Category Archives: Judges / Courts / Police / UN

MOHAWK MOTHERS: NO SAFEGUARD ORDER AT THIS TIME

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RE: QUEBEC SUPERIOR COURT FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF AND TO OBTAIN A SAFEGUARD ORDER, CASE #500-17-120468-221: Kaheninetha et al v. SQI, McGill University, et all.; and Intervenors Independant Spedical Interlocateur for Missing Children & Unmarked Graves…. 

Shé:kon

We have learned that at this stage that Justice Gregory Moore is not able to issue a safeguard order to halt excavation work in zone #11 of the former Royal Victoria Hospital. The Judge relied on the Expert Panel’s mapping report which authorized excavation work in zone #11 if there is careful monitoring of the work and if it is limited to this area. We consider that the Expert Panel must be involved in overseeing the investigation to adapt it to the findings on the ground.

The emergency hearing on September 14th only treated zone #11, whereas the substantial breaches to the agreement will only be dealt with by the court on October 27th, 2023. These include the following:

1) Disbanding the Expert Panel

2) Failure to share GPR data with the Kahnistensera, the Expert Panel and the Canadian Association of Archeology

3) Failure to establish the origin of the scent of human remains that were detected by search dogs, with less than 0,06% chances of false positives

4) Failure to give access to the buildings to find the origin of the scent of human remains

5) Threats to the security of Indigenous Cultural Monitors after a racially-charged attack of Elders and Cultural Monitors by security guards which were seen to be still present on the site last week, despite assurances that they would be removed

6) Failure to abide by several recommendations of the Expert Panel, including adding a forensic expert to preserve the chain of custody

We’re happy to wake up every morning and face whatever lies ahead without fear.  As Patty Page so eloquently put it:

contact Court Correspondent Tahoketoteh@ntk.com

mohawkmothers.ca

kahnistensera@riseup.net

#991 kahnawake quebec canada J0L 1B0 kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

MOHAWK MOTHERS DECLARE THE GENOCIDE IS OVER

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COMMENTS TO QUEBEC SUPERIOR COURT FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF AND TO OBTAIN A SAFEGUARD ORDER ON SEPT. 14, 2023. CASE #500-17-120468-221: Kaheninetha et al v. SQI, McGill University, et all.; and Intervenors Independant Spedical Interlocateur for Missing Children & Unmarked Graves…. 

MNN. Sept. 15, 2023. “Shé :kon Sewakwe :kon. I am Kahentinetha, a Kahnistensera. I’m 84 years old, a great grand mother. Much of what we are doing at McGill and SQI are based on my experience, and that of the people I’ve known.

I was born in 1940. Many of our teachers at the day school I attended as a child were soldiers who just came back from the war. They were in charge and took a military approach to help Canada to annihilate us. They moved from the European theatre and to home grown Canadian war for Indian land, which continues to this day. They are trained killers sent to train the Indigenous children. It was the army managing us. Managing our disappearance. I have known about what was done to our children, to Inuit children too, in some of these hospitals. Children strapped to their stretchers, trapped in caskets. Horrible things. They came to get the weakest and the strongest of us. Intelligence tests at the Allan Memorial Institute to screen us and incarcerate the unruly, of which they studied the mind, to understand how it is that we think, the reasons why we are still ourselves, Onkwehonweh, and never became Canadians.

I’m here for these lost children, to know what happened to them, and who did it, without lawyers and no funds, just using our way against the corporation of Canada.

That’s why I came to the crime site on Mount Royal every day, without pay, to do the words to open the day, to see how things are going, that our ancestors and children are respected and that they are being found. It wasn’t easy. The toilets were filthy. We had to walk through dangerous construction sites, high fences around, and the security attacking us. A nightmare. I was reminded of when my daughter was stabbed in the chest by a soldier in 1990. Genocide is a nightmare that I have been through and that I witnessed. My family was targeted as a traditional longhouse family. Non-Indigenous people often have a hard time understanding that. They were and are still not told the complete story. If we could get the archives we are asking for, if there was a real commitment to transparency for ethnic crimes committed on us in the post-war period, it would help us. 

Justice Moore stated in the injunction that he ordered last October that no party disputed the fact that the investigation must be “Indigenous-led”. The settlement agreement provided that Cultural Monitors appointed by the Kahnistensera must be on the site. Only a fraction of our cultural monitors have received a basic safety training, and certainly nothing that would allow us to securely monitor heavy machinery on the site. We have no real protective equipment to do that. We were expected to use filthy toilets that were on the other side of the site, in an area under construction where they were stockpiling bricks in high stacks, that could fall on us at any time. We were attacked by the SQI’s security guards, and SQI  told us they wouldn’t come back, but we just stumbled on them last Sunday still working there. They were there all the time! I don’t understand how it can be so complicated to understand what Indigenous-led means! It means something that is safe for us to do things our own way, to burn our tobacco, to make decisions together using our consensual decision making system. Now the Defendants say something new that they didn’t even tell us about before starting to drill the site. They say they built another fenced area in between all the other fences, creating an open air prison to put us in and hopefully protect us from rocks flying over and guards insulting us. By any stretch of the imagination this cannot be considered lawful, let alone safe, in any law, Mohawk or Canadian.

Being on the site was not easy in a context where the Defendants apparently do not want us to be there at all. We are facing constant pressure. The slightest attitude that doesn’t fit within non-Indigenous people’s understanding of what it means to be nice was denounced immediately. I was very sorry to learn that Sophie Mayes from the SQI resorted to pulling emails from some service providers that they had contracted who apparently did not like the way us Mohawk women conduct ourselves. I do not want to perpetuate and thus endorse the Defendants’ disturbing use of defamation and ad hominem attacks through quoting non-Indigenous third parties in their submissions. Such accusations are absolutely baseless and reflect the fundamental problem with the way the Defendants unilaterally sign contracts with service providers that end up thinking they work for them, along with non-disclosure agreements and a client-provider relation that excludes the Indigenous people who are the only party that has a vested interest in the credibility of the investigation. When someone like Brian Whiting, department manager at GeoScan, says that he was upset by what I told him when he came to see me last weekend during a GPR survey, he doesn’t say that what I was asking him about is why we cannot access the raw data from the GPR, and why experts cannot get that data and analyse it. He finally admitted that it was because he is under contract with the SQI, and his allegiance goes to who is paying. At the same time, as Kwetiio said before, Mr Whiting’s own recommendations were not followed by the Defendants regarding the unknown anomalies. The SQI and McGill simply decided to ignore them. I know the settlement agreement does not allow them to do that. Nobody on our side of the room would ever have signed such a document.

To finish, I have something to say that I learned after my affidavit was completed, and that I couldn’t include in our submissions. But it happened. An indigenous person called me, who had been contacted by Pierre Major from McGill University, starting a few weeks ago, and again these last days. McGill was searching for a cultural monitor for archaeological work at the Royal Victoria site. This was done without telling us, or involving us, as if McGill wanted to continue their work by hiring their own monitors. The settlement agreement provides that it is the Kahnistensera who appoint the cultural monitors. The person was offered a good salary, a hotel, benefits, and a McGill masters degree. Mr. Major also said a few disparaging words about us, the Mohawk Mothers. We were ‘mean’ women who were not nice to security guards on the site. Aggressive, hysterical women, basically. Obviously the person didn’t believe a word of it. He said he knows how Indigenous woman are. It’s not the first time I’m contacted by people who are approached that way by the Defendants. I ask you to stop this now and show some respect for your elders. I am your elder too. It’s clear to me that the service providers were constantly hearing bad things about us, and became very reactive and apprehensive when we approached them. But the majority of them were very nice and asked us questions, including the two technicians from GeoScan that Mr. Whiting described as upset by our presence. Actually they asked us a lot of questions, and we explained them. They told us about their work to help us explain this to our people. They participated in our ceremonies. The way it should be, very simply, to be real human beings, Onkwehonweh. That’s the way we can truly change our relationship and become free.

I know it’s my right to do this. It’s my responsibility according to the Kaianerehkowa. I am a Kahnistensera, and I declare the genocide is now over.”

 

 

So as Willie Nelson reminds everyone, the party’s over. 

thahoketoteh mohawknationnews@ntk.com  MNN court correspondent

box 991, kahnawake, que. canada J0L 1B0 kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

MohawkMothers.ca

mohawknationnews.com

MOHAWK MOTHERS RETURN TO COURT AS MCGILL/SQI DRILL HOLES AT ROYAL VICTORIA HOSPITAL

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PRESS RELEASE For immediate publication.

Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) kahnistensera@riseup.net 

 

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.

The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

SEE https://www.mohawkmothers.ca/

Contact for press: kahnistensera@riseup.net Kahnawake, P.O. Box 991, que. canada J0L 1B0

 

MCGILL & SQI, REMEMBER YOU’RE IN INDIGENOUS COUNTRY

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MNN. Sun. Sept. 3, 2023. 

https://montreal.citynews.ca/2023/08/31/not-in-good-faith-mohawk-mothers-about-search-for-unmarked-graves-at-former-montreal-hospital-site/

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”].

Stomp Dance (Unity)

contact: court correspondence thahoketoteh@ntk.com mohawknationnews.com box 991, kahnawake Que. Canada J0L 1B0

info: mohawkmothers.ca

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

—————————————————————–

MNN Court Correspondent thahoketoteh@ntk.com 

kahentinetha2@protonmail.mohawknationnews.com 

box 991, kahnawake Que. Canada J0L 1B0

INTERIM REPORT: MISSING CHILDREN & UNMARKED BURIALS

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MNN. June 18, 2023. Kimberly Murray BA, LL.B, IPC

“I am honoured to have been entrusted with being the Special Interlocutor… to support the work of Survivors and Indigenous communities to protect, locate, identify, repatriate, and commemorate the children who died while being forced to attend Indian Residential Schools”. 

Kimberly Murray BA, LL.B, IPC

She was appointed for two years as Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. She is a member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation.

THIS IS THE PODCAST of Ms. Murray presenting the Interim Report, “Sacred Responsibiility: Searching for the Missing Children & Unmarked Burials”.

Interim report on the search for missing children and unmarked burials | APTN News

THIS IS THE REPORT:

Part 6 of the report begins to lay the foundation for a new Reparations Framework to address the gaps and barriers within Canada’s current legal system, which is ill-equipped to provide accountability and justice for Indigenous Peoples in the face of genocide, colonial violence, and mass human rights violations. It defines an Indigenous-led process and explains why such a process is essential to the search and recovery of the missing children and unmarked burials. It concludes by outlining ten elements of reparations that will form the basis of the Final Report. Summaries are included throughout to illustrate the barriers communities are facing, as well as emerging Indigenous-led practices that have been applied to advance search and recovery work in accordance with Indigenous law and protocols. 

https://osi-bis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OSI_InterimReport_June-2023_WEB.pdf

Helen Reddy knows the energy of someone like Kimberly Murray:

I am woman, hear me roarIn numbers too big to ignoreAnd I know too much to go back an’ pretend‘Cause I’ve heard it all beforeAnd I’ve been down there on the floorAnd no one’s ever gonna keep me down again
Yes, I am wiseBut it’s wisdom born of painYes, I’ve paid the priceBut look how much I’ve gainedIf I have to, I can do anythingI am strong (strong)I am invincible (invincible)I am woman
Helen Reddy - I Am Woman (Official 4K Video)
MNN Court Correspondent thahohketoteh@ntx.com 
Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@protonmail.com
Box 991 kahnawake quebec J0L 1B0

 

 

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 

INNU & GUARDIANS OF NITASSINAN EVICT LOGGERS

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MNN. Sat. June 3, 2023. The traditional Innu people evict logging companies from their territory and cancel modern treaty in the making.

The traditional guardians of the Nitassinan, the unceded territory of the Innu people whose 570 000 km2 are bigger than the territory of France, have sent two cease and desist letters to halt the current invasion of their land and attempts to extinguish their inherent rights. Here are the two letters for your attention.

From: Collectif Mashk Assi* 1 Guardians of Nitassinan, Innu ancestral territory collectifmashkassi@hotmail.com

RE: Notice of eviction from Innu territories and cessation of logging

To: Scierie Girard. 5872 route des Bouleaux, Shipshaw (Québec) G7P 1E3 Forestier Luc Goulet et fils. 440 rue du Coteau-Marcil, Albanel (Québec) G8M 3R3 Scierie Martel. 3000 route du Lac Est, Alma (Québec) G8B 5V2 Groupe Forestra. 4910 boulevard Talbot, Laterrière (Québec) G7N 1A3 Coop Fernand Boileau, Groupe Lignarex and other chains. 445 route 381, Fernand-et-Boilleau (Québec) G0V 1H0. Scierie du Lac-Saint-Jean inc. 41 route Saint-André, Métabetchouan-Lac-à-la-Croix (Québec) G8G 1X2. Produit Forestier Résolu. 200 rue de Quen, Dolbeau-Mistassini (Québec), G8L 5M8.

BY REGISTERED MAIL

We hereby inform you that all your employees and subcontractors must immediately evacuate Nitassinan, a sovereign and unceded territory of the Innu people, by order of the guardians of the territory. Your company is operating illegally on our territory, without having consulted the territory’s guardian families, whose authority over Nitassinan is protected by the Canadian Constitution, international law and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Only these families have the right to authorize a company to operate on the traditional territory of the Innu people. Agreements with Band Councils imposed by the federal government are null and void, as their jurisdiction is limited to reserve territory, as recognized by Canadian courts.

INNU GUARDIANS OF THE LAND

The custodians of the traditional territory of the Innu people have never ceded their ancestral rights, either by treaty or by conquest. The guardian families of Nitassinan ask you to cease all forestry activities and to leave our territory immediately. Your presence on Nitassinan constitutes a violation of innu tipenitamun, Innu sovereignty over the 571,000 km2 of Nitassinan, and uetshit takuaimatishun, the implementation of self-determination by the Innu people themselves.

Please also note that we are acting in solidarity and alliance with our Atikamekw brothers and sisters who are fighting to protect their ancestral forests in Nitaskinan. Please be advised that failure to comply with this eviction order will render you liable to prosecution for the violation of our human and ancestral rights. We consider the denial of our sovereignty and the ransacking of our territory to be a continuation of the genocide of indigenous peoples recognized by the Canadian government and Pope Francis I. By destroying our forests, you are destroying our environment and violating our right to bequeath our territory, our identity and our ancestral way of life to future generations. We ask you to stop the colonization of our territory, the destruction of the flora and fauna that make up our environment and the genocide of our people. We ask you to make a genuine gesture of reconciliation with the Innu people by respecting this eviction order in a peaceful manner.

Please inform all your employees and sub-contractors to leave our territory immediately. We ask that you take your personal belongings, equipment and vehicles and leave our territory in a timely and peaceful manner. As of May 30, it will no longer be possible for you to access our territory, except to remove your equipment, and you will be liable to prosecution. Please act accordingly.

From: Collectif Mashk Assi Guardians of Nitassinan, Innu ancestral territory collectifmashkassi@hotmail.com

SUBJECT: Formal notice to cease negotiations of the Petapan Treaty and other treaties

To: Attorney General of Canada Department of Justice Canada Litigation Branch 50 O’Connor Street 5th Floor – Room 531 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

Attorney General of Quebec Bernard, Roy (Justice – Quebec) 1 Notre-Dame Street East, Suite 8.00 Montreal, Quebec H2Y 1B6 BY

REGISTERED MAIL

We ask the Attorney General of Canada to inform his administrative bodies known as the Band Councils of Mashteuiatsh, Essipit and Nutashkuan to cease speaking and undertaking negotiations on behalf of the Innu people. These Band Councils have no jurisdiction over the traditional Ilnuash territory of Nitassinan, other than that granted by the Canadian government on reserves through the imposition of the Indian Act, which Aboriginal Services Minister Marc Miller acknowledges is racist in nature.

The Band Councils of Mashteuiatsh, Essipit and Nutashkuan in no way represent the Innu people, whose legitimate authority resides in the guardian families of the territory, of which the Mashk Assi collective is a spokesperson. We also ask the representatives of Canada, Quebec and the Band Councils to cease any media disinformation campaign giving the public the impression that the traditional Innu people would be involved in any way whatsoever in the negotiation of modern treaties, including the Petapan Treaty and any agreements resulting from Bill C-15. The Petapan Treaty is negotiated behind closed doors by lawyers representing various levels of colonial governments, and has never been seen or consulted by the members of our communities and the guardian families of Nitassinan who preserve the Innu aitun, our ancestral way of life and sovereign title to our territory.

The territory’s guardian families have repeatedly informed you that negotiations concerning our title and ancestral rights must cease. In a letter submitted in 2005 to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Ukauimau aimu coalition, “words of mothers”, made up of over 270 members from different communities, denounced the lack of transparency and consultation in the process of illegally ceding ancestral territory, as well as “the usurpation of the identity of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh originally from Nitassinan and the various administrative, legislative, legal abuses, etc.., on the territory of the Nehlulnu descendants” by the federal administrative authorities of the Band Councils.

The descendants of the original Ilnuash people have repeated the same message several times since, including in a letter dated March 30, 2023, which stated that Territory Chiefs, Territory Guardians and Kukum (grandmother) circles have the obligation to protect ancestral territory. In Innu law, the land is inalienable and constitutes a legacy for future generations that must be protected and respected. In this sense, and under Innu law, these negotiations are illegitimate and illegal. The Hereditary Chiefs therefore call for an immediate halt to the process of global territorial negotiations. We hereby give you formal notice to immediately cease and suspend the negotiation of the Petapan Treaty and any other treaty, law or agreement in principle modifying our collective and individual ancestral rights, including the action plan for the implementation of Bill C-15 on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), under pain of legal proceedings.

The Mashk Assi collective and the territory’s guardian families are implementing the obligation, under Innu law, to protect Tshikauinu Assi, Mother Earth. It is part of the collective and individual legal obligations of the territory guardian families, the Kukum circle, and the territory chiefs, to protect Assi. As guardian families of Nitassinan, holding sovereign title to the unceded territory of the Innu people, we remind you that any treaty negotiation without our participation and free and informed consent is a violation of our fundamental rights protected by international law, the Constitution of Canada and the UNDRIP.

You are hereby informed that any decision taken without the consent of the Nitassinan custodial families concerning our territory, sovereignty and rights is null and void. Any negotiation aimed at extinguishing, suspending or modifying in any way our aboriginal rights without our free and informed consent will be considered a violation of our human rights and will be prosecuted in Canada and before international tribunals. We ask that the United Nations Special Rapporteur be immediately notified of the current denial of our very existence as a sovereign Innu people, through both “modern treaties” and the granting of logging permits on our territory without our consent. We see this denial of our existence as a continuation of the colonial genocide of indigenous people who are preserving their way, their right and their ancestral territories.

We therefore remind you, for the last time under threat of legal action, that all negotiations undertaken without our consent concerning our territory and ancestral rights must cease immediately. The guardian families of Nitassinan, who have never ceded their ancestral rights, either by treaty or by conquest, urge you to immediately cease all actions that may infringe on their collective and individual rights, and on the integrity of their unceded territory. Please act accordingly.

Recorded live 
Collectif Mashk Assi

As Frank Zappa, friend of the Innu, said:

“Dreamed I was an eskimoFrozen wind began to blowUnder my boots and around my toesThe frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero…
And my mama criedAnd my mama criedNanook, a-no-noNanook, a-no-noDon’t be a naughty eskimo
Save your money, don’t go to the showWell I turned around and I said oh, oh ohWell I turned around and I said oh, oh ohWell I turned around and I said ho, hoAnd the northern lights commenced to glow

And she said, with a tear in her eyeWatch out where the huskies go,And don’t you eat that yellow snowWatch out where the huskies go,And don’t you eat that yellow snow”

 

MOHAWK MOTHERS COURT VICTORY Oct. 27, 2022

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MNN. 31st October 2022, 

Just got the judgement from the Quebec Superior Court:  

Decision of the Superior Court of QuebecDownload

Kahnistensera@riseup.net

UPDATE MCGILL QUEBEC ARKEOS FAKE INFORMATION

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Please post & circulate

MNN. OCT. 11, 2022.

kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) Kahnawake kahnistensera@riseup.net October 9, 2022 OBJECT:

Re: Arkéos intervention and information meetings on the upcoming excavation in front of the Hersey pavilion of the Royal Victoria Hospital: we were informed that the SQI and McGill have declared that they would wait completing the “information meetings” before carrying out the archaeological intervention. Not so. Arkéos’s intervention can start immediately. 

We are wholly opposed to the archaeological intervention in its current form, which dismisses all the guidelines and frameworks that have been developed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and by archaeologists engaged in searching for unmarked graves since the first findings in Tk’emlúps in 2021. Disturbing ancestral and recent Indigenous burial grounds is a very serious matter in our culture, and the area in front of the Hersey pavilion show a very high risk of containing both precolonial and modern graves of our relatives.

The first ethical rule mentioned by the Canadian Archaeological Association (CAA) for searching unmarked graves states that “Any work to locate missing Indigenous children must be led by Indigenous communities”. The upcoming intervention at the RVH is not led by Indigenous people, but rather by development promoters and a private firm they hired. We note that not a single one of the 10 rules determined by the CAA for ethically conducting professional archaeological work on unmarked graves is being respected.

We have repeatedly requested that remote sensing technologies be used before breaking the ground and disturbing the remains of our families. New Vic and Arkéos have acted as if we were in the 1960’s and those technologies did not exist (GPR, cadaver dogs, resistivity tests, conductivity tests, LIDAR, etc.). In order to respectfully treat the remains of our families, we must have an idea of what is underneath the ground before breaking it, so that we will follow our cultural burial practices and the will of the survivors and families.

A bioarchaeologist will not even be on site, only on call. Our request to monitor the work has not been respected either. As the opponents are failng to take our demands into consideration, we hereby announce that we will be taking the following steps to protect the site:

1) On Tuesday October 11th, if the intervention is not postponed, we will file an official grievance to the CAA to stop the professional misconduct of Arkéos inc. and its failure to comply with its national association’s ethical guidelines for searching unmarked graves;

2) When the work starts, we will report to police authorities an ongoing criminal desecration of human remains and destruction of forensic evidence on a crime scene;

3) We will monitor the work ourselves from the sidewalk using binoculars.

As reinstated by the CAA, “the TRC directed that the work of documenting, maintaining, protecting and commemorating residential school cemeteries should be led by the affected communities and families, with guidance from residential school survivors and other Knowledge Keepers, and must respect Indigenous protocols. This work must be undertaken with the utmost care and appropriate mental health supports because of the huge potential to re-traumatize Indigenous communities.” At this stage, we have already been re-traumatized by the way that our legitimate concerns have been completely ignored by the promoters of the New Vic.

Regarding the information meetings, our duty is to inform all parties that these meetings are not consultation. We invite the SQI, as a public institution, to read the Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Duty to Consult, which was apparently not consulted as none of its guidelines are followed. As for us, we were not available on the date that the promoters had unilaterally selected for an information meeting with us, on October 6th. We proposed a range of alternative dates, any time between October 10th and October 14th to meet at the 207 Longhouse. The promoters did not respond to our suggested dates. Instead, they told us that we could come on the next day, October 5th at 7:30pm, to the Golden Agers club, after completing the meeting between them and Band Council affiliates, as well as other meetings that day, including cigarette taxation and an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting, that was canceled because of the McGill information meeting. The natural low of the community was totally disrupted. 

McGill and the SQI claimed that we declined their invitation, which is not true. That date did not work for most of us. However, two Mohawk Mothers went to the Golden Agers Club in Kahnawake at 6pm to see the information session with Band Councillors. Neither us nor anyone we know was notified by anybody that this meeting was taking place, though we are Longhouse people. We saw in the invitation shared with the court that elders were supposed to be welcome.

The two Mohawk Mothers who went are 77 and 82 years old. They found no more than five Indigenous people inside, most of whom were currently or recently under contract with McGill or Canada, and about 15 non-Indigenous people representing McGill, Arkéos and the SQI. Such situations where Mohawks are outnumbered by White people are extremely rare and sensitive in Kahnawake, as in such cases our “At the Edge of the Woods” ceremony must be followed to access our territory without trespassing.

During the presentation the unmarked graves of our people were not mentioned. All the zones that Arkéos checked in 2016 did not indicate were declared to contain no archaeological interest, regardless of the widely acknowledged fact that this section of tekanontak (Mount Royal) is the exact location of the highly populated villages of our ancestors. This silencing of our history retraumatized us. So we asked direct questions such as “Where are the bodies of our children?” The organizers reacted by calling the police to escort us out of the building.

The Kahnawake Peacekeepers were surprised to see that they had been called in to remove two of their elders who are still shocked. We are waiting for the Peacekeepers to give us the report to understand what happened. We would appreciate if the other parties could use dialogue instead of armed force to deal with differences. Even though we continue to uphold our role as caretakers of the land and the children, we are still humans, and we are still fragile as survivors and elders.

O:nen Kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers), Kahnawake

Kahnistensera@riseup.net