INDIAN AFFAIRS “MERCENARIES”: Another kick in the Liberal groin!
MNN. Jan. 13, 2006. It was a cold morning on January 12, 2004, when former Grand Chief James Gabriel got together with Wayne Easter, to play war games. Easter was working for the Solicitor General’s Office at that time. They had maps on the wall, an arsenal of weapons and plenty of money, courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer. With a $900,000 Special Anti Crime subsidy, they had no trouble rounding up 67 untrained mercenaries ready and willing to try out the latest military toys on the unarmed citizens of Kanehsatake.
This force was made up of aboriginals and non-natives from across the province of Quebec. They didn’t wear badges, but they were all dressed up as Indian cops. It was important to make this look like an “Indian war”. They had tasers. They had tear gas. They had MP 5’s, AR 15 machine guns and who knows what else. They meant business. They had 16 body bags and a “hit list” of 55 Mohawks who were to be taken out on sight. The $900,000 cost was put up by Solicitor General Anne McLellan’s office, managed by Indian Affairs.
Their objective was clear.
The illegal nature of this raid was revealed in the media today. The Liberals tried to keep the sleazy side of this operation under wraps. The hot potato bounced out into the open after Jacques Chagnon, a former Public Security Minister of Quebec, gave an interview to Radio CBC. They want to blame everything on their patsy, James Gabriel. Everyone who was involved is distancing themselves. Prime Minister Paul Martin knew all along about the turmoil in Kanehsatake. He’s had Eric “Handpicked by Chretien” Maldoff from his office working there on land claims. His job was to keep Kanehsatake off the front page. Rob "Wrong" Wright, the national security adviser to the Prime Minister, was the chairman of a “Special Committee on Kanehsatake”, looking into “security issues”.
No one did anything to stop the blood shed that was supposed to happen, not even the Prime Minister knew all along. As usual, Martin purports to have no knowledge or control over what was happening, if you take his word for it. Otherwise why was Wayne “Incompetent” Easter able to go and do this attack on his own? Chagnon knew all along and claims he tried to prevent it. The RCMP and the SQ both say the same thing. Which whistle blowers can blow the hardest? Is it possible to suck and blow at the same time? Who’s running the bloody country anyway? Was this a test case on how Indigenous people are going to be deprived of our lands, resources and lives? Somebody gave the orders for the mercenaries to enter the territory and attack and kill the people. What the hell is going on here?
Canada and Quebec stopped funding the mercenaries at the end of December 2005. The current grand chief, Steven Bonspille, inspected the arsenal they left behind. A lot had gone missing. It’s floating out there somewhere. It should make it easier for people to sleep at night. He said, "I found 39 tasers, 12 gauge guns, AR 15’s, MP 5’s, one of which was fully automatic, and a nice huge sniper rifle which is a highly specialized equipment which requires specially trained snipers. I don't know if this is regular police equipment". Steven Bonspille even found one bill dating prior to the attack showing that another $22,000 worth of guns and ammunition bought from Nichols by the mercenaries are still unaccounted for. There are bullets in the thousands. Over 100 30- round clips for an AR 15. Unbelievable! They must be bad shots! There are less than 2,000 people in Kanehsatake! Maybe they wanted to get all the “Rez dogs too” which would make everybody mad. Everybody loves their dogs over there. "I am grateful that nobody died.". Or they wanted to branch out to the neighboring communities. The cache was all loaded up in the econolines at the Hilton. Was this arsenal kept in the “honeymoon suite”? That’s where James Gabriel and his buddies were running up a $27,000 a week food and bar bill.
Steven Bonspille sits on a council with “the gruesome six”, the corrupt chiefs who are loyal to James Gabriel and Indian Affairs. They have continuously compromised themselves and are not trusted by the people. Indian Affairs spent $500,000 to get them elected. Their hearts belong to “White Daddy”.
No one is saying where the rest of the arsenal went. Didn’t Prime Minister Paul Martin make a campaign promise to stop gun violence and pledged $25 million from the taxpayer’s wallets towards it? How much is going to be used to bring on violence against other Aboriginal communities? Isn’t it ironic that many of the weaponry purchased by the federal government for this attack are unaccounted for? The court tape shows two econoline trucks filled to the brim with weapons. It would be a shame if they ended up on the streets of Toronto. There has to be a full criminal investigation.
Why send in a sniper? What were the body bags for? The people they thought would stand up to them? Absolutely none of the Mohawks charged with rioting and confinement had any weapons whatsoever, other than their loud voices protesting the illegal occupation of their community. 24 citizens were arrested, charged and stood trial. Is this what “freedom of expression” means in Canada? Francois Briere, the Crown prosecutor, or judicial “sniper”, was very selective in the evidence he presented to the jury. It was a mockery of a trial. Of course, not one of the jury members was an aboriginal.
Briere presented fraudulent evidence. He ignored anything that would show the complicity of Indian Affairs and their mercenaries. Today Briere is scared. He’s soiling his green pants which are now the same color as his penny loafers. His only witness at the trial was James Gabriel’s sister, Melanie, who was a member of the mercenaries. She perjured herself time and again on the witness stand. Can a rent-a-cop lie and get away with it?
How could these goofy mercenaries be given carte blanche by James Gabriel and Indian Affairs? How was so much money siphoned their way? Is this what Paul Martin means when he talks about how much money is spent on aboriginals? The mercenaries had direct orders to report to James Gabriel. Is this possible? Which politician in Ottawa gave the ultimate order? Even the courts can’t order the police to attack anyone. Somebody gave James, a dirty corrupt politician, the power, the ability and unlimited cash to carry out this agenda.
Former chiefs, Steven Bonspille, Pearl Bonspille and John Harding, incessantly referred to as the “dissident” councilors by the media and Indian Affairs, have continuously demanded accountability. It’s now going the other way. The truth is starting to come out. The Surete du Quebec put out a sworn affidavit signed by the Attorney General of Quebec, Bernard Roy, exonerating the Mohawk. The whole operation was illegal from start to finish. The people say, “Our men are political prisoners and are going to jail for this federal government engineered coup. Minister Chagnon even admitted they are innocent”. On January 20th Judge Duval Hesler intends to go ahead and sentence the people.
On January 12, 2006, the second anniversary of the attack, Walter “Dirty Deeds” Walling of Indian Affairs stormed into the Kanehsatake council meeting. He delivered the MNN Mohawk Nation News story “Corporate ‘Gangsta Rap’ at Indian Affairs”, dated December 28th 2005. Steven said to MNN, "This is the first time I saw this". Walling excitedly said, “It’s going everywhere. It’s causing s—t!”. He wants to investigate MNN. He’s worried if Paul Martin gets kicked out, he’ll be out of a job. Maldoff’didn’t keep Oka off the front page. They’re both afraid of criminal charges for their roles. The Conservatives vowed to clean up the corruption. These guys will probably find another rock to crawl under, probably somewhere in the private sector where they can use their expertise on oppressing Indigenous people.
Steven Bonspille answered him, “Well, what do you want me to do? It’s freedom of the press! Are you the only ones allowed to use the media?”
How does Canada hide such misspending of money? How sincere are the Liberals in taking guns off the streets? It looks like they’ve been one of the major contributors here. The Mohawks suffered cutbacks. They were told there was no money for housing, education, schools, medical care and other normal programs. Now they’re left with a huge arsenal of useless guns. Over $28 million was misspent on this caper. We’ve gotten a million dollar education on how government “Rambos” work. In the meantime the students are in a temporary high school.
Does this money for weapons come out of the $5 billion that Paul Martin has promised to spend on aboriginal people? Is this what a “free and democratic society” does? Body bags and all! Don’t’ tell us they are not trying to commit genocide against the Indigenous people!
A book is being written, “Who’s Sorry Now. The Good, the Bad and the Unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake” giving the full story. “Thanks, but no thanks! We don’t want your democracy”, say the Mohawks.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Contact: 450-479-8520
