CORPORATE “GANGSTA’ RAP” AT INDIAN AFFAIRS

MNN. Dec. 28, 2005. On Wednesday, September 26th, 1990, fifty-two men, women and children and 10 journalists walked out from the Kanehsata;ke Treatment Center. It ended the Mohawk “Oka” Crisis that had plagued the foreign governments of Quebec and Canada that entire hot summer. At issue was the provincially incorporated town of nearby Oka which decided to expand ‘it’s’ golf course from 9 to 18 holes over Indigenous traditional ceremonial and burial grounds, for the leisuure class of Montreal. The Mohawks were determined to stop this.

On July 11th 1990 the Quebec Police were sent in to take down the Mohawk barricade by opening fire on the people. It was an unsuccessful attack. One policeman was killed, apparently by “friendly fire”. The siege lasted 78 days. In the final tally hundreds of paramilitary Quebec provincial police, 4,000 heavily armed military troops and the RCMP had been deployed against the Mohawks at Kanehsata:ke and their two sister communities of Kahnawake and Akwesasne. The cost was over $500 million. It was the biggest crisis in Canadian history.

Before the crisis a few citizens groups had formed. All were fighting for a change in leadership. Originally, the local government had been the “Six Nations Traditional Hereditary Chiefs”. Challenging them were groups referring to themselves as the “Committee for Change”, the “League of Democracy” and the “Mohawk Council of Kanesatake”. Another group simply referred to themselves as “C-31’s”. Between 1988 and 1989 twenty-one chiefs were kicked out of office. Clarence Simon was originally a “grand chief” of the Six Nations Traditional Hereditary Chiefs. He was thrown out the clan mothers in 1988. The ‘traditional’ group kept replacing them without asking the people, who would then kick them out. This group, assisted by Indian Affairs, had set up an office in neighboring St-Eustache. During the crisis of 1990, Simon led another group called the “Mohawk Council of Kanehsata:ke”.

After the crisis Kanehsata:ke was left in a political vacuum. There was no local government, no policing and no social programs to care for the Indigenous people. The “Committee for Change” formed the “Kanehsatake Mohawk Coalition”. They went through public meetings and eventually got the support of most of the people. Minister of Indian Affairs, Tom Siddon, and Quebec Minister of Indian Affairs, John Ciaccia, approached the Coalition. They wanted to know who spoke for most of the people.

They challenged all the groups to come back and show them how much support they had. The Coalition went door-to-door and collected over 500 signatures, which is the majority of eligible voters on the territory. Hundreds attended their meetings. Every decision required the consent of the people. The Coalition gave the list to Indian Affairs, “Here’s whose speaking for Kanehsata:ke”. The contentious Six Nations Traditional Hereditary Government, or band council, had never been incorporated under Canada’s “Indian Act”. Indian Affairs knows the band council is illegal. According to the Canadian constitution Sections 109 and 132, Canada must deal with Indians on a nation-to-nation basis until there is a treaty of surrender. Only then could they impose the Indian Act band council on the people. This never legally happened. So Indian Affairs couldn’t give money to their band council government because they had no power. They had to deal with the constitutional government of the people which they chose to ignore. So the band council and their staff left the territory and Indian Affairs helped them set up in the St-Eustache office.

In the meantime, the Coalition presented a budget to bring about an election in ten months. An interim government was set up. So now there were two government bodies, one on the territory and one in St-Eustache.

Indian Affairs told the Mohawks they had to incorporate to receive funds to run this interim government. The Coalition’s goal was to have an election, develop a custom code to select leaders and not be under the Indian Act. The federal government carried out the incorporation. One member from each group sat on the corporation. The people supported it. Ten people were selected to be the interim government. Elections took place. There was a new council. After that the corporation became dormant. Nobody could use it without all four groups being there and the community approving.

Then the militia, popularly known to as the “goons”, attacked the community on January 12, 2004. They were fully armed and well equipped. Their mission was to take over the council and police station. The people rebuffed them.

After the invasion Indian Affairs helped these goons set up a police station off territory, first in St-Eustace and then moved them to Boisbriand. The goons were operating under two outside police forces, the RCMP and the Quebec Police. Then on November 2005 Quebec and Canada stopped funding the illegal policing agreement and the goons. The Mohawks had kept the goons out of the territory. Huge amounts of money were being spent on them, as much as $28 million according to one CBC TV report. Also, the policing agreement was illegal and never respected anyway by the goons.

In December 2005 the new grand chief, Steve Bonspille, was negotiating with the Quebec Public Security Minister regarding the enormous amount of equipment bought for the goons, such as tear gas, AR 15’s, regular service revolvers, uniforms, badges, ID cards, computer equipment, fancy police cars and body bags. Body bags? What kind of Hollywood script were they imagining? When their funds were cut the goons all ran away and left their lethal toys behind. Steve went there to pick up the cars to take them back to the community. Louis Bergeron of the Quebec Police told him he could not have them because they belong to a corporation, the Kanehsatake Mohawk Coalition, and the owners are James Gabriel, Clarence Simon and Leona Bonspille!

The Mohawks had always said that James Gabriel acted privately with his personal army, the goon squad, which was instigated and funded by Canada. Canada could not fund the Mohawk Council of Kanehsata:ke because their mandate had fallen. So Indian Affairs set up these three people to continue their corrupt shady deals. Though they were the legally elected representatives of the people, Pearl Bonspille, John Harding and Steve Bonspille, were called the “dissident councilors’ by the colonial press and Indian Affairs. One would think in a ‘free and democratic society” they, of all people, had a right to be informed. But they weren’t. Instead secret back door deals were being made between Indian Affairs and their favored nominees who had stolen this corporation from the people. The theft was done by fraudulently changing the names of the signatories without the knowledge or consent of the original officers of the coalition corporation.

During the behind-the-scenes reign of this stolen corporation, Walter Walling of Indian Affairs was named as the senior negotiator on Kanehsata:ke land claims involving 250 square miles. He reported to Eric Maldoff of the law firm of Heenan Blakely of Montreal. He, in turn was named by then Prime Minister Jean Chretien as the federal negotiator for the Kanehsata:ke land file. Maldoff sat on the Prime Minister’s committee on Kanehsata:ke without the people’s knowledge. Rob Wright, national security advisor to the Prime Minister, was the Chairman. They all had phony mandates. The people started to get upset because after the council mandate fell, these nominees continued to wheel and deal as if nothing happened. When Pearl Bonpille and John Harding questioned what was going on, Wright was quickly removed.

Now that this private corporation was owned by their nominees, Indian Affairs provided lavish funding, at least $28 million. The Prime Minister, the Ministers of Indian Affairs of both Canada and Quebec and other government officials had countless meetings with this stolen corporation discussing the affairs of the people of the community and making decisions. By this time Indian Affairs had moved the Coalition offices to Laval to supervise and fund their illegal goons. These government officials were fully aware of the political turmoil. A lawsuit has begun. More revelations are forthcoming.

In 1997 Walter Walling hired Richard Walsh. Walsh, a convicted felon in a fraudulent scam and a non-native, was paid as a Mohawk language teacher, a plumber and scuba diving consultant. He never did the work or file any reports. He was charged for impersonating a Kanehsata:ke police officer carrying a phony badge issued by James Gabriel of the corporation. This underhanded character was wanted on fraud charges all over southern Ontario. His job was to collect information on the enemies of James Gabriel and Indian Affairs. He sneaked into the Petawawa Army Base and walked away with personal files on Mohawks. The subsequent investigation made the Canadian military and Canadian Secret Service look like fools. These reports never officially saw the light of day.

Indian Affairs sent funds for all education, medical, school construction and services through this corporation. Indian Affairs gave James Gabriel $500,000 for his election campaign. They also gave him $1.5 million for lawyers who filed all kinds of charges against the people of the community. Indian Affairs funded policing, spent $17,000 a month on public relations to get James Gabriel elected and to demonize the Mohawks in the media. The community had no voice. It was all done behind everybody’s backs.

Bertha Bonspille said, “I am the f..king Coalition. I want an investigation, criminal charges and arrests. They are criminals. They committed fraud and theft using my name. They had no right to use our corporation. We want anything that corporation owns, the cars, the guns, everything!” Indian Affairs and their co-conspirators have a big problem on their hands.

A complaint has been laid against James Gabriel, Clarence Simon and Leona Bonspille. They are being investigated for fraud and theft of this corporation and for organizing a political and military coup with that money that Indian Affairs gave them. The Quebec Police said they can’t investigate because the auditors haven’t said anything is missing. Have they got something to cover up too?

Indian Affairs has come running onto the scene. Suddenly they want to be the fiduciary in this situation. They offered to investigate themselves! We can ask a question here, henh? Aren’t the police supposed to investigate criminal matters?

How much money was put through this corporation? Where did the money go? Is there a Richard Walsh trying to finger Indians on every reserve in Canada? Do they try to get something on every honest band councilor so they can keep control of them and continue these nefarious schemes? What happens when band councils don’t cooperate? They end up on the welfare line like Pearl and John. Every time they try to get a job or start a small business, they find extraordinary measures have been taken to block them. Has there ever been a proper audit of Indian Affairs? How can the Canadian public afford this when they don’t have enough money for decent medical care?

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Contact: Kanehsatake 450-479-8520 about forthcoming book: "Who's Sorry Now? The Good, the Bad and the Unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake".