WHEN INDIAN AFFAIRS IS NO MORE:

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 – THE DISMANTLING OF AN ILLEGAL ORGANIZATION MNN. April 29, 2007. Back in 1969 the Liberal government of Canada under Pierre Trudeau decided to do away with Indian Affairs. They weren’t going to do away with the “Tower of Terror”. They were going to do away with us by pretending to remove their obligations, budget and protections. They wanted to push us out onto the streets of Canada to die out.

Killing off a criminal organization like Indian Affairs is inevitable. We have to take it apart piece by piece. We have to do it ourselves every step of the way. The Indian Act was the “weapon of mass destruction” [WMD] meant to kill us off. How are we going to kill off Indian Affairs? By enforcing the Great Law of Peace and the Two Row Wampum.

Indian Affairs is currently the subject of an avalanche of criticisms and various lawsuits. The murders of our kids in residential schools, the police brutality, military attacks against us and the constant lies and deceptions by politicians has to stop. Their sudden dismantling Indian Affairs may be a ploy to remove the defendants in actions for liability for all the cruelty and larceny they’ve committed against us. They say, “remove Indian affairs, the Indian Act and to hell with them!” We can see right through them. They want to change our status as Indigenous people into “Canadians” so they can get out of their liability. It won’t work, Canada! We are not and never will agree to be Canadians.

So far, our relations with our colonial visitors has been one of “breach” rather than honor. They tell us the Indian Act is the only “vehicle” for delivering Canada’s obligations to us. Based on what we’ve been getting so far, this is an empty vehicle and it’s time to junk it.

We’ve always been struck by Indian Affairs’ similarity to organized crime organizations like the “Mafia”, except it’s “disorganized”. The head “Don” is the “prime minister”. He has cohorts and henchmen called “provinces”, “ministers”, “corporations”, “judges” and “armed forces” that are given authority over certain territories. The cohorts go out and enforce their rules. The government legitimizes its criminal activities with picturesque language that no one understands.

Originally the Mafia came in and lent money to immigrants to set them up. If somebody couldn’t pay them back, the enforcers would demonstrate their unseen power over life and death. The government’s cohorts set up this Mafia style system over us. They stole everything we have to make it look like we can’t function without them.

Indian Affairs cohorts must also take something akin to “blood oaths” to Queen Elizabeth and have to keep secrets until they die.

This Indian Affairs Mafia will control us unless that control is taken from them. Like the original Mafia, the only way to become a full “patch member” is to be from a certain ethnic background. The band councils strive to become full patch members so they can exercise the rule of terror over us to keep us in line. No matter what, they’ll never be accepted as full members of the white Mafia. The government encourages them to try anyway.

Indian Affairs was originally supposed to carry out nation-to-nation relations with us and to negotiate with us on land use. Greed lead the colonizers to “goose step” their mandate. Indian Affairs was set up to carry out the “final solution of the Indian problem”. Parliament gave itself extraordinary powers beyond its authority under the British North America Act 1867 to carry out the genocide of our people.

It’s time to close down the butcher shop and go back to the beginning. The real relationship is between us as landowners and them as “squatters”. We want our tenants to live up to the leases they made with us, to obey the laws and keep their promises. We want full accountability and a total forensic audit of Indian Affairs and its entire gangsta’ apparatus.

Once the Indian Act and Indian Affairs are removed, then Indigenous sovereignty, rights to self-determination and stewardship of all of our territories will be dealt with on a proper landlord-tenant nation-to-nation basis. Canada, stop falsely claiming our land. Start planning how you are going to carry out our instructions and authority over every square inch of our land. You have to stay in your ship and not pull our canoe as the Two Row Wampum agreement provides.

Canada, stop aiding and abetting corporate squatters who are gobbling up our assets, polluting our land and destroying the inheritance of our coming generations.

No more encroachment! Enough of our land and environment have been seriously damaged. It’s on the verge of becoming unlivable, not just for Indigenous people, but also for the colonial visitors who don’t seem to care about their own future generations or anyone else’s.

The abuse of us, our lands and possessions is the biggest scandal in history. Bringing down Indian affairs means freedom and self-determination for us.

Why do we think this is going to happen? Well, so far huge amounts of profit have gone towards the colonial machines that defraud and oppress us because of our complaints everywhere. A lot of lawyers and consultants have been getting big career boosts and piles of money out of inquiries and investigations into the criminal acts committed against us by the colonial government of Canada without resolving them.

Indian Affairs, we hope you’ve shut down your “War Room” in the Tower of Power run by the military! Stop funding racists like Gary McHale and the skinheads, KKK, Brown Shirts and rioters he’s organizing to attack us. Department of Defense, stop financing the demonizing of us in your military manual as “domestic insurgents” so that you can find an excuse to round up our “leaders” and young people. We know you want to put us in “Guantanamo Bay” prisons without charging us, for indefinite periods of time because you have labeled us as “terrorists”.

Hey, colonial crooks, let’s not get stuck on details. Let’s go back to square one when you landed here with nothing.

No, we’re not afraid to get rid of Indian affairs. They think they’ll shut us up by threatening to cut off all services and benefits. They can’t. They have an ongoing debt to us supported by all the human rights covenants Canada has signed and supports internationally.

We have to sit down and start talking about the terms under which you “intruders” can remain here. You know we never gave up the land. We never will. We can’t.

Europeans are Europeans, no matter what. The British are British. The French are French. And the immigrants are immigrants. For over a century colonial states have been dumping their rejects and social problems on our land. These displaced people tried to kill us off. We cannot tolerate the presence of this insane grasping culture which continues to commit genocide on us and our land.

These starving and disease ridden ragamuffins killed most of us off, stole our land and possessions and continue to try to stomp us out. Do we have to keep on being kind to them? We think we’ve given enough. We will look at the new situation pragmatically. We have to carry out our original instructions. The land has to be taken care off. The damage committed to us has to be repaired. The heritage of our future generations has to be restored. The visitors have to return Turtle Island back into the beautiful paradise they found when they arrived.

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com & katenies20@yahoo.com
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poster: katenies

 

THE BANKERS’ “MASTER PLAN” FOR TURTLE ISLAND

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THE BANKERS’ “MASTER PLAN” FOR TURTLE ISLANDMNN. April 6, 2007. The bankers want Turtle Island lock, stock and barrel. They’ve been working at it for hundreds of years and failed. The Indigenous people keep fighting back. Is this why they are escalating their attacks on us?

The Rotinonhsoni:onwe/Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy designed a real democracy on Turtle Island. Five nations joined to form the Confederacy – Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. Later the Tuscaroras joined. Our constitution known as the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Great Law of Peace, is based on the natural world where all are equal. It is the most democratic form of government ever devised. There is no monarch and unlike the Greek democracy, there is no elite or ruling class. The power and the peace are in the people.

By the time the Europeans invaded Turtle Island, there were already 300 other Indigenous nations who were friends and allies of the Confederacy. Based on the Two Row Wampum, we all agreed to live in peace, respect each other’s culture, ways and territories. When we made treaties and agreements, all our best interests were taken into account.

The chairman of the Confederacy, an Onondaga, is known as the “Tododarho”. He is neutral and must always think about maintaining the peace and integrity of our people, land and possessions. As a spokesman, the people count on him to sanction decisions according to our law and in the best interests of our future generations.

In 1996, the Tododarho was on his deathbed. He called for specific Iroquois to visit him in the hospital, three men and one woman. The Tadodarho wanted to pass on a mantle to the ordinary people who he felt represented the true desires of the people. He wanted to remind us that we can never surrender Turtle Island. The moment we do then all our land and resources would be transferred to the banks and the multinational corporations who’ve coveted our possessions since their arrival.

Treaties create international and domestic law. Our treaties with the U.S. and Canadian colonists are the law of the land. Under the Two Row the colonizers can live under their own laws, if that’s what they want to do. But their laws do not apply to us or to the land.

When the Europeans invaded Turtle Island, we did not become part of their capitalist system. Because Creation made us part of this continent, the banks are trying to find ways to remove the restrictions that stop them from seizing all of Turtle Island. Our democratic principles that are influencing people everywhere else are coming into conflict with their hierarchical systems that is bent on controlling the world.

Our fight has always been with the central banks that were set up by the monarchs, kings and queens of Europe. They want ownership and control. They’re trying to get it by setting up surrogate banking institutions here.

Over the centuries every time there was an attempt to exploit us, our land and resources, we did our best to block it. When the hydro electric power was to be developed in northern Quebec, it was the Crees who stood up for the land. We are the legitimate owners and the land owns us. The bankers want to remove us and our title.

They’ve tried. The monarchs sent their priests here first. The colonial governments of the U.S. and Canada forced us to hand over our children to the churches. Then the pedophiles molested and destroyed them. They hoped to pass the submissive spirit down from generation to generation, submissive to their authority, to the Vatican, to the hierarchies and to the royalty in Europe. We were not supposed to fight back when they took our land and our lives.

Then the monarchs sent over their military and government apparatus. They put up false chiefs and political organizations to run the Indigenous nations. That’s falling by the wayside too.

They are having a hard time with those of us who did not go to residential schools and with the new generation of young Indigenous people. They want to send in the army to destroy those of us who escaped this indoctrination. At Six Nations they found out that our real authority is our traditional Confederacy Chiefs who represent the will of the people.

President Thomas Jefferson once said “There is scarcely a king (or would-be king) in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharoah – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands and then make them and their children servants forever”.

For more than 200 years these international banking families dominated the European scene after they established the Bank of England and other central banks in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. The Rothschilds dominated the banking scene as they do today. They created a banking system which controls every other banking system in the world.

All the gold and silver that the U.S. claims that backs the American dollar has disappeared. Today’s dollar is really counterfeit, worth about 4 cents.

The European Bankers always won. They reaped fortunes by financing the various nations in their wars against each other. They engineered conditions of despair so they can turn people into puppets. These nations were plundered, pillaged and bled dry by war debts to the bankers.

Where do the monarchs get their power from? Through their blood line. In Europe they are the “masters” of the people. Their elite are the bankers, business people, governments and academics. We have blood lines too. Our spokespeople become the “servants” of the people.

The kings and queens of Europe are the richest people in the world today. For example, the Royal family in Holland owns Shell Oil Company, the biggest multi national company in the world and has controlling shares in many other multinational corporations.

The monarchs and their multinational corporations would not hesitate to break up the U.S. and Canada, which they consider to be their colonial “band councils”.

How are they doing this? Europe has gained control over the colonial monetary system on Turtle Island.

The Federal Reserve System came into being when the Federal Reserve Act was by passed by Congress in 1913. The bankers were granted the right to create money out of nothing and to lend it to the U.S. government at interest. This usury system is backed by the courts and the police.

The problem for them on Turtle Island is that the Indian lands are immune from seizure. The banks are presently in the process of illegally removing that protection. Actually, all of Turtle Island is not theirs to seize. We never gave anybody jurisdiction over us or our land as required by international law.

Simply put, the creation of money is called the “banking reserve system”. In the past when the bank loaned out money, it had to have money in its vaults to cover the loan in case the cash had to be produced. The central banking system was created so that the individual banks would not need to have any deposits. The banks could write checks and create money with no backup money. If they needed any “liquid cash”, the central banks covered for them or printed more money.

What is “debt financing”? In their system the lender is always the “master” over the borrower. For example, to borrow money for a house or car, you go to the bank and put your house or car up as “collateral”. The bank lends you $100,000 for your house. Over the next 25 years you have to pay back the loan plus interest, which could be more than double what you borrowed. The bank never gave you any money. They just wrote checks for the amount you borrowed. If you can’t pay, the bank seizes your house which they sell for money.

Ordinary U.S. and Canadian citizens own very little. It all belongs to the banks which control the money supply. Everyone is in hawk to them. This is how the banks are gaining control over the whole world.

The governments and corporations have been putting up our land as collateral to borrow money from the financiers for their developments. We never surrendered any of it. This is fraud. They pretend to own it and everybody pretends along with them. Using threats of military violence on us if we protest, it’s theft and extortion.

Should the clan mothers, chiefs and the people lose our authority over Turtle Island, then the European kings and queens and their corporations will grab it through their surrogate banks and puppet governments in Ottawa and Washington.

The European monarchies have been unable to gain control over Turtle Island because we have no monarch sitting at the top of a hierarchy they can buy off. Even the non-natives don’t want a monarch.

Is this what the warfare is all about? Is this why there is such a big interest in the position of the Tadodarho? The bankers want to decide who shall be the Tadodarho and what he shall do for them.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2 @yahoo.com & katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, speakers, workshops, the store, to sign up, go to
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poster: katenies

 

“TERRORIST INVASION” OF DEH CHO INDIGENOUS TERRITORY – CANADA ARMED FORCES “GUNS FOR HIRE” BY MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

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“TERRORIST INVASION” OF DEH CHO INDIGENOUS TERRITORY – CANADA ARMED FORCES “GUNS FOR HIRE” BY MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONSMNN. April 14, 2007. Indigenous people everywhere – watch out! Is this more of Canada’s “might is right” mentality. Or have the military, police, RCMP, secret service and government bureaucrats become “guns for hire” by the multinational corporations? Are they all under the same corruption that is going on in the RCMP?

Canadian armed forces plan to ignore indigenous sovereignty by invading Deh Cho territory. The crime is planned for Monday April 16th. It’s at Norman Wells and Ft. Simpson, Northwest Territory.

“Operation Narwhal” is being conducted despite the expressed opposition to this operation and to the McKenzie Valley Pipeline that Canada wants to build through their land. The Deh Cho never agreed to become part of Canada though they are willing to work with Canada. They want the colonial power to implement their “Land Use Plan”, in keeping with their rights as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada and under international law. Canada rejected the Plan. The Deh Cho insist the pipeline cannot cross their land without their approval.

The Deh Cho want to stop the environmental destruction by corporations and their government and military puppets that are bent on removing all “restraints” to “business”. This pipeline is part of a massive exploitation of land across all of Turtle Island [North America]. The “slash” and “pollute” mentality will affect everyrone living on it as well as the environment worldwide.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this is really an end-run around the Dene opposition. The Canadian govenrment press release says that 40 Joint Task Force North military personnel will take over the airport from April 16-27 from imaginary “terrorists” as part of “a sovereignty operation for the military”. Another 240 troops will be stationed at Norman Wells. They claim these two places are “possible terrorist sites” because of their location on the pipeline route.

Despite leaving the Deh Cho out of the loop, “Imperial Oil” and “Enbridge Gas”, two of Canada’s largest energy companies, are in the thick of the action. More than 200 soldiers will mass to practice their response to their fantasized terrorist attack. Lt.-Col. Kevin “TNT” Tyler of the Yellowknife-based JTF North said there will be a fictional “al Qaeda” sleeper cell from Edmonton. “This is supposed to be a small cell of two terrorists who have explosive devices to disrupt the flow of oil.

Are they hitchhiking up there? Is there a road? Why are the troops in the middle of a town? Why not in the middle of nowhere? Is it because the troops need to be close to a bar?

After the attack at Norman Wells the RCMP will call in the military for help to protect Imperial Oil fields west of Great Bear Lake along the MacKenzie River. It is served by the 870-kilometer Enbridge pipeline designed to carry up to 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

The operation will bring in 150 reservists from the Maritimes. Aurora surveillance aircraft, Griffon helicopters and Twin Otter airplanes based in Yellowknife will bring in 140 staff and air crew. The RCMP, Emergency Preparedness, Imperial Oil and Enbridge are all part of the gang. Of course, it will all be under U.S. command.

These video maniacs are all looking forward to having a lot of fun. It sounds like a big party at the expense of the Dene, the Canadian taxpayers, the people and the environment.

The military was never known for its intelligence. Soldiers will be armed, without live ammunition. Does this make sense? In a real life situation will a gun be of any help? Are they going to shoot the bomb? Hope they bring enough ‘duct tape’ for the holes they’re bound to make in the pipeline.

Sgt. Larry “Obey” O’Brien in Yellow knife said RCMP officers that are not in Ottawa testifying about corruption will be consulting with military officials.

This is simulated warfare to simulate their “phony baloney” sovereignty on our land. But the assault on our land is real. Three years ago the military had an exercise in the waters off Pangnirtung, an Indigenous Nunavut community on southeast Baffin Island. They pretended that a “foreign” country was trying to retrieve a satellite that had fallen into Davis Strait. The question is why do they have to fight over that? Everyone knows that the U.S. is the main bully falsely claiming our Arctic waters.

Recently Canada claimed sovereignty up there by taking a shipload of Inuit, the real owners, on a cruise through Arctic waters. In their heart of hearts, they know they are in Inuit space.

The Deh Cho won’t give the invading troops a warm welcome, like moccasins for their frozen feet. It’s just one colony telling another how to click its heels. The Deh Cho are not intimidated by foreign troops being sent in using imaginary “terrorism” as an excuse to hoist their flag on our land.

The Deh Cho think their plans for oil are completely insane! This follows on the heels of the recent military training manual flap where they referred to Indigenous people as “insurgents”.

The Deh Cho are asking for support. Canada is conducting an illegal invasion. The title holders have not been consulted nor gave their consent. Are Canadian forces planning to stay until Canada breaks down Deh Cho opposition to their pipeline, or until it finishes building it to take gas to the U.S.? It’s the same trampling over our rights as ever before. Can somebody help get a court injunction?

Contact:
DEHCHO FIRST NATIONS BOX 89, FORT SIMPSON, N.W.T. X0E 0N0 TEL: 867-695-2355
FAX 867-695-2038 dcfn@dehchofirstnations.com or mstainsby@resist.ca

Send your concerns to: Prime Minister Stephen Harper harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Governor General of Canada info@gg.ca; Indian Affairs Canada infoPub@ainc-inac.gc.ca; Queen Elizabeth(?); NATO; United Nations tb-petitions@chchr.org; Environment Canada (?) ; & anybody you can think of.

Kahentinetha Horn – MNN Mohawk Nation News
kahentientha2@yahoo.com & katenies20@yahoo.com
for updates, workshops, speakers, to sign up, go to
mohawknationnews.com
Sign Women Title Holders petititon.
Coming soon online books on Mohawk issues.

poster: katenies

 

For immediate release : Mohawk grandmother remains in hiding, defying arrest warrant

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— Mohawk grandmother remains in hiding, defying arrest warrant

 “Katenies” challenges US-Canada border jurisdiction

Akwesasne/Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory; March 4, 2007 — A Mohawk woman from the Akwesasne Community remains in hiding, defying an arrest warrant from the Superior Court of Ontario in Cornwall.

“Katenies” (gaw-den-yes – whose Mohawk name means “she changes things around”) refused to appear in court on customs and border violations this past January 18, 2007. Instead, she served her own “Motion to Dismiss,” questioning the jurisdiction of the courts and border officials over sovereign Mohawk peoples and their land.

Katenies is a mother and grandmother – her third grandchild was born just 4 days ago on February 28 – and a researcher with Mohawk Nation News.

She and her family — including her daughter and grandchildren — have been harassed by border officials, in various incidents that date back to 2003. To visit her daughter, Katenies needs to make a simple 5-minute drive, but that drive takes her through two provinces, one state, and two countries (Canada-U.S.-New York State-Quebec-Ontario).

If captured by the police, Katenies faces possible pre-trial detention until her court date in August 2007.

Katenies vows to continue to defy the courts until the jurisdiction question is answered; in her words: “It’s the Crown, the courts and the police that are the frauds, and it’s they who are in violation of the law.”

Katenies remains out of sight, somewhere on Turtle Island.

MEDIA CONTACT: Kahentinetha of Mohawk Nation News (MNN) at 450-635-9345 or kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

For background information to Katenies’ case, including her Motion to Dismiss and a 28-minute audio interview, please consult:

http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com

-30-

A call for your support and solidarity

— Katenies defies the colonial US-Canada Border

— Out of sight somewhere on Turtle Island

Katenies, Bear Clan, is Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk from Akwesasne. She is a mother and a grandmother – her third grandchild was recently born on February 28, 2007 — who works to carry out the Great Law responsibility to take care of the land for the future generations.

However, an official of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) recently described her as “lawless”. Katenies has questioned the authority of the Canadian courts, or any colonial courts and border officials, over Onkwehonwe (indigenous peoples) of Turtle Island.

Katenies is currently wanted on an arrest warrant, from the Superior Court of Justice in Cornwall, Ontario, for refusing to appear on phony customs and border violations.

She and her family — including her daughter and grandchildren — have been harassed by border officials, in various incidents that date back to 2003. To visit her daughter, Katenies needs to make a simple 2-minute drive, but that drive takes her through two provinces, one state, and two countries.

As recently as November 2006, Katenies was accused of running the border. She was ordered to court this past January 18, 2007, but didn’t appear. Instead, she earlier served the courts with her own Motion to Dismiss, demanding that the courts and border officials address the jurisdiction question: Does Canada, or the US, have any jurisdiction whatsoever over the Mohawk people?

Katenies’ current struggle occurs in the context of wider issues concerning the “border”, or what Onkwehonwe call “the imaginary line”. For example, there have been repeated attempts to introduce biometric “smart cards” into Mohawk communities.

Simply put, Katenies refuses to submit to colonial authorities, or abide by an imaginary line over her and her land.

She remains out of sight of the authorities, somewhere on Turtle Island, but always under threat of being arrested and detained. If she is captured, she could be in custody until at least August 2007.

Katenies is not alone. A network is being established to support her and her jurisdictional challenge, whatever might happen in the coming weeks and months.

–> To offer your support, please get in touch by e-mail – support.katenies@gmail.com — or by phone via Mohawk Nation News at 450-635-9345. We are working to raise awareness about Katenies’ case, and we will mobilize for both court and jail support if Katenies is captured.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

* Katenies’ MOTION TO DISMISS, demanding that the jurisdiction question be addressed, is linked here:

http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com

* Katenies was interviewed as part of No One Is Illegal Radio in Montreal. The interview is linked here:

http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=21783

* MNN: Katenies will not “walk the line:

http://www.mohawknationnews.com
Posted in MNN category ” Akwesasne ”

* MNN: Katenies in Cornwall Court

http://www.mohawknationnews.com
Posted in MNN category ” Akwesasne “

poster: katenies

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TORONTO BUTTS UP AGAINST THE IROQUOIS CURSE – DON’T VIOLATE THE RIGHTS OF THE ONKWEHONWE LAND OWNERS HERE OR ANYWHERE

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TORONTO BUTTS UP AGAINST THE IROQUOIS CURSE – DON’T VIOLATE THE RIGHTS OF THE ONKWEHONWE LAND OWNERS HERE OR ANYWHERE MNN March 3, 2007. Is there a pissing contest going on in the “Golden Horse Shoe”? Look at the maps of how Toronto, on Iroquois land, is supposed to be developed. Ontario is a Mohawk word. Toronto, the colonial city that is trying to use our name to legitimize itself, is on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It wants to expand westward towards Hamilton and further along to St. Catharines. Around the city is a “Green Belt” where nothing can be built. Beyond that is the Haldimand Tract where we live. We want them to repair the toxic garbage dump they created on our land.

Canada’s population is aging and declining. Many of them probably would not want all this development. So why build more huge highways, shopping malls, hundreds of thousands of condos and more sewers? Don’t these people have any imagination for anything other than their “ticky-tacky pop-tart” megalomania. It’s money, money, money talking here. “How much money can we”, the developers, “make real fast!” They did not ask us, the owners of the land, if we want any of this crap.

They have to stop acting like a bunch of boys comparing each other’s private parts. What is a normal sustainable way of life? How will the golden agers look after themselves? Are they going to fix up the environment they destroyed throughout their lifetime? How many centuries will it take to repair the environmental destruction that has taken place during the past 50 years? What is their comprehensive economic plan to support their grandiose ideas of how people should live?

Today a lot of cities in this part of Ontario are dead at the core. Their industry has gone. Their downtown business centers are boarded up. Everyone is shopping at Wal Mart which keeps rolling back their prices to match the declining standard of living. The rest of us shop at the Dollar Store. The existing infrastructures are falling apart. Schools are rotting and falling on the heads of the children. Overpasses are falling on top of the drivers. In Ontario cities like London, Brantford and Waterloo are closing down. It looks like the presence of a Wal Mart and a Tim Horton’s is what defines a city nowadays.

Instead of repairing the crumbling structures on the part of our land they are already squatting on, they are eyeing the land we have been trying to preserve.

It looks like another Grand River Navigation Scheme, Part II? It was a grandiose plan where they took our money and blew it. Are the city fathers planning to bring in more people from other parts of the world? Nobody asked us about this either. To them development is having people live on top of each other. These developers are unconcerned about how these people are going to make money.

Today there is no viable economy to support the population they want to bring in. All the big companies are going to China and Mexico where they can colonize them by slapping them around for a while. Historically colonization forced people to plant hemp and opium in India instead of food crops. This was done to Indigenous people everywhere to make quick cash for a few investors. It was all at the expense of the people who ended up poor and sick.

Before colonization our standard of living was decent and we lived close to the natural world. Eventually things will have to get back to the way they were before colonization. It might take a few centuries.

The cities of Montreal and Toronto are competing to be the biggest city in Canada. The politicians put a “Green Belt” around Toronto to keep it from growing. People want to invest where there are no problems. Green Belts around the city will make environmental demands which investors do not want. They would rather put their money elsewhere.

We are being used by outside interests to blame us for the economic turmoil and uncertainty in Ontario. The Haldimand Tract issue has been festering for a year now. Investors will not want to invest in Toronto because of the problems with the “Indians”. They see nothing but trouble ahead. They will take their money somewhere else, like Montreal or Calgary or Vancouver where there are no “Green Belts” and where investors can do anything they want. Economics goes where it is easy to exploit and get things done.

Of course Toronto will be hurt. Toronto politicians don’t want to talk to the landowners, the Iroquois. The colonizers don’t want us to get anything by recognizing our ownership.

If it’s a fight for control, are they using us again? Instead of talking to us, they send their police in to threaten us and throw us in jail. They have this idea that we will give in if they threaten us. No way!

The powers that think they are have portrayed the Haldimand Tract issue as us stopping development and thus depleting the economy of Southern Ontario. They are trying to blame us and then shame us into submission. We are not engineering this dilemma. Toronto made their plans. They never talked to us.

The Golden Horse Shoe is supposed to become a city of 7 to 8 million people, comparable to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.

This is the Iroquois position. Toronto is ours. We want our land title respected. We want things to be done according to our way. Anybody who wants to do something on our land better talk to us about it.

Mr. McHale was hired to cause trouble in southern Ontario. Police have surrounded us for a year to create this atmosphere of uncertainty. Investment money is leaving. Anybody who wants to do anything on our land must talk to the Confederacy Chiefs who represent the will of the Iroquois people.

Montreal and New York mercantile exchanges [NYMEX] have recently teamed up to open investment businesses in Calgary [Dallas North?] They will offer trading and clearing for trades and futures and options on oil, natural gas and electricity. This is meant to knock out the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Toronto, to do anything, you need our cooperation. There is an Iroquois curse on the land. Anyone who violates our rights or treats us with contempt is asking for trouble. We want peace. We want everybody to live well in a healthy and beautiful environment. Toronto is at the crossroads. It’s already become a sewer. It could become a ghost town or it could clean up its act. The choice is yours. Come talk to us.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers, to sign up, go to
www.mohawknationnews.com
Please sign the Women Title Holders petition.
Coming soon online books on Mohawk issues.

poster: katenies

 

WHAT IS THE ONKWEHONWE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA?

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WHAT IS THE ONKWEHONWE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA?MNN. Feb. 25, 2007. We’ve been complaining about the top-down bureaucratic agenda of the colonizers. Do we have something to replace it? Yes we do. It’s called the Kaianerehkowa/Great Law of Peace. Our philosophy can build a society based on a better understanding of peace, power and righteousness. These words have meanings that are deeply rooted in our culture and completely different from the kinds of expectations they raise among the colonized. Our understanding of these concepts has nothing in common with the command and obedience model of predatory capitalism that exploits the ordinary people for the power and profit of a few. The new (colonial) world order is incompatible with a way of life based on the principles of fully informed consent and consensus in all our relationships.

For more than a thousand years we have had a participatory democracy. In an article by Stephen Lendman, in CounterCurrent.org entitled “Hugo Chavez’s Social Democratic Agenda”, he describes how Chavez has “constructed socialism from below”, built “from the base” in the communities”. He has found a way “to carry out the battle of ideas for the socialist project to rebuild Venezuelan society. He wants a coalition of smaller parties whose power comes from the communities.

Chavez wants to build 21st century socialism using state revenues to benefit people in new and innovative ways. He wants to give more power to the people at the grass roots level which he thinks is the way democracy should work.

There are presently 16,000 regional federations of Communal Councils organized across the country dealing with local issues. Each has 200 to 400 families. That number is expected to grow to 21,000 councils by year end 2007. “They are the key to people’s power”. This looks like the embryo of a new state, driven by the same basic philosophy of egalitarian human respect that underlies the Kaianerehkowa.

An intergovernmental fund for decentralization will distribute billions to these Councils in 2007. This is more than triple the amount allocated in 2006. If the people so chose, billions can be put into a “National Development Fund” for industrial development. Yellow journalism has been attacking this thinking. They put fear into people’s minds, calling it “nationalization”, which is a dirty word to capitalist colonial economies. Capitalism is really a one way road for the privileged few. Hostile rhetoric and outright attacks can be expected when true grass roots orthodoxies are ignored. Development of democratic programs look threatening to those who have violently struggled their way to the top of the old hierarchal heap.

As we assert our sovereignty, we have lots to think about. What can we Onkwehonwe do with all our land and resources and all the squatters who are here? The land still belongs to the Indigenous people and always will. All the resource revenues can be used to compensate the colonists fairly. The rest can be put towards rebuilding a safe and healthy environment.

U.S. and Canada will, of course, become irrelevant. The old hierarchies will cling to their delusional powers. They will keep their guns pointed at us and try to invent more lethal weapons. We’ll have to bring out the feathers and start tickling them so they get real. If they don’t, we might have to ask them to leave. They have legal obligations. They are violating the Geneva Accords. Their hysterical megalomania is getting them involved in serious violations. They risk being declared persona non grata worldwide.

With all the money from our land and resources, we could buy out the big corporations so that we have the major shares, say 40%, as Chavez is doing. The rest can be joint ventures with us. In other words, we want all these companies under the control of the people. The colonists can have shares after we take everything out of private control.

The money should be put back into our hands where it belongs, out of the hands of private for-profit bankers. We would invest it into worthwhile projects that meet our priorities and that will restore and protect the land so that the coming generations can be healthy, happy and prosperous. The days of genocide and exploitation are over. We must benefit most from our resource revenues and other businesses that provide essential services like public utilities. Clean drinking water and fresh air to breathe would be one of our top priority.

Private businesses will have to be transparent and abide by new standards of fairness. This will be a big adjustment for those who are used to having their way.

We will redefine and restructure our relationships. It goes without saying that Indian Affairs has to go. Communal power at the grass roots will be the order of the day. This is the basis of the post-colonial model. Kaianerehkowa can make this happen and can be the start of a real egalitarian and humanistic society.

All social structures will have to be reorganized. Selections of local officials, the economy, finance, banking, transportation, security, public safety and policies related to energy are part of this. There is no need for a top heavy governmental structure when everyone takes responsibility at all levels.

The current colonial bureaucracy will have to be dismantled. Some of it could be adjusted to the new reality. Corruption is a major problem and has to be eliminated. Social justice and economic independence will be based on equitable distribution of national wealth spent on health care, education and social security. Education is of utmost importance. Racism must be eliminated from all school curricula. Science and technology has to benefit all of the people. So must education, health, the environment, biodiversity, industry, quality of life and security. Financial sectors, including banking and insurance, will have to conform to the Kaianerehkowa. Responsibility has to be returned to the people so we can take charge of our own welfare.

Public health, rehabilitation, identification and migration regulations are all matters that we can deal with ourselves using the Kaianherehkowa methodology. We will not need a judiciary. We will be able to solve everything through consensus.

The people must control the energy sector including oil production. Private investors can still play a role. But it will be based on equitable joint ventures that include the people as decision makers, not just consumers.

Local, community and territorial organizations will be set up. The principles of the Kaianerekowa will inform all our relationships. As long as representatives are carrying out the will and the wishes of the people, they may remain in their positions. All procedures and decision making must be public and the work of all administrative officials will be subject to constant review. They can be removed from office if they do not follow the people’s directions or heed our warnings. All must be given the experience of being a representative so that we can all learn how to help the people. It is important for us to learn how difficult it is to serve.

We cannot give anyone power to harm civil or human rights of our people or even of our opponents.

We will conduct all relations with other countries. Colonial states squatting on our land do not represent us.

We will not expropriate private property. Right of occupancy can be given to people. The land continues to belong as it always has to the Onkwehonwe.

The last days of the colonial system are at hand. Democracy and colonialism cannot coexist. Colonialism is a military or civilian “dictatorship” derived from a combination of isolation, overarching greed and an attempt to pull local and global forces together to control all the people and the resources of the world.

Savage capitalism is fighting to stay alive. It is putting colonial nations on the tipping edge of fascism. It combines elements of corporatism, patriotism, nationalism and the delusion of an Almighty-directed mission while pursuing an iron-fisted militarist agenda, with thugs like “Homeland Security” enforcers that are illegally spying on everyone. In this system everything is for sale to the few who can pay.

Under our system things will be distributed fairly. No one will become desperate enough to want to sell their soul to the devil.

Colonialism is out of date, illegal and so yesterday. No longer will the armies oppress and kill for the key resources, markets and cheap labor where “might makes right” and any difference of opinion will not be tolerated. We will challenge them even though we place ourselves in jeopardy such as being made public enemy number one marked for elimination.

Our youth are precious to us. The Los Angeles Times did a story about “A wildly successful Venezuelan program that makes musical instruments and training available, free of charge, to all children”. This gives the children something constructive to do, in contrast to the U.S. model which struggles to keep guns out of the hands of kids. Chavez created a musical education program called “El Sisterna” which serves 500,000 children from all strata of society getting training at more than 120 centers around the country. From it more than 200 youth orchestras have been created. Training in music is a known way to develop math skills in the young to prepare them later for professional training.

Suddenly crime control isn’t even a problem on the horizon. It is less expensive than the multi-billion dollars state-sponsored iron-fisted prison system and militarist Homeland Security “thuggery”. Instead of punishing youth, they are inspired. As the author, Paul Cummins, put it, “We reap what we sow, and we don’t harvest what we don’t plant”.

We have always been free. No one can take our freedom from us. Many of those who come from repressive societies are unable to see a bottom-up model of relationships. We have shown that we cannot be oppressed. We have always resisted enslavement.

Another issue is homelessness. We will offer street people communal housing, drug treatment and a modest income. We cannot allow a single child or a single beggar to live on the street. We must guide our homeless to shelters and rehabilitation centers that provide medical and psychological care. They can do community service work. We have to stop planned public neglect that favors private sector gain and disinterest in educating poor inner-city children who are discarded like debris by an uncaring colonial state.

Homelessness highlights the savage effects of capitalism. It is the result of one-way wealth distribution that siphons everything upwards except for a few crumbs that are handed to the middle class while nothing goes to the millions on the bottom though they are the most in need. They all hope we will just go away. We won’t. Neither will our needs. We come from a participatory tradition which can eliminate the greedy fantasies of colonialism.

Free expression is part of an open democratic society. No more secrecy or lies. No more corporate media support for capitalists and colonial states. No more thought-control police to mock our efforts at free expression which is vital to a healthy transition from tyranny to democracy. The “thought police” doesn’t want us to say what is on our minds. They don’t want us to think. We can and will do it because the Kaianerehkowa mandates it. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and others to the South are being empowered by the people to get back on the natural path that has always been there, for us and for everyone. Chavez is doing it without a war and without global interference. We can do it too.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

For updates, workshops, speakers and to sign up, to to http://www.mohawknationnews.com Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. Coming soon books on Mohawk issues online.

poster: katenies

 

EDITORIAL: ?GANIENKEH? RECLAMATION OF 33 YEARS AGO

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GANIENKEH? RECLAMATION OF 33 YEARS AGO

MNN. Feb. 5, 2007. MNN interviewed a participant in the historic reclaiming of ?Ganienkeh? in so-called New York State on May 13, 1974: ?It started out as a Warrior?s project. We had always talked about this. After the evictions of non-natives in Kahnawake, there was so much turmoil we felt we were on the brink of civil war. Brothers, cousins and friends were at odds. We saw no reason to fight our own people.

?There have been splits throughout our history. Time always healed these divisions. We discussed how we were willing to put our lives on the line for our beliefs. The real struggle was not with our own people. So we focused our sights on our real enemies, the colonial governments. If we want our land, asking for it won?t bring it back. Our chances of winning a land claim in a colonial court were nil. Believing in ourselves, we decided to reclaim our land. So we said, ?Let?s do it?.

?It was not a new idea. Our people had always moved about on our territory. Ti?res had taken back Tiokweroton/Doncaster in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal around the 1920?s for the Mohawk Nation.

?Our grandparents had taken us to Mohawk Valley in the late 1950?s to reclaim some of our territory there. There had been a village there a long time ago called ?Kahnawake?. Beforehand we visited all our Mohawk communities for their support in repossessing our land in the name of the traditional minded Onkwehonwe. We settled there as Mohawk Nation people. Eventually we were dragged into their courts and evicted from our lands. We returned to our original communities.

?The dream to repossess some of our land never died. In 1974 we decided to build a new community. About six or more months was spent in planning this. We needed people who were good organizers, who knew how to speak to the people and how to keep the spirit alive. The group was made up of people of all ages. Grandfathers , grandmothers, mothers, fathers and children. There was representation from many nations such as Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Anishnawbe, Odawa, Sac & Fox, Lakota, Inuit, Dene, Algonquin and others who came from all over to join us.

?We declared there would be no drugs, alcohol, foreign religions or laws. It would be a totally Onkwehone controlled.

?We had a back up system. We knew that our project was going to be costly. To stretch our funds, we decided to use the natural resources. We chose to do without comforts by using kerosene lamps and wood burning stoves. We stored non-perishable food. As part of our backup those who remained in our communities would support us by sending food and medicine and help with public relations and political assistance.

?We sent people far and wide throughout Kanion?ke:haka territory to find the right place. We needed water, forests, land for planting and an isolated terrain we could defend. We found such a place. Only four of the scouts knew where this location was. They would each guide one of the four caravans. We planned to approach the site from the four directions. We had to keep this information secret because we knew that spies would be sent in to find out where we were going. We gave ourselves four chances to get to this place safely. If one did not make it there, surely another would. The caravans comprised several hundred people.

?We met three times a week to plan. Each of us would put in $2 or whatever we could into a hat to build up some funds.

?We had support because they knew we were strong in our goal. Not wanting to be labeled as radicals or criminals, we asked for the Mohawk Nation and the Six Nations Confederacy for support. The Mohawk Nation sanctioned our project from the beginning. Due to secrecy of the location, when the confederacy was sure that the land was Kanion?ke:haka they gave us full sanction.

?Moss Lake was chosen. It is 60 miles northeast of Utica in what is known as New York State. The day before our departure three of the four caravans gathered in Akwesasne at the home of Ann Jock and left from there. The fourth caravan left from Onondaga to approach the site from the south. The food, tools and equipment had been gathered long beforehand. It was a quiet moment. When we started on our way, we told the public that we were going to Vermont. We were informed that 250 extra border patrol and state police were placed at the border to stop us when we arrived there.

?We got to Moss Lake at approximately 5 am. It was still dark. We immediately secured the area. People were tired. We made sure the women and children were taken care of. Then we further explored the area. There was only one road which made it defensible. We had the necessary equipment to do that. We found more abandoned houses of a former exclusive girl?s summer camp and moved in.

Part of our strategy was to simultaneously hand deliver the ?Ganienkeh Manifesto? to every member of the United Nations in both New York City and Montreal. We did not want the U.S. to isolate us with a media black out. The world must know and make sure the U.S. conducted itself responsibly. They had to work with us to resolve this land dispute according to the Two Row Wampum and the formula set out in Article 7 of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.

?Later that day forest rangers from the Department of Environmental Conservation arrived. They were curious. We explained we were coming back to our homeland to rebuild our community. Initially the locals were ready to welcome us. This depressed area relies mainly on tourism. They thought we would be selling Indian trinkets and souveniers and dancing for the tourists.

They were disappointed to learn that we were not from Hollywood and that we were more interested in farming and rebuilding our communities. They formed an organization called ?Concerned People of the Adirondacks? who campaigned to remove us from the area.

?The colonial authorities started to treat us as ?trespassers?. Then incidents and attacks against us began. After almost 20 shootings into our community by vigilantes, we requested that the outside authorities control their people. No action was taken. We had no choice.

Our elders, children and people were constantly being shot at. We could not risk the lives of our people. The women held a council. They decided that, should anyone shoot at us, the men were to stop their vehicles and apprehend these people.

Our intent was not to bring injury to them but to stop their attacks. Two individuals unfortunately got shot by stray bullets. Only then did the outside authorities decide to intervene. They tried to arrest the Onkwehonwe. They tried to serve ?John Doe? and ?Jane Doe? warrants on our people, which we did not allow.

To investigate and resolve these shootings peacefully they had to comply with the guidelines set out in article 7 of the 1794 Canandaigua Treaty. It was in line with the Two Row agreement between ourselves and the colonial governments. This is the basis of international law today.

?It was historic. We forced the U.S. government to deal with us according to Article 7 which clearly defines our relationship. If there is any problem between any part of the Confederacy and the U.S, either side could lodge a complaint to the other nation. It would be investigated by the respective nation. All issues are dealt with on a nation-to-nation level.

It took a while. Good minded U.S. President Gerald Ford decided Article 7 was probably the best way to go. He appointed Forest Gerard to act as his special agent to comply with article 7. We worked jointly with the U.S., the people they appointed, our people and the Confederacy to resolve this in the manner that was prescribed by our ancestors. The attacks stopped.

Even though it was resolved, the folks still wanted us out of the area. They gave us ultimatims to leave. We refused. We told them their governments had no jurisdiction on us or our land. We were part of the Confederacy. They tried to dispute our title to the land and failed.

Our informant recalled, ?When we arrived at Moss Lake, we put in gardens and fixed up some houses. We called it ?Ganienkeh?. After trying for several years, we decided that this location was not viable. The rain was too acidic and the growing season was too short. We had to find another place. In 1979 we moved to another part of our homeland, to Miner Lake near Plattsburg. We told the state not to interfere. We thanked them for their offer and did everything ourselves. We set up a new ?Ganienkeh?.

?New York State, U.S. citizens, committees, counties and towns tried to sue Ganienkeh, in Moss Lake and Miner Lake. When the charges against us went to court, they lost. Both decisions found that they had no jurisdiction over us. We continue to enjoy sovereign immunity. After 250 meetings with New York State and the U.S. governments, they finally got it through their heads that we weren?t leaving and we weren?t going to back down.

?After the initial reclamation we got support from the public, international organizations, countries, students and activists. Sweden and other countries put pressure on New York State and told them they were watching the situation closely. We constantly sent people out to speak to churches, organizations, colleges and universities to bring awareness locally, nationally and internationally. We did interviews on the radio, television and newspapers.

People like Ed Hale of the Lake Placid News did many good articles between 1974 and 1979. Our message was, ?We want to rebuild our nation. We know how to do it. We want to survive as we were intended. We want to save our people, our language and our culture. We are the only people who can fix our problems. We did not want their tax monies or their handouts or anything from the U.S., Canada or state governments. We look to our families and friends. If you want to help us, do so.

We rejected Bureau of Indian Affairs involvement with us. We refused to comply with ?federal Indian law?. We would not let New York State have any jurisdiction. We constantly reminded them that this is our land that we never surrendered and that they have no jurisdiction over us.

U.S. and New York State made their claims based on two fraudulent treaties, Joseph Brant Treaty of 1796 and the Seven Nations Treaty of 1797. None have treaty making powers according to the Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law. Joseph Brant was a British subject and deposed as a translator by the Confederacy. The Seven Nations of Canada was a religious congregation of Christian Indians who had alienated themselves from the Confederacy.

“A peaceful interim resolution was established. New York State wanted to save face. We were not going to relinquish our inherent rights. An entity was set up that became a buffer between us. It was an agreement between New York State and “Turtle Island Trust”. We are not signatories to this agreement so it is not binding on the Mohawk Nation and the Confederacy. The state wanted to tell its constituents it was adhering to their laws while not interfering with us.

?New York State Governor Mario Cuomo respected our position that this land is not held in trust. We asserted our jurisdiction. They left us alone. Since then politicians have tried from time to time to interfere with us. We always fight them off and they back away.

?Today Ganienkeh is self-sufficient and employs native and non-natives. The original mission is still there. It continues to need the involvement and participation of the Nation and the Confederacy, our friends and allies to support and make the dream of self-determination come true. We re-established an Onkwehone state independent of the colonial government.

?What did we learn? The only way to get our land is to go there and physically take it back and keep it. In the end New York State and the U.S. finally accepted the fact that we had a formula to avoid a confrontation between us, the Two Row Wampum.

?We have to assert our sovereignty by using our own laws and our birthright based on natural laws. We must not depend on colonial institutions, courts and corporate governments. It was successful because we asserted our identity as the indigenous people of this land. We originated here. This is our world. We must follow the path that was carved out for us and our ancestors before us.

For more information and speakers about the “Ganienkeh Reclamation”, contact 518-236-7100 info@ganienkeh.net www.ganienkeh.net

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers, to sign up, go to
www.mohawknationnews.com
Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. Nia:wen

poster: katenies

 

Fraudulent Land Claim Settlement of “City of Toronto”

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WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS OF SIX NATIONS CONFEDERACY CHARGE CANADA FOR VIOLATING TWO ROW WAMPUM, SILVER COVENANT CHAIN AND INTERNATIONAL LAWTHE WOMEN ARE THE TITLE HOLDERS of the land of Turtle Island as recalled by Wampum 44 of the Kaianereh’ko:wa, constitution of the Rotinonhsonni:onwe

TO: THE MISSISSAUGAS OF NEW CREDIT,
THE CITY OF TORONTO, MME. MICHAELLE JEAN, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA gg@gc.ca, HON. STEPHEN HARPER, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA
PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, UNITED NATIONS

RE: PROPOSED FRAUDULENT LAND CLAIM SETTLEMENT OF SIX NATIONS LAND KNOWN AS THE “CITY OF TORONTO” WITH THE MISSISSAUGAS OF NEW CREDIT

WE FIND YOU GUILTY OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. THE FRAUDULENT PURCHASE OF SIX NATIONS LAND KNOWN AS THE “CITY OF TORONTO” BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT AND THE SUBSEQUENT LAND CLAIMS SETTLEMENT IN PROGRESS WITH THE MISSISSAUGA OF NEW CREDIT WHO DO NOT OWN THE LAND;

2. THE VIOLATIONS OF KAIANEREH’KO:WA, TWO ROW WAMPUM, SILVER COVENANT AND INTERNATIONAL LAWS.

DATE: February 7, 2007

In a Six Nations meeting with the Mississauga on May 22, 1784, Pokquan the Mississauga Speaker told the British that:

“We have considered your request Father. We the Mississauga are not the owners of all that Land laying between the three Lakes, but we have agreed and are willing to transfer our right of Soil & property to the King our Father…”

In 1784 the British were aware that the Missisauga had no interest in the land now known as the “City of Toronto”. “Toronto” is a Mohawk name. “Ontario” is also a Mohawk name. So is “Canada”. In 1787 this Purchase of Toronto by the British was found to be fraudulent because it is Six Nations land and the Mississauga admitted to not owning it. The British got the Mississauga to sign a blank agreement and paid them 10 shillings for 392 square miles of Six Nations Land. After the signing the British inserted the dimensions making it larger than agreed upon. Throughout the Mississauga knew they could not sell land that belongs to the Six Nations.

According to the Kaianereh’ko:wa Joseph Brant, who witnessed this theft, had no position with the Iroquois Confederacy. He was appointed as a Pine Tree Chief by the Confederacy to act as a translator. It was a ceremonial position without any power. Joseph Brant was an officer in the British army and a British subject, not a Mohawk of the Confederacy. He signed as a British subject to sell land to his colonial friends. All these alienations by Joseph Brant are illegal. Our lands cannot be alienated. Any transactions of any kind to do with land have to be sanctioned by all the nations of the Confederacy at a Grand Council meeting. This has always been our law and it is consistent with modern international law as affirmed by International court of Justice in the Western Sahara case.

We have the responsibility to protect our mother and our mother has to be there to take care of our future generations. It is the birthright of every generation to have their mother there to take care of them. It is not ours to sell.

No nation legitimizes foreigners to sell their land. The British would not themselves nor let Germany put up England for sale on the world market! Neither does France or Japan or China! Whenever a peoples’ homeland is threatened by occupation or other means, the Indigenous people of those lands take it as an act of aggression and an act of war. Canada is a colony and does not have title to our land. Evidence of their anxiety is this proposal to illegally “settle” the Toronto land claim.

The Mississauga told the British in 1784, “We don’t own anything, but since you want to buy what we own, which is nothing, we are willing to sell it”. Today their successors, the colony of Canada and its corporate agents, are attempting to “correct” their oversight of 1784. They now want the Mississauga to once again fraudulently transfer Six Nations lands to the British successors. Extensive evidence and documents are available to support our position. Canada is trying to make us think that an original wrong can be corrected by a subsequent wrong.

The British and the Mississauga both knew that the Confederacy would never relinquish our rights to any of our land. So they made the fraudulent deal between themselves and Joseph Brant, a British subject, was their witness.

The thief now wants to legitimize the original theft. Stealing is illegal anywhere in the world. There is no statute of limitation on theft. Colonial powers cannot ratify their original theft. The present Mississauga are an incorporated band set up under the illegal Indian Act, which is ultra vires the Constitution. Any dealings between two colonial government agencies is illegal and fraudulent.

Canada, Ontario and Toronto, whose money are you going to use to pay the Mississauga? It will be our money from the land and resources you have stolen from us. You are using stolen money to buy stolen property. You have to sit down with us, the owners of the land, the Six Nations Confederacy, and nobody else. You cannot deal with the Mississauga. They came under the protective umbrella of the Confederacy and are tenants on our land. The tenant cannot sell the land out from underneath the landlord. Only the true title holders have a right to deal with land issues.

It is fraud. It is theft. Everybody, native and non-native, can see it for what it is.

THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND ITS AGENTS ARE IN VIOLATION OF THE FOLLOWING COVENANTS THAT IT CLAIMS TO UPHOLD:

UN Resolution 1514 affirms the independence of Indigenous people. This fraudulent land claim of the British for the city of Toronto is a colonial act that violates international law. Canada is “squatting” on Turtle Island. UNTS 1021 condemns colonial states that force such policies on us as constituting genocide. [The Mabo case in Australia];

The title of Noongar Aborigines of Australia to Western Australia including the city of Perth were affirmed on September 21, 2006, in Bennell v. State of Western Australia. They proved they continue to exist and are still part of the land. The Six Nations Confederacy and our title to what is now known as the city of Toronto and beyond continues to exist.

The UN Charter requires that its members cannot use armed force to resolve international differences. Starving and then waving money in front of the Mississauga constitutes coercion, violence and use of force.

Canada is a colonial state that must respect the political rights of the Six Nations Confederacy as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) requires the informed consent of a people before they are included in another state [Western Sahara case]. We are not Canadians. We have never surrendered our jurisdiction over ourselves and our lands. Britain and its successor, Canada, are violating our jurisdiction. We must be dealt with on a nation-to-nation basis.

The United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found on March 6, 2006 that the United States was denying the Western Shoshone people “their rights to own, develop, control and use their land and resources”. Canada continues to live in the past and refuses to stop colonialism even though it is illegal.

International law rejects colonial encroachment on our land. Our land cannot be developed without consultation with us and our consent. Our perspectives cannot be ignored. Even the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes that.

WE, THE ROTINONHSONNI:ONWE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS demand an end to the breach of our rights.

a). Our governance is based on relations of equality and mutual respect as affirmed by the Kaianereh’ko:wa, our Great Law of Peace. Our relationship with the colonists is based on the Guswentah, the Two Row Wampum. We agreed to travel on different paths on the same river without interfering with each other. Canada cannot usurp our vessel.

b). We are the trustees of our land for the future generations of our People. Our land cannot be alienated. Colonial states cannot remove us to exploit our land and resources.

c). Colonial states have failed to stop their encroachment on our land and in our lives. Squatters illegally occupy our land, steal our resources and poison our water and air almost beyond repair. Corporate governments and their entities have imposed their destructive agendas on us.

d). Canada’s justice system functions to keep the stolen property, to continue the theft, to undermine us and to continue its genocide.

WE, THE ROTINONHSONNI:ONWE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS WISH TO PROTECT OUR PHYSICAL INTEGRITY AND OUR LEGAL RIGHTS THROUGH PEACEFUL MEANS.

1.That Canada uphold freedom, justice and peace including our inherent right of self-determination. Canada cannot “settle” this fraudulent land claim of the Six Nations without our fully informed consent and consensus of the majority of our people.

2. That we be dealt with on a nation-to-nation basis. Colonial states cannot deal through their unlawfully imposed corporate puppets known as the Mississauga band council.

3. The “rule of law” comes from Creation. It encompasses all that is good for humanity, that of being of one mind based on natural righteousness. To create peace we must live in balance with the natural world, according to our own teachings, direction, language and culture. Foreigners to Turtle Island must respect the Indigenous law of our land. They cannot legislate over or judge us.

4. Colonial states cannot criminalize us for upholding our obligations. We have an inherent right to preserve our land for our coming generations. Our acts have been defensive and peaceful.

WE, THE ROTINONHSONNI:ONWE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS, insist that in keeping with our right to self-determination, we shall deal with our lands, rights and possessions, including the Six Nations land that the city of Toronto is sitting on.

For 500 years we resisted colonial efforts to do away with us and impose your unnatural institutions on us. The colonizers need to meet with us peacefully according to the principles of the Two Row Wampum agreement. The colonizers must remain on your ship and not steer our canoe. The formula to peace is the Kaianereh’ko:wa.

We, the Women Title Holders, insist on an immediate end to this false initiative to have Canadian government corporations settle a fraudulent claim to our land. Colonization has changed the natural world on Turtle Island, the plants, the animals, and the air we breathe. We can’t even drink the water anymore without filtering it. Some people in the colonial society seem to think that just because the first treaties like the Two Row Wampum and the Silver Covenant Chain are inconvenient for you, you can forget about them. They are still the foundation of our relationships, an irrevocable part of modern life. We must initiate a dialogue to work toward a solution acceptable to the Rotinoshonni:onwe.

Signed on this day of February 7, 2007.

Katenies /s/ _________________________
Kahentinetha /s/ _____________________
Box 991, Kahnawake of Mohawk Territory (Quebec) J0L 1B0 450-635-9345 katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha20@yahoo.com

poster: katenies

 

ONKWEHONWE YOUTH FEARLESSNESS AND RESTLESSNESS! COLONISTS, WHATCHA YA GONNA DO NOW?

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ONKWEHONWE YOUTH FEARLESSNESS AND RESTLESSNESS! COLONISTS, WHATCHA YA GONNA DO NOW?

MNN. Feb. 1, 2007. Rumor mongering by non-natives that Onkwehonwe are barbarians, still running around in loin cloths, carrying tomahawks, sneaky, untrustworthy and drunk is the culturally entrenched way of looking at us. This is fiction. This false image is a reality we face all the time.

Today when our Onkwehonwe youth try to get a job, they have a lot to overcome. The mainstream stereotypes of our people as “drunken”, “lazy” and “won’t show up for work” keeps us from getting jobs. Our women and men are seen as lascivious and easy marks. There is a presumption that social services has to intervene in our homes because we don?t know how to take care of our kids, or that we let them hang out on the streets in druggie gangs. Where did all this come from?

Someone wants to make sure our Onkwehonwe youth won’t achieve anything. What are they afraid of? The film “Apocalypto” by Mel Gibson gives us some clues. It is stereotyping at its most vicious. It melds together the colonizers’ fantasies of letting loose according to their false sense of what’s natural and their simultaneous disgust and fear of their own lusts and base desires that they project on us. They are so subject to hierarchical control that they believe if there wasn’t someone lording it over them, they would behave badly. This means they don’t believe in their own ability to control themselves. it’s not our nightmare, it’s theirs. They want to see us as barely civilized barbarians. It gives them a false feeling of superiority. At a visceral level they’re still desperately seeking justification. Or maybe they’re trying to avoid responsibility for the genocide they committed and for their destruction of the environment of Turtle Island. They know their own ability to commit atrocities and fear those who restrain themselves when attacked. They are assuming that the ax is going to fall when they least expect it.

Colonial society creates hopelessness. This way we will have no leadership and they can continue to be the “great white fadder”. Waneek Horn Miller described recently on APTN how the coach of the National Women’s Water Polo Team asked her if she was going to be like all the other “Indians” by not showing up for practice and being irresponsible. The interviewer commented, “The usual stereotypes were pinned on you?” For 15 years she got up at 5:00 am to train and in 2000 went on to compete in the Olympics in Australia.

There are many like her. Ted Nolan is now a coach of the New York Islanders hockey team in one of the most competitive areas in the world. He was fired after a sensational year. He had brought the Buffalo Sabres up from nothing to the pinnacle of success. For 9 years no NHL team would hire him. Why? They thought he was too independent minded. They were afraid he was going to poison the minds of the other players against management, which was untrue. Nolan, just prior to being rehired, took a Nova Scotia junior team to the Memorial Cup and almost won it. This proves that his Onkwehonwe methods of coaching work. One year after taking over the Islanders they are at the top.

Because of this stereotype being flung at us universities have to hire Onkwehonwe ombudsmen to bring our people into these mainstream institutions.

What are some of positive traits of our young people? For one, they show tremendous self-restraint in the face of adversity. Otherwise we would never have survived. We do not react instantly. We think about what we are going to do.

So why can’t we get jobs. Nobody will hire us. Some of us go into cigarette manufacturing and sales. For this we are criminalized. If our businesses are successful, we are pursued to pay taxes to the very corporate colonial governments that stole our lands and resources and work to keep us down. If we get any kind of money into the community, Indian Affairs sends in their “handlers” so that we never know what’s happening to our funds. Businesses are set up in our communities by non-natives using us as fronts to take advantage of our sovereignty and tax-free status and jeopardizing our rights. This is creating hatred by Canadian taxpayers against Onkwehonwe.

Creating apathy among our young people is a product of the colonial society. The idea has always been to keep us as an uneducated working class who can be used for low paying jobs that no one else will do. It did not work. Onkwehonwe have a way of expressing very deep meaningful ideas. If trained they can do this publicly. Some of the greatest natural orators in history were Onkwehonwe who came from among people who were totally uneducated in the colonial system. Statements of Cornplanter, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Seattle and many others have stood the test of time.

So what do we do? We take our positive traits, our knowledge of our rights and create our own way. There has to be encouragement of entrepreneurial skills among our youth. Many are already doing that.

The public is made to think that we don’t care about our youth. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Last weekend the Kahnawake Youth Center had a “Radiothon” to raise money to cover a deficit of $40,000. In the end the community and our supporters raised $200,000. What’s the message? The people will back up our youth and a good idea.

What about our youth? Their minds are open and sharp. They are not brainwashed to bend down to non-natives. The old methods of attacking their self-esteem just doesn’t work with this generation. They walk with their heads up and chests out. They know their rights and history. At the same time they have an uphill battle to take off the iron cloak of “stereotypism” that has been and continues to be strewn over us.

Remember, whatever we believe we are is what we become. If our youth are convinced they are victims, they will become victims. The residential school system was one of the most successful brainwashing strategies devised by the colonists. They destroyed generations with this “victim mentality”. The Onkwehonwe are no longer victims. Now we are conquerors. We are going to be in charge. No one is going to abuse us anymore.

Unfortunately the surrounding mainstream society hasn’t caught up with us or accepted our new attitude. What’s the reaction? Today the police and predators are gathering our youth and killing them. Our young men in Saskatoon and Edmonton were left outside of town to freeze to death. Hundreds of our young women are “disappearing” without a trace and they don’t think its worth looking into.

On the other hand, many see ourselves as being more capable than the colonizers we deal with. Our innate talents have yet to be utilized. The natural ability of Onkwehonwe has never changed. Thinking back about 50 years ago the big corporations and banks in Montreal used to recruit our Onkwehonwe women to be their executive assistants to help them run their corporations. They knew they were the best administrators. Some of them were my cousins. It was common back then.

Our men were able to do construction work that others could not do. In the U.S. it was known if you want to put up a skyscraper you had to call up the Mohawks who will make sure it gets done. Our men were top iron workers running big projects in the U.S. They came home and started successful businesses by translating their abilities into other directions.

How are the colonial government, their agents and mainstream society going to deal with us now? May we suggest that they talk to us? Threats won’t work anymore. Our ancestors and our older people proved that in Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafssen Lake, Six Nations and elsewhere. In the past we were necessary in their battles. They had to negotiate with us because of our positions of strength.

We can’t be ignored anymore. We want control over what is ours and benefits from anything that is happening to us and our land.

Yes, it’s hard to deal with all our educated people. The colonists don’t like it because they have to come to terms with us. They have to govern themselves according to the laws, past accords and solutions that benefit us on a long term basis. Trust funds, education, guarantees and benefits to us and our goals have to be all written down and dealt with fairly. They can’t keep closing the doors on the title holders of Turtle Island anymore.

Our youth is an important part of all this. They don’t have any of the fear that was built into the older generations. We have raised them in an atmosphere where fear wasn’t put into them. We stopped whining on and on about “doom and gloom” and how bad everything is. Indian Affairs promotes this in their ‘kneeling and healing circle” programs to push hopelessness among our people.

The powers that think they are know that if we are afraid then we are inviting people to attack us. They will get away with it if we are running scared. This is how we invite trouble onto ourselves. Canada and the U.S. raised a whole nation of terrified people that was supposed to be scared of everything. Now that’s over. We buried it. Our kids are bold, brave and talented. They want to be Onkwehonwe, not citizens of the colonial societies that are occupying our land. They’re going to find a way around these obstructions. So watch out, world!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers & to sign up go to Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. Nia:wen

poster: katenies

 

ELIZABETH JOHNS’ “YELLOW JOURNALISM” DEMONIZES ONKWEHONWE!

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ELIZABETH JOHNS’ “YELLOW JOURNALISM” DEMONIZES ONKWEHONWE!

MNN. Jan. 25, 2007. Elizabeth Johns suddenly came on the scene in Cornwall Ontario. She is 21 years old, a recent Ryerson Journalism graduate still wet behind the ears. In no time at all, she has become a front page banner reporter for the Cornwall Standard Freeholder. She writes sensational stories, and we do mean ‘stories. The main plot and theme of these imaginative presentations focus on discrediting the Mohawks, Cornwall’s neighbor across the river.

Young Miss Johns has presented what she called “objective fact” but in fact was a biased opinion on just about every story that trickles off her computer. Most are unsubstantiated rumors, innuendos and charges. She must have gotten “A” in “yellow journalism” 340 at Ryerson.

She wrote about the two young cousins from Cornwall Island who had been murdered by two “hit men” sent in by the Bikers. These men were caught. A sensational story appeared starting on the front page giving extensive information on the leads, evidence and police reports. This eventually led the defense to declare that their clients could not get a fair trial in Cornwall or anywhere. They might get off scott free! Whose agenda does this serve? How did this sweet looking girl get ahold of police files that should have remained confidential to protect the integrity of the justice system?

The Cornwall Standard Freehold has come to be known as the editor?s mouthpiece. It publishes only the facts that the editor thinks are fit to print, rather than a full account that would be fair to everyone.

This L’il Miss Poison spread the story of a Mohawk lawyer on the front page with a photo. He had been falsely charged with sexual harassment. The story was written in a way that effectively destroyed the man’s reputation and tried to ruin his business, with the editor’s approval, of course. She stuck her knife into him and took slices off him. She did not double and triple check her sources or read between the lines of what she was told by the band council. They wanted to get rid of him and made up the charges that they thought would stick, but did not. So what’s she going to do about it now?

Her story was highly destructive and almost ruined his life. For all the harm done, this “cracked” reporter didn’t even bother to attend his trial. When the case finally got heard, he won, but at what cost? The result was acknowledged on the front page. It was too little too late. The damage was already done. Can he be given back those five years of hell on earth?

This young lady’s initiatives don’t stop here. She also wrote a disparaging story about the daughter of an Akwesasne activist who has been constantly harassed at the border at a port that is right in the middle of the community. She finally brought complaints against them before the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The story tore that young girl up and questioned her integrity. Did little Miss Muffet report on the appeal to the Human Rights Commission? We don’t think so.

Who benefits from all this demonization of the Mohawks? One theory is that there is a fight between the Ontario Provincial Police with the local Cornwall Police over control of the city. It sounds like a turf war by street gangs. But these are the cops!! How are they protecting the citizens? We all know that newspapers depend on the police for tips on their stories and so they maintain a close relationship.

It started in April of 2006 when the New York Times came to Akwesasne to do a story on one of our business people. They got all kinds of information that could only come from police sources. The entire story was engineered for one purpose. The Mohawks have to be neutralized. Our spokespeople have to be discredited.

There is an attempt to stymie the position of the Mohawks as defenders of Onkwehonwe rights. In the 1920?s Paul K. Diabo, an iron worker, working in the U.S. brought a case to stop the colonial governments from stopping us from going into the U.S. to live and work. It went to the Supreme Court of the United States. It established that all Indians have a right to cross into the U.S. without hindrance because we are the original people of Turtle Island. We have continued our yearly demonstration of this right to cross this imaginary line at Niagara Falls.

For the conglomerates that are trying to run the world, multinational corporations, banks and the governments they control must neutralize all their opposition. The New York Times is one of their major mouthpieces. That’s why the yellow journalism started there. And the rest are following in hot pursuit.

Many reports on Onkwehonwe have been inaccurate or biased and the public has little means of verifying what was written. The newspaper wields a lot of political power. Little Miss Intrepid and the Freeholder often exploit their position with regard to the Onkwehonwe by putting out flamboyant and irresponsible approaches to news. The Freeholder has taken a lead in presenting distorted stories, sensationalism and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales. Or could they be supporting another agenda? One of the agendas could possibly be the purported removal of the Mohawks from Akwesasne, a strategic area.

Because of the internet, newspapers are losing circulation, advertisers and money. Yellow journalism appears to be making a big comeback in this climate. Johns appears to be willing to produce this kind of journalism of fabricating a story to fit someone’s agenda.

Something’s missing in this kid’s education. Her editor and Ryerson should both be ashamed. She’s only 21 and she’s already destroyed the reputations of so many people.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers, to sign up, go to
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
Please sign the Women Title Holders petition.
Nia:wen

poster: katenies