Actualité - Étonnant ou dégoûtant? 58 millions $ pour la guerre de Kanehsatake

C'est l'histoire d'un plan conçu par des bureaucrates psychopathes et de hauts fonctionnaires à Québec et à Ottawa pour détruire Kanehsatake. Ils ont donné un ultimatum à leurs marionnettes, comme l'avare James Gabriel: «Vous faites ceci et cela ou vous n'aurez pas l'argent.» Ils voulaient démarrer la mine de niobium et placer Kanehsatake sous la juridiction de la municipalité de Oka. Il leur fallait pour cela chasser les Mohawks du territoire où se trouve ce métal convoité par le complexe militaro-industriel.

Bien que ce soit une compagnie publique, le Québec, le Canada et les États-Unis sont tous actionnaires de Niocan Inc. Le «niobium» est rare. Il produit un acier plus fort, plus léger et plus flexible. L'armée le veut pour ses ogives, ses missiles, son exploration de l'espace. Pour conquérir l'univers, quoi. Nous luttons contre cette mine depuis les années 1970.

Nous nous demandions pourquoi des millions de dollars sont dépensés dans notre communauté.

Des tests ont été faits. On a creusé des trous assez profonds dans la terre. Mirslav Nastev, de Ressources naturelles Canada, a découvert que Niocan avait manipulé les résultats des tests. Le déplacement du roc a provoqué des émanations de radon, un gaz cancérigène. Notre communauté se retrouve avec un taux de cancer parmi les plus élevés au pays. La cour a jugé que Niocan n'était pas autorisé à opérer une mine à cause de nos revendications territoriales et parce que nous n'avons pas été consultés.

Le grand chef James Gabriel était un chef nommé par la cour. Son mentor était l'avocat Eric Maldoff, de la firme Heenan & Blaikie de Montréal. Il a été envoyé à Kanehsatake par l'ex-premier ministre Jean Chrétien avec l'ordre de garder Kanehsatake loin de la presse. Mais c'est le premier ministre Paul Martin qui a pressé sur le bouton pour envoyer la milice prendre contrôle de notre communauté le 12 janvier 2004.

Après la crise mohawk de 1990, nous avons créé la Coalition mohawk avec trois objectifs: 1.

Consulter les gens sur les questions relatives au territoire, à la gouvernance et au développement économique. 2. Représenter la communauté selon notre mandat dans les négociations relatives au territoire. 3. Recevoir et dépenser tout argent provenant du gouvernement à ces fins. La Coalition n'a jamais été dissoute. James Gabriel et Clarence Simon l'ont secrètement re-enregistrée à Québec pour le compte du ministère des Affaires indiennes. Ils ont reçu des millions de dollars du gouvernement et acheté des armes et de véhicules enregistrés au nom de la corporation.

Dans les 750 pages de documents rendus publics aux termes de la loi sur l'accès à l'information, on apprend que la manoeuvre avait été planifiée des années à l'avance. Les documents en question sont des échanges entre élus et haut fonctionnaires: Jacques Chagnon de la Sécurité publique du Québec, Rob Write et Eric Maldoff du Bureau du Conseil privé, Chantal Bernier et Ann McLellan du Bureau du Solliciteur général, Wayne Easter du ministère de la Justice et Walter Walling et Andy Scott des Affaires indiennes. Ils ont tous participé à ces manoeuvres contre nous.

Leur but était de prendre le contrôle de la commuanuté, de la Commission de police et des magasins de cigarettes. Pour cela il leur fallait prendre le contrôle de la police, nous criminaliser et nous démoniser grâce à des campagnes coûteuses de relations publiques, comme avec la firme Communications («scandale des commandites») Strategy de Montréal. Ils ont travaillé à la fois pour les Affaires indiennes et pour Niocan et font toujours l'objet d'une enquête au criminel. Ils ont finalement décidé que la meilleure façon de nous contrôler était le fusil.

De 2003 à aujourd'hui, le ministre des Affaires indiennes a financé et manipulé la guerre de Kanehsatake. Plusieurs lois touchant au Conseil du trésor ont été enfreintes afin d'acheminer 58 millions $ dans la caisse d'une entreprise usurpée. Son agent James Gabriel a fait un tel fouillis des finances que le ministère a pu réclamer la tutelle et la cogestion. Ce sont les firmes Hartell et PriceWaterhouseCooper qui s'en sont occupé et elles se sont payées des millions de dollars à même nos budgets. Personne ne nous a dit que notre argent allait être utilisé de cette façon.

Dans une lettre du 16 décembre 2003 à Peter Fisher, du bureau de la ministre de la Justice, le grand chef James Gabriel mentionne des ententes et des rencontres secrètes. Eric Maldoff et Walter Walling n'avaient aucune raison d'assister à ces réunions de conseil. Ces documents prouvent que Eric, Ann, Walter et d'autres ont comploté pendant plusieurs années avant l'attaque du 12 janvier 2004.

Le ministère des Affaires indiennes a défrayé les 16 poursuites judiciaires de James Gabriel contre nous parce que nous posions trop de questions. Il voulait remettre leur marionnette James Gabriel au pouvoir.

En 2003, James Gabriel a commencé à embaucher des fiers-à-bras. Il en a recruté 67 au Québec. Le chef cri Ted Moses affirme qu'on lui a menti au sujet de l'opération. Il a retiré ses hommes. La plupart des fiers-à-bras avaient des dossiers criminels chargés, la plupart n'avaient pas eu de formation pour le port d'armes, certains étaient des bûcherons et plusieurs d'entre eux n'avaient pas le droit de porter des armes, sans parler de fusil de tireur d'élite.

En 1996, le Bureau du Conseil privé a embauché Richard Walsh, un homme avec des antécédents criminels, pour déterrer toutes sortes de choses contre nous. Il a dit que presque tous les résidants de Kanehsatake étaient des criminels.

La milice de James Gabriel a reçu 58 millions $ par l'entremise de la compagnie usurpée. Nos programmes et nos services en ont souffert.

Avec 58 millions $, on se paie toute une guerre. Des millions de dollars ont été donnés à James Gabriel et à sa milice pour acheter des armes illégales. La GRC a acheté les armes en avril 2003, un an avant l'attaque. Cela comprend: 30 000 balles pour chaque homme, femme et enfant; des fusils de tireur d'élite de calibre international; des pistolets automatiques Ruger; des boîtes complètes de chargeurs automatiques à 30 coups; des sacs mortuaires; des silencieux MP 5 avec tous les accessoires, qui sont illégaux, sans compter que cela ne fait pas partie de l'équipement policier habituel; des lunettes d'approche M9-63; des lance-grenade (!); des grenades à décharge continue; des microphones et autres équipements d'écoute; des gilets pare-balles... Et qui sait, peut-être des chars d'assaut cachés dans les buissons!

Ils ont également acheté des voitures et tout l'équipement informatique nécessaire pour établir un poste de police de haut calibre pour Kanehsatake à Laval. Une bonne partie des armes ont par la suite disparu.

Dans un document «secret» de la Sécurité publique du Québec daté du 20 septembre 2005, intitulé «Considérations stratégiques», Chantal Bernier et son ministère ont décidé de changer la gouvernance de Kanehsatake. Des bureaucrates ont changé la procédure pour la validation d'une résolution d'un conseil de bande. Dans une lettre datée du 3 août 2006, le bureau du Québec des Affaires indiennes déclare qu'«une résolution du conseil est valable dans la mesure où elle est acceptée par une majorité au conseil.» C'était, selon le ministère, «strictement pour faciliter le consensus dans la communauté» sur la sécurité publique. En fait, c'était pour s'assurer que James Gabriel revienne au pouvoir et y reste.

L'élection truquée de 2005 a été financée et manipulée par le ministre des Affaires indiennes. Il a donné l'argent à James Gabriel et à ses candidats favoris. Le ministère et Eric Maldoff ont surveillé les élections de près. Monique Gagnon du bureau régional du Québec a autorisé «un financement spécial» pour la résolution des litiges en cas de défaite pour James Gabriel. Et celui-ci a en effet perdu. Une somme additionnelle de 500 000$ a été transférée pour couvrir ses dépenses. Ils voulaient des «conditions gagnantes».

En 2005, les six chefs sous l'influence des Affaires indiennes ont demandé à une cour fédérale de congédier Steve Bonspille, qui a remporté les élections et qui refusait de signer leurs propositions, pour l'empêcher de tenir des réunions publiques.

Un conseil de bande a autorisé le règlement S24 qui intègre Kanehsatake à la municipalité d'Oka. Bonspille a refusé de signer.

Les 58 millions $ sont passés par les bureaux du Solliciteur général, de la Sécurité publique, des Affaires indiennes et d'Eric Maldoff pour le Conseil privé.
Tout cela pour Niocan Inc.

James Chagnon, alors ministre de la Sécurité publique du Québec, a dit que, selon la loi sur la police, ces mercenaires n'ont pas le droit de se rendre dans un autre territoire avec des fusils dans leur voiture sans une attestation du ministère. James Gabriel leur a lui-même donné des attestations à l'Hôtel Hilton de Laval, où les armes étaient déposées. Il y a des enregistrements vidéos à cet effet. La Sûreté du Québec s'est retiré de l'opération parce que «c'était trop dangereux».

Sécurité publique et Protection civile Canada a embauché une firme indépendante (Samson & Associates d'Ottawa) pour faire une vérification comptable des fonds reçus des gouvernements du Canada et du Québec pour le service policier. Son rapport du 2 août 2006 établit que le ministère des Affaires indiennes a versé les fonds à la milice. L'argent a été retiré des budgets pour la santé, l'éducation et l'aide sociale et place dans le financement de la police.

Le ministre de la Sécurité publique Stockwell Day a dit qu'il y avait suffisamment de preuve pour réclamer une vérification judiciaire des agissements de la police de Kanehsatake, du conseil de bande de James Gabriel et de tous les collaborateurs à Ottawa et à Québec. [...]

(Le Marxiste-Léniniste, par Kahentinetha Horn, Mohawk Nation News)

Actualité - Le gouvernement du Canada attaque les droits des autochtones issus de traités

La machine de propagande du gouvernement du Canada s'est mise en marche pour attaquer les droits des autochtones. Le ministère des Affaires indiennes vient d'annoncer qu'il dépensera 30 millions $ au cours des cinq prochaines années pour mettre au point une nouvelle forme d'identification des autochtones vivant au Canada. Se servant du prétexte que les cartes utilisées actuellement sont facilement falsifiables, le ministère des Affaires indiennes veut en produire qui seraient plus sécurisées pour 2008.

Le gouvernement du Canada parle en ce moment de fraudes et d'un mauvais usage de certificats du statut d'Indien qui auraient permis à des non-autochtones de profiter de certains programmes du gouvernement en plus de ne pas payer de taxes provinciale et fédérale. Le gouvernement parle d'une fraude évaluée à plus de 30 millions $ par année.

Pour remédier à ces soi-disant fraudes, le gouvernement du Canada, par l'intermédiaire du ministère des Affaires indiennes, veut mettre au point «une carte d'identification plus moderne et redessinée qui serait fabriquée à l'aide des dernières techniques de sécurité afin de respecter les normes fédérales et internationales en matière d'identification». Il est question en ce moment que cette nouvelle carte d'identification contienne des données biométriques.

La falsification et la fraude dont il est réellement question concernent le gouvernement du Canada et non les autochtones vivant au Canada. Ces prétextes servent à camoufler l'aplaventrisme du gouvernement canadien vis à vis la politique d'émigration du gouvernement des États-Unis et l'ingérence du gouvernement américain dans la politique du Canada. Le Department of Homeland Security (DHS) américain est à mettre en place des mesures de contrôle et d'identification des travailleurs immigrants qui résident et travaillent aux États-Unis pour les terroriser et les menacer d'expulsion s'ils revendiquent d'être traités humainement.

Le REAL ID Act est la loi que le DHS tente en ce moment de mettre en force et qui établira une carte d'identification nationale. Le DHS par l'intermédiaire du Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) a commencé par exiger des certifications spéciales pour l'émission des permis de conduire. Les détenteurs actuels de permis de conduire doivent se requalifier en fournissant les certifications spéciales demandées. Le REAL ID Act doit entrer en force le 11 mai 2008.

En ce moment, des millions de personnes incapables de fournir et de se conformer à la certification spéciale, doivent abandonner leur permis de conduire alors que d'autres sont expulsées de Medicare. Car le DHS et le DMV ont transmis et échangé des informations avec le service d'assurance santé américain Medicare. Medicare est le service d'assurance santé qui permet aux citoyens américains qui ne peuvent se payer une assurance santé privée de recevoir des soins de santé dans les hôpitaux américains. Comme ces citoyens américains ne peuvent fournir les certifications spéciales demandées par le DHS ou le DMV, ils sont considérés comme n'existant pas. C'est une forme de «mort civile».

Dans le cas des autochtones vivant au Canada, ces derniers disposent de droits transfrontaliers de circulation, de commerce, de travail aux États-Unis et dans le cas de certains, du droit d'obtenir un numéro de carte sociale américain. Ces droits sont issus de traités signés entre les peuples autochtones du Canada et des États-Unis avec les Couronnes de la Grande Bretagne et de France. Ce sont ces droits que les gouvernements du Canada et des États-Unis veulent faire disparaître à jamais. Le DHS a demandé au gouvernement du Canada «d'harmoniser» sa loi de l'immigration avec celle des États-Unis. Pour répondre à cette demande, le ministère des Affaires indiennes a exigé dernièrement des communautés autochtones du Canada qu'elles produisent de nouvelles cartes d'identification comportant des données biométriques et un code barre pouvant être décodées électroniquement.

Au Canada, les membres des communautés autochtones doivent entreprendre des discussions très sérieuses sur les attaques récentes du gouvernement du Canada concernant leurs droits ancestraux et leurs droits issus de traités. Les questions de sécurité ne doivent pas passer avant les droits ancestraux des peuples autochtones vivant au Canada.

Défendons nos droits ancestraux et ceux issus de traités. Ne soyons pas dupes des fraudes et falsifications du gouvernement du Canada.

Normand Fournier, Métis Communauté Mimajultieg

(Le Marxiste-Léniniste)

Actualité - Journée de paix et d'unité à Kanenhastaton

Depuis des centaines d'années, les Premières Nations luttent pour survivre au sein de leurs terres conquises par les l'homme blanc. En 2007, ce combat acharné est loin d'être terminé. Il se poursuit sans cesse car rien ne peut décourager un homme de se battre pour obtenir le respect de ses droits et de sa personne.

Le 20 avril 2007, premier anniversaire de la défaite de la tenative d'invasion armée de Kanenhstaton, territoire mohawk, il y a eu une journée de paix et d'unité sur le site réclamé. La journée a commencé avec une cérémonie d'ouverture à 4h30 — l'heure où la police provinciale de l'Ontario avait déclenché sa tentative d'invasion armée. Beaucoup de ceux qui étaient présents ce jour-là étaient à la cérémonie.

Ce fut une occasion de se rassembler et de discuter de ce qui s'était produit ce jour-là et depuis. «Te souviens-tu où tu étais le 20 avril 2006, demande une jeune femme, lançant la discussion sur ce qui s'est produit. Moi j'étais en prison.» Il y avait beaucoup d'enfants à la cérémonie, ce qui n'était pas le cas l'année précédente.

Un des chefs de la Confédération des Six Nations a dit au LML qu'il avait été aspergé de poivre de cayenne et qu'il était heureux de pouvoir rencontrer les autres qui étaient là ce jour-là pour en parler, parce qu'il a lui-même passé la majeure partie de cette période en négociation ou au travail. Il a dit que les négociateurs du gouvernements et du conseil de bande ne comprennent pas comment la Confédération peut rester en négociations pendant un an sans financement gouvernemental. Ils ne cessent de répéter: «Si vous continuez comme cela, vous n'aurez jamais de financement. N'avez-vous pas besoin d'argent pour couvrir vos dépenses», et ainsi de suite.Les gens sont venus toute la journée, apportant de la nourriture pour le repas en commun et des approvisionnements, renouvelant les amitiés forgées le 20 avril et dans les mois qui ont suivi.

C'est durant cette période que les Six Nations ont bâti leur unité avec les Canadiens à la défense de Kanenhstaton. Parmi ceux qui sont venus se trouvaient des contingents du Local 1005 des Métallos unis d'Amérique, des jeunes de l'Université McMaster, des Amis des Six Nations à Caledonia, de la Coalition de l'Ontario contre la pauvreté, du PCC(M-L), de la Coalition de Mississauga pour la Paix et la Justice et de nombreux autres activistes qui sont aux côtés des Six Nations dans leur lutte. Une représentante du Local 440 du syndicat des travailleurs des postes a annoncé que son syndicat avait récemment adopté une motion en appui aux Six Nations et aux revendications territoriales des Premières Nations. Durant la journée on a montré des vidéos qui passaient l'année en revue. Les gens se sont informés des derniers développements à Tyendinaga où des membres de la nation Mohawk ont érigé un barrage sur la voie ferrée du CN ce matin-là.

À 14 heures on a commencé à planter des arbres. Quelque 5 000 pins ont été donnés au site pour commencer à recouvrir la terre défrichée par les promoteurs immobiliers.

Tôt en soirée il y a eu une fête iroquoise. Le tout s'est terminé vers 20 heures avec une courte intervention d'un aîné des Six Nations qui a parlé de la longue histoire de lutte de son peuple pour la terre et la souveraineté.

Aussitôt le discours terminé, les jeunes sont partis en caravane à Tyendinaga pour aider les Mohawks de la baie de Quinte. Un des jeunes a dit que les gens de Tyendinaga étaient venus à leur aide l'année dernière et qu'il fallait maintenant aller leur prêter main forte. Le lendemain de la tentative d'invasion de l'OPP le 20 avril 2006, alors que l'État préparait un autre assaut, les Mohawks de Tyendinaga avaient érigé un barrage sur une voie de Via Rail à la défense de la lutte de Kanenhstaton.

(Le Marxiste-Léniniste)

Actualité - Les Six Nations et des supporteurs repoussent l'attaque de l'OPP contre le site réclamé.

Anniversaire de la défaite de l'invasion armée de Kanenhstaton

Affirmation du droit d'être - Justice pour les Six Nations

Le 20 avril, les membres des Six Nations et tous ceux qui se sont tenus à leurs côtés dans cette lutte pour leurs revendications territoriales, ont célébré le premier anniversaire de l'expulsion de la Police provinciale de l'Ontario qui tentait d'envahir le site réclamé de Kanenhstaton.

Avant le levée du jour le 20 avril 2006, profitant de la noirceur, 150 agents lourdement armés de l'OPP ont envahi les terres des Six Nations. L'invasion et l'arrestation de 16 personnes, des jeunes en grande partie, étaient la culmination de plusieurs semaines de menaces de recours à la force contre la juste prise de position des Six Nations réclamant leurs terres du promoteur immobilier américain Henco le 28 février.

L'esprit qui animaient les Six Nations dans cette résistance à l'invasion est exprimé par Hazel Hill qui décrit ainsi la tentative de la placer en état d'arrestation: «Une policière m'a dit que j'enfreignais une ordonnance de la cour. Puis elle m'a dit que j'étais en état d'arrestation. Je lui ai dit qu'elle enfreignait la loi suprême de la terre. Elle a tenté de me prendre mais j'ai résisté, car je défendais la loi et qu'elle l'enfreignait.»

Cet esprit de résistance a vaincu. À 8h55 les agents de l'OPP étaient escortés hors des terres réclamées. Des centaines de personnes des Six Nations et leurs amis et supporters ont commencé à se rassembler pour défendre le site réclamé et en soirée ils étaient plus de 700. Cette défense de Kanenhstaton («endroit protégé») s'est poursuivie dans les semaines et les mois qui ont suivi et des centaines de personnes se sont rendues sur le site pour affronter ensemble les provocations de l'État.

Ce jour-là, les amis partout au Canada ont exprimé leur colère face à la violence non provoquée de l'État. À Montréal on a fermé le pont Mercier et six drapeaux de l'unité de la nation Mohawk y ont été hissés.

L'État canadien a continuellement tenté de les menacer, de les intimider et de les manipuler pour leur faire renoncer à la défense de leur terre et de leur souveraineté. En mai 2006, Mohawk Nation News rapportait: «Des hélicoptères volent constamment au-dessus de nous. Des micros paraboliques épient tout ce que nous disons. Des lumières infrarouges suivent nos mouvements, et même ceux des chiens et des marmottes. De la haute technologie partout.» En juin 2006, des documents laissés dans un véhicule des services frontaliers américains conduit par des agents du U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco ont été confisqués. On y parle de la collaboration entre l'OPP et les autorités américaines contre les Six Nations depuis le 2 avril 2006. On a tout tenté pour écraser l'esprit de résistance des Six Nations et les forcer à renoncer à leurs réclamations.

Loin de renoncer, les gens des Six Nations ont gagné de l'appui politique à leur lutte au Canada et dans le monde et ont fait des progrès dans l'affirmation de leur souveraineté. Leur esprit indomptable a encouragé d'autres Premières Nations dans leurs luttes pour leurs terres et leurs droits.

Cet anniversaire est une occasion de célébrer l'esprit de résistance des Six Nations et des autres peuples des Premières Nations face aux attaques de l'État canadien contre leur droit d'être.

Le 20 avril 2006 sur la rue Argyle.

(Le Marxiste-Léniniste)

Actualité - Venezuelan Parliament reflects on indigenous languages law

(14 January 2006) - The Committee of Indigenous Peoples of the Venezuelan National Assembly presented a draft for an Indigenous Languages Law in December, 2006. It is intended to preserve the 34 native languages existing in the country.

According to the committee's president, Noelí Pocaterra, indigenous deputies are also preparing an Organic Election Bill for the election of indigenous representatives.

Thirty-four indigenous languages are spoken in the nation and we are obliged to pass legislation to preserve them, contrary to what happened in the past, Pocaterra explained.

She said that it is important for the indigenous population to learn Spanish and other languages, but without forgetting their own.

Regarding the election bill, the deputy said the complex legislation is related to the National Electoral Council but that the representation of the indigenous population is required in the National Assembly under the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution.

(Shunpiking)

Actualité - Un prisonnier politique Mohawk défie la juridiction du Tribunal colonial

À l’entrée du juge, lorsque le greffier annonça « Veuillez vous levez » seuls les policiers et les avocats se levèrent. Lorsque Trevor Miller entra, la salle pleine se leva et resta debout durant toutes les procédures.

Trevor Miller, âgé de 31 ans, est détenu à Hamilton depuis plus de quatre mois après avoir été arrêté proche de Grassy Narrows pour des accusations relatives à la réclamation de terre de six nations dans le sud de l’Ontario.

Plus de 50 personnes remplissaient la salle de cour de Cayuga mercredi pour Trevor Miller, un Mohawk du clan de la tortue des six nations, lorsqu’il affirma au tribunal que le système colonial canadien n’avait aucune juridiction sur lui. À l’entrée du juge pour le pro-format de Miller lorsque le greffier annonça « Veuillez vous levez » seuls les policiers et les avocats se levèrent. Lorsque Trevor Miller entra, la salle pleine se leva et resta debout durant toutes les procédures.

« Je suis un Mohawk souverain, vous n’avez aucune juridiction sur moi », dit-il au juge avec ses menottes serrées, son Mohawk fraîchement rasé et sa chemise traditionnelle Haudenosaunee.

Trevor Miller, âgé de 31 ans, est détenu à Hamilton depuis plus de quatre mois après avoir été arrêté proche de Grassy Narrows pour des accusations relatives à la réclamation de terre de six nations dans le sud de l’Ontario. Trevor Miller s’est vu refuser une demande de libération sous caution et reste en attente d’une date de procès. Il vient de Six nations dans le territoire de la grande rivière , il est aussi père de trois enfants.

Des membres du conseil traditionnel Mohawk qui assistaient à l’audience se sont présentés devant le juge afin de demander sa libération. « Vous le détenez de façon préventive, vous brisez vos propres lois » ont ils affirmé avec le grand traité Wampum en main. Le grand traité Wampum est l’un des plus vieux traités qui existe entre les Haudenosaunee et les nations colonisatrices. Il régit la séparation des Iroquois et des Européens, et autorise l’utilisation collective de la terre tant et aussi longtemps que le chemin des blancs ne se mets pas en travers du chemin des Onkwehonweh. « Vous le gardez pour des raisons politiques » ajoutèrent les membres du conseil « Nous exigeons qu’il soit relâché et remis au conseil Mohawk traditionnel qui opère selon la Grande Loi de la Paix »

Le juge, qui semblait franchement inconfortable, dit à Stuart Myiow du conseil Mohawk traditionnel que celui-ci n’avait aucune autorité pour s’adresser à la cour ni pour parler au nom de Trevor. Les amis de la cour de Trevor ont alors à leur tour demandé la libération de Trevor. Sa mère et sa sœur étaient en larme. « Il ne voit pas notre peuple comme des êtres humains » affirmait Trudy Miller, la mère de Trevor.

Trevor défira la juridiction du Ministre de la Justice et sera de retour devant la cour le 20 décembre, cela fera alors 5 mois qu’il sera en détention préventive. Ses ami-e-s et allié-e-s encouragent toutes les personnes voulant appuyer Trevor à lui envoyer des lettres d’appuis pendant qu’il croupi indéfiniment derrière les barreaux de l’État.

Les lettres d’appui peuvent être envoyé à :
Trevor Miller
165 Barton Street East
Hamilton, Ontario
L8L 2W6
Range 5CR

Actualité - Indigenous America: 'A new era has begun'

Bolivia, a country with a majority indigenous population, now has its first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Morales, who won the December 2005 presidential election, doesn't just identify as indigenous, he is a fighter for the indigenous cause. His presidency is a massive step forward for indigenous rights - not only in Bolivia, but in Latin America, and possibly even the world.

Morales led a life typical of indigenous Bolivians. He grew up in a poor rural Andean community, where several of his siblings died at birth. He dropped out of high school because of his family's lack of income, and then migrated to the humid tropical jungles of Bolivia's Chapare province (an area of coca farming) to be a young peasant farmer.

In the late 1980s he became part of the leadership of Chapare's militant farmers' union. Working with community networks, the cocaleros (coca growers) movement held protests, marches, sit-ins and road blockades to overturn the Bolivian government's Washington-pushed policy of coca-leaf eradication.

Indigenous people in Latin America, as in the world generally, are frequently the poorest people with the least access to education and condemned to the worst living standards. They are usually marginalised and excluded from government and social participation.

Morales calls it the "500 years of damage" - 500 years of colonialism and extermination. Neoliberalism, he says, has been looting their natural resources and he told the UN General Assembly on September 19 that "privatisation of basic services is the best way of violating human rights".

Almost 90% of Bolivia's productive land is still owned by just 50,000 families, while 80% of the rural population remain in crippling poverty. Agrarian reform has been one of the new government's main priorities. On June 3, Morales decreed a national agrarian reform program, and in Santa Cruz, an eastern Bolivian city, he handed out the first titles under this program, distributing 30,000 square kilometres of state-owned land to rural indigenous communities.

The plan is to redistribute 20 million hectares (a fifth of Bolivia's total land) over the next five years. The government also wants to provide subsidies, credits and equipment to small-scale agricultural producers. Morales has pledged the government's support for "ecological products" and aims to turn Bolivia into an "organic country" that produces crops without chemical fertilisers or pesticides.

It won't be a smooth ride, however. Morales has also said he will confiscate non-productive private land for redistribution, and the large-scale landowners aren't happy. Leaders of the federation representing large landowners walked out of talks with the government in May and warned that they would form paramilitary "self-defence" groups to protect their estates.

In June, Bolivian businessperson Luis del Rio hired a group of Ayoreo indigenous people to attack other indigenous people he said were squatting on property he claimed to own in the eastern part of Santa Cruz.

Optimism towards the agrarian decrees should be cautious. The nationalisation of the energy industry which was decreed in May had to be "temporarily suspended" in August. Nevertheless, Morales's election, on the back of a mass social uprising, has inspired hope in indigenous communities across Latin America.

In his UN speech, Morales talked of a process of Bolivia gaining dignity, including not being bossed around by the US. He called on the UN to approve the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous people, which has taken the past 20 years to put together. This declaration, adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in June, but still being considered for adoption by the UN General Assembly (with Washington and Canberra likely to vote against it), recognises the rights of indigenous peoples to their land and resources and to live as they choose.

It says that indigenous people must be protected from forced assimilation and that the holders, or seekers, of commercial patents on seeds, plants and other forms of traditional knowledge must first obtain consent from the communities that discovered or developed the assets in the first place.

Even if it is adopted, the declaration is merely a recommendation rather than law, but it will hopefully be a further tool that can be used by the indigenous movement in its struggle.

The day before the UN session, Morales held a meeting with tribal leaders from North America. Among other things, they decided to work together to get the Vatican to rescind the Papal Bull of 1493, which declared them heathens and savages. Such formal relations are a positive step towards indigenous people working together globally and starting to end their marginalisation.

Another step was October 12: Previously a day of blood and genocide - marking the day Columbus arrived in the Americas, a symbolic start to the invasion and colonisation by the European powers - it has now been changed into a Day of Indigenous Resistence by the indigenous movement. As Jose Bove, of the International Movement of Farmers, said, it's a day of "visibility of resistance and solidarity in order to transform reality".

At the Second Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala held October 8-12, thousands of indigenous representatives met under the slogan "Of the resistance to the power" in La Paz, Bolivia.

The call for the conference explained: "The policies of colonisation are policies of death. The indigenous people and farmers together with the social and popular movements defend the culture of life. Mother earth is being destroyed by interests foreign to us, but we will become the watchers of the future of humanity."

It continued, "In Bolivia we have the indigenous president, Evo Morales Ayma, who, with his example of struggle and his social, political and cultural commitment, inspires the social and popular movements to follow that path and Š to take power".

At the conference, Morales proposed a document that called for the elimination of illiteracy and malnutrition and for a public system that guarantees access to health, education and drinking water and for the generation of sustainable and productive jobs.

He argued for the legalisation of the coca leaf and for fair trade that benefits all of South America. He also proposed energy integration and the creation of a Bank of the South.

The document also had a special section devoted to policies dealing with the preservation of the environment, biodiversity and alternative, sustainable management of natural resources. It strongly supported the recovery of the harmonic coexistence practices of indigenous people with nature.

The aim of the event was to create ties between a large range of indigenous people and rural indigenous organisations and to coordinate action against the neoliberal system.

Conference participants concluded that their next challenge was to create a continental organisation that builds the resistance and responds to the problems indigenous people are facing in their countries.

Rafael Joy, a delegate from Honduras, said that the example that Bolivia is giving is fundamental to the advance of the process of organisation and mobilisation. He said that a strong indigenous resurgence exists. "The indigenous people have a common history, from conquest, colonisation, the republican period Š and representative democracy. Our people and communities have maintained their culture."

Miguel Palsin Quispe, the Andean coordinator of the Indigenous Organisations of Peru, agreed that the La Paz meeting enabled the construction of a common agenda.

The conference's final declaration was strong, serious and salient. It said that despite 514 years of oppression and domination, indigenous people are still here, the colonialists or imperialists have not been able to eliminate them.

It declared that nation states must recognise that the existence of indigenous people has allowed the preservation of biodiversity. This is why they must be given the resources to independently look after themselves rather than promoting the privatisation of their resources and their traditional and spiritual knowledge. Their form of governing must be respected and recognised. If not, their marginalisation will continue.

As well, it condemned US interventionist policy and supported "the struggles of the Cuban and Venezuelan governments who defend free determination". It supported the efforts of Morales's movement to "re-found" Bolivia and called on the world to give solidarity to this process.

These important developments in the indigenous movement have had a particular impact in Guatemala, which, along with Bolivia, is one of the only two other Latin American countries that has a majority indigenous population. So when Morales spoke there recently he had the full attention of his audience (mostly indigenous leaders) in a packed room in the country's national palace.

A key demand for indigenous Guatemalans has been to reclaim their control over natural resources, so when Morales said at this meeting that he was "convinced that indigenous people are the absolute owners of this noble land and the natural resources", it had a lot of resonance.

Mayan communities have been protesting privatisation and mining in Guatemala, which have had a big impact on their lives. In mid-September, hundreds Maya Kekchi indigenous families occupied land owned by a Canadian nickel mining firm. Other indigenous communities have turned to national laws and international conventions on indigenous rights to control development in their territories.

There are 23 linguistic groups in Guatemala and cultural and political divisions have been a significant block in the creation of a national indigenous movement. This is similarly true on a larger scale across the continent.

However, Morales's victory has provided a leg-up to a movement whose real strength and unity is in its diversity. As Morales said at the October 12 conference, the Bolivian government will face many problems, because "it is difficult to change the dark history of 500 years of exclusion that indigenous people lived under". But at the same time, as, the declaration of the conference stated, "a new era has begun for the original indigenous people, the times of change have arrived".

(Source: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #689 8 November 2006)

(Shunpiking - Tamara Pearson)

Actualité - "DQ" Strategy of "homogenization" rejected by indigenous people!

Presently colonial governments worldwide are consolidating their power into "economic" blocks. For example, the U.S. is systematically amalgamating Canada and Mexico into one economic-political-military unit similar to the European community. Seven to nine units are being formed, such as in the Far East and South America. These blocks are controlled by small groups of people who sign agreements with each other without telling their citizens. This trend is taking over the world.

We the Indigenous People have never agreed to participate in this homogenization. In fact, we are going the opposite way. These corporate conglomerations cannot legitimately speak for the Indigenous people. We have never been asked if we want to disappear into the "stew" that is being created to develop a uniform humanity molded on a foreign model. We defend our right to determine who we are. We know when you boil up all the meat and vegetables, the scum rises to the top. We'd like to scoop that scum and get rid of it. In other words, no one asked us about being part of this imaginary potion that there is or ever can be only one kind of people.

These block controllers, we refer to s "blockheads", are worried about our resistance. We are arousing something unexplainable in other people. In the U.S. they proudly refer to the blending of many people from different origins as the "melting pot". In Canada it's called the "mosaic.

A lot of people in the colonial society refer to themselves as being humans from the "Heinz 57 variety", meaning they come from all kinds of backgrounds. What people actually want to say is, "I am of this national racial ethnic origin" and "this is where my ancestors came from". These people came together voluntarily to make a collective identity. These Heinz 57 chose to be Canadians or Americans or Mexicans, or whatever. The difference is that we never chose to become a part of this nonsense. Certainly many of us have multi-indigenous ancestry. Our unions and political migrations on Turtle Island have been voluntary. We did not voluntarily join colonial organizations!

The controllers would have us believe that everyone wants to go in that direction. Actually there are two directions, everybody else and Indigenous people. Because of our opposition to losing our identity, other people are starting to look at themselves. Most realize that we are attached to a particular part of the earth.

Just like us, at one time everyone was descended from people who were Indigenous to somewhere. Now they have become lost in the human confusion. They don't know who they are or where they belong. Loss of identity weakens them and makes it easier for them to be exploited. They may loudly declare their allegiance to the American flag or the Canadian state. How much of this is based on insecurity? These are political identities that can be changed. George Bush, for example, wants to be king of whole dung heap. Will there be any resistance?Haven't seen any yet!

People always wonder why we raise a stink about being forced by colonial policies to either assimilate or integrate. We have always complained about this. Our message hits home because deep inside of every human there is a need to say to themselves, "This is where I come from".

We are being put down because we are stirring up some kind of instinct of territoriality. The colonists want to know who they are and where they're from in the world. What is the reason for the restlessness of people who are not on their own land? Everybody is trying to find their roots.

Is this why they don't want to hear Indigenous voices? We are stirring up this unexplained desire in those who have been displaced. If a desire for a homeland is built into animals, such as elephants and salmon who return to their natural habitat, then is it not possible for humans to have the same longing?

This could be happening subconsciously. We ask, "Who are you?" Raising this question runs headlong against those with plans to control everyone. It's a lot easier for them to develop their strategies if everybody is the same and if everyone is so personally isolated that they have no one to call on when they are attacked. Anyone objecting to this strategy would raise flags. They would want to discredit us and turn everybody against us. This has been done to us for a long time. They never explain the danger they think we are posing.

The history of the controllers in Europe was to uproot young people, separate them from their families and the wisdom of their mothers. They sent them into the cities to die like flies. Sending them to Turtle Island was an extension of this pattern. Colonization first of Turtle Island and exploitation of the rest of the resources in the world is a manifestation of this process.

It is easier to dominate people when they don't know who they are. They want people to become psychologically and emotionally dependant on the impersonal organizations that are abusing them. They no longer have any connection to land. The land has become a place to rape and pillage leaving us to clean up after them. The destructiveness of the colonial society absolutely take our breath away with all their pollution. The original vegetation has been chopped down at least three times and the natural world has been destroyed. The land is scarred with abandoned mining enterprises that continue to pollute. In only a couple of centuries they have managed to completely wipe out resources that sustained our people for thousands of years. As their own scientists estimate, most fish species will collapse and disappear by 2048. The water has been poisoned. It's all about domination. What the hell do they think they are going to do on top of this sterile heap of rubble they are turning the earth into?

Destruction of our Indigenous identity and our connection to the land is the object of colonialism. It's been hard to do this to us because our connection to the earth remains strong. The peoples indigenous to Europe had already seriously damaged their connection almost beyond repair. Then they came over here to wreak their havoc on us and our environment.

For the last 500 years the colonists have been unsuccessful in separating us from our land except in their own imagination. Their constant attacks reflect their own feelings of inferiority to us. They are secretly afraid because we keep reminding them of what they've done to us and to themselves. They have detached themselves from their own identity. They are terrified of the vision they see of their own vile faces in the mirror. Many are lost souls wandering around trying to find themselves.

The foreigners came here to create a place for themselves. They had already soiled their own nest. They have soiled ours. It is all about profit, privilege and usurpation. At this rate the colonists will never be anything but empty identity less settlers. They have no feelings for us and ours because they don't know who they are. This could make them dangerous. They lash out at those who expose their weaknesses. We will always tell them that usurpation is never legitimate.

Colonialism is a regime of oppression for the benefit of a few. It is fascism. We indigenous people are an uncomfortable thorn in their conscience. They know full well their theories don't hold water. We are a constant reminder of this unfortunate fact. No they are not the font of liberty and justice. They are despotism personified. They are trying to imagine our land without us by teaching nothing about us in school except that we were here one time and are long gone.

When some of us suddenly emerge into the public conscience for resisting land theft like we did at Six Nations, the ignorant public is terribly uncomfortable. At the same time they want to identify with us because they want to have roots to the land too through us. Feeble attempts are made to shut us up. The irksome colonist does not really have the strength or the will to grab unless he does it at gunpoint. Put your guns away, kids. Don't you know that the natural progression is for us to take back what is ours? This is the best of times for us.

We are telling you that your controllers are lying to you. Don't listen to them. Don't let them shut down our voices. Learn to use yours. Your ancestors came here because they were disinherited in the same way you are trying to disinherit us. We can turn it around. We have an important message for you. We know you want to hear it. Believe us! No one has to be a bubble in the milkshake! *(DQ is "Dairy Queen", a popular ice cream franchise on Turtle Island. Some of us are "lactose intolerant". We have no beef with DQ as long as nobody forces us to eat their ice cream).

Actualité - Who is inciting a "race war" in the Nova Scotia lobster fishery? Say No to DFO!

Halifax - According to sensational reports in the Nova Scotia media, First Nations residents from Eskasoni First Nations, Chapel Island, in the Bras d'Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island, have begun keeping 24-hour watch over band-owned gear and vessels in St. Peter's Canal - about 10 kilometres from their homes - after more than 300 native-owned traps were destroyed or cut from their buoys. Their vessels were also taken and pulled out to sea and tied to buoys since they began fishing lobster through the band's ceremonial food licence, set to expire Nov. 14.

St. Peter's Canal, located in the village of St. Peter's, connects the southwestern waters of Bras d'Or Lake to the Atlantic Ocean. In lobster fishing areas 27 to 30, the area of dispute that stretches from Cape Breton's northern tip of Cape North to its southeast coast in the Strait of Canso, fishermen operating a commercial lobster fishery set 158,250 traps. The five First Nations bands in Cape Breton split a small quota of 1,250 traps, including Chapel Island's 250.

The media reports mention that these incidents have been ongoing "in recent weeks". With no one being arrested or charged, they go on immediately to implicate "non-Native" fishermen as the culprits.

For example, The Chronicle-Herald, the province's main daily newspaper, reported the anxiety of the Chapel Island community and then followed it immediately with characterisations of a rapidly-unfolding full-scale "race war". The claim is put forward that "non-native commercial fishermen who ply the same waters, but at other times of year, are upset natives are harvesting 250 traps and collecting hundreds of pounds of lobsters a day to feed the community's 700 residents"*. What is completely missing in this scenario is the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and its well-known behind-the-scenes role in rendering it almost impossible for representatives of the native and commercial sections of the fishery to meet and deliberate on these issues without first going through DFO.

One of the favourite themes recycled by DFO officials to lobster fishermen, that "the Mi'kmaq are damaging stocks because lobster moult and are easier to catch now because they're aggressively eating for winter", is blandly repeated as something that is common knowledge among the fishermen of Cape Breton. This is the Canadian state through its fisheries department inciting communal warfare among native and non-native communities under the pretence of "conservation."

Attempting to deflect any questioning of the government's role in these matters, the media report that the RCMP "suspect" that it's all the work of "a few hot-heads". It trots this out as the authoritative explanation of who or what might be responsible for "the mischief [sic] directed against Chapel Island." A local RCMP spokesman is quoted, insisting that "We still don't know who did this."

Mysteriously in the same breath, it turns out, however, that it's not just a few hotheads, because "now, similar tensions have surfaced but among younger generations in Richmond County", namely: incidents at a local school where non-native students were shunning native students and the latter's parents withdrew their children from classes.

What Marshall represented

The 1999 Marshall Decision by the Supreme Court of Canada - against the DFO's arrest of Donald Marshall Jr. of illegal fishing charges - acknowledged an inherent aboriginal treaty right covered by the Covenant Chain of Treaties of 1752-1761 to hunt and fish for commerce to "a reasonable livelihood." Before Marshall, the Supreme Court had confirmed the Aboriginal right of some East Coast tribes to harvest solely for food and ceremonial purposes. Marshall II sanctioned the Crown's prerogative, i.e., its veto power exercised through rules and regulations under the federal Fisheries Act, to limit these rights provided they can be justified for the purposes of "conservation" or substantial public objectives such as fairness. In other words, the Court recognized a treaty right but neither the right-to-be as a sovereign right nor the inherent right to develop the means of exercising "a reasonable livelihood" by which they can be. All the rights to choose are also thus vested under the DFO and its administration of the inland and ocean fisheries.

"Divide and conquer" strategy

Ever since then, the DFO has been engineering, through government-sponsored "negotiations" between native and non-native fishermen's groups, to take away everything that First Nations initiated in line with the Marshall Decision in the name of "conserving the resource", while refusing to negotiate on a nation-to-nation basis. It aims to transform aboriginal title and rights into contractual or treaty rights and reduce nation-to-nation treaties to domestic agreements, where the Government of Canada has full control of the rights and title of First Nation's individual communities. Its aim remains the same, to adapt the colonial legacy to modern conditions and divide the people of the Maritimes on a racial basis, or what Harper calls a "race-based fishery." Through the monopoly media, a widespread grudge has been systematically promoted throughout the Maritimes for the past seven years that the Mi'kmaqs will reap benefits from the government, while the small and poor fishermen will have to pay the bill for Canada's colonial obligations and its fiduciary responsibilities towards the First Nations.

DFO]s method is to insert itself as the guarantor of whatever its representatives allow the native and non-native representatives to agree to in "tripartite" "consultations" "consistent with the Department's management approach."

Taking advantage of the poverty of the Mi'kmaq, DFO began pressuring Mi'kmaq bands to sign three-year deals and "framework agreements" sweetened by grants, loans, new fishing equipment and training to in exchange for (1) conditions restricting when natives can fish and requiring them to have proper DFO tags; as well as for (2) their renunciation of any future claims to resource rights, land (including the seabed, especially of the Gulf of St. Lawrence) and governance - the right to self determination.

DFO was especially keen to overturn and discredit the decisions and financial arrangements to purchase boats and gear for collective use which almost all the 30 bands in the Maritime provinces undertook in the wake of Marshall during 1999 and 2000. The First Nations, for their part, resisted this tactic from the outset.

The Esgeno?petitj First Nation (Burnt Church) in northeastern New Brunswick and Indian Brook First Nation in Nova Scotia insisted on their aboriginal rights, their own tags, their own fisheries plans, etc. They thus became a key target for DFO, the RCMP and CSIS, given that other First Nation bands wanted to see these disputes settled before signing anything. Canada used force and violence, rather than settling the dispute through negotiation.

The Mi'kmaq videotaped , later used for television broadcast and incorporated into the National Film Board documentary "Is the Crown at war with us?", blatant state terrorist attacks by the RCMP and DFO on the mean and women fishers of the Esgeno?petitj, the destruction of their boats, and the forcible destruction and confiscation of 3-4,000 of their traps in Miramichi Bay. The monopoly media systematically portrayed this as a racial conflict, hiding the hand of the state and the monopoly processors. Mi'kmaq fishers were arrested and sentenced in the name of "law and order", "the rule of law" and "conservation" while DFO and its "non-native" agents were granted impunity.

In the ensuing six years DFO has employed another tactic: promote that the Mi'kmaq form corporations as a means of privatizing the resource, extinguishing Aboriginal title and rights, and creating public opinion against "throwing money at the Natives," that is, "corruption."

Precisely such a private corporation was hatched by DFO at the Indian Brook First Nation, after inciting the overthrow of a chief and band council in 2004 who would not play along with DFO's plan.

Two years later, the Chronicle-Herald and the CBC are now relating sensational "discoveries" of "massive corruption" in the band's accounts, amid a scenario in which band councillors excluded from the private venture have blamed the private venture for the discrepancies, and vice-versa. DFO acting on behalf of the federal government is responsible for setting the entire scenario in motion in the first place. A similar "divide and conquer" scenario is being played out in the Tobique reserve of the Maliseet First Nations in New Brunswick over revenues from a gaming casino. Some longtime observers have told Shunpiking that the aim seems to be to prepare public opinion to urge and/or accept the federal government's abdication of further responsibility, so that the burden of band finances is sloughed off onto provincially-based treaty commissions - something that would even more desperately beggar the living conditions of the people. To this end, Canada has established tripartite consultations with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc.

Quick strike tactic

These latest racist attacks in the east coast fishery, orchestrated against aboriginal fishing rights by the state play-acting a mediating role between native and non-Native groups, are not fortuitous. Well-aware that the defence of rights by the Six Nations at Caledonia, ON has resonated throughout the country, the Canadian government is seeking to smash or disable this trend with a quick strike in a rural locale, the spiritual centre of the Mi'kmaq, removed from the main centres of population and thus sufficiently isolated and vulnerable that any resistance will be only token and therefore safely ignored.

In this particular situation, the government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, DFO spokesman Gus VanHelvoort was quoted in the media declaring that the native fishery will continue until Nov. 14 and both sides will have to talk over the coming months: "there are some management issues that need to be addressed".

On the other hand, "reducing the larger non-native commercial fishery to make room for natives isn't something DFO will consider, although the department acknowledges conservation is its No. 1 priority, followed by aboriginal concerns and, thirdly, the larger commercial interests" or, in other words: aboriginal fishing rights if necessary - but not necessarily aboriginal fishing rights.

VanHelvoort goes so far as to subordinate and liquidate these rights under the guise of saying that rights are only to be recognised at the point where the Cape Breton fishermen agree to give them up: "the right that they (natives) have is to fish on a reasonable level and it's their intention to fish at a reasonable level and we have to sit down with the non-natives . . . on how to integrate this fishery into the overall picture in a way that everyone is comfortable, that everyone is on the same page."

As proved by the work of the Southwest Fishermens' Rights Association and native fishers in southwest Nova Scotia since the Marshall Decision, in St. Mary's Bay, in the movement of several thousand people against seismic testing by the oil multinationals off the shores of Cape Breton island, and in the collaboration of the Gulf NS Fleet Planning Board and Afton First Nations in the Northumberland Strait, it is only when the fishermen get together without the involvement of the DFO that anything can be worked out. Only by standing together against DFO are the rights of all defended. The DFO's and the media's pathetic latest attempts to incite "race war" on Cape Breton Island are utterly reactionary and unfit for Canadian working people in this day and age. They must not pass! Boldly Say No to DFO!

* All direct quotes are from Tera Camus, "Battle over lobster spreads to schools", The Chronicle-Herald, Mon 23 Oct 06, page B1

(Shunpiking - Tony Seed & Gary Zatzman)

Actualité - Privatization of Indians and Prisons - "The Only Good Indian Is a Jailed Indian"

Howard Saper, the Ombudsman for Inmates, just came out with a report on the state of Indigenous prisoners. He said the incarceration rate for Indigenous people was nine times higher than for the Canadian population, even though we are 1.5 per cent of the population. The numbers are even worse for Indigenous women. One in three inmates in federally-run women's prisons was Indigenous. Half are in maximum security institutions. One reason is because there was "routine over classification" of native prisoners. At least we're higher class in something, eh!

So their family, community, friends and elders are robbed of their presence. They are sent more often into segregation and don't get rehabilitative treatment so they can be released. Parole is not even a consideration.

Any lawyer will tell you that when someone looks native, they are more likely to be found guilty. Does that mean we have to powder our faces white when we go out in public?

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day rejected the report and said, "There is no evidence of systemic discrimination against native offenders in the prison system." Is he telling us that he went to visit a jail one time and they didn't complain to him? To him they all seem to be happy, like they never had it so good. A major problem with our people is that we don't lie. We're basically hospitable, honest and don't B.S. our way out of the system. We have a hard time conning anybody. We even tell the truth on ourselves. We are apt to accept responsibility if we did a wrong. We are taken advantage of over what they think is our "character flaw." Most of our people who go to jail are involved in bar fights and actions related to alcohol.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is introducing the "three strikes you're out" and "you're-going-to-jail-for-the-rest-of-your-life" legislation aimed at increasing the prison population. He says he wants to protect the "Canadian" way of life. Isn't the Canadian way of life to be fair? Or is this a take on the old genocidal proclamations allowing British subjects in Nova Scotia to kill all Indian men, women, children and even babies? Let's not forget that the first prisons were built in Prince Albert right after they hung Louis Riel for defending democracy. As far as we're concerned it's the same old, same old.

"If you do a serious crime, you're going to do serious time," Harper declared. He's aiming at "violent offenders" like the Indigenous people. They want to go after spontaneous instinctive behavior which is done without premeditation. They are usually ashamed and do their time without complaint.

How about all those corrupt politicians? What about white collar criminals who steal millions and get away with it? Generally speaking it is considered worse if someone plans a crime. Slimy politicians, liars and deceivers who rob people of millions of dollars are not the targets of Harper's law, even though they do more harm to society. What about contractors who skim on public works like overpasses that kill innocent people? A violent offence usually takes place between two individuals. In such cases the cops can easily set them up for two more charges and have them put away forever. What a weapon in the hands of the cops!

Imagine "super jails" run for profit by private companies eager to cash in on Harper's plans to get tougher on crime.

Stockwell Day has made private security companies jump for joy. They are gloating over the "jackpot" they are going to hit by putting our people in jail. They just have to ask, "What's your band number?" to get the payment from Indian Affairs. Harper is trying to convince Canadians that private prisons are cheaper so he can call on his private sector friends to build and operate them. This is part of the U.S. pro-privatization ideology adopted by the Conservative government. He will try wherever he can to turn over a growing range of public services to private operators, most of whom are his friends and backers.

It will be a for-profit business paid for by the tax payers. It looks like Indian Affairs can easily transfer $50,000 to $60,000 a head to these private prisons. Jailing Indians is big business. It's a "cash cow" for the provinces which can get huge transfer payments from the federal government for every Indigenous inmate. They don't get nothin' for non-native inmates. That's why it's real attractive to keep us in jail.

At the same time the Conservative government has announced that Indian communities are going to be privatized. They want our communities to be run by corporations and trust companies for which the bottom line is profit. Band councils are now, for the most part, corporations which are being taken over by auditing firms such as PriceWaterhouse.

We've been giving the federal and provincial governments and corporations a hard time over theft of our lands and resources. They want to control us. They've figured out a way. They are going to privatize us and let the multinational corporations move in for a feast. We won't know what's going on with our money or anything. Corporations, of course, will want to cut costs so they can make a bigger profit. So our standard of living will go down, as if this is possible. If we don't pay our mortgage or our taxes, the corporation will be able to seize our land and possessions.

Strange as it may seem, Canadians have never thought of registering mortgages against Newfoundland or British Columbia. So why do they think they can do this with our land? The bluff and hypocrisy supporting this scheme is transparent. It's meant to dispossess us.

It's called the "Indian business." In Kanehsatake PriceWaterhouse took over from James Gabriel who deliberately mismanaged the funds and affairs of the community. Every program and service was cut back. There was a lot "streamlining" or skimming off the top so there would be more for the corporation. $34 million is basically unaccounted for so far. Hey, Canada, did you ever wonder why your taxes are so high?

Trust companies will make money on privatizing our communities. The government will put up $50,000 a head and blow up the population figures to feed the corporate gluttons. They will do this in the jail system too. They want big jails full of Indians. We will be marketed on the stock exchange for the public to invest in our jails and our corporate controlled communities. The politicians will offer patronage plums to their friends to be trustees over Indigenous communities and jails. Why do they need to victimize us? Why don't they just write checks to their friends? Do they think Canadians and Americans are so dumb they don't know what's going on?

The more they can cause mismanagement of band councils and criminalizing of Indians, the more justification there is for taking over Indigenous communities and putting us in jail. According to their business plan, warehousing Indians is a growth industry!

The United States corporations want to bring this system in. Is that the reason for that big agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico called "deep integration"? They're streamlining everything economically under a central control of 130 CEO's who will make all the decisions for Harper, Bush and Fox.

In all of this, they are violating international law. Our incarcerated Indigenous inmates are not even citizens of Canada or the United States. They are from their own nations. They come under their own laws. This is like Guantanamo Bay!

Let's think of how much the trustees of the Six Nations of Grand River Corporation would get under such privatization -- $1.1 billion per year. Just think of the salaries for the CEO's! Of course, there might not be anything left for the people. But, hey, since when did we count?

(Mohawk Nation News - Kahentinetha Horn)

Actualité - Une farce monumentale: les 200 hommes de McHale se heurtent à des milliers d'Indiens et de supporters des Six Nations

Que pensent le Canada, l'Ontario et les imbéciles qui ont engagé Gary McHale pour provoquer la violence de cet échec lamentable? Gary McHale de Richmond Hill, qui fait également partie des réclamations territoriales des Six nations, voulait la violence. Il a amené avec lui des skinheads, le KKK et d'autres provocateurs et mercenaires professionnels du Canada et des États-Unis. C'était une opération coûteuse, avec hélicoptères et tout. Combien parmi ce groupe-là savaient dans quoi ils s'engageaient? Lui et son épouse, Christine, portant la fleur jaune du Texas, ont mené leurs disciples au restaurant Tim Horton à Caledonia, à 200 mètres d'où nous étions. Puis ils ont monté dans leurs voitures et ont quitté les lieux sans dire au revoir, et en oubliant leurs fleurs jaunes.

Il disait vouloir protester contre le «système à deux justices», une pour les Indiens et une pour les blancs. Et il avait raison pour une fois! Howard Sapers, le protecteur du citoyen pour les détenus, a remis son rapport annuel à Stockwell Day, ministre de la Sécurité publique. Le rapport montre en effet qu'il y a deux justices. Les Indiens sont arrêtés et emprisonnés et languissent dans le système carcéral canadien en nombre beaucoup plus grand que tout autre groupe de la société. Nous sommes traités beaucoup plus brutalement que les autres. M. Day a dit que le rapport était sans fondement. «Je ne l'accepte pas», dit-il. Il n'y a pas de preuve à l'appui de ces conclusions.

À la marche de Caledonia, il y avait presqu'autant d'officiers de la police provinciale que de manifestants. Les policiers n'avaient pas leur équipement anti-émeute parce qu'ils nous connaissent et savaient que rien n'allait se produire. Une cinquantaine de manifestants se sont approchés du périmètre et ont tenté de s'approcher de nous. Quelques enfants sont accourus dans leur direction et ils ont reculé. Je suppose qu'ils ne voulaient pas être pris à battre des enfants. Il y avait des journalistes et des caméras partout. Ils voulaient du sang mais ils ont été déçu.

Face à la défaite, vont-ils maintenant songer à des moyens plus coriaces? Allons-nous maintenant assister à une occupation militaire? Malgré toute leur campagne de propagande, ils ont été battus. À preuve le grand nombre de gens venus nous appuyer. Les Indiens ont fait preuve de paix face à la haine, et cette fois c'est la paix qui a gagné.

Nous pensons qu'ils voulaient savoir comment nous réagirions à toutes ces provocations psychologiques et physiques. Ils voulaient savoir si nous pouvions faire appel à autant de personnes qu'eux. Ils voulaient savoir si nous étions encore sur le qui-vive. Ils ont beaucoup d'argent et de ressources. Ils voulaient savoir si nous avions encore assez d'appui parmi la population ou si l'intérêt pour notre cause avait baissé. Mais comme ils l'ont bien vu, nous sommes encore là.

Des milliers d'autochtones, nos frères, soeurs, amis et alliés, ont montré à la population quelque chose d'important. Ils lui ont montré que nous voulons tous être traités avec justice et équité. Le Canada doit s'asseoir à la table nous parler en égaux. Les métallos et les autres syndicats étaient là sur les premières lignes avec nous. Beaucoup de bonne volonté, beaucoup de nourriture.

Nous leur avons montré que nous ne sommes pas prêts d'arrêter de réclamer ce qui nous appartient et qu'en cela nous avons l'appui de la population. Janie Jamieson a remercié McHale pour «nous avoir rapprochés les uns des autres encore une fois». Maintenant l'Assemblée des Premières Nations, un autre serviteur du gouvernement canadien, entre dans la mêlée. Nous ne savons pas pourquoi ils viennent se mêler de cela maintenant. Ils ont coulé l'examen sur la loi sur les autochtones. L'APN ne nous représente pas.

Le Canada, l'Ontario, les entrepreneurs immobiliers et la police croient-ils que s'ils réussissent à nous chasser de cette terre ils vont gagner? Ce n'est pas une partie de football. Cette grande participation de nos supporters a montré que les Canadiens en ont assez du vieux jeu colonial. Les colonialistes pensent pouvoir utiliser des tactiques terroristes pour nous taire. McHale est un terroriste parrainé par le gouvernement mais le secret a été éventré.

Ils essaient de nous faire reculer. Les Canadiens en ont assez de voir leurs impôts servir à des frivolités comme celle-là et comme le fiasco de la disparition de 34 millions $ à Kanehsatake. Nous sommes heureux qu'au moins un ex-politicien, David Peterson, ait su lire à travers les lignes. Il a traité McHale et son groupe de «bande de wackos». Les Canadiens veulent-ils continuer de jeter de l'argent par les fenêtres comme ils l'ont fait dimanche?

Oui, dimanche les policiers ont protégé les Indiens contre ceux qui voulaient enfreindre la loi. C'était le contraire de ce qu'ils ont fait jusqu'à présent. Sont-ils influencés par les tactiques des Américains? Après nous, nous savons maintenant que le Canada colonial prend ses directives de la CIA et du FBI. Alors surveillez bien ce que font les Américains. Harper n'a pas voulu commenté quand on lui a donné que des navires de guerre américains tiraient des coups canon dans les Grands Lacs.

Nous avons le droit de protester. Il n'y a pas eu de trouble aux Six Nations. Les médias ont dit que des milliers de personnes ont manifesté contre nous, alors qu'en réalité ils n'étaient que 200. Nous savons que les grands médias et la police travaillent main dans la main. Les médias n'auraient jamais rien à écrire si la police ne lui fournissait pas toute l'information. Sans la coopération de la police, ils n'auraient rien.

Les Américains ont commencé à s'ingérer dans les affaires indiennes au Canada. Ils ne veulent surtout pas d'un soulèvement. Ils veulent que nous faisions confiance à la police. C'est pour nous faire baisser notre garde et nous faire croire ensuite que leur système de justice est également de notre côté. Ils veulent que nous leur faisions confiance. Nous serons alors assimilés et il n'y aura plus de résistance.

Soyons clairs. Nous voulons ce qui nous appartient. McHale et sa femme ont eu leur cinq minutes de gloire. Le premier ministre s'est endormi pendant que quelqu'un d'autre tire les ficelles. Mais nous allons rester bien éveillés. Et nous voulons savoir combien le gouvernement a versé à McHale pour ce coup de théâtre.

Finalement, voici une mention honorable. Après nous être dispersés et qu'il y avait encore plusieurs personnes aux barricades, deux femmes blanches de Caledonia, complètement ivres, sont venues nous rendre visite. Elles ont pris nos drapeaux de la Confédération et de l'Unité et ont essayé de s'enfuir en les apportant. Sans doute qu'elles pensaient que nous voulions jouer au drapeau. Elles ont vite découvert que ce n'était pas un jeu. Une autochtone âgée était là à les regarder. Soudainement, elle s'est lancée sur elles et a repris les drapeaux. Puis la police a été appelée et les deux femmes ont été arrêtées. Excellent! Vous voyez, le soleil ne se couche jamais pour les femmes détentrices de titres!

(Traduit de l'anglais par Le Marxiste-Léniniste)

(Mohawk Nation News - Kahentinetha Horn)

Actualité - The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices Put a Spell on Canada: A Tale of Planned Genocide Based on the U.S. Model

The Indian Affairs Minister, Jim Prentice, has announced a new policy of forced "privatization" of Indian lands. This is a repeat performance of what happened in the United States where there was a mass execution of Indians. "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" is an old policy that is being introduced in a new form by Canada all gussied up in star studded robes topped off with a dunce cap and a political broom.

The sorcerers are trying to mesmerize the Canadian people into a stupor. They want to see them march lockstep toward their own destruction. Those being used are going to get nothing out of it. Only the sorcerers will benefit. The apprentices like Gary McHale, Marie Trainer and all those professional rioters who have been attacking the Indigenous people at Six Nations will one day walk into the middle of a big public inquiry into all their shenanigans. Videos and cameras will show who has been physically involved and sent in to run around like madmen attacking Indigenous elders, women and children. The sorcerers in the background will fly off on their brooms unnoticed to count their money down in Texas.

How do the sorcerers do this? They seem to look normal. They make promises to their apprentices who are suffering from the "oil disease" of the mind we call "owista" which leads them to believe that mega millions await them after their performances. They need a scapegoat so they are targeting the Indigenous people. Just like Hitler picked the Jews as the scapegoat for the Germans.

The sorcerers are directing people at us as being the cause of all their problems. To the sorcerers we aren't even human beings.

No one ever forgets those people and children lying dead in the snow after the massacre of our people at "Wounded Knee." They want a repeat of this picture and others of unwanted Indians starving and homeless with no place to go. They want us to die or migrate from our lands to the inner cities where we can die as alcoholics and derelicts on the streets or killed in their jails. The system of privatized prisons are becoming the biggest "reservations" on Turtle Island.

This is what happened to our people in the United States.

The Sorcerers and their Apprentices who run the "Tower of Power" in Ottawa got the old U.S. recipe for concocting "Indian Termination." They are going to use the old colonial broom and sweep us into their toxic brew to disappear from the face of the earth so they can make a final claim to our land and resources. Where does this idea come from? In 1887 the U.S. passed the General Allotment Act to break up indigenous governments, abolish Indian communities and force Indians to assimilate into white society. They divided up the communally owned lands into private plots to break up Indian nations and bring "whites" in to "civilize" those who did not die out.

It was catastrophic. The Indians were never consulted. Most lands left were not suitable for farming. To stave off starvation many were forced to sell their lands for very little or they were forced to foreclose on them for not paying taxes.

Of the 140 million acres under Indigenous control, only 50 million acres remain. Of course we still have aboriginal title to Turtle Island as long as there is one Indigenous person left that adheres to the traditional ways.

In 1934 the allotment system was abolished. Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act "to rehabilitate Indian economic life." It recreated new land bases and reorganized the Indigenous communities.

During the 1950's Congress brought in "termination" which was the forced dissolution of our land bases. This brought Indigenous people to the brink of collapse. At the same time they passed to the states jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters without the consultation or consent of the Indigenous people. The states which were the traditional enemies of the Indians had always wanted control over Indian lands and resources but did not want responsibility to provide services to Indians because they had no agreements or treaties with them, so they argued.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson denounced termination and declared: "We must affirm the rights of the first Americans to remain Indians. We must affirm their rights to freedom of choice and self-determination." They started to reverse termination when it was too little too late.

In their cauldron the Sorcerers and their apprentices are cooking up their potion. They think that Canada has the power to wipe out Indian nations with or without theirs or the Canadian peoples' consent. Canadians are being suckered into committing genocide by a U.S.-based sorcerer. The sub-sorcerer is in Canada. In Canada the sorcerer's apprentices are known as "band councils" which they've incorporated under their laws. These apprentices have no choice but to do what their bosses tell them because of their greed. They've been socialized as not being successful as human beings unless they live a certain colonial lifestyle. Their only access to this as Indians is to be sell-outs. The people standing up to all of this are the traditional indigenous people who have many non-native supporters.

Canada must not adopt this illegal U.S.-made policy to do away with Indigenous people in Canada. Call your Member of Parliament and tell them you don't agree with the Conservative government's policy of genocide. They are puppets of the corporate controllers of the Republican Party in the U.S. who are running the Conservative agenda in Canada.

It is frightening not just to the indigenous people but to all Canadians when they cannot see what is in store for them. Don't think they're going to stop with us. They plan to take over everyone. The U.S. has always wanted to reverse their defeats in 1776 and 1812 when the Iroquois helped the British stop the American invasion. They've always wanted to take over Canada, the first place they ever tried. The protection from encroachment of the Six Nations as British allies is set out in the Haldimand Proclamation 1784. It was not a grant of land. It was a contract to stop encroachment. Canada, you've breached this contract. You better make it right immediately! The world sees that you do not honor your international promises.

Please come down on Sunday October 15th to Six Nations for the "Peaceful Potluck" to celebrate the reclamation of our land. Contact thebasketcase@on.aibn.on.

(Mohawk Nation News - Kahentinetha Horn)

Actualité - World Indigenous Ponder Bolivia Proposal

La Paz, Oct 10 (Prensa Latina) - The Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala is mulling over on Tuesday a proposal by Bolivian President Evo Morales to the second meeting of the South American Community of Nations.

Morales presented the document for consideration of the over 1,000 delegates, seeking the full inclusion of the native peoples.

The text focuses on the need to reach an agreement to turn the South American Community of Nations into a real political, economic, social and cultural bloc.

It also suggests giving the integration process a popular character and wiping out illiteracy, malnutrition and other scourges in the area.

Likewise, Bolivia pleads for a public system that guarantees the population access to health, education and drinking water services besides generating sustainable and productive jobs.

Among other goals, the text sets the legalization and industrialization of the coca leaf, as well as a fair trade that benefits the entire South America.

The Bolivian initiative proposes energy integration and the creation of a Bank of the South based on 10 percent of the international reserves of the South American states.

Morales devotes a special section to policies dealing with the preservation of the environment and biodiversity and insists on an alternative and sustainable management of the natural resources.

In addition, he champions the recovery of the harmonic coexistence practices of the indigenous peoples with nature.

The encounter called “From Resistance to Power” will give its on Wednesday and will conclude Thursday with a march.

(Prensa Latine News Agency)

Actualité - Indigenous Summit Opens in Bolivia

La Paz, Oct 8 (Prensa Latina) - The Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala is opening Sunday in Bolivia to condemn the new conquests in the region, boosted by the US.

More than a thousand representatives from Latin America and Europe attend the meeting called "From Resistance to Power", which starts with a ceremony to honor the 39th anniversary of the death of legendary Argentine-Cuban fighter Ernesto Che Guevara.

Natives from the US, Canada, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay, among others, will spurn the Spanish colonialism and Washington´s new colonization strategy through the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Free Trade Agreements.

They are also slated to brainstorm on interventionist policies against indigenous peoples plus condemn militarization and violation to their sovereignty and dignity.

Likewise, the encounter ending October 12 will stage solidarity events with the processes of Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela.

(Prensa Latina News Agency)

Actualité - How Ontario Wants to Do Away with Original Indian Land Title by Changing "Lands Registry System" to "Lands Title System"

The devil never rests. Here's another big move by devious Ontario. In the past, if anyone buys property in Ontario, they had to do a complete title search going back to the Crown patent and Indian title. In the last few years Ontario has been pushing to make a declaration to change the registering of the lands from the "Lands Registry System" into the "Lands Title System." This was used in the Canadian West in provinces like British Columbia where there were no treaties to found the British claim to the land. The Ontario government wants to certify all land title in the province according to what they say is their idea of "title." This way nobody has to do any more title search going back to the original Indian title.

When Ontario became a province they divided up all the land into counties. In each county the government surveyors divided up the land into lots and concessions. It developed a "surveyor's grid" to decide the dimensions and location of any property in Ontario. All lands have a source of original Indian title. On top of Indian title Ontario had underlying title called the "Provincial Crown." This "layer cake" hoax was made up by the Privy Council in England in the St. Catherines Milling and Lumber case in 1888.

The Haldimand Deed confirmed Indian title and provided protection from encroachment forever for the "Mohawks and their posterity." Anyone doing a title search in the Registry Office on the Haldimand Tract would find the original title going back to 1784. This means there had to be a legitimate transaction between the Six Nations people and the first non-native title holders on the record.

Today when a person does a title search they usually find the first deed came from the "Crown," except in the case of the Haldimand Tract, which came from the Indigenous people. If there's never been a valid sale from the Indigenous people to the first titleholders, which could be the Crown, then the root of title is invalid.

Under the old Land Registry System everyone had to establish title by deeds and documents. The Ontario government has been having difficulty making declarations on lands because all of Ontario is subject to Indian title. The Six Nations issue is revealing the difficulty Ontario is having in certifying land title because everything is subject to dispute.

Ontario is trying to get around this by making a "decree" that people don't have to do a title search beyond 40 years. This doesn't undo the fact that they have to go back to a valid title for now. Presently all the lands in Ontario are still subject to dispute.

When the Ontario government does away with the Land Registry System completely, Ontario will decide who owns what in the province. No one has to go beyond to look for a root of title anymore. Indians can be ignored and trampled on as usual even though the Canadian people are becoming increasingly aware of our rights and the injustices done to us in the past.

Here's another interesting twist to this scheme. American Insurance companies are guaranteeing the land title. If there is a dispute, they pay people off with insurance money. What do you think of that one?

Under the new lands title system Ontario will make a decree to indirectly do away with all original Indian title. They have done it in some places in Ontario. It's absolutely illegal. Six Nations is not the only region where there are problems of this kind. They've been dodging the issue for a long time in other parts of Ontario.

In 1991 Ontario had a near miss. Bear Island had registered cautions against unceded lands north of Lake Nipissing on behalf of Temagami and of the Indians. Ontario had to go to court to get a declaration that the Crown in right of Ontario had clear title. But the Supreme Court of Canada found that the issue depended on facts which were not produced.

In the case of Six Nations there's more documentary proof of the facts than in most parts of Ontario. So Ontario makes counterfeit decrees to prop up their side. This is one of the reasons why they are pushing for a different land title system. They know, when you come right down to it, the foundation of the current system is rotten. What they don't seem to have noticed is the new system will be even more rotten. It's a reversion to raw colonialism.

Well, it's our land, we haven't been consulted and we haven't given our consent to be robbed at colonial legislative gunpoint!

(Mohawk Nation News - Kahentinetha Horn)

Évènement - 29 Juin - Manifestation en appui à la résistance des Six Nations

Franc-Parler reproduit un appel à manifester en appui à la lutte des Six Nations de Caledonia le 29 juin à Montréal. Franc-Parler poursuit sa couverture de la lutte populaire des Premières Nations pour la reconnaissance de leurs droits ancestraux. Franc-Parler salue le courage et la détermination des Six Nations de Caledonia qui réclament leurs terres ancestrales.

Actions de solidarité partout au Canada pour appuyer la résistance des peuples autochtones des Six nations

29 juin 2006 - Montréal

18h - Carré Berri

Les différentes communautés autochtones de la Confédération Iroquoise des Six Nations, incluant les nations Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca et Tuscarora, luttent pour la reconnaissance de leur territoire ancestral par le gouvernement canadien, depuis maintenant plus de 200 ans. Le 28 février 2006, les autochtones de la réserve de Six Nations, près de Caledonia en Ontario, ont installé un campement afin d’occuper un terrain faisant partie de leurs terres ancestrales où Henco Industries, une entreprise américaine, veut développer un projet immobilier de maisons de luxe : le « Douglas Creek Estates». La présence et la surveillance de la OPP et de la GRC autour du site de réclamation n’a cessé d’augmenter depuis. Les tensions ont atteint un point culminant près de deux mois après le début des mobilisations, le 20 avril 2006, lorsque des policiers de la OPP (Police Provinciale de l’Ontario) ont fait une incursion violente dans le campement, en utilisant du gaz lacrymogène et des bâtons électriques pour déloger les autochtones. Au total, 16 personnes ont été brutalement arrêtées par la Police. Cependant les autochtones ont aussitôt repris possession du terrain et plusieurs communautés de la Confédération provenant de différentes régions du Canada et des États-Unis se sont rendues à Six Nations pour apporter leur soutient.

Vendredi le 9 juin, encore une fois, le gouvernement a su utiliser ses tactiques provocatrices pour pouvoir accuser les gens de Six Nations d’être violents. Alors que les autochtones responsables de la sécurité faisaient leur ronde de surveillance, ils ont intercepté un véhicule du « US Border Patrol », qui se trouvait sur le site. Deux agents américains du ATF (Alchool, Tobaco and Firearms) et un agent de la OPP se trouvaient à bord du véhicule. Une confrontation à éclaté entre les agents de la police et les autochtones. Suite à ces deux incidents du vendredi matin 9 juin, 7 mandats d’arrestation seront émis contre des membres des communautés étant présent sur le site de la réclamation territoriale à Six Nations, dont un pour « tentative de meurtre » contre l’agent américain, ce qui est une accusation absolument exagérée par rapport à la réalité des faits. Les autochtones des Six Nations refusent néanmoins la juridiction des lois canadiennes sur eux, puisqu’ils sont une Nation qui possède ses propres loi et sa propre Constitution : La Grande Loi de la Paix.

Les Six Nations ne veulent pas d’argent en échange de la terre, parce leur terre n’est pas à vendre. Ils veulent la reconnaissance et le respect de leurs terres ancestrales et des traités que leurs ancêtres ont signés avec la Couronne Britannique. La Confédération n’a jamais accepté d’éteindre sa souveraineté en tant que Premières Nations, elle n’a jamais signé aucun accord ou traité reconnaissant la juridiction de l’État canadien sur les Nations qui la compose, et n’a jamais cédé volontairement l’Île de la Tortue (Canada) aux colonisateurs britannique ni à l’État canadien.

Dernièrement, des communautés autochtones de partout à travers le pays font connaître leur appuis à la Confédération des Six Nations et ont émis leur propre ultimatum au gouvernement. Au Manitoba, l’Assemblée des chefs du Manitoba, qui représente 64 Premières Nations, ont voté pour une résolution qui appelle à l’organisation d’un blocage de voies ferroviaires de 24 heures le 29 juin 2006 « afin de forcer le gouvernement canadien à établir des durées maximum raisonnables pour la résolution des revendications territoriales ».

Le Chef Terrance Nelson, de la Première Nation Anishnabe de la Roseau River au Manitoba, qui est aussi représentant de la Société warrior Okiijida et représentant au Canada du American Indian Mouvement, a proposé cette résolution afin « d’envoyer un message, que la richesse crée par les ressources naturelles de nos terres est ce qui supporte chaque canadien ». La communauté de Roseau River a annoncé que le 29 juin prochain, elle bloquerait deux lignes ferroviaires qui vont vers les États-Unis. Au moins 6 autres Premières Nations du Manitoba ont aussi l’intention de bloquer des lignes ferroviaires en même temps. Le coût financier des blocages de trains sera dans les millions de $, mais l’impact réel se fera sentir au niveau de l’image international du Canada qui sera ternie.

La manifestation à Montréal aura comme objectif principal de distribuer massivement des tracts d’information à la population dans le centre-ville sur les véritables enjeux du conflit à Six Nations afin de contrer la désinformation des médias corporatifs sur cette situation. De plus nous voulons exiger publiquement :

1- Que le gouvernement fédéral prenne toutes les mesures nécessaire afin qu'il y ait une résolution du politique du conflit sur la base d'une négociation de Nation à Nation et non par la répression policière ou militaire.

2- Que le gouvernement annule tous les mandats d'arrestation émis contre certains autochtones participant à l'action de récupération territoriale. L'État canadien ne peut criminaliser les personnes qui défendent avec dignité et de manière légitime leur territoire ancestral.

3- Libération inconditionnelle des prisonniers politiques de Six Nations qui ont été arrêtés suite à leur participation dans cette action de revendication territoriale.

4- Que le gouvernement fédéral explique publiquement pourquoi des agents américains du US Border Patrol et du Alchool Tobaco and Firearms (ATF) sont en service sur le sol canadien et ont fait une incursion sur le site de Six Nations, en collaboration avec la Police Provinciale de l'Ontario (OPP).

Pour le droit à l'autodétermination des peuples autochtones et à la défense de leur territoire ancestral!

(Forum des Femmes de Montréal)

Actualité - Rats Can Teach Us Something - Indian Summer Colonial Style

Franc-Parler publie un article de Kahentinetha Horn analysant le passé récent de l'État canadien dans la subjugation des Premières Nations. Ces racines coloniales se manifestent partout de Gustafsen Lake à Caledonia en passant par Oka. La lutte des Premières Nations pour leurs droits ancestraux est la lutte du peuple pour mettre fin au colonialisme, mettre de l'avant la souveraineté et renouveau les institutions.

Summer is the season when Canada likes to work on taking care of its "Indian problem". Now is the time for us to ponder what is before us. We would like to sit outside and shoot the breeze beside the lakes and streams. But the colonial bureaucrats are sitting in their air conditioned "war rooms" atop the tower of power.

This year their insulting tactics are really off the wall. First, they honored "Aboriginal Day" by dumping a truckload of manure on all Indigenous women. But it slid right off us like water off a duck's back. They can say anything they want. It doesn't bother us anymore. We've become almost immune to racism. Their trick was to have the RCMP pick up Sharon Simon of Kanehsatake and make as if she was the "Queen Pin" of the whole Hell's Angels. She and her daughter were the only natives among the 35 arrested all the way from Montreal to Saskatchewan. The way they told it, everything happened at Kanehsatake.

Next, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he wants all of us Indians to "get off" our land and "go home". What? We are home! He made this announcement on his last day in the legislature so nobody could question him. When asked what he would do if we stayed, he just said, "We'll see". Then he ran away for the summer. Member of the Legislature, Toby Barrett, brought a busload of paid Caledonia provocateurs to the Ontario legislature just before it closed. Something's being set up, right!

If history repeats itself, the summer months are when we can expect the big action. According to what has become a Canadian tradition, swarms of heavy duty cops and army troops will descend on Indian country. The Kanehsatake Oka Crisis was from July to September 1990. Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash both finished in early September 1995 - just before the fall sessions of the provincial legislatures and Parliament.

We weren't born yesterday! We can see what's coming. We've cornered the rat. Our land has been reclaimed by the Six Nations people. Everything we've done has been legitimate. They can't get out of it. What does a rat do when it can't escape? He stands up on his hind legs and bares his teeth. What do we do? Take off his head, of course.

The rat we are facing is the quagmire called "Canada" and all its slimy tentacles cops, judges, government, bureaucrats, corporations that control everything - ALL tied into their global control agenda.

What is it about us that they don't like? We own the land. Canada, the gig is up! Your :crown land" hoax has been exposed. The Rotino'shon:ni/Iroquois and our friends and allies are the true United Nations. Our law, the Kaianereh'ko:wa/Great Law of Peace, is meant for everybody. Your law is just for you. And you wonder why you have to use guns to get your way?

We are getting some clues foreshadowing the coming events. The "powers that be" are scared that we Indigenous people everywhere are losing our fear of them. We are freeing our minds. What's worse, their peons trapped in their society the ones they thought were enslaved forever - are joining us.

When we have no fear we are in the perfect state, the natural reality. We can face all obstacles and resolve them using our minds. This is what scares the rat the most. He has all the weapons of mass destruction which the rabid rat is ready to use. What we have to do is take the rat's head off by waking the people before they get rabies too.

When the politicians leave for the summer, the bureaucRATS and the police are in charge. That's when the shit really hits the fan.

The rat survives by lying, twisting the facts, making false public displays in the media, bluffing, using the ignorant masses to do their dirty work so they can blame them and walk away smelling like roses. Of course, behind all that is the gun. They take out phony charges in the courts, cajole, and deceive everybody. The rat sneaks around doing all kinds of bad shit.

There never were rats on Turtle Island. The "old world rats" came with the colonists. It was a sign of trouble when the rats jumped ship in 1775. They were actually a breed of sewer rats. They are opportunistic survivors who live with or near humans, parasiting off them. In the English language calling somebody a "rat" is an insult. To "rat on someone" is to betray them.

This is what we are up against.

By most standards rats are considered beasts or vermin. They can be very destructive to crops and property. Rats can quickly "populate" when they have no predators or have killed them all off. It is likely that between one-fifth to one-third of the world's total food output is either spoiled or destroyed by rats and other rodents. Who does this sound like? BureaucRATS are even worse. They take half the economy and more when they can.

Rats are nocturnal. They hide from the light. When rats are seen out and about in the daytime, it can mean their nesting areas are being disturbed or there is an overpopulation of them in the local area. This must be what's happening in Caledonia.

We need a vermin control measure or super rat catchers to stop the spread of the diseases they carry, such as colonialism and genocide. Rats are rarely seen in the open preferring to hide in dirty places and dark holes like air conditioned offices. When they're cornered, they take sick leave or go on long summer breaks.

We need a "Pied Piper", like they had in Hamlin, dressed in red, yellow and black to guide the rats back to where they came from. Just like the story of July 13th 1336, the corporation and the mayor did not keep their promises [sound familiar?]. As a result all their children were lured away and never seen again. History is repeating itself. The colonial rats too may lose their children. Their children may end up following the ways of the Indigenous people. The cat, the Great Law of Peace, is out of the bag. Look out rats. Here comes the cat!

(Mohawk Nation News - Kahentinetha Horn - 25 June 2006)