[IPSM] Report: Mohawk grandmothers attacked by CBSA guards; one person jailed, another suffers heart attack

Tue Jun 17 19:10:11 PDT 2008

*Mohawk grandmothers attacked by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA)
guards*

--> The report below is also linked at:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/06/cbsa-attack.html

--> Background articles and interviews are linked at:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/06/katenies-cbsa-background.html

*[June 17, 2008 -- Reported by members of No One Is Illegal-Montreal who
attended Katenies' court hearing in Cornwall on June 16, 2008; please post
and forward widely.]*

This past Saturday, June 14, 2008, around 2:30pm, a vehicle with two
outspoken Kanion'ke:haka (Mohawk) activists, writers and grandmothers was
stopped at Akwesasne while crossing into "Canada" from the "USA". Akwesasne
is a Kanion'ke:haka Indigenous community that includes parts of so-called
Ontario, Quebec and New York, and community members routinely cross between
"states" and "provinces".

Katenies lives in Akwesasne, with her mother and near her daughter and three
grandchildren, who reside on both sides of the "border". Kahentinehta, also
a grandmother, is from Kahnawake. Katenies and Kahentinehta publish Mohawk
Nation News (www.mohawknationnews.com) and were delegates to the Indigenous
Peoples Border Summit in San Xavier, Tohono O'odham Nation (Arizona) in
November 2007.

Katenies was targeted for arrest by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA)
guards on an outstanding warrant for allegedly "running the border" in 2003,
and offenses resulting from her refusal to appear in court and validate the
colonial justice system. Katenies has maintained since 2003 that border
officials and the Canadian colonial courts have no jurisdiction over
Kanion'ke:haka people or land.

[Background information to Katenies' struggle against border and court
officials is linked at:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/03/background-katenies-defies-colonial-us.html]

This past Saturday, Katenies reiterated that she does not recognize the
authority of the CBSA over Kanion'ke:haka land, as she has always done. She
was then brutally arrested, with at least four male guards forcing her face
down onto the ground, handcuffing her, and taking her into custody, where
she remained for three days.

CBSA guards then demanded that Kahentinehta, 68, leave the car she was
driving. She refused, and she too was brutally overpowered by at least four
male CBSA guards and handcuffed tightly. Kahentinehta suffered a heart
attack while handcuffed. However, due to the timely intervention of her
brother – a local lawyer who was crossing the border at that time -- she was
eventually taken to the local hospital in Cornwall, Ontario by ambulance,
where she has spent the last three days in the Critical Care Unit. Her
condition is stable and she will be transferred to a hospital in Ottawa for
further treatment and possible surgery.

The CBSA had originally indicated that they would charge Kahentinehta with
various offenses, but those charges were never brought forward, most likely
to help cover-up the brutal way in which she and Katenies were arrested in
the first place.

Meanwhile, Katenies was jailed after her brutal arrest, and was only able to
have a bail hearing, at the Superior Court in Cornwall this past Monday
(June 16, 2008).

Supporters from Six Nations, Sharbot Lake as well as Akwesasne attended
court to be witnesses to Katenies' continued defiance of Canada's colonial
courts. Several of the elders from the Akwesasne community referenced the
bridge blockades undertaken in the 1960s and 70s to assert free movement of
Indigenous peoples at the border. They consider Katenies' current stance as
part of the same ongoing and long-term struggle for sovereignty.

At the hearing, the federal Crown lawyer objected to Katenies' release on
bail. A senior investigator with the CBSA who seems to have launched a
vendetta against Katenies since 2003, testified for the Crown. He outlined
the various warrants and court dates in the case, and Katenies' continual
and consistent refusal to recognize the authority of the colonial court
system, or the jurisdiction of the CBSA over the border.

In the words of the CBSA investigator, Katenies "has nothing but contempt
for the Canadian judicial system." The investigator, who has lived and
worked at the Cornwall border crossing for two decades, was forced to admit
that it's "not uncommon" for Mohawks to cite the lack of jurisdiction
directly to border officials, although he called Katenies "an extreme case."

Both Katenies and her mother, Nancy Davis, addressed the court. Nancy Davis
refused to tell the court whether she lived in the "Ontario" or "Quebec"
part of Akwesasne, stating clearly that she "lives on Kanion'ke:haka
territory" and is a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She remarked
with a smile: "I'm the only one who has authority over my daughter."

Under cross-examination by the Crown lawyer, Nancy Davis stated: "We feel we
have the right to travel where we want, to go where we want. [The border] is
an imaginary line for Americans and Canadians, not Mohawks."

Asked outright if she recognized the authority of the court, Nancy Davis
replied simply: "No."

Katenies also addressed the court, while reiterating from the start that she
did not recognize its jurisdiction, and pointedly refused to accept all
charges, declining to have them read to her. When the court clerk tried to
swear her in, Katenies stated: "I can only tell what I know."

Katenies emphasized that she continues to demand that the courts address the
jurisdiction question; that is, under what authority can colonial Canadian
courts, agencies or officials claim to have jurisdiction over sovereign
Mohawks. She stated forcefully: "I'm a passionate person, I'm a mother and
I'm a grandmother. But, I've had no respect. No one has looked at what I've
put forward."

Katenies already served the court with a Motion to Dismiss, and invoked the
jurisdiction question, back on January 18, 2007, almost one-and-a-half years
ago. Her complete motion is linked here:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/03/katenies-serves-court-with-jurisdiction.html

Under cross-examination, Katenies was asked by the Crown lawyer if she would
accept paying a cash bond; she replied: "That would be extortion at this
point because jurisdiction has not been dealt with." She added: "I don't see
why you should incarcerate me and beat me into submission without answering
my question."

She threw the accusation of contempt back at the Crown, stating: "It is
[your law] and your constitution that you keep talking about. Why do you
continue to ignore me and our people, who have our own land and
constitution?"

In his final submissions, the Crown argued that Katenies "has nothing but
complete disdain for the laws of these courts." He also made the somewhat
obvious point: "Quite frankly, your worship, both mother and daughter don't
recognize our jurisdiction."

He asked the court to keep Katenies in custody, adding: "She's not
interested in appearing in court and she doesn't recognize us."

Nonetheless, the presiding Justice-of-the-Peace, Ms. Leblanc, decided to
release Katenies under some basic conditions: that Katenies reside with her
mother and notify the Akwesasne police of any change of address (Katenies
has lived with her mother for the past 8 years, since the passing of her
father): that her mother post a surety (ie. a $1000 bond without any
deposit); and that Katenies appear in court or designate counsel to appear
in court for her. Her next court date was set for July 14, 2008 at 9am at
Cornwall's Superior Court.

Both Kahentinehta and Katenies, despite the brutal attack on them by CBSA
officials, maintain their defiance and vow to continue to challenge the
jurisdiction of the courts and border officials.

*-- reported by Nazila & Jaggi, members of No One Is Illegal-Montreal*
nooneisillegal at gmail.com - 514-848-7583
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com

*BACKGROUND INFORMATION & CONTEXT:*

All articles and interviews below are linked at:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/06/katenies-cbsa-background.html

* Mohawk grandmother remains in hiding, defying arrest warrant (March 5,
2007)
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/03/mohawk-grandmother-remains-in-hiding.html

* Background: Katenies defies the US-Canada colonial border (March 4, 2007)
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/03/background-katenies-defies-colonial-us.html

* Katenies' "Motion to Dismiss" (January 18, 2007), demanding that the
jurisdiction question be addressed:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/03/katenies-serves-court-with-jurisdiction.html

* Mohawk Nation News: "Katenies will not walk the line"
<http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/singlenews.php?en=en&layout=mnn&newsnr=390&backurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0&srcscript=/news/news3.php>(January
5, 2007):

* Mohawk Nation News: Katenies in Cornwall
Court<http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/singlenews.php?en=en&layout=mnn&newsnr=381&backurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0&srcscript=/news/news3.php>(December
16, 2006)

*No One Is Illegal Radio Interviews*

* Interview with Katenies about her refusal to recognize the colonial courts
and the colonial US-Canada border. (February 2007)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/jaggisingh@gmail.com/2840-1-20070214-Katienies-UPLOAD.mp3

* Interview with Katenies about the Gathering of the Indigenous People of
the Americas in Vicam, Yaqui Territory, Mexico between October 11-14, 2007
and the Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas that took place on the
territory of the of the Tohono O'odham nation (Arizona) on November 7-10,
2007. (November 2007)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/jaggisingh@gmail.com/2840-1-20071105-Katenies-FINAL.mp3

* Interview with Kahentinehta with reflections on the July 11 anniversary of
the police invasion at Kanehsatake in 1990 (the so-called Oka Crisis).
Kahntinetha, with her daughters, was directly involved in the resistance at
Kanehsatake. (July 2006)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/jaggisingh@gmail.com/2840-1-20070104-Kahentinehta.mp3

* Interview with Kahehti:io, a Mohawk youth activist from Kahnawake. He was
arrested and detained at the Six Nations Land Reclamation, after a police
raid on April 20, 2006. Kahehti:io refused to recognize the authority of the
colonial courts and was eventually released from custody without charge
after several days of detention. (May 2006)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/jaggisingh@gmail.com/2840-1-20070104-Kahedio.mp3
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