CAN ANYONE BECOME KILLERS UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES?
MNN. Sep.22, 2023. Does killing one group have to do with the relationship between the individual and the state? The state says this is the group for you to hate and this is how we deal with them. The citizens are the instruments of the state. When the state no longer has power or loses an election, how do they continue to undermine these targets. Who carries on the violence that was designed by the state for them? It is important to think about what the state is allowing its citizens to do with impunity when they vote them into office.
The ruthless hatred of the indigenous becomes state doctrine. We were driven off our land and not accepted in their society. Many anti-indigenous laws were passed. We were systematically excluded, stigmatized, humiliated and killed.
Mass murder was one of the first steps. It was between us and them. We were studied and analyzed to find our “weaknesses”. It was a public policy process. Then it became a secret while the genocide was being carried out. They are “them” and we are the ‘others’. We are defined as different and treated different. This makes them willing to treat us different while the rest look away. That’s the basis of carrying out mass murders.
In the beginning the whites were given permits to attack us, kill us, take our property and hide our bodies. They gathered us up and murdered us. It became routine. Then they built their houses, towns and cities on top of us.
HOW DO THEY JUSTIFY THE KILLING?
Mass murders were committed by thinking people. Not machines. They understand what they are doing. The perpetrators plan it for the rest of their society. For example, some would only kill the children who would die if they did not have their parents. So it was not blind obedience. It was by choice. They saw themselves as morally righteous. They reasoned that if the children grew up and learned what was done to the indigenous people, we would become enemies of their state. So there had to be no memories. To them killing a human being was reasonable. We were considered non-human and expendable and were hunted down.
What will happen to Canadians when they lose their power? They did not think it was wrong to kill us.
There were those who easily learned to kill human beings and hide their crime, which they did not think was a crime. Some enjoyed torturing the victims which they still do today. [Joyce Echequan, St. Jovite]. There were the passive ones who did what they were told to do. And the objectors who tried to object, but could not find fault with not killing the indigenous people and so they helped carry out the murders.
THERE WAS NO NEED TO KILL OUT OF CONVICTION TO BE MOTIVATED BY STATE IDEOLOGY.
The killers did not have to be brainwashed by indoctrination, or fascism to become prolific killers. They would shoot their own mother or sister if they were ordered to. We think they should not be allowed to walk free, but Canadian society gives them a free pass.
Today Canadians and Americans want to forget and walk away with an “I’m sorry”. How many invaders were involved and benefitted from these mass murders? Who was and is still behind it? In the US there are 340 million foreign citizens and in Canada 40 million more who all benefit from this genocide. The false concept of private property originated from the “Doctrine of Discovery”, which is legal fiction. There is lack of will to punish them. They keep on doing the dirty work for the state. The state passed laws to allow genocide, which are still on the books. Genocide is not illegal. Millions killed us and don’t realize how it was carefully planned and carried out.
If you were ordered to kill, can you refrain? Such crimes against humanity must be stopped and cannot be repeated.
Canada and US are cowards and frauds. They did not conquer us. They came here to run away from tyranny in Europe to come here and run their own tyranny. They killed our children without any empathy or due process to get rid of us all. There is no reason in the universe to kill children. There is no statute of limitations on murder. Somebody paid to carry it out and somebody benefitted. It was the government and its people. The same government that wants to “whitenize” us. They did it without any qualms whatsoever. They wanted to live on our land without us!
We were murdered. It was government planned, lead and endorsed. And Canadians vote for them to continue it. Canadians have never been asked if they agree with their governing structure.
It was quite the plan. Rez schools were in remote areas. They were concentration camps burying little children in their midst away from prying eyes. Most Canadians didn’t know what was going on by design. The children were abused and then disappeared. But their spirits will remain and direct the karma.
As slide master, Ry Cooder, suggests: “Now the prodigal was a forward child. His mind was not to obey. But after he left his father’s house, he thought he had gone astray. I believe, I believe, I believe that I will go back home. . . ”
[Now, the prodigal son was a forward child, his mind was not to obey But after he left his father’s house he thought he had gone astray
That’s why I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And I believe that, I believe that I will go back home Well, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And be a servant of the Lord
Now, his father saw him coming he met him with a smile He threw his arms around him, saying, “This is my darling child”
Now, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And I believe that, I believe that I will go back home Well, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And be a servant of the Lord
The father asked the prodigal “Son, why you been gone so long? Well, did you so love the world and forget your happy home”
The prodigal said, “I searched for true religion But no faith and no peace could I find Until I came to a little place called Bakersfield, that eased my troublin’ mind”
That’s why I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And I believe that, I believe that I will go back home Well, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And be a servant of the Lord (well I)
I wandered into a tavern where a music band was playin’ Now, the steel guitar rang out so sweet, I feel that I was prayin’ And I asked a comely waitress, is this a new teaching Yeah, she said there is no God but God, and Ralph Mooney is his name I said, let me empty your ashtray, Mr. Mooney And if the drunks interfere I’ll be sad But just as long as you sit there on the bandstand And play your guitar like Buddha, I’ll be glad The father asked the prodigal, Did you smell the sweet perfume and hear the angel band? He said, dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud music Is the only kind of truth I’ll ever understand
I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And I believe that, I believe that I will go back home Well, I believe that, I believe that I will go back home And be a servant of the Lord
I believe this, I believe that I will, yes I believe . . .]
IERA’KWAH EXPLAINING TEIO’HATEH/TWO ROW IN EUROPE.
1.OPENING. Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples now admits that the relationship between the indigenous people and the uninvited Europeans began with the teio’hateh, Two Row Wampum agreement. Two entities agree to live separately according to the kaianerekowa, the great peace, or leave. We allowed them to live here temporarily – with us in our canoe and they in their ships. We would share only the river. The indigenous peoples and the newcomers belonged to different families with different languages, culture, laws and ways of life. Europe’s monarchs acknowledged we were not their subjects and they could not interfere with our laws and customs. As turtle island is all indigenous land, we provided to the European “social groups” the use of land the depth of a plow to grow food. They could never own it or form a political party. They needed our permission to do anything on our land.
THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS WERE CLAN BASED WITH TIES TO THE LAND.
2.FORGETTING TWO ROW. Then the colonizers began to see things their foreign way. They violated the Two Row and adopted a “geographic” description of themselves, that they were North Americans. The original inhabitants were clan based tied to the land. The colonizers fought with their European cousins over who could come here, which is our right. Then they started to impose their military laws and ways on everyone on turtle island based on the treaties the Europeans made to end their wars with each other in Europe. [Seven Years War and others]. They never consulted the onkwehonweh, the original peoples who had always respected the land since time immemorial. Instead of staying in their own ship they decided to take over the whole river.
3.DOMINION “CLAIMS’. Some of Britain’s North American colonies confederated in 1867 to form the colony of CANADA. The new political organization was a “dominion”, a colony, because the visitors decided they had a right to dominate the land and all the indigenous people on it. Instead of subjects of their king or queen, they began to base their identity on the indigenous land they were squatting on. They changed from accepting our generosity to trying to dominate us.
4.BRITISH SUBJECTS. There was no permission from us for this assertion of power. Canada was a British colony and Britain could not give her subjects here anymore than she had to give, which was nothing. The British subjects ignored the Two Row. Britain could not give their subjects on turtle island the right to make laws for the indigenous people because we were not British subjects. At that point they had to leave as they had become trespassers.
5.GEOGRAPHIC DEFINITION. Our ancestors were not consulted about these moves. They knew we could never change the terms of the Two Row. Our land belongs to the unborn. We are the caretakers of mother earth. She cannot be sold or conveyed to anyone and is governed by the kaianerekowa, the great peace. The land was provided by creation to our past present and future generations. Britain’s colonial subjects had no right to force Indigenous peoples into their European territorial concepts of nationality and property. They could not impose their new geographic definition of themselves on us.
6.INDIGENOUS FREEDOM. The colonists are still subjects of their kings. Indigenous are not, never were. and never will be. The life of being free and having a voice was a revelation to Europeans. We are all sovereign persons and part of our own nations and clans. We were each sovereign persons placed by creation in various areas of turtle island to carry out our duties to our mother earth and all life.
7.OUR VOICE. The colonists didn’t want to be subjects anymore. They changed their view of law and international relations. Today Europeans have formally embraced equality along with the rest of the world. Britain no longer has subject status. The colonists define “nationality” on usurp territorial terms rather than adhering to the kaianerekowa, the great peace. Without our knowledge or consent their citizenship became based on place of birth undermining the kaianerekowa. They still do not grasp the full meaning of equality. Their institutions don’t give their citizens a voice. Their First Nations Governance Act shows that they don’t respect the voice of the indigenous people who have had total jurisdiction of this land since time immemorial. This Act of 2002 was proposed to municipalize native land under private banks and extinguish the sovereign original people. [Today it is the proposed “Framework Agreement”.] They completely ignored their obligations under the Two Row Wampum.
8.REAL INDIGENOUS IDENTITY. The colonizers can change the way they think of themselves as long as they adhere completely to the great peace here. They cannot define our identity nor appropriate our land and resources. Since Confederation Britain’s colonial subjects have been violating Britain’s agreements with the Indigenous peoples.
9.CORPORATION CAN’T OWN THE LAND. Confederation and the British North America Act 1867 did not give Britain the right to let its colonists violate the Two Row Wampum. Britain knew that its people could only come onto our land as a separate “social group” that would share the river with us. But Britain’s subjects fell into the illusionary idea that they owned the land. This lie is taught in their indoctrination centres called the education system.
DESKAHEH 1923
10.DESKAHEH & S.C.C. The iera’kwa, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy knew this back in 1920. In desperation they sent Levi General Deskaheh to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to stop the Department of Indian Affairs from violating the British North America Act 1867. This Act only gave Canada the right to negotiate with us in place of Britain. the colonists cannot impose their Admiralty laws on indigenous people. But Canadian officials would not let Deskaheh have his day incourt.
11.TROOPS ATTACK SIX NATIONS. If Deskaheh was allowed to prove that what they were doing was illegal, these bureaucrats would have been out of work. So they sent troops, the RCMP, to invade the part of Six Nations Grand River territory that remained after a century of theft and fraud. The military deposed the traditional government, the oldest governments in the world, installed their band council puppets and stole all our land and created the Indian reservation on October 25, 1924. [Indian Lands Act]. *Since then the colonists have refused to deal with the real traditional leaders, speaking only to their faux elected band councils they have imposed under colonial laws.
12.DESKAHEH & LEAGUE OF NATION. Six Nations diplomats had been honoured guests in Britain’s courts. By the 1920’s Britain was refusing to deal with the problems that had befallen their colony. The Iroquois Confederacy sent Deskaheh to the League of Nations to appeal for justice. The sovereign Six Nations, iera’kwah, were qualified to join and wanted membership in this new international organization so our arguments could be presented to protect our legal rights. The Netherlands, Persia, Estonia, Panama and Ireland all agreed that the Six Nations complaints should be examined by the international court. But Deskaheh was ambushed again by Canadian officials lead by D.C. Scott skulking behind the scenes to make sure the case never got a formal public hearing. They lied to the League saying there was no Two Row and no Great Peace.
The Lands Act is part of the Indian Advancement Act 1924 that imposed the blood quantum legislation [apartheid]. It was the 100 year “business plan” to extinguish the native people, due for completion in 2024.
13.INDIGENOUS ARE ALLIES. Today, the colonists know we indigenous will always maintain our right to independence. We were allies, not subjects of Britain. We are not part of the Corporation of CANADA – the colony that became a corporate successor state. The colonists imposed foreign Admiralty laws on us in violation of both the Two Row and modern International law. They imposed their economic sanctions upon us that have put us in a state of destitute poverty compared to all the colonists. As Deskaheh put it in his last address before he was assassinated in 1924, it’s as if Mexico tried to apply its laws in the United States.
14.MEANING OF EQUALITY. The problem is European colonists don’t understand the meaning of equality. They have changed how they define themselves. When we made the Two Row Treaty with France and then Britain a month later, we both defined ourselves in terms of ‘personal’ relationships. We are sovereign individuals who are part of our clans. European nations are based on subject status and their allegiance to their monarch. Their shift to a turtle island territorial definition of themselves has no legal basis. They have no right to impose themselves or their laws on us or to take our land and resources without our knowledge or consent. As a successor state, the colonists are still bound by Britain’s treaty obligations. The colonists are guests on our land. Instead they have presumed to take over our whole house. The colonists must work out fair and valid agreements with us, the original inhabitants of turtle island, to our satisfaction if they want to remain here.
15.CANADIANS ARE IMMIGRANTS. The colonizers celebrate “Canada Day” aware that CANADA is a corporation, not an independent nation. Canadian nationality does not exist. Nationality is tied to having clans, shared ancestry, native language, not two foreign languages, a traditional culture and land. CANADA has none of these. The settlers and their ancestors have in common fleeing from oppressive regimes and immigrating onto someone else’s land and then oppressing them. We have no obligation to care for them. They never accepted the protection under the great peace, which alienated them.
16.DOMINION FEUDAL CUSTOM. Canada is a “dominion” that was produced by Britian’s will to dominate. “Dominion” is a feudal custom carried to Britain by foreign lords who conquered the land and the people on it. These deeply rooted cultural habits violate the egalitarian respect represented by the Two Row Wampum.
17.CANADA NON-EXISTENT. Consequently, the whole existence of Canada as a legal country is the biggest ruse played on the world. The colonist’s self-definition cannot appropriate our political identity, our resources and our land. This violates the initial treaties made by Britain with the Indigenous peoples.
18.CANADA VIOLATES NATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. The colonists violate both the European version of international law and our Indigenous law. The colonists violate the principle of human equality, which they now recognized in a formal way in the mid-twentieth century – after the atrocities of World War II – when they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Canada hesitates to ratify UNDRIP UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as it recognizes that Canada is not a country. The immigrants would have to vacate, CANADA would dissolve and the great peace would be the only law that would prevail.
19.MIGHT DOES NOT MAKE RIGHT. Deskaheh tried to present this argument in the 1920’s but the colonists didn’t want to hear us explain once again our demands for them to respect our jurisdiction over our land and our political and economic rights. We are sovereign and they are not! When Americans had their revolution they threw off their subject status. Then they went crazy, grabbing land, killing people and destroying resources. They called us the natural people “Indians” and treated us as vermin. Canadians accepted the American policy that “might makes right” and that Europeans had a god-given right to grab lands, possessions, resources and lives. Canada bought into the sleazy American dream. This premise applies to all of the Americas, north and south.
20.INDIGENOUS HAVE EVERYTHING. What happened was sordid. In the subsequent treaties on the prairies there was no meeting of the minds with the native people there. Anglo-Canadians pretend those people agreed to give up everything they had! The indigenous are aware of the agreement to co-exist with them as social groups. In our case the Two Row created a real meeting of minds. The British recognized that we are nations that give permission for anybody to live here according to the great peace. It’s still in effect.
21.TERRITORIAL DEFINITION. The Anglo-Canadian one-sided decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves gave them no right to take over our land and resources. They have no agreements with us the real natural indigenous. Their corporate Canadian band councils are on the enemies team. They need our consent to our full satisfaction to do anything on our land. We won’t succumb to their lust for our resources or to ransack our land. It’s all ours and they all know it.
22.WHERE’S RECEIPT FOR TURTLE ISLAND. The colonists purport that all people are equal, at the same time illegally imposes laws and beliefs on us. As a successor state Canada is still bound by the limitations of Britain’s treaty obligations which they must fulfill. They would have to leave, or leave us alone or abide by the great peace. Since whites don’t have clans, they are disqualified from living here. They can only live here as a separate social group under the authority of the clans established by the great peace. This is international law which Canada agreed to. The colonizers have no legal right to claim dominion over the inherent original people, or to take our lands and possessions. They have not worked out fair and valid agreements with us that consider the rights of our people now and into the future. We are the “people of the forever” placed by creation on mother earth. Canada’s current attempts to force us original people to prove in their foreign private courts that we have a claim to our own lands is ridiculous and unlawful by international law. They must show us their permits to be on our land, to ransack our resources and to leave a trail of blood and pollution behind. The colonists have no receipt for our land.
What part of the “depth of a plow share” don’t these alien invaders understand? All these points apply equally to the United States. Only the foundation of the great peace and two row of equality, having a voice through concensus, justice and truth can eliminate the current pandemic of hatred, injustice and racism that is tearing up the world.
The rotinoshonni are awaiting an invitation from McGill to deliver this speech again.
In 1924 Duncan Campbell Scott set up the whole concentration camp POW/reserve and apartheid system. October 25, 2023, is the 99th year of the 100 year “business plan” to rid Canada of the indigenous problem. We are standing strong even though our hands are bound. Canada should be more concerned about their own dissolution. Upon intruding turtle island, the ratinaraken were welcome to follow “The white roots of peace” and sit under the shade of the tree of peace. Fellow Mohawk Robbie Robertson does it so well bridging the people of the world together with this song:
MNN. Sep. 15/23. September 14, 2023. Quebec Superior Court, District of Montreal. Oral submissions by Kahnistensera vs SQI, McGill et al. Judge will make a decision next Monday: REGARDING 20 T0 70 FALSE POSITIVES FLAGGED BY THREE DOGS & GPR [ground penetrating radar]. Mohawk Mothers. face ‘denialism’, ‘disbanding’ of Expert Panel, and other questionable actions.
Kwetiio, Bear. Clan: “A grave matter brings me here which. is about to get disastrous. The last time we were here was to discuss the findings, by Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs (HHRDD), of the scent of decaying human remains in front of the wall of the Hersey Pavilion, the Nurses’ Residence of the Royal Victoria Hospital. Since then, in several public releases – and again in Pierre Major’s affidavit filed yesterday – McGill University quotes a study underscoring between 20 and 70 percent of false positives for HHRDD. What McGill doesn’t mention is that this number is exponentially reduced when other dogs alert. At the Hersey pavilion, three dogs flagged. McGill’s communications also didn’t mention was a 12-year-old study, which specifies that dogs become more efficient with further training – and HHRDD have gotten much better since 12 years. They don’t mention either that the study’s sample was only three dog teams, that it was only based on teeth, and that it defined false positives,: “based on alert distance from target, it is important to recognize that these false positives do not necessarily translate to the equivalent of a dog alerting in a blank area”.. They don’t mention either that the dogs in this study were not HHRDD but HRD, which smell recent human remains instead of historic, older ones, and which have an entirely different training. Another study, this one from 2021, that was cited by the Panel of archaeologists but not by McGill, states that “the probability that two dogs would have a false positive at the same box is less than 0.06%”. This is from “Applying Canine Detection in Support of Collaborative Archaeology”, by Grebenkemper et al.
We sent the full exhibit this morning and we brought copies of the relevant pages for all parties. Right in front of the wall of the Hersey Pavilion of the Royal Vic, not two but three dogs alerted. Calling this an absence of evidence is outright denialism and rejection of science. Last time we were here, Mister Justice, the Defendants denied that there was any evidence of remains. Now they are stating the same notion publicly, that no evidence has been found, that the investigation is over. They don’t mention the woman’s dress – that was handled without any forensic care when it was taken out of the ground and that was admittedly almost put in the garbage. They don’t mention the old children’s shoes, all the allegedly “animal” bones, the ball of hair or the very concerning so-called slag, this purple/maroonish substance poured all over a layer of soil, which was apparently used to “sanitize” it, and as we recently learned, perhaps also to decompose organic matter. That we don’t quite know, because the Defendants and their contractors did not deem advisable to study it further.
We were told that HHRDD dogs can detect human DNA even after bodies are decomposed. This has to be looked into. But it wasn’t done, in the absence of the Panel to recommend it. For the same reason we were not able to investigate the horrid fetid smell coming from a layer of soil, that slowly dissipated when it dried in a pile under the sun, nor the smell that came from the pipe protruding out of the Hersey building, exactly where the three dogs alerted.
Denialism is what we are facing. It is sad, sorry, and for us, retraumatizing. Constant gaslighting. The Panel and dog handlers all suggested searching a 10 meter radius around the spot. Ethnoscop asked about entering the building. The SQI refused. End of the story! They claim the investigation is over, there are no remains! In addition to the 9 potential graves detected, of which we ended up having a (rather botched) report yesterday – not as a report shared with us, but as an exhibit shared by Mrs. Mayes from SQI after the 4pm deadline.
The GPR survey by GeoScan detected a great number of unknown anomalies in the Priority Zone which have never received any attention, even though GeoScan’s report deemed that they could be graves of children or graves without coffins, like our ancestors did. Those anomalies have been entirely pushed to the wayside by the Defendants, and silenced in all their communications. A cluster of potential graves and unknown anomalies is situated immediately next to where the Defendants started heavy excavation work on Tuesday, in defiance of the upcoming court hearing. on Sep. 14/23. Mrs. Mayes’ affidavit also includes another piece of information which we were never made aware of, even though we were the very instigators of this whole process. In Exhibit SMC-15, Mr Whiting, from GeoScan, responds to the SQI complaining that their report suggested the numerous unknown anomalies could be unmarked graves, by saying: “What I usually recommend in these cases is to absolutely approach the “potential” graves as if they are in fact graves, and investigate with full archaeological protocols. In the case of the “unknown” features, these are normally approached with a sampling strategy. In particular I usually suggest archaeological excavation/testing of the closest Unknown features to the features we ID as “potential”, say within a 10 m radius of each potential. If any of the unknowns turn out in fact to be burials, then expand the radius another 5 m and continue testing unknowns until all are negative. There may also be some unknowns or clusters of unknowns some distance away from any potentials that should be tested. Especially if they look rectangular in map view”.
Mr Whiting of GeoScan then suggests drafting a sampling strategy. The SQI do not respond to this professional advice, nor will it ever, as it is now to be assumed, because SQI executives are not experts in searching for unmarked graves, and are not qualified to manage this investigation. In fact all their actions indicate they do not wish it ever happened at all. They refused to share the data with the Panel who asked and who. were jointly selected with them through painstaking negotiations. The settlement agreement specifies that all parties must be guided by the Panel’s recommendations as to who should analyze the data. A clear breach of the agreement. They refused to share it with the Canadian Archaeological Association’s Working Group on Unmarked Graves, the top experts in Canada, for a peer review, as asked for by the Panel too. This is McGill, a world class institution and the SQI, a public body from the Quebec government, doing this. Refusing expertise. Disbanding the Panel, to simply take over the whole process.
It is unexplainable that any credible investigation would operate without project managers who know what they are doing and have expertise. Agreeing on three experts to provide recommendations was the bottom line of the agreement. To stop arguing, and let the experts decide what is the best to way to find, protect and respect human burials on the site of this hospital. This is where some of worst medical experiments in human history took place. We repeat again it: we are here to find our children, to find the truth of what happened, and who is accountable.
Cherry picking which of the Panel’s recommendations they would implement came to define the defendants’ methodology. The Panel asked to carefully excavate GPR targets and sift the soil? The Defendants rather used mechanical excavators rushing through 8 holes in a single day and immediately refilled them back, unsifted. The Panel asked to use S4 Probes in the Soil. It wasn’t done. On July 25th we were literally attacked by the SQI’s security, who grabbed our camera to erase images of their racially charged insults of Indigenous elders on the site. McGill and SQI gave us their best assurances that they would not be there anymore. Last Sunday, who do we see on the site where GPR was being done? The same security guards! After the assault we couldn’t return there for three weeks and the piles of soil excavated around the dog’s target were just left to the rain, unattended. The Panel wrote to say they should be covered.
That’s the value of having a Panel overview an investigation. The Panel also said at that time that it would be necessary to involve a forensic specialist with the Panel to protect the chain of custody of evidence. The Defendants simply dismissed their recommendation, refusing to treat the search for unmarked graves in any credible and professional way. Many other Panel recommendations that were rejected by the Defendants emphasized that it was necessary for the Panel to follow up on the implementation of the recommendations, to adapt to the reality of what is happening on the ground. The Panel reported that it needs “to be informed of the outcome of any related work – Archival research, HHRDD investigations, GPR survey, S4 probe and monitoring. The Panel will review these reports and provide updated recommendations (if warranted) within 1 month of receipt of each report”. A Panel member explained that it was a professional and ethical obligation to follow up on their recommendations.
SQI and McGill decided to manage everything themselves, through contracts and non-disclosure agreements, to be judge and jury, and to manage and argue that somehow it’s a good thing that experts are not involved and have no say. McGill University submits that the agreement has not been breached, that only monitoring was required in the zone where they excavated last Tuesday, and that there is nothing to see. “Just trust McGill”, they said in this Court last October. The Defendants do not dispute, apparently, that the spirit of the agreement was breached many times by them as well as their letters. McGill and SQI suggest that the agreement limited the mandate of the Panel to selecting archaeological techniques, and that they had no say in how they would be applied. Mcgill and SQI would entirely take over the investigation. We strongly disagree with such a distorted interpretation of the agreement. However, the Defendants state that the only way the Panel could come back would be under Section 17 of the agreement, which provides that “if following the execution of the Techniques, there are no graves identified in a given area, the excavation work can begin on a rolling basis, in a sensitive manner with appropriate monitoring that will allow a prompt reaction in the event there is some unexpected discovery, at which point McGill, SQI and the Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera will seek the advice of the Panel as to how to move forward.”
The last time we were in this Court after the dog’s finding, McGill and SQI argued that since this was an unexpected discovery Section 17 would apply, and they deferred to the panel asking to excavate a 10 meter radius around the target. A 10 meter radius from which the Defendants somehow managed to exclude inside the building, even though the target is just next to the wall. Now they entirely changed their interpretation, and they say that Section 17 does not apply and that there is no use bringing in the Panel. We could think that they’d rather rely on the expertise of the service providers, like GPR technicians, but that’s not even the case since they dismissed GeoScan’s recommendation to investigate unknown anomalies that are the closest to potential grave anomalies.
The Defendants now suggest that the only “unexpected discovery” that could bring back any sort of expert in the picture would be after a body is found, after a backhoe or an excavator hits human bones. Yet the SQI admitted, in an email by Sophie Mayes shared on August 1st (Exhibit MM-8), that there is no way that the Panel could be involved if a body was found: “If Ethnoscop’s professionals identify human bones on site, the latter will be legally obligated to immediately inform the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the Montreal Police Department (including the Coroner). Consequently, in the event of such discovery, neither Ethnoscop, the SQI, the Panel, McGill nor the Kahnistensera will have control over the following steps.” Therefore, the SQI ruled out the possibility that the “unexpected discovery” bringing back the Panel as per Section 17 of the agreement applies to human burials. The only other possible interpretation of Paragraph 17 is that an “unexpected discovery” actually means something three HHRDD alerting on human remains, or Ground Penetrating Radar yielding concerning unanalyzed data like what was unexpectedly found in the zone immediately adjacent to where the Defendants have started excavating Tuesday.
Article 13 has also explicitly been breached. It provides that “SQI, McGill, and the Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera agree to be (…) guided by the recommendations of the Panel as to the specialists to carry out the techniques and analyze the relevant data”. The Panel recommended the Canadian Archaeological Association CAA and themselves to analyze the data. The Defendants have simply refused. Article 1 states “that archival and testimonial work will begin immediately and the results of such work will be communicated to the Panel (defined below) on an ongoing basis to inform their work.” Given the termination of the Panel’s mandate, they won’t have time to do this, so the Defendants have breached this article. As they breached articles 2, 3 and 4, where McGill, the McGill University Health Center and the Attorney General of Canada promise expedited access to their archives, “including restricted files.”
Canada is still slowly processing an ATIP request we made more than a year ago, while McGill’s most important files on their psychiatrists’ potential involvement with Indigenous people need approval from the Canadian Army- still now, 70 years from the fact. The McGill University Health Center has provided no record at all, not even finding aids. As Kahentinetha will explain later, article 9, that allow us to appoint Cultural Monitors to oversee the respect of Onkwehonweh protocol on site, has been breached by threats to our security. And finally, by disbanding the Panel, the Defendants breached Article 11, which states that the “The mandate of the Panel is to assess and identify the appropriate archeological techniques to be used on different areas of the site to detect whether there are unmarked graves.”If its mandate is terminated, it is impossible for the Panel to assess and identify the appropriate archaeological techniques, except if we define “to identify techniques” as simply selecting them.
This is what we call a sharp dealing, breaching the spirit of reconciliation. We submit that these breaches to the agreement are prejudicial to all searches for unmarked graves throughout Turtle Island. It will affect all indigenous people for generations to come in setting precedents that will have implications for the overall relationships between us. We have a protocol called the One Dish and One Spoon. It unites all Indigenous peoples and played a huge role in the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The story is in the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Path that we follow as the Rotinonshonni confederacy. The Peacemaker Dekanawida showed a big dish, saying that all people share it. It’s our shared territory, our mother, that provides our subsistence. Dekanawida said that when sharing the great dish with one spoon, nobody should use sharp objects, so as to not hurt each other.
Canada has admitted genocide. At the National Gathering on Unmarked Burial in Montreal last week, the Attorney General of Canada said that “we cannot deny and we should not deny what happened in residential schools or their effect on many generations”. Our relationship has to change. Everyone wants it to change. We asked this Honorable Court to help the Defendants, all the institutions that verbally commit to reconciliation, to make that step in the 21st century to truly change the way we live alongside one another. Our duty as Kahnistensera (life-givers) is to caretake the land and the children of past, present and future generations. We are following our own law, the Kaianerehkowa. It is the way we have conducted ourselves since time immemorial to keep peace on this land and to help creation continue and grow. This place, Tiotiake, is our land, where our culture originated. Tekanontak (Mount Royal) and what is now the campus of McGill University contains the remains of one our biggest villages in all the land of the flint, Kanienkeh, our territory. Our people and children were murdered in order to get the land, to cut the connection between us, Kahnistensera, and the land. It is the greatest power: the power of the relationship between a mother and her children. We have the right to accomplish our traditional duties as Kahnistensera. It is not only the appearance of a right, it is our responsibility. The irreparable harm is not only certain to happen in the short term, it was already partially started when the Defendants started excavating, even refusing to wait until the court date. Once they disrupt those pipes which are, as McGill and SQI admitted, PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL AT THIS TIME, they will necessarily have to excavate the whole Priority Zone area, including where the dogs detected remains. We hope that the damage already done is not too great, but it is certainly not something that anything else than a halt to the work and a reassessment of the situation can buy.
Nothing can compensate the loss of the trust of our people, of all Onkwehonwe, in the responsibility of McGill, Quebec and Canada to protect the basis of our human rights. To halt excavation until the origin of the scent of human remains is found, and until the GPR findings are studied in a serious way is the only honorable thing to do. For these reasons, I ask the court to grant the declaratory relief and safeguard order which will allow us to search for our children in a peaceful, professional, fruitful and therefore timely manner. NIAWEN:KOWA O:NEN
The late Willie Dunn put together words, ideas and laments to remind us to keep going: O Canada: Our home and native land One hundred thousand years We’ve walked upon your sands With saddened hearts We’ve seen you robbed and stripped Of everything you prized While they cut down the trees We were shunted aside To the jails and the penitentiaries
O Canada Once glorious and free O Canada We sympathize with thee O Canada
MOHAWK MOTHERS SOON SETTING OUT FOR ANOTHER DAY IN MONTREAL COURT
September 12th , 2023, “Mohawk Mothers Return to Court Thursday As McGill and SQI Drill Holes At Royal Victoria Hospital” Tio’tià:ke (Montreal) –
The Mohawk Mothers held a press conference at the corner of Pine and Peel sts. on September 12, 2023, at 2:30pm.
The Kahnistensera filed an Emergency Motion to halt drilling and excavation at the Royal Victoria Hospital site, which will be heard on Thursday September 14 at the Montreal. Superior Court. The Emergency Motion details breaches to the Settlement Agreement by McGIll and the SQI that the Mohawk Mothers repeatedly raised in direct talks about the way they are handling the archaeological investigation ordered by the Quebec Superior Court to search for unmarked graves of victims of medical experiments.
The Kahnistensera are shocked that McGill and SQI have pressed ahead with construction on September 11, 2022 by drilling a large number of holes marking the beginning of a series of excavations.
The same day, McGill University issued a message to all its staff and students, declaring that the investigation of the zone is complete and that no evidence of graves was found. The Mohawk Mothers see these as major provocations, as the investigation is far from complete. McGill’s message emphasizes favourable findings while concealing or downplaying several discoveries that confirm the possibility of unmarked burials at the New Vic site. These discoveries require further follow-up to determine whether the New Vic work can safely proceed.
On August 29, 2023 the Mohawk Mothers filed a motion for a safeguard order to enforce the settlement agreement signed by all parties in April 2023. This follows a landmark injunction stopping work in October 2022. The Kahnistensera flagged several breaches to the letter and spirit of the settlement agreement: McGill and SQI disbanded the panel of three archaeologist experts agreed upon by all parties to make recommendations on the findings.
The Kahnistensera’s court files show that McGill and the SQI refused to follow several recommendations from the archaeologists, such as sifting the soil of areas where anomalies of potential bodies were located. Court documents also reveal that the SQI refused to share data from Ground Penetrating Radar GPR with the Canadian Archaeology Association CAA and the panel of experts. They silenced numerous “unknown” anomalies that the GPR report say could possibly be graves of children without coffins. Several artifacts, including a dress, children’s shoes and bones excavated in a zone where search dogs detected the scent of human remains have not yet been examined by experts. The origin of the scent of human remains picked up by search dogs has not been established.
The Kahnistensera state the SQI and McGill have refused to allow the search dogs to return to the site to sniff the piles of soil that were excavated or to determine whether the smell came from inside the building, where archaeologists were denied access.
“Since disbanding the Panel, McGill and SQI have basically decided to take over the whole investigation. They have been opposed to it even happening from the start,” said Kwetiio, a Mohawk Mother. “Their behaviour goes against the court order that this would be Indigenous-led”, she said, “This could have been done the right way and provide closure to survivors and the families.”
On July 25th the work stopped for three weeks after the Mohawk Mothers and Cultural Monitors were attacked by security guards working for the SQI. The guards assaulted a person to take his phone and erase a video, while someone else recorded racist insults and threats against the Mohawk elders and cultural monitors.”
According to Kahentinetha, “On September 11 we saw these same two security guards on the archaeological site. The SQI told us they had been removed”. Even though the settlement agreement allowed Indigenous cultural monitors to be on the site and monitor the work, Kahentinetha says they now fear for their safety. “The security guards who attacked us are still there, while SQI and McGill want to rush in large-scale excavation for their New Vic project. In fact they drilled those holes yesterday without us being present. They didn’t even give us safety training for working in zones under construction with heavy machinery, and we don’t have the proper equipment. The settlement agreement said we have to be there, but the conditions are extremely dangerous.” The Kahnistensera had already flagged violations of construction safety regulations such as masonry material stacked higher than 1.8 meters next to an unsanitary toilet that cultural monitors were expected to use. “Are we still being treated like animals, like a problem to get rid of, in the heart of Montreal, where the villages of our ancestors sit,” said Kahentinetha. “But we will not take genocide anymore, both Canadian and Mohawk laws affirm this,” she said.
The Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) is a Kahnawake-based group that helps Indigenous women carry out their traditional cultural duty as caretakers of the land, to protect all life, including their children and ancestors. They have been engaged in a legal challenge with promoters of the New Vic project to stall future excavation of the former Royal Victoria Hospital site until a proper archaeological investigation is conducted, using the traditional protocols of the Kaianere’kó:wa (Great Peace).
Let us look at the kahnisensera portrayed as ‘Dixie’ in this song, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, by The Band. “Virgil King is the name and I ride the Danville train. Til Stoneman’s Calvary came and tore off the tracks again. It was the winter of ’65. We were hungry and barely alive. I took the train into Richmond that day. It was a time i remember oh so well. Chorus: The night they drove old dixie down and all the bells were ringing. The night they drove old Dixie down, and all the people were singing. they were ….”
Quebec Superior Court #500-17-120-468-221 kahentinetha et al v. SQI, McGill et al.
Our brother the eagle landed on the highest point of the McGill Women’s Pavilion on September 3, 2023., with a message! A crew is digging the place in front of this building where three dogs found human remains. The kahnistensera and cultural monitors are staying on the path that leads to the great peace and finding our children, who were the victims of the MKULTRA and other experiments. No one will take us off that path.
McGill is on the land of the kanienkehaka since time imemmorial. No land can be sold, transferred or in any way taken from the original people who have been placed on onowarekeh by creation. Our mother, turtle island, belongs to the unborn children. All life is dedicated to caretaking the land for the forthcoming happiness and dignity of our children. Intruders who do not live by the way of natural life as created by the kasatenserakowa saoiera have no place on turtle island.
One of our belated Mohawk brothers, Robbie Robertson, said it perfectly: “In circles we gather. Moonlight fires are healing. Taking us back, make us go back. Beating hearts as one, this is indian county. You’re in indian country. [Robbie Robertson and the “Red Road Emsemble “Stomp Dance”].
SQI SOCIETE QUEBECOISE DES INFRASTRUCTUES-and-ROYAL VICTORIA HOSPITAL-and-MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER-and-MCGILL UNIVERSITY-and-CITY OF MONTREAL-and-ATTORNEY GENRAL OF CANADA Defendants
-and-
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF QUEBEC Mis-en-cause
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OFFICE OF THE INDEPENDANT SPECIAL INTERLOCUTOR ON MISSING CHILDREN & UNMARKED GRAVES & BURIAL SITES ASSOCIATED WITH INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS Third Party Intervenor
As the story goes, the first land out of the water was turtle island. All four races were created here on turtle island. All living things have the same mother. She is the earth. We all have the same source energy as father who shall survive and co-exist as brothers and sisters living on our mother. In each of our minds is a piece of the source energy which makes each of us a sovereign creator being. The peace comes when all of us put our minds together based on the good message that we are all earthlings. All you people who are just opening your eyes and seeing the true horror story called ‘Canada’ listen to Rod Stewart and Jeff Back sing “People Get Ready”.
MNN. Aug. 7, 2023. On the “Indigenous lead” site where the unmarked burial of indigenous children are being sought at the New Vic site, McGill and SQI Security are refusing to hire a professional Indigenous security firm. The “cultural monitors” and elders working alongside the archaeological work crew were attacked by SQI & McGill security and now the indigenous refuse to return to work until their safety is guaranteed. Also, SQI wants to interpret the GPR Report that found ‘anomalies’ of remains in the GEOSCAN Report, a private company. SQI & McGill have terminated the Tripartite Panel that was set up by Quebec Superior Court to oversee the search for the children, so they could start working on the Royal Vic Project. The court needs to uphold its orders.
Remembr, no guards wwre there when our children were being murdered and buried.
SQI & McGill do not have the expertise to interpret the findings, which needs to be done by trained archaeological forensic experts. One of the members of the Panel has quit and another states that the anomaly found by GEOSCAN is a burial site and SQI office technocrats cannot determine that. This could prejudice all GPR searches that are carried out in Canada by indigenous people.
SQI & McGill have given us no choice but to consider enforcing the Settlement Agreement that we signed in April.
Many experts find this extremely damaging to the whole investigation. Canada is allowing SQI to act above the law and above a court order. It appears that international human rights organizations will now be needed. Canada continues on its criminal path while Quebec acts as a cheerleader rooting for the colonizer.
Quebec spends public money in their fight against us the Mohawk Mothers. Once again they are trying to silence us about their murder of our children whose spirit is at our side right now. They reject professional expertise. The public has to now ask the question, “What the f… is really going on?”
The Mohawk security group in Kahnawake has a right and is qualified to work anywhere on turtle island. McGill University, Royal Victoria Hospital, Allan Memorial Hospital and the City of Montreal all squat on unceded Kanienkehaka Mohawk land, which they must acknowledge by law before every meeting so they never forget. They are rejecting an indigenous company from providing security to the “Indigenous lead” process taking place to find indigenous children that may be buried on Mohawk land. We wonder if this was part of Prime Minister Duncan Campbel Scott’s “100 year plan” to be rid of the “Indian problem” permanently. We are reminded of a song which Sinead O’Connor sang during the well known “Pope-incident” in Saturday Night Live in 1992, when she shouted, “Children, children. Fight! Fight!”.
SQI is our message to Quebec: It’s time for you to “STOP & QUIT IMMEDIATELY”
MNN. August 4th, 2023. Major developments on search for unmarked graves at Royal Victoria Hospital RVH.
The Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) are deeply concerned about the recent actions of McGill University and the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures’ (SQI) in the archaeological search for unmarked burials at the New Vic site. Despite publicly stating their support for the court ordered process and commitment to reconciliation, McGill and SQI have unilaterally terminated the panel’s ordered mandate. They also did not follow through on several recommendations in the Settlement Agreement signed in April 2023 and homologated in the Quebec Superior Court.
McGill and SQI recently rejected recommendations from the Panel to include a forensics expert to oversee the ‘chain of custody’ of artefacts, an essential part of a credible investigation. The Settlement Agreement was part of an injunction won by the Mohawk Mothers in October 2022. The New Vic construction project was halted in order to allow for an “Indigenous-led” investigation of unmarked graves. This process is constantly being interfered with by the SQI and McGill to try to control the whole process, reducing the role of Indigenous people to performing ceremonies on the site.
One panel member resigned during these troubling developments. Mohawk Mother Kahentinetha declared the turn of events “deplorable”. Mohawk Mother Kwetiio stated that “it is very unfortunate that the SQI, as a Quebec public institution, appears to prefer waste public funds and time to keep Indigenous elders from revealing the truth about the fate of their children. We wanted an open dialogue to resolve the disagreements over implementing the Settlement Agreement. It is unacceptable that Quebec and McGill forcefully violate a court ordered ‘indigenous lead’ search for the unmarked graves of potential victims of their institutions.”
False Narratives: On August 3rd, 2023, McGill University and the SQI published newsletters disclosing part of the results of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey performed by Geoscan on July 24, 2023, which we received the day before on August 2nd, 2023. See attached newsletters. The SQI and McGill did not consult the Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) before making it public. These newsletters contain misleading information that must be corrected.
The SQI’s newsletter suggests that “to date, no burials have been found”, while in reality excavations are underway to find the human remains detected by search dogs in front of the Hersey Pavilion, and where important evidence was found in the soil, including a young woman’s dress and an old pair of children’s leather shoes. The SQI’s newsletter failed to mention the verbal attack last week of Mohawk cultural monitors and elders on the site, who were evicted and verbally aggressed by unidentified security guards under the direction of the SQI. Someone’s phone was illegally grabbed and the video content was erased. In the GPR report, the SQI and McGill’s newsletters mislead the public into believing that only nine (9) anomalies were found in the small “priority zone”, where construction work was started. A far greater number of “unknown” targets were detected by the GPR team, who suggest that, “It is possible that some of the unknown features may be unmarked graves, particularly in the case of older burials without coffins and also possibly child-size graves.”
The burials now being searched follow the testimonies of survivors of medical experiments at the former hospital. They could be children who may have been clandestinely buried without coffins. For more information write at kahnistensera@riseup.net Consult www.mohawkmothers.ca Donate at https://fundrazr.com/e23JRc
The Archives!!!! WOO-o-o-o!!!
LIKE PINK FLOYD, WE SHOULD ALL BE ASKING OUR MOTHER, “MOM. WHAT ABOUT IT?”
Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they’ll like the song
Mother do you think they’ll try to break my balls
Ooooh aah, Mother should I build a wall
Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Ooooh aah, is it just a waste of time
Hush now baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna make all of your Nightmares come true Mama’s gonna put all of her fears into you Mama’s gonna keep you right here Under her wing She won’t let you fly but she might let you sing Mama will keep baby cosy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Of course Mama’s gonna help build the wall
Mother do think she’s good enough for me
Mother do think she’s dangerous to me
Mother will she tear your little boy apart
Oooh aah, mother will she break my heart
Hush now baby, baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna check out all your girl friends for you Mama won’t let anyone dirty get through Mama’s gonna wait up till you come in Mama will always find out where You’ve been Mamma’s gonna keep baby healthy and clean Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe You’ll always be a baby to me
MNN. July 27, 2023. Work to uncover human remains has stopped. Search dogs detected human remains on June 9th in front of the Hersey Pavilion of the old Royal Victoria Hospital RVH in Montreal. On July 25th 2023 Indigenous elders and cultural monitors were aggressed by security guards. At approximately 15:30 the Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) and Indigenous cultural monitors were preparing to leave work. The cultural monitors observe work being done to uncover human remains at the RVH, as provided by a Settlement Agreement between the Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) and a slew of Defendants, including the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) and McGill University. An injunction was obtained on October 2022 to halt excavation work for the New Vic project to search for unmarked graves of children killed by medical experiments in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Cultural monitors were present when Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs (HHRDD) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) were used on the site earlier in July, with no incident. A good working relationship had been reached with the archaeologists of Ethnoscop who were now charged with excavating the soil in a 10-meter radius around the target identified by the dogs HHRDD. At 3:30 the work day came to an end. Suddenly three individuals presented themselves at the top of the hill as security personnel. They wore no identification and refused to disclose their names so It was impossible to verify whether they were accredited security guards or vigilantes. They also refused to name their clients.
One Mohawk Mother went to talk with them while the other cultural monitors were finishing a meeting and preparing to leave. One of the security guards, a female, presented herself as the “boss” of SQI security. She immediately threatened to call the police to usher the Mohawk Mothers and cultural monitors off the site. The Mohawk Mother was shocked by the aggressive tone of the women and her haste to throw out kanienkehaka Mohawk observers when office hours were not even over yet. She reminded the security guards that Mohawk monitors were present as part of a court order and a settlement agreement to make sure excavation work was consistent with Indigenous protocols regarding burial sites and to conduct ceremonies. The woman said she knew nothing about it and aggressively insisted that everyone vacate the site immediately. She dialed the police. The Mohawk Mother then informed the rest of the group about what was happening. They had not been directly notified to immediately leave. One person opened his telephone to record the incident. When the “boss” saw that she was being filmed by someone, she brutally jumped on him, grabbed the telephone from his hands and gave it to her colleague, who erased it. Another person present then realized the gravity of the situation and turned on his camera from afar. The video, available here – https://ufile.io/v27xu0al – shows some of the outrageous insults that the SQI security used against the Indigenous elders and cultural monitors as they were leaving the site, to avoid being subjected to violence. They were told that the police would “squish you out”, that they should “go and have some kids” and “go and get a life because I don’t think you have a life”, and to “go back to your kids if you have any, I don’t think you have any”.
Mohawk Mother Kahentinetha responded “what about our kids that were murdered and that you’re benefiting from?” The security lady said “That’s right, we’re benefiting from it. That’s exactly right”. This violent incident was highly traumatic for the Indigenous elders, survivors and cultural monitors present, reminding them of brutality being used by security personnel against Indigenous people, especially women. Indigenous observers do not feel safe going at the site to carry out their duties under the eye of a security firm which aggressed them verbally and physically.: grabbing their telephone and erasing evidence, yelling and insulting blasphemous and offensive language and refusing to disclose their identity as a security guard which is illegal according to S-3.5, r. 3 – Regulation respecting standards of conduct of agent licence holders carrying on a private security activity. A complaint is being filed by the Mohawk Mothers with the Bureau de la Securité Privée. The SQI has refused to disclose the identity of the security guards, what their instructions were and whether they had received cultural competency training.
In view of the the threat posed by the personnel hired by the SQI the Indigenous elders and cultural monitors, the latter cannot come to the site anymore. The SQI insists that work must continue, and that the particular security guard will no longer be present. SQI failed to respond to basic questions about the instructions that were given to their security guards and their identity. Because of the threat continuation of excavation work would breach the Settlement Agreement. All parties except the SQI – including the Panel of archaeologists overseeing the work, as well as Ethnoscop – have agreed to halt the work until the situation is resolved. The Mohawk Mothers have been voicing concerns about security issues on the site for several months, and failed to get a response from the Defendants. They requested a security expert be on the Panel overseeing the work.
84 year old Mohawk Mother Kahentinetha, reacted to the events by explaining that “our law and our culture forbids us from exposing our people to elder abuse, mental stress and physical threats. We. cannot carry out our duties as cultural monitors under duress and the threat of violence. We devoted all our energies to investigating the truth about what was being done to our children at this hospital so we want to continue the work immediately. Our people need answers to our questions about what happened with those security guards and whether they were instructed to use such aggression with us”.
Mohawk Mother Kwetiio added: “It’s common decency to secure the site with a firm that doesn’t end up attacking our elders, alleging that they are unaware of who we are and why we are present on the site. If we had not been there McGill and SQI would already be constructing their vast project on our land, ignoring the human remains that were detected thanks to our efforts and that of our allies and experts. An investigation must be immediately conducted on whether the security guards were instructed to assault us”. For more information, contact kahnistensera@riseup.net O:nen Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera
This situation reminds us of Woodstock when the Clowns of the Hog Farm were in charge of security. The McGill attacker[s] claimed to be security for McGill and pretended they had authority over everyone.
Here’s some relief from Joni Mitchell singing about “Woodstock”.
I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road And I asked him, “Where are you going?” And this he told me
“I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm I’m gonna join in a rock ‘n’ roll band I’m gonna camp out on the land I’m gonna try an’ get my soul free”
We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden. . .
A REMINDER TO THOSE WHO FORGOT WHY DESKAHE WENT TO GENEVA. READ THE REAL FACTS!
IERA’KWAH DIPLOMACY.
1.OPENING. Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples now admits that the relationship between the indigenous people and the uninvited Europeans began with the teio’hateh, Two Row Wampum agreement. Two entities agree to live separately according to the kaianerekowa, the great peace, or leave. We allowed them to live here temporarily – with us in our canoe and they in their ships. We would share only the river. The indigenous peoples and the newcomers belonged to different families with different languages, culture, laws and ways of life. Europe’s monarchs acknowledged we were not their subjects and they could not interfere with our laws and customs. As turtle island is all indigenous land, we provided to the European “social groups” the use of land the depth of a plow to grow food. They could never own it or form a political party. They needed our permission to do anything on our land.
2.FORGETTING TWO ROW. Then the colonizers began to see things their foreign way. They violated the Two Row and adopted a “geographic” description of themselves, that they were North Americans. The original inhabitants were clan based tied to the land. The colonizers fought with their European cousins over who could come here, which is our right. Then they started to impose their military laws and ways on everyone on turtle island based on the treaties the Europeans made to end their wars with each other in Europe. [Seven Years War and others]. They never consulted the onkwehonweh, the original peoples who had always respected the land since time immemorial. Instead of staying in their own ship they decided to take over the whole river.
3.DOMINION “CLAIMS’. Some of Britain’s North American colonies confederated in 1867 to form the colony of CANADA. The new political organization was a “dominion”, a colony, because the visitors decided they had a right to dominate the land and all the indigenous people on it. Instead of subjects of their king or queen, they began to base their identity on the indigenous land they were squatting on. They changed from accepting our generosity to trying to dominate us.
4.BRITISH SUBJECTS. There was no permission from us for this assertion of power. Canada was a British colony and Britain could not give her subjects here anymore than she had to give, which was nothing. The British subjects ignored the Two Row. Britain could not give their subjects on turtle island the right to make laws for the indigenous people because we were not British subjects. At that point they had to leave as they had become trespassers.
5.GEOGRAPHIC DEFINITION. Our ancestors were not consulted about these moves. They knew we could never change the terms of the Two Row. Our land belongs to the unborn. We are the caretakers of mother earth. She cannot be sold or conveyed to anyone and is governed by the kaianerekowa, the great peace. The land was provided by creation to our past present and future generations. Britain’s colonial subjects had no right to force Indigenous peoples into their European territorial concepts of nationality and property. They could not impose their new geographic definition of themselves on us.
6.INDIGENOUS FREEDOM. The colonists are still subjects of their kings. Indigenous are not, never were. and never will be. The life of being free and having a voice was a revelation to Europeans. We are all sovereign persons and part of our own nations and clans. We were each sovereign persons placed by creation in various areas of turtle island to carry out our duties to our mother earth and all life.
7.OUR VOICE. The colonists didn’t want to be subjects anymore. They changed their view of law and international relations. Today Europeans have formally embraced equality along with the rest of the world. Britain no longer has subject status. The colonists define “nationality” on usurp territorial terms rather than adhering to the kaianerekowa, the great peace. Without our knowledge or consent their citizenship became based on place of birth undermining the kaianerekowa. They still do not grasp the full meaning of equality. Their institutions don’t give their citizens a voice. Their First Nations Governance Act shows that they don’t respect the voice of the indigenous people who have had total jurisdiction of this land since time immemorial. This Act of 2002 was proposed to municipalize native land under private banks and extinguish the sovereign original people. [Today it is the proposed “Framework Agreement”.] They completely ignored their obligations under the Two Row Wampum.
8.REAL INDIGENOUS IDENTITY. The colonizers can change the way they think of themselves as long as they adhere completely to the great peace here. They cannot define our identity nor appropriate our land and resources. Since Confederation Britain’s colonial subjects have been violating Britain’s agreements with the Indigenous peoples.
9.CORPORATION CAN’T OWN THE LAND. Confederation and the British North America Act 1867 did not give Britain the right to let its colonists violate the Two Row Wampum. Britain knew that its people could only come onto our land as a separate “social group” that would share the river with us. But Britain’s subjects fell into the illusionary idea that they owned the land. This lie is taught in their indoctrination centres called the education system.
DESKAHEH
10.DESKAHEH & S.C.C. The iera’kwa, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy knew this back in 1920. In desperation they sent Levi General Deskaheh to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to stop the Department of Indian Affairs from violating the British North America Act 1867. This Act only gave Canada the right to negotiate with us in place of Britain. the colonists cannot impose their Admiralty laws on indigenous people. But Canadian officials would not let Deskaheh have his day in court.
11.TROOPS ATTACK SIX NATIONS. If Deskaheh was allowed to prove that what they were doing was illegal, these bureaucrats would have been out of work. So they sent troops, the RCMP, to invade the part of Six Nations Grand River territory that remained after a century of theft and fraud. The military deposed the traditional government, the oldest governments in the world.l, installed their band council puppets and stole all our land and created the Indian reservation on October 25, 1924. [Indian Lands Act]. *Since then the colonists have refused to deal with the real traditional leaders, speaking only to their faux elected band councils they have imposed under colonial laws.
12.DESKAHEH & LEAGUE OF NATION. Six Nations diplomats had been honoured guests in Britain’s courts. By the 1920’s Britain was refusing to deal with the problems that had befallen their colony. The Iroquois Confederacy sent Deskaheh to the League of Nations to appeal for justice. The sovereign Six Nations, iera’kwah, were qualified to join and wanted membership in this new international organization so our arguments could be presented to protect our legal rights. The Netherlands, Persia, Estonia, Panama and Ireland all agreed that the Six Nations complaints should be examined by the international court. But Deskaheh was ambushed again by Canadian officials lead by D.C. Scott skulking behind the scenes to make sure the case never got a formal public hearing. They lied to the League saying there was no Two Row and no Great Peace.
The Lands Act is part of the Indian Advancement Act 1924 that imposed the blood quantum legislation [apartheid]. It was the 100 year “business plan” to extinguish the native people, due for completion in 2024.
13.INDIGENOUS ARE ALLIES. Today, the colonists know we indigenous will always maintain our right to independence. We were allies, not subjects of Britain. We are not part of the Corporation of CANADA – the colony that became a corporate successor state. The colonists imposed foreign Admiralty laws on us in violation of both the Two Row and modern International law. The imposed their economic sanctions upon that have put us in a state of destitute poverty compared to all the colonists. As Deskaheh put it in his last address before he was assassinated in 1924, it’s as if Mexico tried to apply its laws in the United States.
14.MEANING OF EQUALITY. The problem is European colonists don’t understand the meaning of equality. They have changed how they define themselves. When we made the Two Row Treaty with France and then Britain a month later, we both defined ourselves in terms of ‘personal’ relationships. We are sovereign individuals who are part of our clans. European nations are based on subject status and their allegiance to their monarch. Their shift to a turtle island territorial definition of themselves has no legal basis. They have no right to impose themselves or their laws on us or to take our land and resources without our knowledge or consent. As a successor state, the colonists are still bound by Britain’s treaty obligations. The colonists are guests on our land. Instead they have presumed to take over our whole house. The colonists must work out fair and valid agreements with us, the original inhabitants of turtle island, to our satisfaction if they want to remain here.
15.CANADIANS ARE IMMIGRANTS. The colonizers celebrate “Canada Day” aware that CANADA is a corporation, not an independent nation. Canadian nationality does not exist. Nationality is tied to having clans, shared ancestry, native language not two foreign languages, a traditional culture and land. CANADA has none of these. The settlers and their ancestors have in common fleeing from oppressive regimes and immigrating onto someone else’s land and then oppressing them. We have no obligation to care for them. They never accepted the protection under the great peace, which alienated them.
16.DOMINION FEUDAL CUSTOM. Canada is a “dominion” that was produced by Britian’s will to dominate. “Dominion” is a feudal custom carried to Britain by foreign lords who conquered the land and the people on it. These deeply rooted cultural habits violate the egalitarian respect represented by the Two Row Wampum.
17.CANADA NON EXISTENT. Consequently, the whole existence of Canada as a legal country is is the biggest ruse played on the world. The colonist’s self-definition cannot appropriate our political identity, our resources and our land. This violates the initial treaties made by Britain with the Indigenous peoples.
18.CANADA VIOLATES NATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. The colonists violate both the European version of international law and our Indigenous law. The colonists violate the principle of human equality, which they now recognized in a formal way in the mid-twentieth century – after the atrocities of World War II – when they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Canada hesitates to ratify UNDRIP UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as it recognizes that Canada is not a country. The immigrants would have to vacate, CANADA would dissolve and the great peace would be the only law that would prevail.
19.MIGHT DOES NOT MAKE RIGHT. Deskaheh tried to present this argument in the 1920’s but the colonists didn’t want to hear us explain once again our demands for them to respect our jurisdiction over our land and our political and economic rights. We are sovereign and they are not! When Americans had their revolution they threw off their subject status. Then they went crazy, grabbing land, killing people and destroying resources. They called us the natural people, “Indians” and treated us as vermin. Canadians accepted the American policy that “might makes right” and that Europeans had a god-given right to grab lands, possessions, resources and lives. Canada bought into the sleazy American dream. This premise applies to all of the Americas, north and south.
20.INDIGENOUS HAVE EVERYTHING. What happened was sordid. In the subsequent treaties on the prairies there was no meeting of the minds with the native people there. Anglo-Canadians pretend those people agreed to give up everything they had! The indigenous are aware of the agreement to co-exist with them as social groups. In our case the Two Row created a real meeting of minds. The British recognized that we are nations that give permission for anybody to live here according to the great peace. It’s still in effect.
21.TERRITORIAL DEFINITION. The Anglo-Canadian one-sided decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves gave them no right to take over our land and resources. They have no agreements with us the real indigenous. Their corporate Canadian band councils are on the enemies team. They need our consent to our full satisfaction to do anything on our land. We won’t succumb to their lust for our resources or to ransack our land. It’s all ours and they all know it.
22.WHERE’S RECEIPT FOR TURTLE ISLAND. The colonists purport that all people are equal, at the same time illegally imposes laws and beliefs on us. As a successor state Canada is still bound by the limitations of Britain’s treaty obligations which they must fulfill. They would have to leave, or leave us alone or abide by the great peace. Since whites don’t have clans, they are disqualified from living here. They can only live here as a separate social group under the authority of the clans established by the great peace. This is international law which Canada agreed to. The colonizers have no legal right to claim dominion over the inherent original people, or to take our lands and possessions. They have not worked out fair and valid agreements with us that consider the rights of our people now and into the future. We are the “people of the forever” placed by creation on mother earth. Canada’s current attempts to force us original people to prove in their foreign private courts that we have a claim to our own lands is ridiculous and unlawful by international law. They must show us their permits to be on our land, to ransack our resources and to leave a trail of blood and pollution behind. The colonists have no receipt for our land.
What part of the “depth of a plow share” don’t these alien invaders understand? All these points apply equally to the United States. Only the foundation of the great peace and two row of equality, having a voice through concensus, justice and truth can eliminate the current pandemic of hatred, injustice and racism that is tearing up the world.
The author is awaiting an invitation from McGill to deliver this speech again.
As Thahoketoteh explains in his song, “The river of life has many falls, twists and turns and steep walls. We travel down it in our own way, The same has been from the very first day. I’ll stay in my canoe. You stay in your boat. I only hope you stay afloat. I’ll smile at you. You wave at me. We’ll continue on toward the sea.”
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