras hidden
throughout Kanehsatake territories? The situation is either criminal or
political in nature. So far, community members have found and dismantled
eight cameras disguised on rooftops, lamp-posts and the trees. If Chagnon
sends the SQ into Kanehsatake to “add muscle” to Gabriel’s police-state,
it will be with full knowledge of the nature of the situation.

Two days after the discovery of the first camera, James Gabriel announced
his re-hiring of Terry Isaac as the Kanesatake Police Chief. Isaac was
fired from this position following attacks on community members using
excessive force and pathetically underdeveloped judgment. The peoples of
Kanehsatake unanimously rejected Isaac’s presence when he lead the January
12, 2004 police invasion. Ellen Gabriel was interviewed by the press
shortly after his assignment, and denounced Gabriel’s hiring as
politically motivated, irresponsible, and a provocation to people of the
community.

Throughout September and October Gabriel and his loyalists attended a
mediation process held in federal court with the “dissident” Chiefs and
two Kanehsatake Elders. The goal of this process was to come to an
agreement the date for the next Kanehsatake elections. After two months of
talking in circles the “dissident” chief side walked out. James Gabriel
was unwavering in his insistence Kanehsatake would only be “safe” for
elections if his goon squad were patrolling the community. As mandated by
the community, the dissident chiefs offered a compromise - to have the
more competent Kahnawake Peacekeepers, or SQ patrol during campaigning and
elections - but Gabriel refused to compromise.

After the mediation broke down, Canada & Quebec extended Gabriel’s mandate
again; this time indefinitely since no election date was set. In the
meantime, Gabriel continues to plunge Kanehsatake into deeper and deeper
debt. It is estimated Gabriel has spent $9 million supporting himself and
his goons who have only been patrolling Oka and St. Eustache - areas where
they have no jurisdiction. A few of those goons, most notable Larry Ross,
are currently under investigation by the Montreal Police for their assault
and false arrest of Kanehsatake community member, Shawn Hurley. This
incident took place in St. Eustache - not the goons jurisdiction.

While some of the money used to pay the goons came from the government as
“gifts”, the rest came from what a June 2004 audit revealed as
under-spending in Kanehsatake economic development ($0), recreation
($233), adult disability ($0) and “family” violence ($1,994). For many
opponents of Gabriel this under-spending has resulted in the loss of jobs.

Incidentally, the audit lacked any accounting for the community’s $1.3
million policing budget, it only referenced the $900,000 granted by the
Solicitor General’s office. Since $822,246 of the $900,000 was used up by
March but intended to last until August, and since there was no record of
the purchase of several new police vehicles for the goons, by this point
they have probably spent both year’s budgets, plus the $900,000 for a
total of $3.5 million.

Twenty-four Kanehsatake Mohawks are facing charges of “forcible
confinement of police officers” and “participation in a riot”. The
necessary legal fees to defend themselves are an additional financial hit
on the community. Facing jail time, community members are being forced to
pay for legal representation even though the prosecution has no compelling
evidence of criminal activities. It is clear by the number of cameras
found in Kanehsatake, that the police want video evidence to present in
court against anyone who resists the upcoming invasion.

CANADA’S AGENDA

The mainstream media deliberately avoid the core issues underlying the
crisis in Kanehsatake today. They don’t explain why our government
supports Gabriel but instead collude to cover-up the fact Gabriel is
Canada’s  man for pushing through it’s “final solution” to the “Indian
problem”. This is why the feds signed a $900,000 policing deal in secret
with Gabriel. It is why they negotiated the new Tripartite Policing
Agreement without the “dissident” chief’s presence, and why the TPA
totally centralizes power over the police in James Gabriel and the Quebec
Public Security Minister’s hands.

Bill S-24, the Kanesatake Interim Land Based Governance Act, is Canada’s
“final solution” to the “Indian problem”. The deal with it is this: Her
Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada gave Kanehsatake the 160 properties
purchased for them after the Oka Crisis. The feds gave Kanehsatake the
right to pass a Land Code and municipal-style by-laws enforceable on their
territory. In exchange, underlying title to the land undergoes a Transfer
of Administration between Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, and
Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province. The province, Quebec, then
becomes the beneficial owner of the lands subject only to the residual
rights of management agreed to through the Land Code and municipal by-laws
of Kanehsatake. Original Aboriginal Title to the lands are legally
extinguished by way of “surrender”.

Because Aboriginal Original Title and Rights flow from the land, once
underlying title is surrendered to Her Majesty, She also owns all the
animals and resources on the land. So, for example, take the person who
hunts and/or fishes for subsistence in Kanehsatake. Under this agreement,
animals are no longer a gift from the Creator but a gift from the Queen.
The Queen has no obligation to uphold the priority accorded to Aboriginal
hunters under Section 2(a) of the Charter to hunt for religious purposes.
By the tricky wording of the Agreement, beliefs regarding Indigenous
relationships to the Land, the Creator, are surrendered. The Mohawks of
Kanehsatake then are no longer recognized as a Peoples under international
law, but become mere managers of the Land they live on, and can be sued if
they don’t do it properly.

Canada dangled the carrot of these properties for almost a decade in the
face of Kanehsatake Band Council. They “flowed” funds to Council for
several years to get the ball rolling on Bill-24. After the vote, but
before the Act was implemented, some Council members asked critical
questions and demanded a legal opinion to be shared with the community on
the Act. In response the feds blackmailed Council by threatening to
withdrawal the funds Council had become dependent upon. Even though Canada
purchased the 160 properties soon after the Oka Crisis ended, they waited
until Parliament passed the Land Management Act and it’s amendments in
1996, and 1998 respectively to begin the negotiations with Kanehsatake to
hand the properties over.

In June 2000, James Gabriel secretly signed the Act with Walter Walling
from the Department of Indian Affairs and Eric Maldoff, federal
negotiator/lawyer. In September of the same year, Gabriel called a
referendum vote to ratify the Act but did not provide the community with
information on it’s implications if, he himself was fully aware of them.
Despite the fact many people boycotted the vote due to lack of
information, and others because they are traditionalists and boycott all
Indian Act proceedings, the referendum went forward and was passed by a
vote of 239 to 237 - less than half the eligible voters in Kanehsatake.

The Act transferred $14 million worth of property to the privately held
and newly created Kanesatake Orihwa’shon:a Development Corporation, not
Kanesatake Band Council. Underlying title to the lands is held by the
Crown - people in Kanehsatake only hold them as “fee simple” properties.
Fee simple estates can be transferred and sold between Her Majesty’s
subjects and others but, Title is not transferred from Her Majesty to
anyone unless, for example, it is necessary to put an end to a war between
Canada and another country. In such a case, title is transferred from Her
Majesty to the head of another state. Original Aboriginal title is gone.

The Act also removes Mohawk tax-exemptions, and if taxes or fees on these
fee simple properties are not paid, Band Council is authorized to seize
the property. In conjunction with a politically controlled police force,
the criminalization of dissent and the tobacco-trade (which sustains many
Mohawk families and services), this power to seize property is the perfect
tool to launch a full-scale war on the poor and political opponents.
Finally, all by-laws passed by Kanehsatake must be harmonized with the
laws governing Oka, a further indication of Kanehsatake’s new municipal,
not national, status.

Canada’s First Nations Land Management Act is legislated cultural
genocide. It is an Act of warfare in a time where International Laws,
which Canada must obey, are acknowledging Aboriginal People’s Original
title to the land. The Land Management Act is a preemptive strike against
future Aboriginal claims to traditional territories. The Kanesatake
Interim Land Based Governance Act effects not just the Kanehsatake
Mohawks’ future claims, but the whole of Mohawk territories. As Janice
Switlo, Indigenous lawyer explains in her article “Apple Cede”, claims to
traditional territories require proof of continuous use of territories not
for every inch of the territories, but rather portions with meaningful
relations to each other.

Like, for example, a farmer’s farm land. A farmer may have a house on one
corner of the land, a barn in the other and a corral somewhere else, but
this all works towards proving possession of the whole farm. The same
principle applies to small reserves spread throughout Treaty territories
or, in the case where no treaties exist, to the extent that geographically
separated bands maintain meaningful relations with each other.

For the Mohawk Peoples, or even the Iroquois Confederacy, this means there
is potential in future to claim vast amounts of territories from the Crown
which lay between their individual “reserved” lands. This is the direction
the law is going. But if one Band enters a Land Management Agreement, back
at the farm, one band will get the barn, another the house, another the
dog house, and Canada will get all the lands between these structures for
free. If land is surrendered, which it is through the Act, proof of
continuous ownership of the whole territory is lost forever.

This is why Canada supports James Gabriel - because they want the farm for
free. James Gabriel will implement the Kanesatake Interim Land Based
Governance Agreement - the extinguishment of the Mohawks’ Aboriginal
Original Title and Rights. No cost is too great for Canada to achieve what
it has desired for the past 284 years - not monetarily, nor the loss of
life.

So a joint SQ and/or RCMP/KMP invasion of Kanehsatake is imminent and
there will be resistance. Against the backdrop of the mass media’s
relentless campaign to criminalize all those opposed to Gabriel’s police
state and municipalization deals, an anti-colonial analysis of the
situation is imperative. Due to the uncertainty of when the police will
invade, so too is having an organized plan of action.

We’ve organized this assembly in an effort to ensure all groups and
individuals represented at this meeting have the tools to participate in a
mass public education campaign in support of the Mohawks of Kanehsatake. A
police invasion of the community is imminent, and there will be
resistance. Solidarity with the Mohawk Peoples of Kanehsatake is essential
to help prevent bloodshed and to expose the ongoing colonial efforts of
our government. If Canada and Gabriel get their way, most of those opposed
to Bill S-24 will soon be imprisoned or impoverished.

It is our role to disrupt, up the cost of Canada & Quebec’s support for
Gabriel. It has been proven, throughout the last ten months, that the
community is strong and Gabriel cannot win this fight on his own.
Solidarity with the Mohawks of Kanehsatake!

For more information - Email: ipsm at resist.ca, or Phone: 398-7432

For free child care, please call Samir in advance @ 830-3623