Category Archives: Great Peace/Law / kaianereh’kowa / Democracy / Two-row /

EVERY DOG MUST HAVE HIS DAY

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MNN. June 30, 2023. 

It was revealed in Montreal court on June 29 2023 that three well trained cadaver dogs identified the older of human remains at the Hersey Building of the Royal Victoria Hospital of McGill University. Last October the province of Quebec and McGill University insisted that “there were no signs of remains”. On June 9, 2023, the historic human remains detection dog team executed techniques under the “Settlement Agreement” and found remains.  

The reason the kahnistensera Mohawk Mothers went into this colonial court system using their own traditional way was to make the defendants accountable to their own laws and actions. Judge Moore made an order to find the remains of the children buried on the grounds of McGill university before building the mass Mount Royal renovation. The problem is the defendants disregarded the kahnisteneras and survivor warning that the site contained human remains. and started building their project violating the respect for human remains.  The rule of law does not seem to be for everybody in Canada.. Their own corporations, provincial governments and institutions can pick and chose when to follow the rule of law. The autocracy does whatever they want without consequences, while others are expected to follow them. Our concern is for our children and our sacred land. and accountability. Their remains could be buried anywhere on Mount Royal. Our children want to continue their final journey and not to continue to be violated. On June 30, 2023 the defendants of the Royal Vic Project advertised in the media that they [representing the perpetrators of the crimes] are going to carry out the investigations to which all parties agreed would be indigenous led. The kahnistenser have not been informed about this and wonder why.

Stonewall Jackson, the great predictor, sees what’s coming when he sings about “Waterloo”: 

Waterloo WaterlooWhere will you meet your Waterloo?Every puppy has his dayEverybody has to payEverybody has to meet his Waterloo
Now old AdamWas the first in historyWith an appleHe was tempted and deceivedJust for spiteThe devil made him take a biteAnd that’s where old AdamMet his Waterloo
Waterloo Waterloo . . . 
Little General Napoleon of FranceTried to conquer the worldBut lost his pantsMet defeatKnown as Bonaparte’s RetreatAnd that’s when NapoleonMet his Waterloo

READ THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF COURT HEARING 6/29/23:

In English

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/search-dogs-find-evidence-of-human-remains-at-site-of-montreal-s-old-royal-victoria-hospital-1.6462031

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/royal-vic-bodies-evidence-found-dogs-search-1.6892583

https://globalnews.ca/video/9802905/search-dogs-detect-evidence-of-human-remains-near-montreals-old-royal-victoria-hospital/

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/cadaver-dogs-sniff-out-potential-human-remains-near-old-royal-victoria-hospital-site/

In French

https://journalmetro.com/actualites/3112781/il-y-a-vraiment-des-restes-humains-surement-autochtones-en-plein-coeur-de-montreal/

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/espaces-autochtones/1992382/meres-mohawks-cour-superieure-fouille-mcgill

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MNN Court Correspondent thahoketoteh@ntk.com 

kahentinetha2@protonmail.mohawknationnews.com 

box 991, kahnawake Que. Canada J0L 1B0

NEW/OLD BAND COUNCIL HUSTLE

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MNN. June 27,  2023.

Here’s how it goes. A band council entity is set up. They offer to help their people. Somebody or a community group get some monies to “benefit the community”, but the band council or its nominee own all the assets from it and can tell us what we can or cannot do. The band council and its entities use our funds to ingratiate,  enrich themselves, get into conflict of interest situations and possible fraud.

Remember, the band councils are corporate agents of Canada that were set up on Oct. 25, 1924 to help Canada take and control our land and resources.

                            Said the onkwehonweh to the canadien!

For example, an incorporated community association [the band council] invites a so called non-profit society in to build a community hall for the people. In the end it benefits mostly them and Canada, not the people.

The meeting is held at a band council building. The main host is a guy who works for the band council, who is directly involved with the process. Canada and the provinces have millions of dollars in program funds they offer to support projects they deem will ‘benefit’ the community!  

As a part of the band council corporate apparatus, the  nominee employee helps push the grant application forward. He gets their documents together and registers them to be a not-for-profit society in order to receive the funds.

The host suggests they build a structure that would cost $500,000. There will be taxes for each household because this incorporated association is no longer indigenous. 

The mentor asks for $300,000 for the logs; $800,000 for the lock up; then another $200,000 for the construction of the building, then transportation and putting it together on the site, plus expenses to hook up the water, electricity, and sewage. If they do not get the initial grant, then the costs for the project somehow rise to $1.5. to $2 million which has to be borrowed by the villagers.  In most cases most of these enterprises are not needed.

When the mentor, on behalf of the association gets the grant, he owns and leases it to the society for $1 a year. The purpose is not to benefit the community as mostly they never see the money. 

 Public funds are being used to enrich the corporate non-native band council entity. Out of the $1.5 million or more granted or loaned, the building costs $500,000 and who knows where the rest goes.

The band council cannot be part of any community since they are a foreign for-profit crown corporation.  The employee/mentor dupes the people. 

The conflict of interest is because the band council employee cannot have anything from this grant application process for himself.  It was his idea and he has been working with his ‘band council superiors’ to push this project  through.

The Supreme Court [Beverly McLachlan] unanimously ruled that the tsilhqot’in does have a claim of 750 sq. Km [680 sq. mi.] of land. This decision is a precedent for all turtle island.

The colonial Supreme Court held that aboriginal title constitutes a beneficial interest in the land, the underlying control of which is retained by the Crown. Why? We are caretakers of turtle island. Indigenous people are sovereign and have all duties and  responsibilities to decide everything. Also, to proactively use and manage the land, including its natural resources. But the foreign entity, the Crown, gave themselves the right to override aboriginal title in the so called “public interest”!!

This scam is practiced on every native until all our land is completely taken from us. Everything the intruders do is void as no land can be conveyed. A foreign for-profit private crown corporation does not have any right to deal with the “general public”, including band councils. A private company can only deal with their own employees, property and dependants. “Public” funds are used to enrich themselves by requisitioning this legitimate native property without using their own assets to do it. In fact, the funds could be coming from our “Indian Trust Funds”.

The band councils work dilligently for Canada. 

Sections 35/52 of the Constitution Act of Canada 1982 and its band councils do not exist according to our way. Original people are caretakers and sovereigns of all turtle island for all future generations. The Crown has no claim on anything.

This is a new way to genocide us by “reconciliation ” with Canada through forced citizenship without physical slaughter as they did in the past.

Rumormillnews 224893 CGI’S empyyreal:CRD in Sook BC, Canada engaged in money laundering, unjust enrichment and fraud with proof. Sat. 24-Jun2023H

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs had an insight into the goings on of Indian reservations in Canada in the “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”: 

Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named JedPoor mountaineer barely kept his family fedThen one day he was shooting for some food,And up through the ground come a bubbling crude(Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea)
Well the first thing you know old Jed’s a millionaireKin folk said Jed move away from thereSaid California is the place you oughta beSo they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly(Hills that is, swimming pools, movie stars). . .  .

 MNN Court Correspondent thahoketoteh@ntk.com 

Box 991, kahnawake, que. canada MNN kahentinetha2@protonmail.com 

MOHAWK WARRIOR SOCIETY: HANDBOOK ON SOVEREIGNTY & SURVIVAL Podcast

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MNN. June 20, 2023. The Kahnistensera, Mohawk Mothers of kahnawake, kanesatake, and akwesasne knew Louis karonhiaktajeh Hall, and were greatly influenced by his stories, philosophy and farsightedness. This podcast reveals many of his past, current and future insights into what lay ahead for the Mohawks. 

 

Mohawk Warrior Society

 

The Mohawk Warrior Society is one of the most successful militant organizations in North America. Their predecessors were key to the defeat of the French in Quebec and the United States in the War of 1812. Today, the Warriors are best known for their role in the 1990 Oka standoff against the Canadian army. In the new book, The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival, the movement for the first time tells its own history.

We are joined by the editors of this unique anthology of resistance, Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotiskarewake and also by Kwetiio and Karennatha who, along with Kahentinetha, are members of the group Kanien’kehà:ka Kanistansera, the Mohawk Mothers.

Louis will always be honored by the people. The world will never forget the warrior flag he designed. Even the Kingsmen back in the 60’s honoured Louis: Ah Louie Louie. Oh no, Said we gotta go. Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah yeah. Baby. Louie Louie. Oh baby. Said we gotta go. A fine little girl. She waitin for me. Catch a  ship, across the sea. Sail that ship out all alone. Me never think how. I’ll make it home. I’ll make it home. Ah Louis Louie. No no no no. Make it home. . . .  

YouTube player

Episode: 034 Mohawk Warrior Society
Date: 18 June 2023 | Length: 70:23
Briefing Notes

 Karoniaktajeh Louis Hall. The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival. (PM Press 2023)
 The Native and the Refugee. (Electronic Intifada 2015)
 Jon Elmer on Mohawk blockades (Al Jazeera June 2010)
 Jon Elmer on the Mohawk Warrior Society and the Canadian military (Inter Press 2007)
 see also The Brief Podcast 023: 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance with Gord Hill

Contact thahoketoteh@ntk.com ,

MNN Court Correspondent

Mohawknationnews.com Box 991, kahnawake que. canada J0L 1B0

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NOCTURNAL INDIGENOUS GRAVE ROBBERS DUE FOR KARMIC RESET

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MNN. June 25, 2023.

Lake Cowichan Gazette June 18, 2023

“Residential school denialists tried to dig up suspected unmarked graves in Kamloops, B.C., report finds

Denialism is the last step of genocide, says report from independent interlocutor

Moira Wyton · CBC News · 
Kimberly Murray speaks at a podium.
Kimberly Murray speaks after being appointed as Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, at a news conference in Ottawa in June 2022. (Justin Tsang/The Canadian Press)

Residential school deniers tried to dig up suspected unmarked grave sites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, not believing a May 2021 announcement from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc that as many as 215 Indigenous children had been buried there, according to a new report.

“Denialists entered the site without permission. Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children are buried there,” said a Friday report from Kimberly Murray, the independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.

She did not say who the denialists were or when they came to the site.

But the unauthorized visits to the site are the work of a “core group” of Canadians who continue to deny, defend or minimize the physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse inflicted on Indigenous children in the Indian Residential School System “despite the indisputable evidence of survivors and their families,” Murray said at a Friday news conference. Read Up . . .

Indigenous advocate, Alice Cooper, scipts it well in his song, Dead Babies.

Little Betty ate a pound of aspirinShe got them from the shelf upon the wallBetty’s mommy wasn’t there to save herShe didn’t even hear her baby call
Dead babiesCan’t take care of themselvesDead babiesCan’t take things off the shelfWell we didn’t want you anywayLalala-la, lalala-la, la la la
Goodbye, Little Betty

contact: MNN court reporter thahoketoteh@ntk.com

Box 991, kahnawake Que. Canada J0L 1B0 

ROCKING MOHAWK MOTHERS

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MNN. June 4, 2023. On April 6, 2023, The final day of mediation began at 9.15 a.m.. This photo was taken at the end around 11:15 that night. 

Lawyers, judge and kahnistensera Mohawk Mothers stood together for this photo of completion of the mediation at the Montreal Court. 

For details of the Settlement Agreement, April 6, 2023 – See court documents filed as CANADA PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, DISTRICT OF MONTREAL. No. 500-17-120468-221. Superior Court [Civil Division]. Between Plaintiffs kahnistensers; Defendents SQI, RVH, MUHC, McGill U., Montreal, AG Canada & AG Quebec; and 3rd Party Intervenors – Unmarked Graves & Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. 

Words from our wise elder, Red-X, whose eyes are black cavernous void leading directly into the 5th dimension. He surveyed the current state of the kaianerekowa from his silver eagle and said that the gariwiio pimple is about to burst. He said, “What will be is what creation means”. He advised that what we all need is love, and then flew to the west where the sun never sleeps and disappeared into his celestial portal.  

Jeannie C. Riley sings about some experiences in some places of higher learning:

I wanna tell you all a story ’boutA Harper Valley widowed wifeWho had a teenage daughterWho attended Harper Valley Junior HighWell, her daughter came home one afternoonAnd didn’t even stop to playAnd she said, “mom, I got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA”
Well, the note said, “Mrs. JohnsonYou’re wearin’ your dresses way too highIt’s reported you’ve been drinkingAnd a-running ’round with men and goin’ wildAnd we don’t believe you oughta be a-bringin’ upYour little girl this way”And it was signed by the SecretaryHarper Valley PTA. . . . [Harper Valley PTA]

 

mohawknationnews.com 

contact box 991, kahnawake [quebec canada] J0L 1B0  kahentinetha2@protonmail,com

SWEET SURRENDER Audio

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AUDIO

 

MNN. Apr. 3. 2023. Canadians are beginning to be haunted by two past issues, murders of indigenous children and their unmarked graves being found. So far many thousands of unmarked graves have been discovered across Canada of children who were taken and disposed of, as well as numbers of children who were sold to colonial settlers for as little as $100. Most bodies are found near the Canadian Government Indian residential schools they were forced to attend. Many were medically experimented upon or died from mistreatment. 

They pretend they do not remember but they do. The children were disposed of in horrific ways.  All the residential school sites are crime scenes. The archives will soon reveal criminal wrongdoing or orchestrated genocide. The Canadian courts, ‘all admiralty’ want to “reconcile” their criminal actions by paying money. Reconciliation is an accounting term. Their main objective is to put a price on an “Indian child” so they can reconcile their registries. The Canadian courts base their whole existence upon “the Doctrine of Discovery” which the Vatican has now recinded.

We all have to look at the truth. When the invaders arrived to onowarekeh, turtle island, they witnessed our happiness. We welcomed them as our younger brothers. They decided they were going to take over the whole family because they thought they were smarter and get away with it. There is no happy ending for us, especially because our story was once so peaceful. We are a people who have a great love for each other and all living things.

We know that on this earth all living things have the same mother, she is the earth. We all have the same source energy as father. That makes us all brothers and sisters who shall survive and coexist on our mother.

Then a time came and most of us died.

They wrote in their laws of Canada that we are subhuman, the same as a bear or a deer, so they can kill us with impunity. Those running the corporation of ‘Canada’ have no moral conscience and take an oath to the emperor at the Vatican through the King of England. They do not take an oath to the people they apparently represent or to the land known they call ‘Canada’. These are the biggest criminals on our land.

The truth has been revealed while those in power turn their back and pretend they do not not see what is upon their shoulders. We have been in survival mode since October 25, 1924, when reserves were established to kill all the Indians.

The real Indian people have a philosophy called ‘karma’ and they say, there is ‘good karma’ and ‘bad karma’. The Canadian colonial society has much bad karma coming their way.

We are now opening all the boxes of secrets about the dissection and dismemberment of our most precicous children. We will once again know the happy life our grandchildren’s grandchildren deserve til infinity. Today we are going to start to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Canadians, you will soon be facing more and more of the people you oppressed.

Because you put your private corporation on stolen land and murdered our people Canadians are stateless. We have stopped running away from you. Canada is coming to an end. We will be grateful when we are free. The compass on what we are going to do is in our minds. We are imagining who we are. We will live with creation as we were intended.

The sweet Sarah Maclachan surrenders to the unknown:

It doesn’t mean much

It doesn’t mean anything at all
The life I’ve left behind me is a cold room

I’ve crossed the last line
From where I can’t return
Where every step I took in faith betrayed me
And led me from my home

And sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

Take me in, no question’s asked
You strip away the ugliness that surrounds me
(Who are you?)
Are you an angel?

Am I already that gone?
I only hope that I won’t disappoint you
When I’m down here on my knees
(Who are you?)

And sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give
(Who are you?)

And sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

Don’t understand
The touch of your hand
I would be the one to fall
I miss the little things
I miss everything about you. . . . .

 

Sweet Surrender

SWEET SURRENDER

mohawknationnewa.com   thahoketoteh@ntk.com  kahnistensera@riseup.net

CANADA WILL SOON BE DISSOLVED

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MNN. March 31, 2023. OCTOBER 25TH, 2024, IS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PLANNED EXTINCTION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. INSTEAD IT WILL BE THE CELEBRATION OF THE FAILURE OF THE PLAN TO “SOLVE THE INDIAN PROBLEM”.
The Pope announced that the Doctrine of Discovery has been recinded. He acknowledges and affirms the genocide happened in Canada. Canada supports the Pope’s comments through Sections 35 and 52 of the Constitution Act of Canada 1982 that the kaianerekowa is the law of the land and and that all Canadian laws are “null and void”. This is at odds with the enforcement of the “Indian Lands Act” and the “Indian ACT. The illegitimate government of Canada has plead guilty to all the genocide, i.e. residential schools, land theft, destruction and rape of our mother, ad nauseum. 
We were always a natural part of turtle island. We have been blocked from taking care of our mother. The Doctrine underlies all the land transactions throughout Canada. It lead to the increased wealth and power of Europe which was the foundation for the industrial revolution, increased globalization, capitalism and neo capitalism. The colonial power Canada is Corporation # ISO CA 3166-1 registered in the Vatican, as are all corporations, based on the fraudulent Doctrine of Discovery.  Indian Affairs is a department of the army and the war will never end until the military government of Canada is neutralized. Canada is a corporation owned by a few banking families that claim to own every municipality throughout turtle island and through the birth certificates of every child born in Canada.  
The greatest form of slavery is when the slaves believe they are free. 500 plus reserves were created as prisoner of war camps on October 25, 1924 [Indian Lands Acts]. The end of the 100 year plan of our demise is now over! We will be free and Canada will be dissolved. Canada is a corporate operation masquerading as a country. The Montevideo Convention of 1932 sets out the criteria for a true country, which must have its own language, culture and land. Canada has none of these. They’ve here to exploit all our natural resources. 
All these criminals and their families who take oaths to the King of England must be immediately arrested and excommunicated from our land. We never invited them here. All immigrants must ask us for our permission to come here and live amongst us under the law of the land, as caretakers of all of turtle island for future generations through nature, truth and justice. The multi generational invaders can never become indigenous to this land they call Canada.  They must adhere to the indigenous law of peace.   
The kaianerekowa is the law of the land. The usurpers rely on the law of the water, Admiralty laws. All courts in Canada are private corporations under Admiralty law.of the seas.  
KAIANEREKOWA WILL NEVER RECOGNIZE CANADA. This law has been applied in Canada militarily to hold indigenous people in place and forcefully assert their admiralty jurisdiction on us so the Crown can plunder our resources.   
THEY NEED TO HALT THEIR ECOCIDAL ASSAULT ON OUR MOTHER EARTH NOW! Canada is going to be accountable for the crime of genocide. In other words, Canada is an illegal entity that is based on genocide and theft and the penalty must be dissolution of Canada. Our planned celebration of the end of Canada will be  October 25, 2024, exactly 100 years after the Minister of Indian Affairs proclaimed the “100 Year Plan to be Rid of the Indian Problem”. Germany and the world did not reconcile with the Nazis.  Kaianerekowa can never reconcile with genocide. 
These are truths. Canada must account for these truths. 
Donavan sings about the first land out of the water, onowarekeh, turtle island. and the first humans to come on the earth, us.   
The continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land,
That from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed
To the South and the North Americas with ease,
In their ships with painted sails.
To the East Africa was a neighbour,
Across a short strait of sea miles.
The great Egyptian age is But a remnant of The Atlantian culture.
…..The antediluvian kings colonised the world
All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
In all legends from all lands were from far Atlantis. Knowing her fate,
Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth.
On board were the Twelve:The poet, the physician, The farmer, the scientist,
The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends.
Though Gods they were –
And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice
And let us sing
And dance and ring in the new Hail Atlantis! . . . 
Mohawknationnews.com  contact thahoketoteh@ntk.com Mohawk Nation News correspondent

 

SELF-SUPPORT TERMED INDIAN GOAL

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Feb 1, 2023.

 

 

Recently the Kahnistenseras of Kahnawake were invited to Hart House of University of Toronto to speak about current indigenous issues. 

 Globe & Mail 1964 republication  of Feb. 11, 1965. ProQuest Historical Newspapers : “Self-Support Indian Goal“

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kahentinetha Horn, a lissum Indian, forecast an Indian in the future of every University of Toronto student who jammed Hart House art gallery yesterday to hear her talk on the arts and culture of contemporary Indians.                                       Miss Horn prophesied that in 35 years, Canada’s Indian population would be 1,800,000 – or roughly one out of every 25 persons. would be an Indian, she said.          “You are the privileged of the privileged”, she told the students. “You are the 82 per cent of the  future leaders of Canada” – I represent the despairing 1 per cent who are multiplying rapidly in Canada. Now is the time you must learn about Indians to help us achieve our main goal.”                                                                        The first goal of Indians is to be able to support themselves, she said.                       On each Wall of Hart House gallery hung paintings by Norval Morrisseau, Ojibway Indian from Beardmore, Ont.  “They conveyed a message of the past”, Miss Horn said.  “Such art flows through the blood of my brothers and sisters – but most of the benefits reaches the white man’s salons?”                                                        While Indian culture certainly encompasses significant art form, the arts of Indians have leaned more to warfare and politics, Miss Horn said.                                “For 20,000 years, the Indians have had a struggle to survive the forces of nature.  The cultural arts come only with leisure –  after survival.” The greats of her ancestors, the Iroquois, were related to politics and warfare. The United Nations concepts are modelled on the Iroquois Confederacy, for example. Their arts of warfare are the reasons the students speak English today instead of French, she said. That’s why you have Prime Minister Pearson as leader instead of President de Gaulle”.                                                                                                        Most Indians, Miss Horn said, are unemployable. “I’m afraid technical sciences will keep Indians unemployable. We haven’t time to think about our arts. We have to keep our people alive. How to keep our women alive, for example, past the age of 45. Why does one out of 10 of our babies die before the age of 4? Don’t ask me why; nobody has ever researched the reason. It’s just a statistic. We need housing, medical care, community planning, training and education. We need an interest in welfare –  there’ll be one of us in thec future for every one of you. 

     Note to readers: The population of indigenous people in Canada today is 1.800,000.  

MOHAWK MOTHERS GRANTED – INJUNCTION OCT 27/22

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kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers)

kahnistensera@riseup.net

November 14, 2022

Update on next steps – Mohawk Mothers vs SQI et al.

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On Thursday October 27, 2022 at the Quebec Superior Court, Montreal District, the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) made history as Justice Gregory Moore granted an interlocutory injunction to immediately halt “any excavation in furtherance of the redevelopment of the Allan Memorial Institute or the Royal Victoria Hospital” until the parties have completed discussions regarding the best archaeological practices to be used.

 

 

This landmark decision was the first time in Canada that self-represented Indigenous people won an injunction without using attorneys and based on their own governance system, the Kaianerehkowa (Great Peace). In court, the Mohawk Mothers were facing numerous adversaries including top lawyers from McGill University, the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI), the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), the Royal Victoria Hospital, the City of Montreal, the Attorney General of Canada and the Attorney General of Quebec. 

 

Kimberly Murray, the Independent Special Interlocutor appointed by the Federal government to determine a new legal framework to address the unmarked graves of Indigenous children that are currently found throughout Canada, also joined the case as a “friend of the court”,  represented by lawyers Julian N. Falconer and Daniel Worme.

 

Justice Moore’s court order was issued on the basis of the plaintiffs’ (Mohawk Mothers) concerns that Indigenous children were used as test subjects in medical experiments at the Royal Victoria Hospital and were buried on the site scheduled to be redeveloped. These concerns were based on both archival evidence and witness accounts, including the first-hand account from Lana Ponting, an 81 year old survivor of the CIA-funded MK-Ultra mind control experiments that took place at the Allan Memorial Institute, the Royal Victoria Hospital and McGill University’s department of psychiatry. In addition, the Mohawk Mothers pleaded that the land is the exact location of the precolonial Iroquoian village of Tekanontak (Mount Royal), and was used as a burial site before the arrival of Europeans, which warrants the necessity of using appropriate archaeological means to preserve the history of Iroquoian peoples.

 

Throughout the hearing on October 26th and 27th, the defendants and promoters of the redevelopment project used an array of technical and legal arguments that attempted to convey the idea that the plaintiffs were

(i) in the wrong forum to lay their claims as other administrative processes exist for such questions in the province of Québec;

(ii) that the promoters have not broken any laws and are respecting the Quebec Heritage Act, which the plaintiffs ask to be declared unconstitutional at the future merits stage of the court proceedings, because it considers Indigenous heritage as the property of Quebec and does not include any mandatory consultation of Indigenous people regarding their heritage;

(iii) that most of the evidence submitted by the plaintiffs and the Special Interlocutor Murray, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, was not eligible for technical reasons; and

(iv) that the six plaintiffs did not represent the Mohawk people – which the plaintiffs esteem as there is no “power of attorney” in Indigenous culture, where every individual is free and self-represented.

 

The Mohawk Mothers emphasized that it is their cultural duty to caretake their traditional territory and the children of past, present and future generations. They also argued that allowing excavation work on the site would cause irreparable harm to their identity, history, and trust as Indigenous people. They also stressed that the situation was urgent because all the other existing means to make their concerns heard were exhausted to no avail. As a matter of fact, the shovels had already broken the ground two days before the hearing with archaeological excavation starting in front of the hospital’s Hersey pavilion – an act which became illegal when the court ruling was issued. 

Justice Moore’s ruling, available online, acknowledged that the balance of convenience favored the plaintiffs, who would “suffer irreparable harm if the excavation work is not suspended for the time it takes to develop an appropriate archaeological plan to identify any unmarked graves”, following the best practices determined by the Canadian Archaeological Association. The ruling thus invited the parties to “speak out of court to settle their differences on an amicable basis”. The promoters were reminded of the Royal Victoria Hospital re-qualification project that the Call to Action 76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission encourages “public and para-public institutions like McGill University and the SQI” to respect the following guidelines:

“i. the Aboriginal community most affected shall lead the development” of the investigation;

ii. Input must be sought from Survivors and Knowledge Keepers in developing those strategies;

“iii. Aboriginal protocols shall be respected before any invasive technical inspection and investigation of a cemetery site”. The ruling also ordered the defendants to fund the investigation. 

 

Throughout the next months, the Mohawk Mothers will thus be working on developing an archaeological plan which they will submit to the other parties for review one month before the next case management conference with Justice Moore, in January or February 2023. The plan will follow the best practices determined by the Canadian Archaeological Association for searching unmarked graves, drawing on non-damaging remote-sensing technologies to assess what is under the soil without disturbing the remains, and basing the investigation on archival research and interviews with survivors. Kanien’keha:ka longhouse protocols will be followed throughout the process, which will also involve traditional knowledge keepers from other Indigenous peoples, whose own protocols regarding burial sites must also be respected. The Kahnistensera are looking forward to developing a comprehensive archaeological plan which will do justice to their families, ancestors and to all survivors of colonial violence. 

The humming of Sam Cooke’s  “It’s been a long time coming/ But I know a change is gonna come” resonates across Tekanontak, as the Kahnistensera’s legal endeavor makes changes for the children yet to come never to be denied anymore. Fear will be overcome, and the path will be cleared for Onkwehonwe to live in peace on their our land, as creation intended.

Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera, Kahnawake

kahnistensera@riseup.net

To help the Kahnistensera, donations can be provided at the following address: https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2022/09/17/help-the-mohawk-mothers-protect-unmarked-graves-audio/

More articles on the court hearings:

McGill Tribune – Tuesday Nov. 1, 2022

APTN News –  Friday, Oct. 28th, 2022

Eastern Door – Friday, Oct. 28th, 2022

Eastern Door – Monday, Nov. 7th, 2022

CBC News – Friday, Oct. 28th, 2022

ICI Radio-Canada – Vendredi 28 octobre 2022 (Fr)

Le Devoir – Mardi 1er novembre 2022 (Fr)

City News – Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, 2022.

KAHNWAKE MOHAWK MOTHERS BLAZING A TRAIL

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Please Post & Circulate.

 

 

MNN. Nov. 8, 2022. So glad this came out in the Eastern Door of Kahnawake. This is what is known as ‘balanced’ writing. 

Mohawk Mothers blazing a trail

JOHNNY CASH explains the kahnistensera’s situation pretty well in his song when the mother keeps telling the son not to take their guns to town. They don’t listen to their mother and end up dead. 

[Verse 1]
A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked out

[Chorus]
Don’t take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don’t take your guns to town

[Verse 2]
He laughed and kissed his mom
And said your Billy Joe’s a man
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn’t shoot without a cause
I’d gun nobody down
But she cried again as he rode away [chorus]

[Verse 3]
He sang a song as on he rode
His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar
And laid his money down
But his mother’s words echoed again [chorus]

[Verse 4]
He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself at last he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mothers words [chorus]

[Verse 5]
Filled with rage then
Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired
Before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor
The crowd all gathered around
And wondered at his final words 

[Chorus]
Don’t take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don’t take your guns to town

kahnistensera@riseup.net