[IPSM] Sovereignty of the Mohawk People: Shawn Brant

[Mike D]

The Sovereignty of the Mohawk People
Mohawk Nation Drummer
Tyendinaga
March 2005


Recent raids, into a small number of businesses on the Six Nations of the
Grand River Territory, has raised some concerns among local business
owners here on Tyendinaga.

The issue is the sale and trade of tobacco products throughout native
territories and within sister communities.

With news of the RCMP raids still fresh in people's minds, Shawn Brant, a
representative of Tyendinaga Mohawk Tobacco Products (TMT), spoke with me
surrounding the recent events in Six Nations and the future for
Tyendinaga.
Brant began by saying, “In 1991 it was illegal for a Mohawk person to
harvest fish from the Belleville and Napanee Rivers to feed their family.
It took the overwhelming courage of this community to confront that issue,
raise the public awareness and fight for the dignified right to feed
ourselves, on our terms.  I see the tobacco issue following that same
course.”

“We have to stop accepting the version of events as told by the white man,
and believe in who we are as a people.  We are distinct, sovereign, and
honourable.  We herald from the greatest Nation this world will ever know”

Defending his statement Brant cited a recent court ruling where the
presiding Provincial Court Judge Collins agreed.  In his ruling, Judge
Collins found that Mohawk People truly represent a clear, separate and
distinct nation of people.  “They have existed long before the creation of
Canada, and its laws, and more importantly, exercised the right of Treaty
Making in its relationships with incurring sovereigns like the English,
French and Dutch.

In the case at hand, it was ruled that the Albany Treaty signed in 1701,
between Mohawk and British people, was in fact an example of the sovereign
right that is vested with any Nation and subject to the standards set out
under international rules of law.

Simply stated by Brant, “Our ancestors were of a nation of people and we
are the true heirs and successors of that same nation.”

During the thirteen days of historical evidence, presented by the crown
and defence, the court found that “Mohawk people clearly engaged in
resource harvesting and trade for the purpose of economic benefit”.

Brant continues, “It is for these reasons that we must change our
vocabulary from words like contraband, and replace them with words that
recognize the tremendous value that this and other resources can provide.
By utilizing this resource, as our anscestors did before us, we will then
be able to contribute to the maintenance and development of our nation, on
our own terms, and for years to come.”

While the raids in Six Nations yielded some hot community meetings and
strong anti-government rhetoric, there was no immediate defensive strategy
mechanism in place to stop further events from happening.  When asked
about Tyendinaga's ability to respond to similar police tactics here,
Brant concluded, “We are always organized and ready to meet the challenges
that threaten the people, land, or law.  I do not believe or see this as
simply an issue of tobacco.  This is about Bill C-20, FNG, and the OPP
killing Dudley George.  For us as Mohawk People, it is about seeing if we
can believe again in who we are, as a society, and for the values that has
preserved us for generations.”