[IPSM] Canada: GET OUT! Fighting Colonialism from Kanehsatake to Haiti

[Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movment - Montreal]

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Canada: GET OUT!
Fighting colonialism from Kanehsatake to Haiti

Tuesday January 25, 2005, 6:30pm
Café La Petite Gaulle, 2525 rue Centre (Metro Charlevoix)
Open to all, donations will be accepted

Join us for an evening of solidarity with the peoples of Kanehsatake and
Haiti. United in their opposition to foreign invasion, police state
repression, and ongoing attacks on their self-determination, both
nations have made their message clear: Canada - GET OUT!  This event
will feature community organizers from the Haitian community and from
Kanehsatake, as well as solidarity activists from Montreal, who will
provide up-to-date information on the two "crises" and discuss the ways
in which allies can support the popular resistance in Haiti and in
Kanehsatake.

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With speakers:

Magalie is the coordinator of Vwa Zanset (Voices of the Ancestors),
www.vwazanset.org, an organisation that seeks to uphold the principles
of democracy, respect for life and human dignity. She is a jurist
(licensed in civil law) and received her B.A in political science.
Running in parallel with her family and work commitments, she has been
an outspoken critic of the human rights violations that have taken place
on, and since, the February 29, 2004 coup d’état in Haiti, focusing on
the role of the American, French and Canadian governments in installing
a dictatorial and repressive regime in Haiti.

Arihwakehte (Clifton Nicholas), a Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) living in
Kanehsatake.  He has been an active member of the resistance to James
Gabriel, his policies and his police force in Kanehsatake.

Jean St-Vil (pen name Jafrikayiti) was born and raised in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  He now resides in Ottawa where he works as a
senior program officer at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (NSERC) and hosts a community radio show.  Jean is an
active member of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, where he
promotes the Reparations and Restitution portfolio. He is also the
founding president of REKA, an internet-based network of Haitian Kreyol
promoters (www.kreyol.org).

Yves Engler, a Montreal-based activist and writer. He recently traveled
to Haiti.

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Whisper translation (English-French and French-English) will be provided
The location is wheelchair accessible (2-inch step at entrance)
Sorry, childcare will not be available.

For further information, please contact:
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement
email: ipsm at resist dot ca
tel: 514.398.7432
web: ipsm.nativeweb.org
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Background:

The canadian state has long imposed itself on the Kanien'kehá:ka
(Mohawk) people, most recently in its backing of Kanehsatake's ex-Grand
Chief James Gabriel, who has willingly cooperated with the canadian
government's desires to seize control of Kanien'kehá:ka territory and
resources, furthering canada's genocidal project against Indigenous
peoples. It has become increasingly clear that a pivotal struggle is
being waged in Kanehsatake which gravely threatens Indigenous
self-determination throughout the occupied territories of canada.
Central to the state's current strategy in undermining Aboriginal
sovereignty is the municipalisation of Indigenous territories, a process
of legal maneuvering which, in effect, gives canada sole control over
and ownership of these territories.  In Kanehsatake, a significant piece
of legislation that follows this policy of legalized genocide is Bill
S-24, the "Kanesatake Land Based Governance Act", which James Gabriel
signed without community consent, despite its far-reaching consequences.
While canadian politicians such as Paul Martin and Minister of Indian
Affairs Andy Scott are promoting such policies, spouting misleading
rhetoric about Indigenous "self-governance", their corporate
counterparts have their sites set on the Kanehsatake territory. Most
notable is Niocan, a canadian mining corporation with plans of opening a
niobium mine on Kanien'kehá:ka territory. The impacts of this mine on
the surrounding communities would be detrimental to the health and
well-being of all those living in the region, yet despite the broad
opposition to this project by Native and non-Native residents, it looks
as if plans are moving ahead for the project, with final approval
anticipated in the spring of 2005. Most recently, under the guise of
needing security and safety in the community in order for Band Council
elections to occur, James Gabriel – with support from the SQ and RCMP –
is insisting that his police force, the Kanesatake Mohawk Police, be
allowed to patrol Kanehsatake.

Meanwhile, canada's colonial reach has recently extended to Haiti.  Over
the past year, canada, allied with the usa and france, has launched an
attack on the country's popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas,
beginning with the ousting of democratically-elected President Jean
Bertrand Aristide last February, and following this up with the
imposition of a puppet Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue. Since the coup,
several hundred RCMP and military officers have been deployed to the
country, where they have overseen the massacre of thousands of Haitians
- poor, marginalized, and politically involved people united in their
opposition to the occupation of Haiti; all the while thousands more have
been imprisoned, or otherwise forced to go underground.  As in
Kanehsatake, the police and military are being used to quell the
resistance of the people who are demanding justice and autonomy, and an
end to colonial interference in Haiti. Furthermore, Paul Martin is
urging for elections – while notably excluding Lavalas – to be held
shortly.  As in Iraq, this is being done to create the guise of
restoring sovereignty and democracy to the country; in fact, it will
serve as a pretext for allowing the occupation to continue indefinitely.


In addition, the corporate money trail can be found reaching from
Kanehsatake to Haiti, as canadian corporations, including SNC-Lavalin
International Inc., are on a large list of corporations seeking
"nation-rebuilding" contracts in Haiti. The list of parallels between
the situation in Kanehsatake and in Haiti goes on: from the media's
racist, anti-Black and anti-Native portrayal of the resistance in Haiti
and Kanehsatake in an attempt to delegitimize the popular struggles for
liberation and self-determination, to the foreign-imposed impoverishment
of the Mohawk and Haitian populations - whether it be through the
workings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as is
the case in Haiti, or through the centuries-long canadian colonial
order, including the imposed Band Council system, in Kanehsatake.

The situations in Haiti and Kanehsatake once again reaffirm that
canada's promoted reputation as international peace-broker is founded on
false illusions. From war and occupation at home to war and occupation
abroad, canada shows no sign of relinquishing it's colonial agenda, and
in fact only shows signs of expanding this agenda as the canadian
government further aligns itself with the u.s. This makes it all the
more critical that people living in canada work in active solidarity
with the movements of popular resistance, including those in Haiti and
the Mohawk Nation, and build our own movements of resistance within
fortress north america.

The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement
Montreal, occupied Kanien'kehá:ka territory