Lipan Apache plea for help, Homeland Security deadline to seize lands January 7, 2007

Lipan Apache women and elders issued a call for help to resist the seizure of their lands.

By Margo_Tamez

This is a request for immediate intervention on behalf of indigenous land title holders of the rancheria of El Calaboz, La Paloma, and El Ranchito in South Texas. I am writing to you this evening as the indigenous peoples of El Calaboz, La Paloma and El Ranchito rancherias in South Texas express grave fear for their safety, their livelihoods, and being ripped violently apart from our sacred lands held in our communities prior to contact with Spanish settlers and empresarios, and thereafter, in continuity.

Elders, such as Eloisa Garcia Tamez, and others in our communities threatened with Eminent Domain, by the Department of Homeland Security and carried out by Secretary Chertoff, have authorized me to request immediate emergency intervention from the International Indian Treaty Council at this time.

The 30-day period which Chertoff forced upon the threatened communities will expire on January 7, 2008.

Today, an emergency national conference call was held to address key concerns of the South Texas independent indigenous rancherias whose lands are not only physically on the International Boundary (IB), but also whose traditional and titled lands (by Spanish, Mexican Republic and Texas Republic title) are dissected by the IB and are also in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

We are communities of both indigenous Hleh pai nde'--the Light Gray People, the independent Lipan Apache of the San Pedro de Carricitos Land Grant of 1786. As well we are communities of Basque-Nde' and Basque-Comanche peoples who are the First Peoples of the contact period after 1745 when Basque laborers toiled under harsh conditions and mixed in with the indigenous of the region to survive colonial mission, presidio, hacendado and empresario rulers.

Today the impacted communities of South Texas held a conference call with allies from Tohono O'odham, Yaqui, Jumano Apache, as well as a team of committed civil and human rights attorneys, land grant attorneys, human rights attorneys, activist organizations, and academic activist-scholars from the University of Texas system. We heard the voices of the first impacted communities of this horrendous 'border security project'--the voices of mothers, daughters, uncles, fathers, and grandparents whose lives and lands are currently under threat of eminent occupation on January 7, 2008.

Tonight, my mother, Eloisa Garcia Tamez, expressed to me that more and more elders are giving up--and considering surrendering to Secretary Chertoff, due to their advanced age, their sense of hopelessness, isolation and extreme fear of an impending sense of doom which the national media churns out daily on the television and papers--militarized violence.

This fear is not unfounded. Our community is all too familiar with militarization, as we are a hyper-militarized and occupied region.

My mother, tonight, fearfully recalled to me the reason why she believes some elders will surrender and sign the waiver which will forcibly relocate them. In the mid 1930's the army came to build the so-called 'secure levee'--which was forced upon the community. At that time the army constructed a dangerous levee system, against wishes of the the traditional indigenous farmers--my great grand parents and grand parents, grand uncles and grand aunts included. At that time, they forced a massive destruction of the traditional fields, and flooded our all of our families to the south of us. Women, children and elders were flooded out and vanished horrifically--a dramatic display of hyper-militarized power to dominate through terror, and bring my ancestors under the authority of the U.S. Army.

My mother retold me, tonight, that she remembers how during this time period the U.S. Army and Border Patrol ran their vehicles into the front doors of the small jacals (traditional shelters, or 'gowas'--wickiups) and how she ran and ran ... in fear of being run over and killed and seeing her family destroyed. She recounted how they burst open doors and forced their way in the homes and how she hid under the bed as the soldiers destroyed everything in their maniacal rampages against the indigenous. Thus, tonight, the elders, who were also vulnerable teens and young children at that time--again--specifically regarding the trauma associated with the U.S. Army Engineers' 'levee', are all too cognizant of the subversive ways of the U.S. government, forced occupation and militarized terror tactics. They fear that none will ever know that it will happen again--because the level of policing and Marshall law at the I.B. is so hyper militarized, so naturalized and so normalized that no one would even blink an eye if they are all overrun again.

Therefore, as the days draw close to the January 7 deadline, more elders who are sick, exhausted and overstressed by the national terror being focused upon the small and defenseless rancherias --are talking about surrendering.

We empathize with them and are encouraging them through our voices and prayers. However, my mother and many others, are gaining strength and productive structures to express and organize their outrage and sense of justice --from the national and international support pouring into us. We are firmly committed to the longer struggle for justice.

Our community has fought hand to hand with U.S. soldiers in prior waves of empire, and we will not, as my mother says, ever surrender. My mother gave me permission tonight to go forward and to request formally that the IITC step in on our behalf and respond with immediate intervention, for this is a struggle that is inclusive, and foregrounds an indigenous democracy--one that is horizontal and far-reaching. At this time, we invite you to join the Working Group.

The Working Group is holding a national press conference telephonic call on Monday, January 7, 2006.

We will keep you advised of further details regarding the legal and political defense of the land title holders of El Calaboz rancheria.
Respectfully, Margo_Tamez To Margo Tamez

From Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council

As one of the founders and present Board Members of the International Indian Treaty Council I want to give my total support to saving your tradtional lands and comunities. You are right that unless there is massive support the US general public will never know or care about what is happening on the US-Mexico border. The continuous Human Rights violations by the US must be exposed. Is it only white people who are welcomed to the US? Where is the Statue of Liberty for the Southern Border of the US? Where is Ellis Island? Give Me your tired, your hungry, your huddled masses! Is this just for white people? The US policy on the US-Mexico border is totally racist! IITC is in support!

Toksha, Bill

Caledonia residents call on province to end land-claim dispute

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071126.wcaledonia1126/BNStory/National/home

CALEDONIA, Ont. — Residents living with one of the nation's longest aboriginal occupations say they want the province to step in and clear the disputed land as Ontario's new aboriginal affairs minister made his first visit Monday to the beleaguered town of Caledonia.

Michael Bryant met with local politicians, business and spiritual leaders during his much-publicized trip, but did not meet with any of the Six Nations protesters or their representatives. Some residents who also weren't able to meet with Bryant protested outside one of his meetings, holding signs saying “One Law for All” and “Frustrated, Forgotten, Fed Up.”

Misti Bottenfield, who lives near the former housing development site that has been occupied for almost two years, said it's time Mr. Bryant gave protesters an ultimatum.

“It should be — get off the land or no talks,” said the 26-year-old, adding she has been repeatedly intimidated by the protesters. “Get off the land and out of the houses. Even though the barricades are down and the roads are open, it's still not much better. It sucks.”

Mr. Bryant came to this divided southern Ontario town to talk to residents but Ms. Bottenfield said she doesn't know anyone who has been able to speak to him.

Pat Woolley, a 20-year resident of Caledonia, said it's going to take more than a visit from Mr. Bryant to ease the worries of the town. The barricades may have come down and the occupied site may be fairly quiet now, but Woolley said the ongoing occupation continues to hurt both the town and its residents.

“This thing is getting worse, not better,” said Woolley, adding the province should put an end to the occupation now while it continues negotiating the land claim.

“Businesses continue to suffer ... You can't allow this thing to go on. I've always brought my children up to believe we are all equal under the law. My frustration with this Liberal government is that we're not seeing this transpire in this community.”

Mr. Bryant said he spent Sunday afternoon in the town and talked to residents casually in the local Tim Hortons, although he admitted the Grey Cup likely kept many people glued to their televisions at home. The province is interested in working with the town to improve tourism and development while negotiating an end to the occupation, he said.

Whether the provincially owned land is cleared of protesters is a matter for the provincial police, not the governing Liberals to decide, Mr. Bryant added.

“What we're trying to do is come up with some short, medium and long-term solutions at the same time as negotiations are taking place,” he said.

“I certainly heard loud and clear ... about what's going on here in terms of how people are feeling. Obviously people are hurting. We want to get to a point where we're turning things around.”

Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer has said town residents living with the ongoing occupation won't feel safe until Six Nations protesters leave the disputed land. But Monday, Ms. Trainer said the town wants to focus on re-starting its economy which has virtually ground to a halt since the occupation began.

Although Caledonia was one of the fastest growing towns in Ontario, Ms. Trainer said virtually no building permits have been issued in the last two years.

“We want these land claims settled,” she said. “We have lived in harmony with the First Nations people for a very long time. It's going to be hard to get that back.”

Six Nations protesters occupied the former housing development site in February 006, saying the land was wrongfully taken from them by the Crown over 200 years ago. The occupation has been violent at times, marred by barricades blocking the town's thoroughfare and clashes between local residents and protesters.

Refusing to be silent

by Sue Collis
August 22, 2007

On Friday, August 10, 2007 my husband, Shawn Brant, was denied bail for the second time on charges relating to the closure of the CN main line, a provincial highway and the 401. Shawn is a member of the Mohawk Nation, from the community of Tyendinaga. The larger context for the charges he currently faces include unresolved land claims, poverty, suicides and polluted water throughout First Nations communities across Canada.

It would certainly be nice if, by 2007, the Canadian justice system had become a bastion of tolerance, devoid of bias. Unfortunately, what I saw on August 10th was a few isolated snippets from newspaper reports being treated as determining factors in whether another First Nations person was locked up or returned to his family.

As I drove home, I found myself contemplating the best way to tell my children that they would have to wait an unknown period of time before seeing their dad, and wondering how to explain (to a seven and five-year-old) why this was the case.

As the reality of our severed family hit me, I reminded myself how much worse it is for the thousands of families in First Nations communities who lose their babies to CAS (the Children's Aid Society) because they don’t have enough money to feed them. Or for the mothers who bathe their babies in water that is just as likely to make them sick as it is to clean them. Or for the families who face the horrible grief of burying their children after they decide to take their own lives rather than live on without hope for anything better.

And thinking about that, I was of course reminded about why Shawn is in jail to begin with: because the Canadian government recognizes that my husband is a person who can put a voice to that suffering. Shawn has been at the forefront of a process of carving out a national platform that exposed Canada's dismal and embarrassing record towards First Nations peoples. For perhaps the first time, an environment was being created where Canadians at large cared whether First Nations children lived or died.

In trying to understand how bunk 18, dorm 4 of the Quinte Detention Centre has become my husband's home, I have had the opportunity to reflect on how this all began.

It was shortly after the election of Mike Harris in Ontario in 1995: Dudley George lay dead and the infamous 21.6 per cent welfare cut had been imposed. While severe to everyone on fixed income it was particularly devastating to First Nations communities. In the absence of economic opportunities, compounded with geographical isolation and the still very prevalent impact of residential school abuses, the cut to welfare was crushing. But there was hope.

Organized labour rallied and kicked off a campaign of rotating economic disruptions. It was a plan designed to target government and private industry, starting small and escalating over time unless the government met the movement's demands. “We can't have passive resistance,” said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. “We have to send a strong message to Mike Harris and the business community that if they want to change the social network it's going to be one hell of a fight.” “The safety of kids is at issue,” Ryan said. “The transportation is going to be shut down, likewise GO trains . . . There's going to be chaos in the highways.”

Starting in places like London and Kitchener Waterloo, infrastructure was targeted and the cities systematically shut down. In October 1996, labour converged in Toronto and in one massive show of solidarity some 300 businesses, government buildings and services were completely shut down.

The Toronto Transit Commission, which normally carried two million riders daily, was completely stationary. The Canada Post facility responsible for sorting 50 per cent of the country's mail was shut. Pearson International Airport cancelled numerous flights as passengers rearranged their schedules to avoid the chaos of the day. The Canadian Auto Workers disrupted the airport's cargo terminal for five hours. Libraries were closed, marriage licences unavailable and garbage pick-up cancelled. Essentially all municipal services were either shut down or curtailed. Hospitals across Toronto cancelled all non-essential surgery and rescheduled chemotherapy sessions.

In short, the single largest municipality in the country came to a grinding halt. Millions of dollars were lost to the economy province-wide. United Steelworkers representative Carolyn Egan described the day as, “…only one battle. We haven’t won the war.” And Ryan warned at the time, “If we don't see the language, if we don't see the promised changes...in 48 hours, we'll be calling a province-wide strike.”

A decade later, in November 2006, the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga—in response to unresolved land claims, polluted drinking water, overwhelming poverty and suicides in all First Nations communities—launched a campaign similar to those days of action. It announced a plan of rotating economic disruption. The campaign started with road closures and business disruptions.

In March, a quarry on Mohawk land was taken over and permanently closed. On April 20 the CN main line was closed for 30 hours and on June 29, the CN main line, highway 2 and Highway 401 were simultaneously targeted and closed for a 24-hour period. And the message resonated. In the lead up and wake of June 29, Aboriginal issues enjoyed enormous support from the Canadian public with Angus Reid showing 71 per cent of Canadians wanting actions on land claims and 41 per cent of Ontarians prepared to acknowledge rail blockades as justified given the current landscape.

It is worth noting the reactions to these two very similar campaigns. The economic repercussions of the labour movement's rotating and escalating city shut-downs far surpassed those on June 29, and yet no labour leader was ever jailed, let alone charged. I am left to wonder at the difference in the government's response. The message appears to be if you are Indian, somehow your grievances do not warrant the same respect or attention. You are to suffer in silence.

As lawyer Howard Morton said at Shawn's bail review, “There is not a right that exists in this country that was not achieved through varying degrees of struggle and civil unrest.”

If in the year 2007, Shawn is to sit in jail for forcing attention to the national crisis that the subhuman conditions throughout First Nations communities have become, when literally centuries of following the “appropriate channels” of redress have utterly failed, then so be it.

Locking up Aboriginal people who are not prepared to ignore the atrocities of the state or suffer silently is certainly not without precedent in this country. In 1924 the Canadian government employed the military to kill one Mohawk traditional Chief in an effort to break the Iroquois Confederacy and bring the Mohawks under the control of the current Indian Act Band Council system. Many other Chiefs were imprisoned for a total of seven seasons without valid charges. My husband is just completing the end of his first season behind bars and says: “I should sit with pride and honour sit for six more to equal the sacrifice my ancestors made for us, so that we might have a chance to exist.”

The June 29 events inspired pride and hope across Indian country. Perhaps that is what the government considers most dangerous.

Sue Collis is the wife of Shawn Brant, and mother of two children. She lives in Tyendinaga, Mohawk Territory.

http://www.rabble.ca/in_her_own_words.shtml?sh_itm=63e6719638099df2069905bd6c53e96f&rXn=1&

Que. protesters denounce CN lawsuit against Ont. Mohawks

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 | 3:09 PM ET

CBC News

CN Rail's multimillion dollar lawsuit against a group of eastern Ontario Mohawk protesters is racist and colonial, says a spokesman for protesters who demonstrated in Montreal Tuesday afternoon.

Jaggi Singh was among two dozen demonstrators affiliated with the People's Global Action speaking out against the lawsuits launched by CN after activists from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Deseronto, Ont., blocked the company's tracks on two occasions.

"Mohawk activists in Tyendinaga stood up for the rights of their land, quite legitimately," Jaggi Singh said to reporters at Montreal's Via station.

"As it happens, CN's rails go through their land, and yet it's the Mohawks who are being victimized, the Mohawks who are being criminalized."

Singh urged CN to drop the lawsuit, and said there will be more protests against the railway if it does not.

The protesters said the lawsuit is a deliberate attack on native communities.

The rail blockades in April and during the aboriginal day of action on June 29 were part of a continuing protest against the slow pace of land-claim negotiations between Mohawk leaders and the federal government concerning a parcel of land that the Mohawks say they never properly surrendered.

Among those named in CN's court actions is Shawn Brant, a frequent spokesman for the Tyendinaga protesters, who was denied bail on Friday.

He has been in custody on charges of mischief and breaching bail conditions since surrendering to police on July 5.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/08/14/ot-cn-mohawks-070814.html

Believes Plan Contains 'Fatal Flaws'. Government Remains 'Judge And jury' of itself

Believes Plan Contains 'Fatal Flaws'. Government Remains 'Judge And jury' of itself

JULIET O'NEILL, CanWest News Service

The federal government's promise of an independent and speedy process to clear a backlog of unfulfilled and breached Indian treaty obligations may not be so independent or speedy after all, says a longtime advocate of reforms.

Rolland Pangowish said yesterday that the government plan for "specific claims" legislation contains potentially fatal flaws that will leave the main promises of independence and speed unfulfilled. As it stands, the plan is "not the significant transformation" the government has claimed.

Pangowish co-chaired the 1997-98 First Nations-Canada Task Force on Specific Claims Policy Reform, directed the Assembly of First Nations lands and treaties unit 1990-2003, and is currently technical adviser to Ontario First Nations chiefs on claims.

He says that while the government may have left the impression a proposed independent tribunal is going to take charge of the claims process, clear a backlog of 800 claims for land or compensation and get cracking on new incoming claims, the reality appears quite different.

The government will remain "judge and jury" of itself, deciding whether to accept, reject or negotiate a claim, and the tribunal only kicks in later - as many as three years later - if negotiations fail, a claim is rejected or all parties agree to a referral to the tribunal. The fate of the 800 or so claims already in the system has not been made clear by the government, he said.

A truly independent process would establish an arm's-length body to process claims and determine whether the government is legally obligated to act, he said.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=d5c1a9b2-ae4c-47df-8e44-12f615031a62

Bail denied for native protester Shawn Brant

CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, August 10, 2007

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=26645892-4466-48e8-8c34-46e05d4a826c&k=73420

NAPANEE, Ont. - Shawn Brant, whose road blockades in June sparked the closure of crucial highways and rail lines in Ontario, has been sent back to jail after his appeal for bail was denied in Ontario Court on Friday.

The native protester had been applying for bail so he could return to his family after spending more than a month in custody at the Quinte provincial detention centre in Napanee, Ont.

Brant turned himself in to Ontario Provincial Police on July 5 in Napanee, Ont., where he faced charges of mischief and breach of recognizance, stemming from the June 29 protests.

The OPP had issued an arrest warrant for Brant, a spokesman for protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve in eastern Ontario, for his part in organizing blockades on rail lines and on Ontario Highways 401 and 2.

The protests, related to the Assembly of First Nations national day of action, halted CN rail service on its Montreal-Toronto corridor because of a blockade on the tracks at Marysville, Ont.

Brant, 43, was also under a number of bail orders related to earlier protests that were conducted by the Mohawks from Tyendinaga.

He is scheduled to appear in Ontario Court Aug. 27, for a preliminary hearing into those charges, a court worker said Friday.

Broken vows, festering ill will blamed for native protester's death

Scathing report. Ottawa urged to settle land claims

AJAMES COWAN AND APRIL LINDGREN, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, June 01, 2007

After years of examining the 1995 death of native protester Dudley George at an Ontario provincial park, commissioner Sidney Linden laid blame yesterday for the fatal shooting on the police and governments.

And, as Ontario's aboriginal affairs minister offered apologies, the commissioner in charge of the Ipperwash Inquiry said: "the most urgent priority is for the federal government to return" the land to local native bands "immediately."

In Ottawa, federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice pledged to fulfill Linden's recommendation.

"We'll do something immediately. I've made it very clear we intend to transfer the land back to the First Nation. It has to be done in an orderly way though, where it is safe," Prentice said, citing environmental and other concerns that need to be resolved.

Ontario Provincial Police officer Ken Deane shot George on Sept. 6, 1995, two days after protesters occupied Ipperwash provincial park.

"There is no doubt that OPP acting Sgt. Deane shot and killed Mr. George and nothing in the inquiry challenges or undermines this conviction," Linden said yesterday. "However, acting Sgt. Dean should not have been in a position to shoot Mr. George in the first place."

Linden, whose inquiry began in 2003, said George's death occurred as result of a deadly mix of aboriginal frustration over decades of broken federal promises related to confiscated land, the provincial government's desire for a quick end to the park occupation and errors and miscommunications on the part of the OPP.

In the Ipperwash case, which is unresolved, Linden concluded Ottawa's refusal to honour its pledge to return native lands confiscated in 1942 for use as a military base meant the issue "festered for decades" while aboriginal frustration grew.

In 1995, a long-term occupation of an abandoned military base spread to neighboring Ipperwash Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron, the site of a native burial ground.

The commissioner added little has been done to defuse continuing tensions over land claims.

"The flashpoints for aboriginal protest and occupations are very likely as intense today as they were at the time of Ipperwash," Linden said.

"If the governments of Ontario and Canada want to avoid future confrontations they will have to deal with land and treaty claims effectively and fairly."

While Linden exonerates former Ontario premier Mike Harris of allegations he interfered in police operations, he finds Harris did push for a "speedy conclusion" to the conflict.

"The premier could have urged patience rather than speed. These decisions effectively foreclosed the possibility of initiating a constructive dialogue with occupiers or others on ways to end the occupation peacefully."

Linden also concluded Harris made racist comments, stating he wanted the "f------ Indians out of the park" during a meeting with senior officials.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=de4d11c6-e601-4778-a996-f0e9e09e4767

CN Rail sues Ontario Mohawk protesters

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/05/09/cn-lawsuit-070509.html#skip300x250

CN Rail has launched a lawsuit against Mohawk protesters who blocked a major Ontario rail corridor for more than a day last month, disrupting freight and passenger traffic.

The land dispute protest near Deseronto that began in the early hours of April 20 disrupted freight between Toronto and Montreal. The disruption blocked the transport of freight worth more than $100 million, said spokesman Mark Hallman.

'We've sort of looked at this as being a warning … that they're quite willing to make our miserable lives more miserable.'— Protester Shawn Brant

"We have launched an action to recover the costs associated with the blockade," Hallman confirmed Tuesday. "This represents the first time that CN has served suit for damages arising from a First Nations blockade of its tracks."

CN estimated that about 22 freight trains travel the Toronto-Montreal route every day, but did not specify how much it is asking for in damages.

CN seeks ban on future blockades

Hallman said that as part of its action, the company is seeking an extension of a court order that ended the blockade. That extension would ban future blockades.

Shawn Brant, the main spokesman for the protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory on Lake Ontario's Bay of Quinte, is named in the CN lawsuit, which also includes a blockade that people from the reserve staged last year on the same rail line.

"We've sort of looked at this as being a warning to other First Nations communities across the country as well as ourselves that they're quite willing to make our miserable lives more miserable," he said.

Lawsuit names band council

The lawsuit also names the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory band council and several other people from their community.

Chief R. Donald Maracle said the council had nothing to do with the blockade and will ask CN lawyers to remove it from the lawsuit.

The rail blockade disrupted both freight and Via Rail passenger service along the Toronto-Ottawa and Toronto-Montreal rail corridors for about 30 hours.

The protest, which ended when CN served the protesters with a court injunction, was part of an ongoing protest that members have been maintaining for months over privately owned land near Deseronto that the Tyendinaga Mohawks claim is theirs.

Brant faces a number of charges related to the blockade, including mischief. He turned himself in to police on May 3, but has been released on bail.

The band council is in talks with a federally appointed negotiator regarding the land claim, but the protesters say those are proceeding too slowly.

O.P.P. Set Sights on Mohawk Spokesman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Wednesday,May 2,2007) Tyendinaga Mohawk Shawn Brant is set to appear in a Napanee Bail Court on Thursday, May 3rd at 2:00 PM on charges stemming from the closure of the CN Main Line 2 weeks ago.

The OPP issued a warrant for his arrest almost immediately following the April 21st CN closure.

Brant, along with his lawyer Peter Rosenthal, will attend the Napanee OPP station at 10:00AM on Thursday to formally accept the charges filed by the OPP.

According to spokesman Jason Maracle, “Targeting one of our speakers is an old tactic. If one person goes down another takes their place. If someone goes down on the battlefield, no one should expect the battle to stop.”

Tyendinaga Contacts:
Jason Maracle: (613) 961-9920
Tara Green: (613) 827-0790

-30-

Call for Support Ojibway Warrior Society

OJIBWAY WARRIOR SOCIETY
LAKE OF THE WOODS TERRITORY, OJIBWAY NATION
TURTLE ISLAND

CALL FOR SUPPORT

This call goes out to our brothers and sisters across Turtle Island to support the actions of my friends and relatives who are currently besieged by the colonialist government and its oppressive regime who together are undertaking a methodical and calculated form of genocide against my relations. Their current means of attack against our elderly, women and children is through the form of or extension of a neo-colonialist government other wise known as the chief and council of Iskatewiiaagigun #39, who through there own ignorance or wisdom that guides them is perpetuating the extermination policy against their very own relations. I cannot condemn them for their behavior and ignorance as publicly displayed in their correspondence towards our people ( see shoallake40.ca ) due to their lack of knowledge in their history and familial ties which goes back for generations, after all they are in fact helping us with our struggle with their documentation and their most recent plan to blockade us from leaving our homes for food medical reasons. I also do not condone their actions of interference simply based on my inherent right to travel freely across my own territory in my own nation on Turtle Island. This is not our way. We are not the enemy. I am very proud of the courage of my elders, women, youth and children to rise against any further oppression and injustices directed to them. My relations have always been humble and proud even through all the injustices that have confronted them, which continue to this day. This tiny community has always been a strong supporter of other communities who have seen there liberties and basic rights placed in jeopardy, this tiny community is my home, my place of strength, the home of most warriors who have seen action in many different territories, it is from this community men have been deployed to represent the ojibway nation within the Warrior Alliance to assist and support other nations in their time of need. This community that stood with others now need your support in their struggle for basic human rights and their fight for survival.

They are taking their plight on the road from Shoal Lake Ontario to create awareness and to seek justice for their rightful cause, this journey will take them along the railroad that was built to cause the beginning of the struggle, to the point where the tracks cross the highway between Hadashville and Prawda, Manitoba. At this point an encampment will be set up and will receive the initial media crews that will be arriving, during this time a drum has been invited as part of our protocol with everything around us, from there they will pack up the following day and march down the trans Canada highway with the sounds of the drum into Winnipeg and arriving at the forks as their final destination.

We will of course be responsible for the safety and security of the walkers for the duration of this action but will gladly accept additional support and assistance.

Other ways you can show your support can be by any of the following means:

1. Joining the march
2. joining the drum
3. providing water or snacks
4. donating food
5. letters of support ( send e-mails to semiah_r@yahoo.ca )
6. calls for support ( to voice your support call 1-204-427-3861 leave mesassage, will return all calls)
7. provide support vehicle
8. help organize reception at the forks
9. financial donations ( please call or e-mail number & address above to make arrangements )



The Federal Government has approved millions of dollars for the Museum of Human Rights to be built in the city of Winnipeg at the same time they deny us of our human rights just as they did when they approved the expropriation of our land in which we occupied at the time, to develop the intake that provides the city of Winnipeg its water supply, they have even violated our ancestors in their resting places our people are dying just to get on and off the man made island. The water leaving our land and lake is the blood of our people. It is ironic that water is their theme.

All our people are asking for is the right to get home.

All my relations,

Neogahbo, Elk Clan
Aka Daryl Redsky
Ojibway Warrior Society

Next target chosen, Mohawks warn

Blocking rail line was 'first in a series of economic disruptions,' leader warns

Matthew Chung
staff reporter

The leader of an aboriginal blockade that paralyzed rail traffic between Toronto and Montreal for more than 30 hours promised this morning there will be more “economic disruptions” like the protest ended ahead of schedule.

RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR

Mohawk protesters gather around a palette fire in front of a bus that blocks the railway in Deseronto near Belleville, on Friday, April 20, 2007.

“Believe it or not, it was the first soft step of the campaign,” said Shawn Brant around 8 a.m., two hours after the group removed a school bus blocking the tracks. “We have identified three different targets, and we will escalate the degree of severity as is necessary.”

Those targets are the railway, provincial highways and the town of Deseronto, Brant said as he puffed on cigarettes at the gravel quarry that is the heart of the dispute

The next target has been selected already and plans for the action are being finalized, he said. They’ll continue the protests until the provincial government revokes a licence that allows gravel to be trucked away from the quarry, he said.

The protesters had said they’d stay at the blockade for 48 hours but decided to call it off early because some community members feared a violent conclusion to the protest, Brant said.

“Yesterday there was a series of exchanges. It was escalating into a standoff-type situation,” Brant said. “Some people were bringing concerns forward that this was to be a first step of a series of steps.

“The first stand wasn’t to be the last stand.”

The aboriginals have been in discussion with a federally appointed land-claims negotiator but Brant says the community is tired of talking while a company continues to operate at the 923-acre quarry.

“People in the community see it as a company removing the very land while we have people sitting at a table and discussing it,” Brant said. “We recognize there can be no meaningful negotiations while these things are happening.”

No arrests have been made at this point, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kristine Rae.

“We’re pleased that it was a peaceful resolution.”

Federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Jim Prentice said in an interview today that the blockade was mounted by a splinter group in the Mohawk community — against the will of its chief and council.

The blockade and others like it do nothing to speed such talks, he added.

“What they do is they contribute to an erosion of good will towards aboriginal people and land claims. And I don’t think that is in the interest of First Nation communities.”

Prentice says he understands the frustration of First Nations who’ve watched unsettled land claims balloon from about 250 cases in 1993 to more than 800 now.

“I’m aware of that, and that’s why I’ve been insistent that we need to change the process.”

Prentice has promised an action plan to accelerate settlement of specific claims. He said he will approach cabinet soon and present details this spring.

He added that related land-claim negotiations have been going well since January.

Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of a police raid on another aboriginal occupation — in the southwestern Ontario town of Caledonia, which has been marred by violence in the past.

Aboriginal groups have warned that a lack of political will to settle that claim had protesters considering further standoffs in Ontario.

The protesters in Deseronto want the province to revoke a licence that allows gravel to be trucked away from the quarry, operated by Thurlow Aggregates.

Today, the protesters offered no apologies to commuters and businesses who were inconvenienced by the blockade. Thousands of rail passengers were sent scrambling onto buses to reach their destinations while CN Rail shut down all its operations.

“I don’t think they should expect an apology,” said Brant, who suggested the blockade was prompted by government inaction on the Mohawk’s land claim.

CN Rail reported the tracks reopened this morning at around 10:15 a.m.

VIA Rail said it was expecting normal operations to resume late this afternoon or evening, once freight congestion had cleared.

“Even though we are very happy to announce that we are resuming our operations this afternoon, at the same time our customers that will be travelling with us are being advised that they should anticipate delays between two and three hours on their total trip time,” said spokeswoman Catherine Kaloutsky.

The protesters initially set up barricades at the gravel quarry for a day in November, and again in January. A third barricade went up last month, and the group warned at the time that the demonstration might be expanded to the town of Deseronto itself.

Condominiums are planned using gravel from the quarry for an area known as the Culbertson Land Tract, which is on a section of land given to the Six Nations in 1793. The Mohawks contend they never relinquished any part of it.

Blockade of eastern Ont. rail line ends; protesters warn of further actions

Allison Jones, CP

Published: Saturday, April 21, 2007

A key organizer of an aboriginal blockade, which paralyzed passenger and freight rail traffic on the busy Toronto-Montreal corridor, is warning that the protest that ended early Saturday is just the beginning in a series of “escalating” actions.

“We’ve identified targets as part of this campaign, one being the railway, one being provincial highways and one being the town (of Deseronto) itself,” said Shawn Brant.

“The disruption on the CN line was a first in a series of economic disruptions, the first in a campaign.” he said. “The campaign calls for an ever escalating degree.”

The next target has already been chosen and plans to finalize the next action are in the works, said Brant, who commented Saturday morning at the site of contention in the dispute – a gravel quarry that the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte say is their land.

Though the protesters originally said they would stay at the railway blockade for 48 hours, it ended peacefully after about 30 hours at 6 a.m. Saturday, after a sleepless night of negotiations with provincial police and other officials.

Protesters said they chose to end it early over fears of a violent conclusion.

A court injunction ordered the protesters and the dilapidated school bus off the tracks with arrests warned as a consequence, but the order was never enforced by police.

No arrests have been made at this point, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kristine Rae.
“We’re pleased that it was a peaceful resolution.”

Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of a police raid on another aboriginal occupation – in the southwestern Ontario town of Caledonia, which has been marred by violence in the past.

Aboriginal groups have warned that a lack of political will to settle that claim had protesters considering further standoffs in Ontario.

The protesters in Deseronto want the province to revoke a licence that allows gravel to be trucked away from the quarry, operated by Thurlow Aggregates.

On Saturday, the protesters offered no apologies to commuters and businesses who were inconvenienced by the blockade. Thousands of rail passengers were sent scrambling onto buses to reach their destinations while CN Rail shut down all its operations.

“I don’t think they should expect an apology,” said Brant, who suggested the blockade was prompted by government inaction on the Mohawk’s land claim.

CN Rail reported the tracks reopened Saturday morning at around 10:15 a.m.

VIA Rail said it was expecting normal operations to resume late Saturday afternoon or evening, once freight congestion had cleared.

“Even though we are very happy to announce that we are resuming our operations this afternoon, at the same time our customers that will be travelling with us are being advised that they should anticipate delays between two and three hours on their total trip time,” said spokeswoman Catherine Kaloutsky.

Jim Prentice, the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, had warned the protesters to “abandon” their blockade because it could jeopardize ongoing negotiations concerning the land tract.

The federal government has appointed a land-claims negotiator to try to resolve the long-running dispute, but Brant has complained talks have been moving too slowly.

The protesters initially set up barricades at the gravel quarry for a day in November, and again in January. A third barricade went up last month, and the group warned at the time that the demonstration might be expanded to the town of Deseronto itself.

Condominiums are planned using gravel from the quarry for an area known as the Culbertson Land Tract, which is on a section of land given to the Six Nations in 1793. The Mohawks contend they never relinquished any part of it.

"No Olympics on stolen Native land"

Stolen Games

"No Olympics on stolen Native land" has become the battle cry for
Indigenous resistance to the Vancouver Olympics

by Hillary Bain Lindsay / The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

The official website of the 2010 Olympics touts the "historic" and
"unprecedented" participation of First Nations in the Vancouver
games. According to the site, the collaboration between the Vancouver
Olympic Committee (VANOC) and Aboriginals will include increased
opportunities to "showcase art, language, traditions, history and
culture" and "promote skills development and training related to the
games."

This kind of ”trinket and bead exchange” is beside the point, says
Kanahus Pellkey. "We're still fighting for our homeland."

"No Olympics on stolen Native land" has become the battle cry for
Indigenous resistance to the games; resistance that has found allies
in those angered by what they call the devastating social and
environmental implications of the Olympics, and has drawn its
resonance from the fact that much of BC remains unceded Indigenous
territory.

"Right now we're holding onto the very last of what we have," says
Pellkey, of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation. The Secwepemc's
traditional territory covers approximately 145,000 square kilometres
in the southern interior of BC. "Our land up there is mountains and
water," says Pellkey, on the phone from Vancouver. "There's an
abundance of wildlife and species. It's one of the last places in the
world where there's still clean mountain water."

To read more, click HERE

Native Reference will not Appear in Canadian Terror Manual

by Bill Curry

The Globe and Mail
April 2, 2007

OTTAWA - References to radical natives in the Canadian Army's counter-insurgency manual will not appear in the final version of the document, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor announced.

The use of "radical Native American organizations" as an example of insurgents in a draft version of the manual has outraged native leaders, who viewed the wording as a threat to their political rights to protest.

Assembly of First Nations national Chief Phil Fontaine said yesterday the inclusion of natives in the manual could threaten the ability of Canadian natives to travel internationally.

But in a written statement, Mr. O'Connor explained that the document was simply making reference to past examples of insurgencies and was not meant to suggest that natives in Canada are a potential military target.

"The draft counterinsurgency manual was produced in September, 2005, under the previous government. The draft manual is not a final document, and continues to evolve and be updated," said the statement from the minister.

"The final version will not contain references to any current aboriginal organizations. The draft manual does not make comparisons between aboriginal groups and any insurgent groups," he stated.

"The draft manual does not state that any other particular group is a potential target of the Canadian military... What the draft document does do is use examples of past insurgencies from Canada and abroad to illustrate how some groups have resorted to violence or the threat of
violence in the past in order to gain political influence or concessions."

The Globe published a report on the manual on Saturday. The report noted that the Mohawk Warrior Society was involved in the 1990 Oka crisis in Quebec, which spawned a 78-day confrontation with police and the military that left a police officer dead.

The 135-page draft manual outlines a wide range of measures that could be used to assess, manage and defeat an insurgency.

On Page 11, under the heading "Overview of insurgencies and counter-insurgencies," a paragraph is highlighted which states: "The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited
aims.

Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do not seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve ("First Nation") level, through the
threat of, or use of, violence."

There is no other mention of natives in the manual, nor does the manual add further context as to why that paragraph is included.

Five pages later, the manual gives other examples of insurgents, listing Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers.

Mr. Fontaine issued a statement Sunday describing the mention of radical natives as "shocking."

The AFN had not yet heard from the government on the matter and will be issuing letters to confirm the paragraph will be removed.

"Just being referenced in such a document compromises our freedom to travel across borders, have unimpeded telephone and internet communications, raise money, and protest against injustices to our people," said Mr. Fontaine.

The national chief also expressed concern with warnings from Indian Affairs minister Jim Prentice that any federally-funded native group planning protests will face aggressive audits and revenue cuts.

Following a vote last fall by chiefs, the AFN set June 29 as a "National Day of Action" to raise awareness of native issues, but Mr. Fontaine stressed that the protest will be non-violent.

"First Nations people are people of integrity and we will abide by the rule of law while exercising our right to free speech," he said.

A Montreal area Mohawk Chief, Michael Delisle, also criticized the manual this weekend.

"I think it's appalling for all First Nations people to be looked at from any Canadian agency or any international agency, putting us in the same boat as national terrorists," he told CTV News.

Gaining Ground: "A monumental year" for the people of Six Nations

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/960

Gaining Ground
"A monumental year" for the people of Six Nations
by Hillary Bain Lindsay

On January 1, 2007, the people of Six Nations arrived at their Council House, and walked inside.

The event did not make media headlines, but the significance of the day was not lost on those crowded into the long line of cars, bearing Iroquois Confederacy and Unity flags, that lead up to the Council House.

“Even before Canada declared itself a country, we had a meeting place down here for traditional governance,” says Janie Jamison, one of the spokespeople for Six Nations. For generations, Chiefs representing the Confederacy Council gathered in the Council House to make decisions by consensus, a process often called the oldest participatory democracy on Earth.

In 1924, however, Canada instated the Indian Act and the RCMP raided the Council House, removing the traditional chiefs and clan mothers. In its place the band council system was set up, acting as an arm of the Canadian government.

For Jamison, who has never seen herself as Canadian, destroying the traditional government and imposing a new one was Canada’s way of declaring that her culture, her nation, her people “no longer existed.”

“What people don’t understand is that we weren’t defeated at that point,” says Jamison. “Our traditional government went underground.” For decades it continued to operate, unrecognized by the federal government. In 1959 an attempt was made to take back the Council House, remove the band council and reinstate the traditional governance system. The RCMP moved in again. “Men, women and children were beaten,” says Jamison. “Our people weren’t successful then.”

But on New Year’s Day, “Eighty years after being told we don’t exist,” says Jamison, “here we are.”

The people of Six Nations made their existence difficult to ignore starting February 28, 2006, when a blockade set up near Caledonia, Ontario, halted the construction of a subdivision that many said was being built on unceded Six Nations’ territory. Almost a year later, the people of Six Nations are holding their ground and, according to spokesperson Hazel Hill, making “leaps and bounds” towards the reinstatement of their traditional government.

The first leap came shortly after April 20, 2006, when the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) performed a pre-dawn raid on the blockade site. The raid, meant to clear the site of protesters, backfired when hundreds of Six Nations’ people and their supporters peacefully took back the site within a few hours. The resolve and determination of those holding the site was strengthened, and media coverage of the raid ensured that people across the country and around the world knew about the standoff.

Shortly after the police raid, the Six Nations’ band council, which had previously refused to support the blockade (though it did support the land claim), endorsed the leadership of the Confederacy Chiefs.

The move was significant. “Eighty to eighty-five per cent of [Six Nations] people support the traditional government,” says Hill. For the first time, the leadership that had always been recognized by the people of Six Nations would be the leadership that government would be forced to negotiate with.

Another leap came when – after months of calling the standoff a provincial matter – the federal government came to the table. “It’s the first time the federal government has sat down with the traditional government,” Barbara MacDougal, Canada’s representative at negotiations, told the CBC in September 2006, adding that it was a “tremendous breakthrough.”

The breakthrough may have been spurred on by Six Nations representative Doreen Silversmith when she spoke to the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous People in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 1, 2006. Referring to the raid, Silversmith said, “Canada has clearly portrayed the message that ‘might is right.’ When a situation of ownership is challenged, their laws allow them to continue to reap the benefits of our Land, destroy our environment, and clearly ignore the truth of the Onkwehonweh [First People] … who hold title to the Land.” At the end of her speech, she called on the international community to intervene at Six Nations. “The Onkwehonweh require your assistance, with respect to our Law, our Treaties, including the Two Row Wampum, and in effect, the Authority with respect to our Land, Our Law and Our People.”

“To have the confederacy recognized at the international level for the traditional government that they are, that they always were, and always will be,” was important says Jamison. She feels that recognition from the United Nations forced Canadians to appreciate the legitimacy of their struggle. “We aren’t making these things up,” she says. “We are a government of people, a nation of sovereignty.” This, she says, is something Canada is going to have to deal with.

Jamison has been living with the legacy of Canada’s denial for too long, she says. “My family has had too many things stolen from them.” And she’s not just talking about land. “When I was three years old, I was home alone with my mom and she shot herself–. She was a victim of residential school system,” says Jamison. Her aunt was one of the thousands of native women in Canada who have gone missing; her raped and brutalized body found later. Jamison’s sister was put in an orphanage at birth and remained there until she was two. “She could have ended up on a pig farm like so many others, but somehow she made it back to us,” she says. And finally, a year and a half ago, her 17-year-old son crashed his car while he was driving drunk. “We watched him die a slow death after his car rolled. He died last April.”

Her family isn’t just the victim of bad luck, says Jamison, but of deliberate government policies that have driven so many of her people to despair and death. “That’s why I made that decision to take that stand. No more. No more to make us become something that we never will be” she says. “We need to learn truth, acceptance and understanding to be able to coexist together.”

For Jamison, that starts with “Canada finally taking responsibility for what they’ve done and starting to pay back some of the money they owe our people.” These are “not handouts” emphasizes Jamison, but payments that are owed to the Six Nations from lease agreements that were never honoured. In terms of the piece of land at the heart of the dispute today: it’s not for sale.

“We’ve always said we’re not selling that land,” says Jamison.

This doesn’t mean that those living on the land now will have to move says Hill – though she notes that her people have been forced to relocate many times in their history. “But we’re not going to do it to them,” says Hill. “There’s a lot of that land that’s undeveloped, unceded. There’s a mechanism for returning that.”

“To me, it’s about continuing what we’ve started,” she says. “This isn’t just about Six Nations or that little piece of land. This is about sovereignty and the unity of the Original People of the land that have a right to live in harmony. To have clean air and green grass where you don’t have to live with landfills and concrete everywhere you look.”

We need homes, says Hill, “but not concrete jungles. There’s a difference.”