[IPSM] [TUESDAY] Canada: GET OUT!

[Devin Butler Burke]

Canada: GET OUT!
Fighting colonialism from Kanehsatake to Haiti
Café La Petite Gaulle, 2525 rue Centre (Metro Charlevoix)
Tuesday January 25, 2005, 6:30pm
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.

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
There is a 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