All Mohawk territories are presently targeted. Why? We need your kind assistance. Nia:wen Kahentinetha

"APOLOGIZE (TO YOUR ATTACKERS), OR ELSE!" JUDGE ORDERS KANEHSATAKE MOHAWKS

MNN. December 15, 2005. Judge Nicole Duval Hesler told lawyer for the Mohawks, Jeffrey Boro, she wanted them to apologize to the victims (Who? Themselves?). From looking at them she didn’t think they looked sorry, but rather the opposite.

Quebec Courts are appointing judges who will carry out the government’s agenda. Driving people into poverty through malicious court actions against them is one of a number of tactics being used on these people. They are poor people who cannot afford lawyers. Eventually Canada hopes the Indians won’t be able to fight back. The long term goal is assimilation so the government and the multi-national corporations can grab their land and resources. They want to privatize the land, get some of the Indians to start businesses that will fail and then grab it.

On December 11th, 2005, 13 Mohawks were being sentenced after being convicted for rioting and forcible confinement during an incident that took place on January 12, 2004. They were being invaded by 67 hired mercenaries. These mercenaries had taken over the community police station, ousting the community police commission. In other words, it was a coup. They had high-powered weapons and a mandate to try to find something criminal on particular people. They had a hit list of 55 names of community members who they described as “armed and dangerous” and were to be taken down on sight. Most of those charged and convicted went to the scene and stood there and watched. People from all walks of life responded, from elderly grandmothers to babies in strollers. They couldn’t believe this was happening in their community. It was the coldest day of winter but they wanted to defend democratic law and order.

Twenty-four were arrested. The trial was a sham. Rather than calling the defendants the “accused”, throughout the whole process Judge Duval Hesler referred to the Mohawks as “rioters” in front of the jury. The Crown Prosecutor, Francois “Hates the Mohawks with a Passion” Briere used that word “rioters” 18 times in his closing argument to the jury. Said one supporter, “I heard one time that we are innocent until proven guilty”. (Not if you’re an Indian. The rule book goes out the window). The judicial system wanted Mohawks to hang. They needed to put the responsibility of what happened in Kanehsatake on January 12th 2004 on somebody because, if the truth came out, the machinations of the Canadian government would be an embarrassment, especially with the ‘Gomery Sponsorship Scandal’ unfolding. The Liberals were on a damage control mission after $250 million disappeared into the pockets of public relations companies connected to their party. Canada had hired one of the key players in the scandal to spin the Kanehsatake story for the public.

Judge Duval Hesler wanted them to say, “We were morally wrong and we apologize” (for making you cry). There’s no way anyone should apologize for being threatened with murder and violence. Media reports have been correct in one light. The people armed with riot gear, carrying high powered weapons and with their faces covered in the confrontation were the goons that Canada sent in. Community members who defended themselves and their community are being made to pay for this. The court is being used to absolve the Canadian government for the responsibility they hold for what happened. They provided the $900,000 secret envelop of cash to pay for the operation. At the end of the day even school girls murderer Karla Homolka’s rights were better protected than these innocent people.

Then Judge Duval Hesler made fun of the initiatives that defendants had made such as distributing Christmas gifts and posting informative peaceful letters on the internet. The lawyers said that the Crown had failed to produce a victim. Judge Duval Hesler said, “Don’t tell me there’s no victims. The Chief’s house and the police station were burnt down.” (Maybe they should apologize to the house and station, eh!) They aren’t even being charged with these! She was implying that they were responsible for burning James Gabriel’s house and the police station when there was no evidence to implicate any of those convicted. She suggested to the lawyers that they were being lied to and used by their clients. She tried really hard to cover up Canada’s illegal actions. So she apologized to the lawyers, “I’m really, really sorry”. After the lawyers pointed out how obscene she was, she had no choice but to apologize to the Mohawk Nation.

A community supporter yelled in open court, “You are a racist. Incredible!” He got thrown out of the court room. “She wants us to apologize like good little Indians!”, he continued out in the hallway. She was narrow minded and naïve to infer that the political problems would be resolved by an apology. If the United States took over Canada, would everything be hunky dory if Canada apologized. We don’t think so.

The wrong people were charged. The Government of Canada, the Kanehsatake Band Council Inc., and their goons should have been charged for their violent attack on the people. The Quebec Police Beaupre Report revealed the province was ready to hold those people accountable – the federal government and their peons – because it was against the police law and there was insufficient evidence of criminality. When proper procedures are followed, you need evidence of a crime first. Then you try to find out whodunit. You don’t target persons and then try to find a way to incriminate them. They threw in armed guys with a hit list telling them to go after these particular guys and kill them on sight. Crown Briere said, “It was Indians against Indians”. No it wasn’t! Who hired the guns? How dumb do they think we are? It was never pointed out that they were the hired guns of the corporations called Canada and its Indian Act Band Council.

The judge really wants to make the Mohawks kneel, but they just won’t. The Grand Chief, Steven Bonspille, spoke very well on record at the court. “These 13 men should not be convicted. It won’t resolve anything in Kanehsatake”.

This is the kind of training our children are getting from the dominant colonial society. They’re making sure our kids are getting first class training in the methodology of oppression. That’s so they won’t stand up to these injustices themselves. It’s a colonial scare tactic. They don’t want anyone to be brave enough to fight back. But it’s not working!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation news
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

cc. Governor General of Canada info@gg.ca; Paul Martin, Prime Minister, Canada, pm@pm.gc.ca; UN Office of High Commission for Human Rights, UN Plaza, NY 10017; Rudolpha Stavenhagen, Internation Commission for Human Rights, P.O. Box 16, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland; Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Canon’ses:neh, P. O. Box 1016, Akwesasne (NY) 13655; Minister, Department of Indian Affairs, 10 Wellington St., Ottawa K1A 0H4; Coalition for the International Criminal Court %WFM, 708 3rd Ave., 24th Fl., NY 10017; cicc@iccnow.org; The Hague, Anna Paulownastraat 103, 251 BBC, The Netherlands; Pope Benedictum XVI, Joseph Ratziner, St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City Rome, Italy; Province of Quebec. All Media.