Your help is needed. Get involved.
KANION’KE:HAKA WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS
P. O. Box 991, Kahnawake of Mohawk Territory
(Quebec, Canada) J0l 1B0
450-635-9345 613-575-1550
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
Jan. 15, 2006.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF OBJECTION
TO DEBEERS DIAMOND MINE EXPLOITATION
OF KASHECHEWAN CREE COMMUNITY ON JAMES BAY IN NORTHERN
ONTARIO CANADA
Re: DeBeers Diamond Mine exploitation of Kashechewan Cree community on James Bay in Northern Ontario Canada
To:
President, De Beers Diamond Mines; Queen Elizabeth II; Prime Minister of Canada; Governor General of Canada; Premier of Ontario; Indian Affairs Canada; Progressive Party of Canada; New Democratic Party of Canada; Bloc Quebecois Party; UN Office of High Commission for Human Rights; International Commission for Human Rights; Coalition Criminal Court; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Bono; Ontario Aboriginal Affairs; Supreme Court of Canada; Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada; Health Canada; National Defense; U.S. President George Bush; International Peace Academy; Royal Canadian Military Institute; Canadian High Commission Trade Office in Johannesburg, South Africa (addresses/emails at end)
She:kon/Greetings:
We the Women Title Holders of the Kanion’ke:haka are filing an objection to the exploitation of the Crees of Kashechewan by DeBeers, Indian Affairs, Ontario Government and their agents. This private company and these governments have no legal authority under Canadian, international or Cree law to interfere with the indigenous resources involved. We advise you to back off immediately!
Although we are not Cree, we have a duty under the Kaianereh’ko:wa, our constitution, to help all our Indigenous brothers and sisters from the east to the west coast of Turtle Island. We also have a duty as citizens of the world to uphold the equal and inalienable rights of all people and to defend their human rights.
The people of Kashechewan have been deprived of the most basic human rights. There is presently a crisis of E-coli contamination of the water. The Canadian government Department of Indian Affairs caused it and refuses to fix it. This has been going on for 9 years. At the end of October 2005, half of the 2,000 people were suddenly evacuated to southern Canadian cities all over Ontario. They were put in cheap hotels and military institutions. They were deprived of their right to their community, family relations and to have a decent standard of living. Unlike refugee claimants in Canada, they were given no resources to ensure their survival. They had to rely on vouchers and handouts which restricted their freedom. They could not provide for themselves and their families in these alien environments. One family was evacuated to Sault Ste. Marie. When they wanted to go home, Indian Affairs refused to fund their travel. They ended up in a Women’s Shelter in Akwesasne and they’re still there.
On the weekend of January 7th and 8th, 2006, there were three deaths in the community. One young man died of a heart attack due to stress. Two were shackled in a building that did not meet the most minimal safety standards. The building caught fire and they burnt to death. Both the toxic water and this fire are due to criminal negligence by the colonial government.
We have learned that DeBeers has a deplorable history of mistreating the indigenous people in Africa. Their mining operations have left the earth scarred and the environment irretrievably damaged. The original peoples were removed. Now that the area has been abandoned, they are unable to use it. Currently they are extending their operations to the Kalahari deserts. They removed the Bush Men, tortured and confined them to small reserves, when a large territory is needed to survive under those conditions. They stopped them from hunting, gathering and seeking water. Many have died as a result. We are certain that if people knew about this they would be alarmed. This kind of resource theft and human rights abuse is not acceptable in Canada or anywhere else. It violates human rights worldwide. Yet the Canadian and Ontario governments seem to be facilitating the De Beers operation against the people of Kashechewan.
DeBeers has claimed the Cree’s diamonds and promised to give Canada and Ontario royalties. This has placed Canada and Ontario in a position of conflict of interest because both have fiduciary obligations to the Indigenous peoples. According to Sections 109 and 132 of the British North America Act 1867, the constitution of Canada, the resources are not theirs to give away. The document known as Treaty 9 is invalid. It violates the constitution and international law. Canada does not have a legal treaty with the owners, the Cree People, who are indigenous to the land.
No one can give what they do not have. Canada and Ontario have no legal right to the resources belonging to the people of Kashechewan. When the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources went to Europe to give DeBeers permission, he had nothing to give.
DeBeers plans to completely destroy their environment. DeBeers has seemingly limitless financial and political resources. They have already started an operation a few miles north of Kashechewan at the sister community of Attawapiskat. In order to facilitate the exploitation of diamonds and other resources, belonging to the people of Kashechewan, they plan to built a huge open mine pit larger than the size of Toronto. Accommodations have already been built near Kashechewan with good pure water, though Indian Affairs refuses to provide this necessity to the Crees. Roads, air strips, rock waste dumps, treatment plants, fields for dewatering and mine water are in the works. Obviously this operation and the toxins it will produce will displace the Crees or kill them.
DeBeers exploitation of the people of Kashechewan is doubly reprehensible. First, it involves illegal exploitation of indigenous people. Second, it is for purposes of providing materials to make weapons in this age when war has become illegal.
This is our formal notification that you are to cease and desist all of your illegal operations on the territory of the Crees of Kashechewan. Your actions constitute the crime of genocide.
Attached is a report entitled “Cold as Ice”. We assure you that we take the human rights abuses you are engaged in very seriously.
By assuming authority over Canada, the Queen has incurred fiduciary obligations to the indigenous inhabitants of Kashechewan. We call on the Queen to preserve her honor and assert her authority to protect the laws of the Crees of Kashechewan. (attachment)
Onen kiwahi
Kahentinetha /s/__________________________
Katenies /s/ _____________________________
Katsitsaionhne /s/ _________________________
President, De Beers Diamond Mines, Suite 400, 65 Overlea Blvd. Toronto, Ont. M4H 1P1, linda.dorrington@ca.debeersgroup.com
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, %The Privy Council, Buckingham Palace, London, SW1A 1AA, UK press@royalcollection.org.uk;
Prime Minister of Canada, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Canada pm@pm.gc.ca
Her Excellency Mme. Jean, Governor General of Canada, Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Canada info@gg.ca
Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, Legislative Bldg., Queen’s park, Toronto, Ont. M7A 1A1 dalton.mcginty@premier.gov.on.ca
The Honorable Minister of Indian Affairs, 10 Wellington St., Ottawa K1A 0H4
Stephen Harper, Progressive Party of Canada, Ottawa, Canada harper.s@parl.gc.ca
Jack Layton, New Democratic Party of Canada, 279 Laurier Ave., W., Ottawa Canada K1P 5J9 layton.j@parl.gc.ca
Bloc Quebecois Party, Ottawa, Canada Duceppe.g@parl.gc.ca
UN Office of High Commission for Human Rights, UN Plaza, S.2914, New York 10017
Rudolpho Stavenhagen, International Commission for Human Rights, Box 16, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland
Coalition Criminal Court, %WFM, 708 3rd Ave., 24th Fl., New York 10017
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 1200 Vanier Parkway, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0R2
Bono, DATA, 1400 Eye St., N.W., Suite 1125, Washington DC 20005
Gail Beggs, Aboriginal Affairs, 4th Fl. 720, Bay St., Toronto Ont. M5G 2K1
Hon. Beverley McLachlin, Supreme Court of Canada, 301 Wellington St., Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0J1 613-995-4330
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, House of Commons, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A6 onbox@psepc.gc.ca
Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada, Jeanne Mance Building, Tunney’s Pasture, Postal Locator 1921A, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9 fnihb-dgspni@hc-sc.gc.ca
Hon. Bill Graham, Minister of National Defence, Major Gen. George R. Pearkes Bldg., 101 Col. By Drive, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0K2 graham.b@gc.ca
U.S. President George Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC 20500 president@whitehouse.gov
International Peace Academy, UN Plaza, New York, NY
Royal Canadian Military Institute, 426 University Ave., Toronto ON M5G 1S9 president@rcmi.org
Canadian High Commission Trade Office in Johannesburg, South Africa jobrg@international.gc.ca
cc. All Media, Pope Benedictum XVI, St. Peter’s Sq., Vatican City, Rome Italy; Canadian Center for Foreign Policy Development, info.ccfpd@dfait/maeci.gc.ca (National Forum on Africa);
