Mohawk Nation News

News and Articles by kahntineta, Mohawk Nation News Publisher

Mohawk Nation News

AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC. WASTE TO BE DUMPED INTO ST. LAWRENCE RI.

MNN. THE FOLLOWING REPORT WAS READ ON KRK1:30 RADIO KAHNAWAKE @ 12:35 PM MON. FEB. 5/24. 

“Feb 5, 2024: as read on K103 Radio, Kahnawake at 12:35

Time Sensitive: Let’s talk about Air Products & Chemicals Inc. 

Nine years ago, I began working in Akwesasne as a family physician. One of the strong currents underlying the health of Akwesasro:non is that the environment is heavily polluted and that many of the people are sick. The high levels of PCBs, lead, mercury, benzene, fluoride, dioxins, arsenic, and cyanide have been documented in many research studies in Akwesasne and are felt to be responsible for the elevated levels of cancers, diabetes, mental health illnesses like dementia and depression, developmental disorders in children, and endocrine and autoimmune disease.

The corporations responsible for this air, water, and soil pollution have done extensive remediation to decrease these chemicals in the environment. But it is never enough. People are still asked to eat only a small amount of fish, garden in soil that is brought from elsewhere, not pick medicines in certain areas, and of course not to drink untreated water from the Kaniatarawenen:en, or the St. Lawrence River. We have a responsibility to be on constant vigilance, stewarding the lands against further damage, so that our ‘Coming Faces’ will be able to live in a healthy environment.

In July 2022, the United Nations officially recognized that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. Both Canada and the United States have also recognized this right. At the same time, to mitigate Climate change, both countries are looking for energy solutions that do not emit carbon into the atmosphere. One company, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., aims to make hydrogen fuel in a facility that will be built in Massena, NY, adjacent and upriver from Akwesasne. I have read all the available documentation.

Specifically, Air Products & Chemicals Inc., will take water from the St. Lawrence River, clean this water using treatment chemicals called ‘biocide’, and then subject it to an electric current, called ‘electrolysis’, and break the water molecules into its component parts of hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen will be released into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen will be dried, liquified, stored in tankers, and then driven by trucks 500 miles away to be used in the travel industry as clean fuel. It is considered clean because the energy used to make the hydrogen is hydroelectric. The effluent, or waste from the plant, will consist mostly of water, and at 90-degree F will be disposed of into the nearby Grasse River via the Massena Canal. Right now, Air Products & Chemicals Inc., are applying for aState Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit to discharge this waste into the river.

There are concerns about many aspects of this project: there are wetlands to be disturbed, trees to be clear cut, and the homes of endangered species like the Northern Long Eared bat and the Monarch butterfly may be affected. Would 90 degrees F water cause thermal pollution to the Grasse River? Would the armoured and sediment cap that has been placed over the riverbed of the Grasse River, sequestering the previous pollution, be affected, and breached? Is it safe to drive hydrogen fuel through our community? Are there truly no archeological sites in the area? The documents that I have read are very detailed, and using science and regulations, Air Products & Chemicals Inc. have done their due diligence and answered most of these questions.

However, we should have a persistent concern. Air Products & Chemicals Inc plans to send its effluent into the Massena Canal. The Massena Canal was built in 1893, flows into the Grasse River, previously provided hydroelectricity to the Alcoa plant, and is no longer in use. The Massena Canal was NOT part of Alcoa’s remediation plan. Will this effluent from the Air Products & Chemicals Inc. discharged into the Massena Canal disrupt the sediment on the canal’s bottom? What is the depth and the flow rate of the canal waters? What does its sediment contain? Does this sediment contain high levels of PCBs that will then be carried to the Grasse River, over the riverbed armoured cap, right to the waters of Akwesasne?

The Air Products report says, “No significant socioeconomic impacts are expected, and the proposed project is not anticipated to result in disproportionately high or adverse impacts to low income and/or minority populations. Subsequently, no mitigation measures are proposed”. The proposed site is also described as ‘previously undeveloped with no history of industrial activity’. These statements are not true. We are downwind and downstream of three Superfund sites in the adjacent areas of this proposed project. There are many research studies that have shown the deleterious effects of contaminants from these Superfund sites on the health of the people of Akwesasne. Superfund sites are polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up their hazardous non-usable material. The Grasse River remediation project was only completed in 2021, but the area has never been remediated to its natural state.

Akwesasne was not listed as a special interest group. Akwesasne was not officially invited to any information and consultation sessions. Notices were only posted in the Watertown and Massena newspapers. Akwesasne community members who attended the July 12, 2023, meeting were reassured that Air Products & Chemicals Inc. would hold an information session in Akwesasne later. Despite many attempts to contact Air Products & Chemicals Inc., this meeting never happened, and the information was eventually obtained through a freedom of information application to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Given that we are downstream, adjacent to Massena, and have a very public, historic, ongoing, adverse, distrusting relationship with the corporations responsible for the three Superfund sites, we wonder why our people were deliberately kept out of the plans for this project. We became substantively aware of this project two weeks ago. We have until February 8, 2024, to make our concerns known to the DEC who evaluate the SPDES Permit of Air Products & Chemicals Inc.

I would add at this moment that we, as stewards of our mother, as Okwehonwe — we don’t rip apart the molecules of our mother’s water. We protect the water, give thanks to the water- industrialism no matter how it’s advertised as being “green”, it’s painted, and is about money. They will always have the underlying desire to separate us from the relationships we have to the air, water, and plant life. We must make our voices heard and protect ever acre of wetlands we have. We must make our voices heard and not allow the sleeping waters that contain the contaminated sediment to be awakened.

As it stands, the SPDES permit must be denied or at least delayed. Your voice matters. Please- write, email, or call the DEC and urge them to deny Air Products & Chemicals Inc. the SPDES permit. 

Miranda Gilgore, NYSDEC Region &  Headquarters

State Office Building – 317 Washington St, Watertown, NY 13601

Phone: (315) 785-2245

Email: DEP.R6@dec.ny.gov

 

Ojistoh Horn, MSc, MD, CCFP”

 

Deep Purple sang about this. “Smoke on the water”. “We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline to make records with a mobile. We didn’t have much time. “Frank Zappa and the Mothers” were at the best place in town. Until some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground. Smoke on the water, fire in the sky. Smoke on the water, fire in the sky… 

thahoketoteh@ntk.com

MohawkMothers.ca

kahnistensera@riseup.net

mohawknationnews.com 

box 991, kahnawake, quebed canada. J0L 1B0

kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

UNREST IN THE COURT DEC. 1, 2023

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Mister Justice, the Kahnistensera made a submission regarding that motion on Case Management, as follows:

MNN. Dec. 1, 2023. “Shekon Judge. I unfortunately have to remind you of a very grave matter about the Defendants TOTAL DISRESPECT for the law. There have been some exchanges between the Special Interlocutor, the Defendants and us since the latest Court Order that you issued.. unrest in the courtMr. Justice, on November 20th 2023, these exchanges are EXTREMELY concerning.  One comes to wonder whether the Defendants consider themselves to be bound by the law as everyone else is in Canadian society.  We wrote to the SQI and McGill immediately after we received your judgment, proposing that we write a joint message to the Expert Panel to share the Judgment and prepare updated information on the archaeological interventions that took place on the site since the Panel was wrongfully disbanded. 

The Defendants responded on November 23rd 2023, that they were “currently studying Judge Moore’s latest decision”, and that “excavation work can continue without interruption”. The language is similar to the email McGill sent to all its students and faculty on November 21st 2023, where they said, “We will study the decision and its implications more fully in the days to come. In the meantime, as per the court’s decision, the work at the site may continue”. The main decision within the Judgment to reinstate the Panel was not mentioned.

Ten days after your Judgment was rendered, we still haven’t heard back from the Defendants. I don’t know how much time it will take them to study the 12-page Judgment you issued, Mister Justice. It took us a couple of hours, without any lawyers to help us. It might take them a few months, or a few years, after the New Vic Project is completed, to actually read the Judgment and contemplate ways to implement it! They seem to have all the time they needed to plan and execute excavation work on the site, which continued ceaselessly.

The patch in front of the Hersey Pavilion McGill where the dogs detected the scent of human remains has now become a huge hole. Ethnoscop produced a report regarding the investigation of the dog alert. They say they didn’t find a burial. More precisely, they say that they sifted 150 bone fragments most of which are too small to determine whether they’re animal or human, and ended up suggesting that they must be animal because of the “archaeological context”, not even explaining what the context was. As far as we know, the context is that search dogs smelled human remains there. 

We recall the Defendants had decided to move the piles of soil excavated where the dogs smelled human remains to another location so they could start their project there. We opposed this because we feared that it would damage any bones contained in that soil.

So the piles were moved elsewhere against our consent. They were sifted using a huge machine normally used for mining.  After being moved around and sifted in a huge machine, all that was left of the bones were fragments that are impossible to identify. This report was written on November 22nd, 2023 two days after the Court Ruling that reinstated the Expert Panel. But the Defendants were too busy to implement it. They just let everything continue in the meantime. 

On November 21st, the counsel for the Special Interlocutor shared a letter with all parties suggesting to “work together to enable the Expert Panel to resume its work” by setting a meeting “to outline draft contracts for the Expert Panel” and to discuss whether to replace Justine Bourgignon-Tetrault or to continue with a two-person panel, in accordance with your suggestion, Mister Justice. What did the Defendants do? They never responded. Were they too busy rereading the Judgment? Your Judgment was clear, Mr. Justice, in stating that continuing the work without the oversight of the Expert Panel creates irreparable harm. It’s written in black and white. 

So it’s obvious that if anyone receives a Court Order to have supervision of your excavation work by a Panel of Experts, your priority is to respect that Court Order and reach out to the Panel.  

It’s now been 11 days since the Court Order was issued, and nothing was done to implement it. That’s in addition to the month that passed since the hearing on October 27, 2023, which was in addition to the almost two months that passed since the Expert Panel was unilateraly fired by the Defendants, transforming this investigation into a blatant insult to our intelligence. The Defendants proved these last 11 days, including the three months before, that they have no intention whatsoever of respecting our concerns and even respecting the law. 

They now want to get rid of the Special Interlocutor to leave us without any oversight from any qualified person committed to the sacred work of protecting unmarked burials. The Special Interlocutor and her attorneys played an essential role in allowing the settlement agreement to happen and to bring some sort of agreement and legibility to this mess.

We’re sorry that it comes to that point, but we have no choice but to ask this court to act upon its own rulings and to compel the defendants to respect its decisions. The Court Order issued on November 20th clearly acknowledged the irreparable harm caused by the Defendants’ refusal to abide by the recommendations of the Expert Panel. Eleven days after the Court Ruling was issued we’re still at the same point. The Panel hasn’t even been told that it’s been reinstated because the Defendants keep postponing the very first step which is to announce the Court Ruling to them. It appears their bad faith is such that they won’t do anything cooperative if it’s not directly ordered in black and white.

If the Judgment doesn’t say that the Panel has to be contacted by the specific date, they’ll just never tell them that they’re reinstated! And during that time, we are being hurt and hurt and hurt every single day the excavation moves forward.

Here’s a story. We’re in the desert and we have a gallon of water for two people, and the court orders that we should share the water. But I actually have the water bottle, and when I learn about the court order I start saying that I have to read and re-read it and think about it. But, in the meantime I actually end up drinking the whole gallon of water. What would that mean? To me it’s crystal clear. It means that the law is breached. That’s all there is to it. 

That’s all I have to say”. Kahentinetha of the Kahnistensera Mohawk Mothers.

Ted Nugent, the Motor City Madman, exclaims: “Sabotage on the downtown streets. Police cars overturned. Can’t do nothing to beat the heat. And if you don’t, you’ll get burned. Sleek women behind every door. Cost more money than you got. You best be up if you want some more cause if you don’t, you’ll be shot. Dog, dog eat dog. [4 times].

Kamikaze from the 100th floor, swan dive to the street. He couldn’t handle this mad house no more. He craved that sweeter meat. Yeah, dog, dog, dog eat dog…..”

thahoketoteh@ntk.com MNN Court Correspondent

Kahnistensera@riseup.net

MohawkMothers.ca

mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

MOHAWKS SHOOT THE RAPIDS Press Release

 

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate publication

 

 

We indigenous are part of mother earth who continue to be targets of this ongoing genocide by foreigners. 

“Mohawk Mothers Win Superior Court Judgment.

McGill and SQI Ordered to Comply With

Settlement Agreement and to Reinstate Expert Panel”

Tio’tia:ke [Montreal]. After obtaining, one year to the day, a precedent-setting injunction halting excavation at the former Royal Victoria Hospital site to search for the unmarked graves of the victims of medical experiments, the Mohawk Mothers, also known as the Kahnistenaera, have won their bid for a safeguard order they presented at the Superior Court of Quebec on October 27, 2023.

On November 20, 2023, Justice Gregory Moore issued a judgment ordering McGill University and the Societe quebecoise des infrastructure [SQI] to abide by the Settlement Agreement they had signed with the self-represented Indigenous plaintiffs on April 6, 2023, and to respect the recommendations of the Expert Panel of archaeologists they had jointly selected. 

Justice Moore’s statement that the SQI’s and McGill’s position ending the Expert Panel’s mandate “does not set a term for the Panel’s mandate on July 17th is “too restrictive,” as the settlement agreement “does not set a term for the panel’s  involvement in the on-going search for unmarked graves” [para. 34]. According to the Judge, “The delay and costs of the overall project cannot justify the SQI’s and McGill’s unilateral reduction of their obligations under the settlement agreement, especially when doing so will cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs” [para. 39].

For Mohawk Mother kahentinetha, the Judgment is a relief. “We’ve fought so hard for two years to search for these missing children.  Our community was targeted for genocide and our children were used as guinea pigs in these horrific experiments by the CIA to see how to kill the Indian in them.  But since  McGill and the SQI fired the Expert Panel we had no way to keep track and trust the results of the investigation, which was now being controlled by the perpetrators of crimes against our children.  The point in signing of the Settlement Agreement was to allow the Experts to do their job, and we were betrayed. We had to do it all alone without lawyers, facing such powerful institutions. It wasn’t easy but we made it. The Judge understood that the only way this can go is in a professional way, with independent experts to oversee everything and make sure our community is informed”. 

The Mohawk Mothers submitted that McGill and the SQI had failed to implement numerous recommendations of the Expert Panel, notably refusing to share data from the Ground Penetrating Radar surveys, refusing to adopt forensic precaution to protect the chain of custody of evidence, and depriving the Mohawk Mothers of access to crucial information such as contracts with specialists.

Justice Gregory Moore found in favor of the Mohawk Mothers’ argument that the purpose of the Settlement Agreement was to rely on an independent and impartial Expert Panel to provide ongoing recommendations, in order to ensure that the New Vic Project would not result in the desecration of human remains, which survivors and search dogs indicated were on the site.  

In August 2023, McGill and the SQI fired the Expert Panel, one of whom had recently resigned, after they asked to implement forensic measures and peer review data from Ground Penetrating Radar. 

Although Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs had detected the scent of human remains in the area in front of the Hersey Pavilion, McGill and SQI declared that there was no evidence of burials there, suggested it was a false positive, and started large-sale non-archaeological excavation in the zone. The Mohawk Mothers were concerned that development work in the area could start before the source of human remains in the zone was established, especially inside the Hersey Pavilion, because the dogs signalled remains next to the building’s wall and because unexplained demolition work took place there. 

Judge Moore’s court ruling will allow for the independent Expert Panel to provide updated irecommendations regarding the zone and the larger site, after being cut off from the investigation since August. 

On November 5, 2023, search dogs detected the scent of human remains in yet another zone, close to the Allan Memorial institute, where the CIA’s MK-Ultra experiments on brainwashing took place in the early 1950’s and 1960’s.

The parties will be back in court on December 1st 2023. to address a motion ordering the release of records withheld by the defendants. 

The Kanien’kehaka:ka Kahnistensera [Mohawk Mothers] is a Kahnawake based group that helps Indigenous women accomplish 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 until a proper archaeological investigation is conducted, using the traditional protocols of the Kaianere’ko:wa. [Great Peace].

https:// www.mohawkmothers.csa/Contact for press: kahnistensera@riseup.net [514]463-8835 Kahnawake, P.O. Box 991, Que. J0L 1B0.

In 1990, not so long ago, the kanienkehaka Mohawks defended the land and people which speaks who hears their own way. This is our people. This is our song. It’s about peace:  

Magik Squirrel: Mohawk War Song

MohawkMothers.ca; 

thahoketoteh@ntk.com

mohawknationnews.com

kahnistensers@riseup.net

box 991. kahnawake. que.  canada  J0L 1B0

 

MOHAWK MOTHERS DISPUTE DISBANDMENT OF EXPERT PANEL

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MNN. Nov. 1, 2023.
https://www.thetribune.ca/news/kanienkehaka-kahnistensera-appear-in-court-discuss-disbandment-of-archaeological-panel-31102023/

The Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) appeared at the Montreal Courthouse for a five-hour case management hearing on Oct. 27. The hearing came as part of the Mothers’ ongoing investigation into McGill’s New Vic Project site—where the Mothers fear that there may be unmarked Indigenous graves—alongside McGill, the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), the City of Montreal, and the Attorney General of Canada.

The Mothers gave the first statement before Justice Gregory Moore. Beginning with Mohawk Mother Kwetiio, the Mothers urged the court to enforce the settlement agreement, which, in Kwetiio’s interpretation, states that all parties are bound to the recommendations of the court-appointed expert archaeological panel. Kwetiio further alleged that McGill had sent contracts to the three members of the panel—which disbanded on Aug. 3—with three-month termination dates. The Mothers were not informed of these contracts until they had already been signed and were irreversible.

Kwetiio argued that Ethnoscop—the archaeological firm hired for the investigation—did not use appropriate methods to protect the forensic chain of custody of any potential evidence, as they were touching evidence with their bare hands and not using tamper-proof bags. She also stated that the defendants were strategically choosing which information they would share with the Mothers in order to continue the investigation without delays.

“There’s been a lot of cherry-picking of what [the defendants] are going to use to help themselves to further their construction, and not the investigation,” Kwetiio said in a press conference after the hearing.

The court then heard from Mohawk Mother Kahentinetha, who shared that potential anomalies were excavated on the site in rapid time which did not allow for proper significance and care to be given to each anomaly. She said that on one day, nine anomalies were excavated with a mere 45 minutes allotted to each anomaly. Kahentinetha claimed that the soil was not sifted properly, and any bone fragments found were immediately deemed to be of animal origin.

In a written statement to The Tribune, the SQI asserted that all excavation is being carried out in accordance with proper archaeological regulations by expert firms, with proper methods used to ensure soil is not mixed or contaminated.

Kahentinetha also shared that after facing verbal assault from SQI security guards on July 25, the Mothers had asked to be accompanied by Indigenous security personnel from T.D. Security while onsite. However, it took three weeks before the defendants complied with this request.

Kwetiio continued, asserting that the Mothers deserve to be treated with respect on the site and should not be subjected to “uncontrollable anger” from the defendants when they ask questions. She ended the Mothers’ statement by contending that the defendants had breached every part of the settlement agreement.

The court took a fifteen-minute break, after which Julian Falconer—the lawyer for the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor, Kimberly Murray—gave his statement, alleging that the defendants were being denialistic. He stated that the Mothers already had an insurmountable burden placed on them throughout this case, and this burden had “quadrupled” the day the panel was disbanded. He condemned the disbandment of the panel and alleged that McGill and the SQI had replaced the panel with their own archaeological experts so that they could inform the public that they were relying on the advice of experts.

“Today was about bringing back the experts that know how to do this work, to find unmarked burials,” Murray said in a press conference after the hearing. “We have a lot of companies that can do scans. We don’t have a lot of people that have expertise in analyzing the data.”

Later, the court heard from the SQI. Their statement was delivered in French and translated for the Mothers by anthropologist and associate of the Mothers Philippe Blouin. Members of Take Back Tekanontak—an advocacy group in support of the Mohawk Mothers—were stationed outside of the courthouse after the hearing to show solidarity. In an interview with The Tribune, an organizer of Take Back Tekanontak, Diane, who chose not to give her last name, shared her belief that the lack of a court-provided English translation of the SQI’s statement for the Mothers was appalling and oppressively exclusionary.

“The Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera come to court, and they speak Kanyen’kéha, their own language, and their colonial language is English,” Diane said. “It’s not okay to ask them to learn French as a second colonial language, and yet there is no translation provided for them. I cannot believe my eyes.”

McGill’s lawyer, Doug Mitchell, provided the next statement before Justice Moore. He stated that the university believes that it has abided by the settlement agreement wholly and respectfully, arguing the occasional disagreements between parties are not an indication that the agreement is being violated. He asserted that the defendants are bound by the recommendations of techniques by the panel, not to anything else.

Mitchell additionally claimed that Falconer had “theatricized” his speech to the court so that Justice Moore would rule in the favor of the Mothers.  He stated that the Mothers needed to take the emotion out of the investigation, alleging that the Mothers and Murray only wanted to enforce their interpretation of the contract and were not suffering any irreparable harm by the way McGill was carrying out the investigation.

Falconer responded to Mitchell’s statement, saying that Mitchell should apologize for asking the Mothers to be less emotional about the investigation. He also argued that all parties should acknowledge that the panel’s recommendations have not been followed, as the panel itself believes its suggestions have not been entirely executed.

“It is absolutely essential that McGill, the Quebec government, [and the] SQI come to their senses and understand that it is very short-sighted to essentially terminate a panel they agreed to be bound by in order a further a development,” Falconer said in a press conference after the hearing. “I promise you, whatever few dollars [the defendants] make on their development, the [societal cost] and the [further erosion] of trust is absolutely innumerable in terms of the size of the expense.”

Kwetiio also replied to Mitchell’s statement, stating that Mitchell’s words were “deeply offensive,” and reiterating the fact that all parties would not be back in court if the recommendations of the panel had been respected.

“I think it was pretty disgusting that the defendant said ‘Oh, there’s no irreparable harm done here.’ […] There’s never a situation where any one of us is going to bargain without children of the past, present, and future,” Kwetiio said in response to Mitchell’s comment in a press conference after the hearing.

Justice Moore adjourned court with no decision made, explaining that he would need some time to review all submissions and testimonies. McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle told The Tribune in an email that McGill will provide a comment on the hearing once Justice Moore makes a decision. A tentative subsequent court date is set for Dec. 1, during which all parties will discuss the issue of archives and records related to the investigation.

“We demand that we have a proper best practice investigation for our children and for those that were disrespected on that site,” Kwetiio said. “I think our children are looking for us to find them, and this is what’s important, and I’m so glad that all these people are here today in support.”

Led Zeppelln knows the way of betrayal; “Lying, cheating, that’s all you seem to do. Messing around with every guy, putting me down for thinking of someone new . . . Your time is gonna come. Your time is gonna come. Your time is gonna come. Your time is gonna come. . . . 

Led Zeppelin - Your Time Is Gonna Come (Official Audio)
KIMBERLY MURRAY SPEAKS:

TIME TO GO HOME

 

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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 obeyBut 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 homeAnd I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeWell, I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd be a servant of the Lord
Now, his father saw him coming he met him with a smileHe threw his arms around him, saying, “This is my darling child”
Now, I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeWell, I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd 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 religionBut no faith and no peace could I findUntil 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 homeAnd I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeWell, I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd 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 teachingYeah, she said there is no God but God, and Ralph Mooney is his nameI said, let me empty your ashtray, Mr. MooneyAnd if the drunks interfere I’ll be sadBut just as long as you sit there on the bandstandAnd play your guitar like Buddha, I’ll be gladThe father asked the prodigal,Did you smell the sweet perfume and hear the angel band?He said, dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud musicIs the only kind of truth I’ll ever understand
I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeWell, I believe that, I believe that I will go back homeAnd be a servant of the Lord
I believe this, I believe that I will, yes I believe . . .]

MohawkMothers.Ca

MohawkNationNews.com

thahoketoteh@ntk.com

box 991-kahnawake-que-canada.J0L1B0 kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

DESKAHEH WENT TO GENEVA IN 1923 FOR THE SOVEREIGN ROTINOSHONNI PEOPLE

MNN. Sept. 21, 2023.

REMEMBERING THE ARGUMENTS OF DESKAHEH

FOR THOSE WHO FORGOT WHY HE WENT TO GENEVA.

THE REAL FACTS!
ERAKWA DIPLOMACY 1710
IROQUOIS DIPLOMACY 1710

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 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, 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 Mohawk Nation News thahoketoteh & kahentinetha2@protonmail.com  For more news and to sign up for MNN www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

The Indian Lands ACT. 1924. file:///Users/kahentinetha/Downloads/IndLanAct1924.pdf

Six Nations Appeal to League of Nations 1922-31 http://historybeyondborders.ca/?p=189

MohawkMothers.ca 

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

Mohawk Mothers unveil ongoing genocide of indigenous people of Canada

 

 

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MNN.  Aug. 8/23.

The Proximate Aspect; Mohawk Mothers unveil ongoing genocide against indigenous people.

C A N A D A  PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, DISTRICT OF MONTREAL.                        
No.500-17-120468-221
 KAHENTINETHA-and-KARENNATHA-and-KARAKWINE-and-KWETIO-and-OTSITSATAKEN-and-KARONHIATE                         Plaintiffs
V.
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
-and-
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”. 
People get readyThere’s a train a-coming . . .  .

 MNN Court Reporter thahoketoteh@ntk.com

box 991, kahnawake quebec canada J0L 1B0 mohawknationnews.com

kahentinetha2@protonmail.com

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