ROSEAU RIVER ANISHINABE FIRST NATION GOVERNMENT
P.O. Box 30, GINEW, Manitoba R0A 2R0
(204) 427-2312 FAX: (204) 427-2584
(204) 427-2312 FAX: (204) 427-2584
More Dangerous Than Oka
April 25, 2006
The potential flashpoint at Caledonia Ontario with the Six Nations land blockade is more dangerous than the 1990 Oka crisis.
In 1990 the town of Oka, Quebec, wanted to expand their nine hole golf course to eighteen holes over a known Mohawk gravesite. A police officer died to defend the right of the townspeople to tee off over grandma’s grave and 4,000 Canadian soldiers squared off against the Mohawks.
In 1990 most Canadian Indians were in shock that Canada would use the army against our people. In 2006 there is no longer any shock value, thereby allowing Indian people to be better prepared to respond to bloodshed and also Indian youth in Canada have more anger today than they did in 1990. Not only are Indian people better prepared, the strategy is much clearer.
Had then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney carried out his threat to send in the army to take out the last 25 barricaded Mohawks regardless of the consequences, it was very likely that burning cars would have blocked every railway line in Canada.
The protest at Caledonia has already caused a railway blockade with huge economic impact. Multiple that one railway blockade by 30 and you have economic paralysis in all of Canada.
Canada is America’s largest trading partner and of vital economic interest to every American. Canada is America’s largest supplier of oil with 97 per cent of all Canadian energy exported to the United States. Canada is also the leading buyer of American exports. Think about the Mayan uprising of 1994, multiply that by 10 and you have some idea of the economic impact of a similar crisis in Canada. American multi-national corporations, financed in the open market, with heavy investment in Canada, may not yet have realized the danger.
The difference in treatment of indigenous people between Canada and United States is shocking. In the United States, American Indians proudly fly the American flag in every Indian reservation. Thirteen thousand American Indians currently serve in the US military, and 2,000 of those are serving on the front lines in Iraq.
Thousands of American Indians are millionaires, hundreds are multi-millionaires. Attend a National Indian Gaming Association summit, and you will see proud American Indians talking and making multi-million dollar deals. You will see trade shows that would be the envy of many countries. Not so in Canada.
You would be hard pressed to find a Canadian flag flying on an Indian reservation. You would be more likely to find a Mohawk warrior society flag in the window of native homes. With well over 50 per cent of the Canadian Indian population under the age of 25, what you have in Caledonia is a potential flashpoint that could cripple Canada.
Canada has had eight straight federal government budget surpluses. It has a 2005 reported net worth of $4.5 trillion, and a GDP well over a trillion dollars. In 2003 the federal government raised $125 billion in taxes but took in $141.8 billion in its share of resource royalties. This does not include the provincial royalties or corporate resource sales profits. With oil now over $75 a barrel, up from $10 a barrel in 1999, and Canada claiming 1.4 trillion barrels of oil in the Alberta tar sands plus hundreds of other oil and gas producing areas, this makes for a resource driven economy.
As the third largest producer of diamonds, with 10 per cent of the world forests, and over 60 metals and minerals, there is little doubt why Indian land claims are a big issue in Canada. The fact that there are over 6,000 land claims in limbo and that progress is so slow is not surprising given the numbers and the revenue generated for government coffers.
Canada was the United Nations choice as the “best country in the world to live in” for seven straight years, but while Canada was number one on the index, Canadian First Nations communities mired in extreme poverty were set at the 63rd level on the UN scale.
Amnesty International has written several reports citing Canada for human rights violations. In the case of the Lubicons of northern Alberta, Amnesty has forced the appearance of Canada before the United Nations for a hearing set for May 5th.
While Canada can laugh off the United Nations and weather international shame, E it cannot ignore or laugh off the economics of a national blockade of rail lines that is potentially the result of the land dispute at Caledonia.
To understand the issue of land claims in Canada, one must see the numbers. Canada is the second largest country in the world, larger than China and larger than the United States. Canada is 3.83 million square miles of vast land mass, but the population is only 33 million, giving Canada the largest per capita land base of any nation in the world. Given the resource base, it is little wonder that net worth is $137,000 per man, woman, and child.
In 1969, Canada issued the appropriately named “white paper” on Indians, which identified that Indian reservation lands accounted for approximately one quarter of one per cent of the Canadian land mass. To state this more clearly, 99.73 per cent of Canada was not reservation lands. Since then it has been a battle zone of land claims and frustration for indigenous people.
In the United States where Indian land claims are also contentious items, and where the population density is almost ten times higher than Canada, American Indian reservation lands accounted for 2.13 per cent of the United States land mass. Today that percentage has improved due to Casino generated revenue used to buy back land plus Casino revenue generated court cases and political lobbying that settled some long standing problems.
This is not to say that everything is perfect in US and American Indian relations but at least there is hope. It has been widely reported that American Indians spend more money to get Senators and Congress men elected than even Enron did its heyday. The lack of similar hope for change in Canada is what could trigger a crisis.
How Canadian media handles the situation at Caledonia can make or break the confrontation. In the Ipperwash situation where unarmed native activist Dudley George was killed by an Ontario Provincial Police officer and the Premier of Ontario allegedly shouting to “get the fucking Indians out”, the issue of land claims couldn’t be clearer. Stoney Point First Nation lost land to Canada during WWII for an artillery range, with the promise to return the land after the war.
In over 50 years of Liberal and Conservative federal governments, none delivered on that commitment. Hence, there was direct action by Ojibway Indians to occupy the land, with the resulting killing of Dudley George. The same court injunctions issued by white courts and the public outcry to march the police and army into battle are now occurring in Caledonia.
As an elected Chief, I stand behind Mohawk people at Six Nations in the use of direct action regardless of the consequences. My community spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to settle a land claim from 103 years ago; we hold the record of the longest file in the Indian Claims Commission process. We understand the need for direct action.
Elected native leadership risk their creditability in Caledonia. It is the people who suffer the housing crisis, the 80 per cent average unemployment, the health problems, the lack of educational opportunities, and every other form of extreme poverty while we as chiefs are paid for our work from government of Canada dollars.
To issue a call to our people not to attend the blockade and to question their right to protest is nonsense. To blame our unarmed people for the increase in tension is absolutely ridiculous.
It has always been the whites who first bring guns and the threat of violence into any confrontation. To declare that Dudley George got himself killed because he grew tired of ineffectual politicians is historically incorrect.
Hope is the only medicine for angry youth who see no other way but to take action. If it takes a national blockade to bring the world’s attention to the issues in Canada, we should be prepared to take that responsibility.
We must end the 80 per cent average unemployment in our communities. It is no longer enough to make empty promises, or to take the word of a government that will only delay settlement of long standing issues.
Now is the time we must stand together and take whatever consequences are necessary to ensure a chance for our future generations, in this, one of the wealthiest nations in the world. It is time to force Canada to the table and negotiate some real settlements of land claims instead of holding out for more false hope promises while we collect our pay from the government.
Chief Terrance Nelson
Message from Chief Terrance Nelson, elected chief of Roseau River
Anishinabe First Nation, spokesman for Anishinabe Warrior Society and Board of Director for American Indian Movement
MNN. April 28, 2006. Friday, 10:30 pm. Shotgun diplomacy is much more harmful than people realize. Instead of providing leadership to the Canadian people that it represents, and reassuring the Indigenous people of Six Nations, Canada sent in armed forces. Barricades and yellow tape are blocking peoples’ way for 50 square miles. There are three helicopters flying overhead, extra heavily armed police all over the place and a raucous crowd of 300 Caledonians are trying to rush the Six Nations barricades. Everybody’s nerves are on edge. People feel like they’re caught in the middle of a “war” zone.
The issue is a longstanding Indigenous land theft by Canada that has to be rectified. We are not letting it go on any longer. We want Canada to obey its laws and keep its promises. Bringing in armed forces has ignited violence by the non-native citizens of nearby Caledonia. They feel trapped, confined and need to blame someone. The police and military are happy to have this action. It is less boring than standing around. They have a chance to use their armaments and other fancy toys.
This misbehavior of the citizens of Caledonia keeps the spotlight off the cops who carried out an unprovoked pre-dawn attack on the Six Nations people on April 20th. It makes it seem like their gonzo style is justified. Actually it’s victimizing the people of Caledonia.
Is this how to do things? We don’t think so. If the Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law, our constitution, was used to solve the issue, fruitful discussions could be well underway by now. The people of Caledonia need to take part in a ‘small condolence’ ceremony. This is when people clean their eyes with a piece of soft leather so they can see the issue clearly; then they take an eagle feather and gently touch around their ears so that they will listen and hear the voices of the other people; and then they drink a glass of clear water so that their words will be as clear as the water and there are no sharp edges. This ceremony helps calm people and keep their emotions under control so they can rationally discuss the issues at hand.
Some of the people of Caledonia are out of control. The rest seem to be condoning or even encouraging the rioting and threats that are being made against us. At a time like this they might cool down if no one confronted them. Everyone would be wise to avoid going to Caledonia and doing business there for any reason. They need to be left alone to return to their senses. It may seem like a small thing to drop by there for a cup of coffee, especially when you’re thirsty and it is convenient. But these people have gotten out of control!
It’s like putting a kid who is having a tantrum into a room by himself so they can think. Caledonians need to pull back their rowdies who are making it dangerous to go there. They have temporarily forgotten how to interact calmly with people. Maybe if they think about it, they can understand how our people have been racially boycotted. They can see how we have been and continue to be attacked by the colonial government and kept under economic subjugation.
Successful neighborly relations depend on exchange and reciprocity as equals. When one of the parties becomes disturbed, as the residents of Caledonia show us they have become, it’s obvious they need to be avoided. They need space to think about the consequences of their actions. The people of Chateauguay have never really recovered from their misbehavior during the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990. They were so uncivilized that the people of Kahnawake stopped doing business with them. A lot of businesses were ruined. The Mohawk population was almost half the population of Chateauguay. The Six Nations population is more than double that of Caledonia.
It’s understandable their nerves are on edge because neither Canada nor Ontario has offered them any reassurances about the Indigenous land on which they live. The colonial misappropriation of Six Nations land, funds and resources must be reversed through legal, thoughtful and fair negotiations with the People, not the Indian Act administration that Canada violently forced upon our people. Obviously they haven’t done anything to solve the situation in over 150 years.
In the process of developing a consensual approach to managing inter-communituy relations, the Caledonian people should be included because their interests are involved. According to the colonial custom that Canada continues to rely upon, the people of Caledonia will not have any say in the types of solutions that will be devised. Whoever controls the Canadian and Ontario governments will dictate the solution and impose their will by force. The current deployment of the police and army make this all too clear. State use of force should be limited to making sure that everyone is treated equally and no one violates anyone else. This escalating violence might never have happened if the Ontario Provincial Police hadn’t been there. They made the first violent move by attacking the Six Nations people. They are instigating violence rather than preventing it.
What we are seeing here is a demonstration of great differences in approach - the Indigenous way of solving problems consensually versus the colonial forced solutions without the people having a role. The people of Caledonia have been suckered into behaving like hooligans. They are seen as being at the bottom of the hierarchical colonial system that Canada and Ontario enforce. This is feeding their frustration and leads them into misbehavior.
Everyone who is affected must be involved. A solution requires their fully informed consent. We want everybody to obey the laws, including Canada and Ontario. No one can leave the table and get on with business as usual until a proper agreement is reached. All promises and agreements that have been made with us must be fulfilled. Business and community relations will have a sound equitable foundation. We are tired of living under the burden of all of the unfulfilled promises that have been made by Canada, Ontario and Britain so they can live on our land and take all our resources.
Previously Caledonia citizens were decent neighbors. We hope this relationship will be resumed in the future. In the meantime, they need rest to calm their spirits.
In nature, when a bully is removed from the aquarium, life instantly improves for the rest. Creating conditions of violence, suppressing the voice of the people, negotiating with the gun pointed at us and keeping the people of Caledonia victimized is meant to maintain the dominance of a few diseased minds. They pretend that social order depends on them. What would happen if all the armed forces left? Canada would have to sit down and talk to us about their illegal actions and how they can be rectified. Caledonians would stop being angry and society will flourish.
The use of force by the state is inflaming this situation. Everyone has a concern that is not being validated. We hope nothing happens. We are all worried. We need our brothers, sisters, friends and allies to stand with us and to set an example of self-restraint in the face of armed forces and the angry people of Caledonia who hover around us night and day.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
www.mnn.mohawknationnews.com
Six Nations: thebasketcase@on.aibn.com; Hazel Hill % RR #6, Hagersville, Ontario Canada N0A 1H0; (leave message) 519-445-0719; Katenies katenies20@yahoo.com, 613-575-1550; Thahoketoteh 519-925-9695 thahoketoteh@hotmail.com
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For almost 60 days now, the community of the Six Nations Haudensaunee Confederacy has held a blockade to defend land that is rightfully theirs from further encroachment by real estate developers and the Canadian government.
Last Thursday, OPP forces mounted a pre-dawn raid to assault those taking this stand, deploying cops with guns drawn to pepper spray, beat and arrest community members. The government had hoped to remove resistance to the development of Six Nations land by real estate developer Henco Industries Ltd. The Six Nations community mobilized in response and drove the OPP out. The community's determination to assert its national sovereignty and legitimate treaty rights, like the blockade itself, has only strengthened since.
Audaciously, less than a week after this unprovoked attack, the Harper government's Minister of Indian Affairs is speaking in Toronto on the topic of "Native Self-Government." No First Nations leader has authorized Minister Jim Prentice to speak on this topic, and it is an issue that he clearly does not understand in even the most basic terms.
In fact, since Ontario's McGuinty government has actively distanced itself from these OPP actions, the possibility that federal hands were in on this operation is a very real one. Meanwhile, the threat of possible RCMP or military intervention continues to hang over the Six Nations community. The government of Minister Prentice and Prime Minister Harper still refuses to uphold its treaty obligations and respect the legitimate leadership of First Nations people. Until they do, there is nothing Jim Prentice can say that is worth listening to. It is imperative that this government understand that people will not tolerate further attacks on the sovereignty of the Six Nations Haudensaunee Confederacy or other First Nations communities.
Come out this Friday to join in sending this message, and talk to friends and allies to ensure that we do so in the maximum numbers possible. Solidarity actions and demonstrations have already been organized in Tyendinaga, Kahnawake, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and elsewhere.
But the Canadian government remains two-faced, and especially given the underlying racism of last Monday's demonstration in Caledonia, it is extremely crucial that solidarity activities spread.
For more information, call 416-997-1562 or email:
amadahy@rogers.com / ocap@tao.ca
For quality, up to date information regarding the Six Nations struggle, see: http://sisis.nativeweb.org/actionalert/index.html
(If you get the chance, also weigh in on the online poll at http://www.theglobeandmail.com)
