[IPSM] six nations action, video, radio & articles
shelly
luvnrev at colba.net
Thu Apr 20 18:51:22 PDT 2006
ACTION ALERT IN SUPPORT OF SIX NATIONS - DEMAND RELEASE OF THOSE WHO HAVE RECLAIMED THEIR LAND
1:00pm AT LEAST one person is still being held at the OPP police station, the rest have either been released or awaiting hearings before a judge. The number of the cayuna police station is 905-772-3322. Please flood the
phone line to demand their unconditional release. The constable in charge is apparently Constable Greg Walten.
Further phone numbers to call, or to fax demands for release are listed below.
Also, if anyone has a car, we should co-ordinate people going there to witness, record, and report what is happening.
The blockade is growing but needs more help, presence and support.
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FYI - constant updates are available from six nations radio at: www.ckrz.com
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Video Clip of Janie Jamison on the Standoff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate/!ctvVideo/CTVNews/police_ontario_060420/20060420/?hub=TopStories&video_link_high=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2006/04/20/ctvvideologger3_218kbps_2006_04_20_1145530473.wmv&video_link_low=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2006/04/20/ctvvideologger3_45kbps_2004_04_07_1081378870.wmv&clip_start=00:08:32.23&clip_end=00:03:55.24&clip_caption=CTV%20Newsnet%20Live:%20Janie%20Jamieson%20from%20Six%20Nations&clip_id=ctvnews.20060420.00141000-00141715-clip1&subhub=video&no_ads=
OR:
http://tinyurl.com/zc3t4
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anouther video clip re: the morning raid is available at: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
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Quebec Mohawks support Ontario natives
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/04/20/1542563-cp.html
MONTREAL (CP) - A group of Quebec Mohawks are supporting the occupation of a construction site near Hamilton, Ontario, by aboriginal protesters.
The Kahnawake Peacekeepers raised a banner and Mohawks flags on a bridge near Montreal today, snarling traffic.
Mohawk band council spokesman Eric Cardinal says the bridge was blocked for about a half an hour.
Cardinal says the gesture was done in solidarity with the occupation of the southwestern Ontario construction site by aboriginal protesters in Caledonia.
He says there are no further plans to disrupt traffic on the Montreal bridge.
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Message: CH News reported at 6:24pm that the RCMP was using Hamilton Airport as a staging ground. They had video of them at the airport. The report said they were standing by in case their help was requested. The report said there were 200 of them.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006 | Updated at 3:28 PM EDT
Violence escalates in Caledonia in aftermath of police raid on housing occupation
Hamilton Spectator staff
Neil Dring - The Grand River Sachem
Protesters push van off Highway 6 overpass.
CALEDONIA -- Native protesters pushed a van off an overpass on Highway 6 in Caledonia in the escalating aftermath of a police raid on a housing development occupation earlier today.
Police arrived at 5 a.m. this morning with cruisers, rented vans, tear gas cannons, and Tasers at ready, according to a Mrs. Hill who contacted The Hamilton Spectator as the sweep was taking place. Twelve people were arrested.
Other eyewitnesses said protesters were pepper-sprayed as police approached the barricade in darkness.
In the events that unfolded over the morning (see the timeline here on thespec.com) southbound traffic through Caledonia is halted. A dump truck was moved on to Argyle Street by protesters and it is blocking the main street through the community. Highway 6, which bypasses Caledonia, is also closed because debris is burning on this busy stretch of road.
Notre Dame school in Caledonia has been closed at the request of police.
When police swept through the housing development this morning between 4:30 a.m., and 5 a.m. they made 12 arrests police and left the scene mid morning. At that point, more protesters moved in. They had slipped behind police lines on Six Nations land.
Norma General, a Six Nations safekeeper in the longhouse, arrived at police barricades at Argyle Street in a flood of tears.
"They came here and raided our village. They always come when no one is aware."
Her son was there and she thinks he has been arrested.
"I'm angry. The chiefs were working with the federal government and they still did this. There was peace in our hearts but they just dragged them away," said General.
Tensions rose on Tuesday after talks to end the dispute apparently broke down.
A judge granted an injunction in March to remove the occupiers, but police did not enforce it until day 52 of the occupation.
-- with files from Marissa Nelson and Paul Legall
Aboriginal protesters return after pre-dawn eviction
Last Updated Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:20:33 EDT
CBC News
With police helicopters hovering overhead, aboriginal protesters continued to block the road to a construction site in southwestern Ontario on Thursday morning, hours after police staged a pre-dawn raid to break up a seven-week-old occupation.
Plumes of black smoke billowed in the air as protesters burned a pile of tires on the two-lane highway leading to the site in Caledonia, about 90 kilometres southwest of Toronto.
The blockade was set up after an early morning raid to remove protesters, who believe the land is rightfully theirs. Police in cruisers and vans swooped into the site around 4: 30 a.m. EDT with tear gas cannons and Tasers, arresting several people.
Protester Mike Desrouches, who witnessed the early morning raid, told CBC Newsworld a number of people were Tasered as police "covered the entire area within seconds."
Janie Jamieson, who speaks for the protesters, said one female protester was "beaten by five OPP officers" and that others were pepper-sprayed. She said nine people were arrested and that eight have since been released.
Police did not immediately comment on the raid, but were expected to do so later Thursday.
By 9 a.m., more than 100 protesters had gathered at the site, set tires on fire, climbed atop vehicles and waved Mohawk flags. Jamieson, who vowed to stay "as long as it takes," said they've put out a call to other reserves for more demonstrators. Protesters have a one-month supply of provisions, said CBC reporter Nil Koksal.
Aboriginal leaders at the scene said they were under the impression talks with the government were ongoing when police raided the site, although a number of media reports quoted Jamieson on Tuesday as saying that "communication has not completely broken down, but the talks have."
Hamilton's CH News has reported that the OPP is regrouping in another part of Caledonia, and that roughly 1,000 police officers, including riot police, have been placed on standby.
The situation led local officials to close an elementary school in the town.
Protest stretched over seven weeks
The protesters have been camped out since Feb. 28, setting up tents, a teepee and a wooden building on the site. They say the land was granted to the Six Nations more than 200 years ago and was never transferred to non-natives.
A sign on the land reads: "Oh Canada - your home on native land."
The province says aboriginals gave up the land in 1841 to make way for a new highway.
In late March, the protesters ignored an order from an Ontario Superior Court judge to end the occupation.
Six Nations filed a land claims suit over the area in 1999.
Henco Industries, the property developer of Douglas Creek Estates, hasn't commented on the day's events.
In 1995, another OPP raid on a native occupation made national headlines when an unarmed protester was killed by a police sniper.
Dudley George's death at Ipperwash Provincial Park became the subject of an ongoing inquiry, which has heard testimony from former Ontario premier Mike Harris.
Police end occupation, but natives remain
Jennifer Graham, Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, April 20, 2006
CALEDONIA, Ont. -- The thick black smoke of flaming tires marked a flashpoint of aboriginal angst Thursday after defiant native protesters pushed back a police effort to end the 52-day occupation of a southern Ontario housing development.
Supporters from across Canada were said to be descending on the construction site to show solidarity to the Six Nations members who took it over seven weeks ago, claiming the land was stolen from them more than two centuries before.
''There's people on their way from all over Canada and the United States,'' said protester and native supporter Dave Heatley, who used the Internet to contact native groups and reserves elsewhere in Canada in an effort to attract support.
''There's a few hundred people here now; I think as things progress, you'll see it swell to a lot more than what's here now. The longer they're here, the more people they're going to draw.''
Angry protesters used a large dump truck and a massive pile of blazing tires to block a road leading to the half-finished housing project, brazenly mocking police after a pre-dawn raid that was supposed to end the occupation.
One protester stood atop of the truck and yelled, ''What big men they are'' as he waved a red Mohawk flag. Many protesters wore bandannas over their faces.
The show of defiance took place after dozens of protesters were removed from the Douglas Creek Estates housing project in Caledonia, a quiet suburban community of about 10,000 about 25 kilometres south of Hamilton.
A judge granted an injunction in March to remove the occupiers, and police had been negotiating to have the natives leave the land peacefully throughout the dispute. Tensions mounted earlier this week when talks broke down.
There was a report that at least nine people were arrested Thursday as police moved in with ''overwhelming force'' at about 5 a.m.
The occupiers called in reinforcements and police were quickly forced to retreat.
A spokeswoman for the protesters, Janie Jamieson, said the confrontation was far from over and occupiers were bracing for another visit by police.
''We're prepared ... for however long it takes,'' said Jamieson.
''It's time Canada better stand up and take notice,'' said another protester. ''Everybody that is available is here.''
Ontario police Sgt. Dave Rektor refused to confirm any arrests.
Police action against aboriginals is an especially sensitive issue in Ontario where a standoff in 1995 in Ipperwash Provincial Park resulted in the death of protester Dudley George.
''They swarmed every which way, I couldn't even hazard a guess how many cops,'' said Clyde Powless, a protester who was on the scene when police moved in. Occupiers have been unarmed since the situation began, he added.
''We didn't have no weapons,'' he said. ''We're still hoping the politicians can do something, I'm not sure if they can, we hope they can.''
Neither the office of Premier Dalton McGuinty nor a spokesman for Native Affairs Minister David Ramsay would comment Thursday, calling the situation a police matter. On Wednesday, McGuinty said the province was committed to a peaceful resolution.
Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter called the situation an operational issue that's now in the hands of Ontario provincial police.
''We've obviously been concerned, and there have been negotiations ongoing for many, many days and weeks,'' Kwinter said.
''You're going to have to address your concerns to the OPP, they have made an operational decision that this was a time when they had to do something.''
Protesters said police were armed with Tasers, tear gas and pepper spray when they made their move on the occupation.
Protester Mike Desroches told Hamilton's CHCH television the confrontation by police happened ''incredibly quickly with overwhelming force.''
''The police just completely swarmed the territory,'' he said, adding that the officers entered the site with guns drawn.
''The police come in - without any warning, they come and raid our village - that's their tactic, they always come in when nobody's aware,'' Norma General, whose son Chad was among the arrested protesters, tearfully told CHCH.
The protest was reminiscent of the aboriginal occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park, which resulted in the death of protester Dudley George from a police sniper's bullet.
The park was seized by First Nations protesters on Sept. 4, 1995, under the belief it was native territory that had never been properly surrendered.
Provincial police marched on the park two days later, and George was slain in the ensuing showdown.
George's death prompted accusations of police and government racism and an inquiry that is still ongoing.
Video from the scene Thursday showed a large crowd of police officers moving on foot toward some of the newly arrived protesters. But about 65 protesters blocked the path of police and began walking toward the officers. Police then slowly retreated onto a dirt road.
Hundreds of residents lined the street leading to the occupation site to watch the drama unfold. Some took photos on their digital cameras. None would give their names, saying they owned businesses in the nearby town of Caledonia and feared for their livelihoods.
At least one Catholic school in the Caledonia area closed for the day at the request of police.
The protesters say the site was part of a large land grant back in 1784, but the provincial and federal governments say the land was surrendered in 1841 to help build a major highway.
The protest has irked local residents, 500 of whom turned out earlier this month for a rally to demand that authorities end the occupation.
A spokeswoman for federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has said the occupation is a provincial matter. The Ontario government said earlier this month that it wanted a negotiated end to the standoff.
© The Canadian Press 2006
As you can see, the beat goes on. La- di-la-di-da. Please continue to stand in solidarity with us. Kahentinetha Horn
UPDATE: 6:30 PM STILL APRIL 20, 2006
Canada hasn't learned its lesson. It wants another Oka summer! 200 RCMP are going to back up the Ontario Provincial Police OPP. Instead of figuring out to negotiate a solution and maybe give back something they stole, they decided to use force again. This is a one trick pony. They are presently waiting at the Hamilton airport where they have choppers and "swat whipping gear" to whip "dem stubborn Injuns" into shape. They have all the toys, gadgets and guns. The whole 9 whistles! If they leave them behind, we can dress them up with feathers and warrior badges, eh!
Misinformation continues.
It is Canada and Ontario who are violating the jurisdiction of the Indigenous people. According to their own constitution, we have to validly give up our lands and sovereignty under Section 132 of the BNA Act. We never did this. This is not a domestic issue, as they say. It is an international issue. We began our r elationship with Britain as allies. When the British split themselves up into Canada, United States and Britain, we never agreed to join any of them. We've never agreed to be anything but allies. Under international law one state cannot absorb another without the fully informed consent of the majority of the population. Canada agrees with this formula. In the Quebec Succession Reference, it said that a province could not leave without the consent of a clear majority on a clear question. Canada and Ontario don't want to play fair. They still want to be colonizers. That's why they think they can run around like a bunch of big bullies, instead of learning of history and stealing what isn't theirs.
According to the Kaianereh'ko:wa, the Women are the title holders of the land. We hold it in trust for our future generations. It belongs to our future generation. None of the so-called treaties that Canada claims to rely on are valid. None were signed with the authority of the people. Of course, none were signed by the future generations because they weren't born yet.
It's not like the settlers will have no place to live.
They recognize the rights that they agreed to respect. In 1784 General Haldimand made a proclamation on behalf of the British. He promised that Britain would protect the Six Nations right to occupy our land for six miles on either side of the Grand River from its mouth to its source. The public needs to be know that it is Canada and Ontario who refuse to come to the table and deal with laws and documents that back us up. Canadian leaders are announcing they wish they knew how to solve this problem. There is no problem. They just have to stay off our land, take their police away, stop trying to invade and stop giving fraudulent titles to squatters. It's all in their archives. Canadians just have to look it up.
MEDIA BLACK OUT IS OVER FOR NOW. SIX NATIONS STAND UP TO TOTALARIANISM. WHAT'S NEXT?
MNN. April 20, 2006. 1:45 PM. Thursday. The Rotin'oshon'ni Six Nations, with our brothers, sisters, friends and allies, took a stand against totalitarian might. We could not give into it. It would have had a ripple effect through all of society. We stood up for law and order on behalf of everybody. It's not over. We repelled the police. Our supporters came and stood with us. We now wait.
Right now 50 Quebec Police SQ are standing with binoculars at the end of Mercier Bridge staring across the St. Lawrence River at us here in Kahnawake. An elderly supporter took out her warrior flag and hung it out on her balcony in a high rise in Toronto. Canadians are angry. They feel like they've been lied to. Vital information has been kept from them.
The media black out is over. Our protest is on the front page. But what does all this mean? Why was it blacked out to begin with? What good is freedom of the press if the press is in the pockets of whoever controls the government? The Ontario Provincial Police OPP had a press conference at 1:00 today. They're carrying out a court order, the legality of which we question. The Ontario government doesn't want to take the blame. The Canadian government's Indian Affairs Department doesn't want to take the responsibility. [Why should they? They're the ones responsible for most of the frauds suffered by the Six Nations in the first place]. They both say. "It's a police matter".
16 protesters were removed from the Caledonia building site using violence and threats. OPP said they were merely trying to serve a court order taken out by Henco Industries, an American Corporation. No one has explained how and why the courts and the police became puppets of American businesses. No one is taking responsibility for the attack on the Six Nations people. Does this mean that this is a police state? Who rules the police anyway? Are the cops in charge? They seem to be able to do what they want. Who's next? Welcome to the new world order!
The Ipperwash Inquiry doesn't seem to have had any effect on the agenda of the OPP. They are now dictating to the government, attorneys general, crown attorneys and politicians. Everyone is afraid of the power of the police, except the Indians. The politicians have made laws giving so much power to the police that they have created a monster that is taking over. They cannot put the genie back into the bottle that they opened.
But the resistance at Six Nations is not what the police expected. To begin with, none of the people were carrying weapons, other than cameras. The news blackout was broken because the story got too big for Canada to control. They could not stop people from expressing themselves, at least not without killing us all off. We must have our say, no matter how hard whoever controls the government tries to shut us up. We see that the public is angry because the media never told them what was going on. Suddenly the issue that has been going on for 52 days is thrown in their faces.
Say the OPP, "This is no Ipperwash [when they attacked Indigenous protesters in 1995 and killed Dudley George]. We are not taking orders from politicians" [Does this mean they're become a law onto themselves]. The OPP, they tell us, only enforces the law. Monte Quinter, an Ontario politician, said that the whole question of Six Nations lands has been before the Ontario legislature. "We've got to negotiate with the people", said the NDP Indian Affairs critic. Most said they wanted a peaceful resolution. The facts have to go before the people. Why is it that the Canadian media never carries any information to inform the public about Indigenous land claims? This is why Canadians are surprised by what happened at Ipperwash, Oka and now at Six Nations. It seems that the Conservative party in opposition are still pushing their agenda. They would like to see the Liberals, who are in power, send the police in to continue the Mike Harris policy of using brute force on anyone who opposes his government. They want the Liberals to make the same mistake that they made at Ipperwash. This lead to a big inquiry and a huge black eye for the Conservatives.
If Canada had gotten away with the media black out, the outcome would been a lot worse. Because Indigenous news outlets sent messages worldwide, Canada could not hide their dirty underwear anymore. We have to thank our brothers and sisters all over the world who inundated Canadian officials with questions. Our people could have been killed and no one would have known about it. It's strange too that Henco is an American company and the New York Times recently put a story on its front page demonizing the Mohawks. Is this all part of the plan?
Once the news got out, the police had to back off. The Indians had cameras everywhere. The OPP did not want to be on television beating up the Indians. A few Indians were arrested. Then they were replaced by more people. Ontario and Canada are not sure what to do now. This indicates to us that the Canadian demagogues had a plan to see how far they could get by using force and hiding it. If they could have gotten get away with it, they could do it elsewhere. If they could control us, they could do it on anyone, native or non-native. We were at the point of tipping down the horrible slope that the people of Chile and Argentina know so well.
Canada has to sit down with the real owners of the land and not anyone else.
Also, Canada can only negotiate after peace has been established. Canada may think this unfortunate. They have to get used to the idea they can't grab everything. They have to show the world there is going to be no more violence and threats. Only then can we come forward without fear of being arrested.
We know what was done to our chiefs in the past. In the 1600's our ancestors were invited to parlay with the government and were attacked, killed or imprisoned. We never saw them again. We still have this mistrust for a very good reason. We want open and transparent assurances. We want international observers. The people are the leaders. The chiefs are merely spokesmen for the people and have no power but to carry out the will of the people. The government and police don't understand true democracy. Our people will not fall for their old colonial tricks. We will not let any of our people be set up, put on ships and die in Europe.
All over the world despotic leaders are attacking people, putting them in jails, concentration camps, separating them from loved ones, without lawyers or habeas corpus. It's been creeping closer and closer. Look at Quantanamo. Look at security certificates that can be issued in Canada without letting the accused victim or their lawyer know what the evidence against them is. It has become impossible to put proof forward even cases of mistaken identity.
We want to show what we have to do when the powerful try to take control of the masses. We have been through this many times in the past. We know who we are dealing with. We can't be fooled into falling for their trap.
The media blackout was a total violation of freedom of speech which is right in the constitution of Canada. The Six Nations had our backs against the wall. We did the only thing we could do in a nonviolent way. We are doing this for all oppressed people everywhere in the world. We want them to see someone standing up to the power of mass control of the human race. We ask all people to stand with us in solidarity. We are doing it for all of us.
We want to help stop the enslavement of everyone who use totalitarian means of brute force. The only protection we have is for the media to tell everybody what is happening. Mediayou're your job. Don't black us out. Don't let the controllers of the government shut you down. Become involved with us.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com
ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE
Attention News Editors:
Protesters Removed From Caledonia Housing Development
CALEDONIA, ON, April 20 /CNW/ - Today, members of the Ontario Provincial
Police arrested and removed 16 protesters occupying a housing development in
Caledonia, Ontario in contravention of a court order issued by the Ontario
Superior Court of Justice on March 3, 2006.
The Douglas Creek Estate development was seized and occupied on February
28, 2006 with claims the land belongs to the Six Nations. Clearly this is a
difficult situation for all involved.
At approximately 4:30 a.m. today, teams of officers trained in the safe
orderly removal of protesters attended the Douglas Creek Estates, Caledonia
and removed the protesters. Officers were required to use the least amount of
force that was necessary in order to affect some of the arrests.
The site was secured, however a short time later the site was re-
occupied. During this time three OPP officers were injured and required
medical attention. Our officers showed tremendous restraint while confronted
by the protesters with weapons which included axes, crowbars, rocks and a
various assortment of make-shift batons.
The community of Caledonia and Six Nations People have lived together
peacefully for many years and at the end of the day we need to regain this
sense of peace and harmony.
While the police continue to be involved in this matter we also continue
to hope that a peaceful and lasting resolution can be achieved. We ask
everyone to work with us in restoring calm. The OPP will continue to monitor
the situation with a focus on public safety.
For further information: Sgt. Dave Rektor, (519) 476-3753
Neil Dring - The Grand River Sachem Protesters push van off Highway 6 overpass.
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