Dekanawida and the formation of the Great Peace: Part 2

Posted on by
To those of you who are taking the time to read this piece of our oral history, I say Niawen Kowa. This is the story as it was heard in the times of my Great Grandfather, Massey Green. He would have been about thirteen years old when these words were spoken by the Onondaga Chief, John Arthur Gibson. They may not be the words you have heard in the past in your teachings, but they are typed by my hand exactly as they were spoken in 1899. TehonikonratheEnjoy, and now; 

PART TWO 

Now in turn, the other, my third saying, ‘now it is arriving, the Peace’, this means that everyone will become related, men and also women, and also the young people and the children, and when all are relatives, every nation, there will be peace as they
roam about by day and also by night. Now, also, it will become possible for them to assemble in meetings. Then there will be truthfulness, and they will uphold hope and charity, so that it is peace that will unite all the people, indeed, it will be as
though they have but one mind, and they are a single person with only one body and one head and one life, which means that there will be unity.

Moreover, and most importantly, one is going to assemble in meetings where it will be announced that all of mankind will repent of their sins, even evil people, and in the future they will be kind to one another, one and all. When they are functioning, the Good Message and also the Power and the Peace, moreover, these will be the principal
things that everybody will live by; these will be the great values among the people.” Then Tekanawita’ said ” Now that I have finished my task I will depart.”

Thereupon the older people said, ” We are accepting the things that we have heard about the Good Message, and the Power and also the Peace.” Thereupon they distributed the corn bread and the meat of the game animals and they shared these
among the whole group, and they feasted, they rejoiced, and they were grateful to Tekanawita’

Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k, and her mother, Kaheto’ktha, and their child Tekanawita’,
returned home, going back to the place they call (?) When they arrived back there, Tekanawita’ said, “Now I will get going and start to build myself a boat. Furthermore, when I have finished my boat, I will depart, and it is toward the east that I will go. Moreover, I want you not to become unhappy when the time comes for me to get ready to leave.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ went all day long. When it got dark, he returned home not carrying anything with him, nor did he say anything, and
then they went to sleep until dawn. Thereupon he departed again, returning home at dusk, he carrying nothing with him, nor saying anything, and they slept till dawn.

Thereupon he departed again, returning at dusk, and again he had nothing with him. That is how it goes: every day he departs, and he always returns when it gets dark; for a long time that is what it was like, and never does he say anything, and it is
the same with his grandmother and also his mother, they never say anything when he arrives at night. After a time Tekanawita’ said, “Now then, I can tell you, grandmother and mother too, that I have now finished it. Therefore at dawn we will leave. Moreover, first we will go to the top of the hill, where I will show you a certain tree, a pine tree, growing on top of the hill; this will be able to tell my
fortune when I am gone. Now that I have finished my boat, I will launch it. Furthermore, you two will help me when we launch the boat. Moreover, you will observe what kind of boat it is that I made here on earth. I alone will use the boat for the length of time that I will travel about where the lakes and also where there are rivers. After my task is completed, my work, then no one may use my boat, for as to that, I shall take it back when I return home from the earth.

” Thereupon Kaheto’ktha and Kah,etehsu,k understood that now, indeed, the time had come for it to happen as foretold in his grandmother’s dream. At dawn the two women prepared a
meal. When they were finished the grandmother Kaheto’ktha, said, “Now, indeed, we have finished, and we will all eat. Truly, we do not know whether this is the last time all of us will eat together. Now, indeed, the time has come that the man told
about and which was revealed from within his dream.” Thereupon they ate. When they finished the meal, Kah,etehsu,k said, “I love you my child, Tekanawita’. Now indeed the time has come for us to part. As to that, we do not know whether in the future, in days to come, we will ever see each other again.’

Thereupon Tekanawita’ said “Now moreover, we will leave to go to the top of the hill, where the living tree stands, the great pine.” Then they departed. When they arrived there, they ascended to the top of the hill. When they got to the top of the
hill, they stopped. Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “This living tree is able to tell our fortune. Now, indeed, the time has come for my work to begin. So now I will leave, going toward the east. Moreover, once I have departed, you should notch this living tree. Thereupon sweet sap will appear, and you two will eat it; and this is what you will think, ‘we are in luck, ‘ for all is peaceful as I pass the long road of my work. Moreover, this is what will happen if you notch the tree and blood
begins to spill: Thereupon you will know at once that something has spoiled our good fortune.

If just so it should happen, that blood should begin to spill from this living tree, that is, if something should spoil my good fortune, and my blood should
begin to spill, then here on earth we may not see each other again. I, moreover, I will be the first to notch it, you two will watch out for what is to happen…and when it becomes necessary to you, it will inform you two. After you notch it, and
sweet sap flows, you will realize that my luck is good, you know, but if blood flows, you will know that my luck is bad.” Thereupon he said, I myself, will be the first to notch it, and you two will watch to see what is to happen, what kind of luck is to be mine.” When he notched it sap flowed, and he said, “I will have good luck when I travel.

Thereafter they ate the sweet sap which resembled honey. Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, ” Now you two saw that it is able to tell what kind of
luck is to be mine.” Now after Tekanawita’ hit the growing tree with his stone axe, sap flowed from it. And they, eating it, found that it was sweet like honey.

Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “Now you are looking at how it is to be in the future, for a number of days to come, for it is able to inform you about the state of my affairs, however many times you look at it.

So now we will depart, going to the place where the boat I have completed lies. This, presently, is what you will see: The kind of boat I will launch when I take off for the other side of the lake.” Thereafter Tekanawita’ said “Now, indeed
we’ll depart,” and they left, Tekanawita’ walking in front of them, and they following him, his grandmother and his mother; and they followed a path until, it seems suddenly, they saw a rock ledge at the top of the hill where they arrived.
Thereupon Tekanawita’ stopped, saying, “Now we have arrived here where it is located, my boat.” Thereupon he showed it to them, and they saw a stone boat and paddles of stone. Thereupon Tekanawita’ turned it right side up, the boat.

Thereupon he said, “Examine it, and you will know what kind of boat I have made, here on earth.” Thereupon Kahetoktha said and Kah,etehsu,k examined it, and were surprised at the kind of boat it was. Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k said “I love you, my child, but what are you doing in launching a stone boat, for surely, indeed, it will sink beneath the water’s surface, the boat?” Thereupon Tekanawita’ said “If it is true that it will sink, my boat, then I also may not survive nor can my work go forward here on earth.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “Now, indeed, you two will help me as we
drag the boat; then, into the water, we will launch it, and you will watch as I get in. You, moreover, will be the first to see this surprising accomplishment, and it is you who are to be the witnesses as I take this step.” Thereupon he said “Now, then, lets pull the boat.” Thereupon his grandmother and his mother and Tekanawita’
pulled the boat, and then they launched it on the water.

Thereupon he shook hands with his grandmother and his mother and he said, “Don’t become unhappy now that we are separating. Furthermore, don’t ever forget how it began, this matter, and also
what happened concerning my mission, For it is you who witnessed my departure today.” Thereupon he got into the boat and disconnected it. Thereupon his grandmother and his mother watched it depart, Tekanawita’s boat, with him in it; he was in the boat, paddling swiftly when it left, and in a short time it actually disappeared as he was paddling along, Tekanawita’.

Thereupon the two women turned back; then they went home, arriving back at the place where they had their shelter. Thereupon Kahetoktha said, “Now, indeed, he has departed, Tekanawita’. So now we two will go home, returning to the village to recount what has happened; and this, probably, is it: It is right for us to tell the elders and the people, even the children, everybody we will tell about the things that happened and also what he has foretold us about what is to happen in future days to come; and also about what we ourselves observed: how he showed us, one might
say, astonishing matters; and they will know the whole story, for we will tell everything he spoke of, Tekanawita’ he who has now departed.”

Thereupon Kahetoktha and Kahetehsuk went home, going back to the village, and arriving back there, they went to the place where he had his house, the leading chief, whom they told everything they had seen, the great words and what Tekanawita’
had predicted, as well as that he had now departed. This is what the chief did, at the village he gathered all the people together. Thereupon he spoke to the group about what they had told him, Kahetoktha and Kahetehsuk, “These are the amazing events that took place, and they saw them, that is, they witnessed what he has
predicted, Tekanawita’ and this story will continue on, it will proceed, now that he has departed, going east toward the sunrise.”

Thereupon the chief at the village said, ” Now, indeed, we are informed that he has set out, Tekanawita’ then, just so we were informed of his predictions. First, that on the hill, at the top of the
hill, there is a living tree, a great pine tree, and this can tell whether his fortune will be good, and in that event sweet sap will flow, which is a sign of his
work proceeding, and also in the event that blood will flow, it is a sign of this, that his luck will become bad and that hey will not function, the Good Message, Power and the Peace. Thereupon I desire that everyone in the group, the elders, and
also the children, that we all wish his good luck, and this especially: we should not forget the message, which is now concluded; we have heard what he has said, Tekanawita’. Now this, therefore is what I am saying to you, to the whole group, the
elders as well as the young people, don’t forget the words he has spoken in front of the children and us who are the elders.

This is where they should rest, his words, in the bottom of our hearts, so that, whatever ones age, one will keep remembering the story that he himself, Tekanawita’ , has told.” Thereafter the children repeated it, reminding themselves of what he had said in front of them.

This, moreover, is what happened when he crossed over, Tekanawita’: There was a mans camp near the lake where resided a husband and wife and their family who had come from Kanye’ke, and the reason for their departure had been their killing one another by scalping, which was why they had left that vicinity, moving their camp a distance toward the west into the bush near a lake, where they had erected their shelter and where they had settled down with their family. Shortly thereafter the man went out to dip water at the lake shore.

This one, when he had dipped, climbed back up the
bank, rested, and then, looking in the direction of the lake, he saw something coming in the direction of and proceeding towards the lake shore to the place where he stood. It came along swiftly and soon he realized that it was a man coming along
propelling a boat. In a very short while after landing, the man disembarked, pulled the boat out of the water, and then the man who had been standing there looked at him, the man pulling his boat out of the water, and the man who had been standing there saw the stone canoe, which was the boat he had propelled, that one, the man
who was arriving.

Then he came to the place where he was standing, the one who had been resting, the one who had gone to dip water, they gave thanks and greeted each other, and then he began speaking, as soon as he arrived, saying, Now we are seeing each other, we who are strangers, just now being the first time I am seeing you.

Thereupon the one who had been resting there said,” It is true, this is the first time we are meeting, we who are strangers, this is the first time I have seen you, and I don’t know you, where, then, did you come from, and what is your name?”

Thereupon he began to speak, he who had just arrived, saying “I have come from a village of kindred people and my name is Tekanawita’. Now, then, I will ask you where in fact, you have come from and what your name is? ” Thereupon the man said, “Indeed, it is Kanye’ke we come from, my family and I, we having just now fled our shelter at the village because too much warfare was going on. This, in particular: they have been scalping one another by day and by night, and they are in the process of massacring one another, and the reason I am here is for us to survive; as for me, indeed, my name is Thoihwayei’.”

Thereupon Tekanawita said, “Now I understand who you are. Now, moreover, I will tell you that it is you I chose, for you to be the first person I meet. So now I will tell you what you should do. As to that, you should now return home at once, and
without delay go back to the settlement. And this, when you arrive back there, go straightaway to the place where he has his house, the leading man of the village, or I should say, the chief, and this is what you will tell him, indeed, you will say,
‘It is arriving, the Good Message, and next this: the Power, and next this: the Peace.’

Moreover, what will happens that he will ask you, ‘Who is it, then, who has told you about this?’ And you will say, ‘Tekanawita’.’ If he says, ‘Where did you see him?’, you will say, ‘At the lake shore, and in fact, he is coming and will be arriving soon in this village.’ Thereupon you [all] will hear everything, that is, he himself will reply to everything.

“Now you shall hear what you should do when you go to tell the chief. As to that, in this direction, here, there are located two groups; these are dangerous, so I will halt their evil and sinful activities which go on by day and by night to the extent that both are dangerous, and I will end it as soon as possible. Thereupon peace will take hold among the inhabitants. Moreover, when I have completed this task, then I will go to Kanye’ke.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “Now, then, you go back, go straight to the village.”

Thereupon Thoihwayei’ returned home, arrived at their shelter, and said, “I saw a man, we conversed, and this is what he commissioned me to do: to go to tell about it to the chief, saying, ‘They say that now it is arriving, the Good Message, and,
next, the Power, and next, the Peace’.”

Thereupon Thoihwayei’ went back, returning straight to the village where the chief had his house, and arriving there said, “I have a message along that is directed especially to you, and this is what the man has commissioned me to tell you: ‘It is now arriving, the Good Message, and the
Power, and the Peace’. Then the chief said, “Who sent you to tell me the message you have along?” Thereupon Thoihwayei’ said, “This, indeed is what happened: at dawn I went to dip water at the lake. And when I finished dipping I went back up to the
bank, stood on top of the bank, and looking towards the lake I saw a boat coming; a man was in it, paddling along rapidly, straight to the place where I stood.

After a short time he landed, tied his boat to the bank, and then got out from inside the boat; I looked at the boat, and it was made of white stone, the boat was. Thereupon the man said, ‘Where did you come from?’ and I said, ‘It is close by, our shelter, we having fled, my family and I, for the reason that there is to much danger to my
life. In fact as matters stand, every single day and every night they massacre each other, and this is the reason why we traveled elsewhere, my family and I, for me to save them so that one may survive for a few more days.’ Thereupon the man began to
speak, saying, ‘Now go back home; they are arriving there, the Good Message, and the
Power, and the Peace.’

Thereupon I said, ‘Where did you come from, who are you and what is your name? ‘ [?] he said, I am coming from the west [and] east is the direction I am going towards; as to my name, what they say is Tekanawita’.’ Moreover, he sent me to tell you that he is coming, and that he will arrive here
before long. This actually, is what he told me, that towards the south there are two dangerous groups, and in this direction he took, Tekanawita’.”

After Tekanawita’ had departed in that direction he came to a house belonging to a cannibal who had his house there. Then Tekanawita’ went close to the house. Then, when he saw the man coming out, departing, sliding down the hill to the river, and
dipping water, thereupon Tekanawita’ hurriedly climbed onto the house to the place where there was a chimney for the smoke to escape; he lay down on his stomach and looking into the house he saw that the task of breaking up meat and piling it up had been completed. Then the man returned, and he was carrying a drum of water in it.

Thereupon he poured it into a vessel, put meat into the liquid, when he saw, from inside the vessel, a man looking out. Thereupon he moved away without removing the meat, and sat down again on the long bench, for it was a surprise to him, seeing the man in the vessel. Thereupon he thought, “Let me look again”. Thereupon he, Tekanawita’, looked again from above where the smoke hole was, again causing a reflection in the vessel, and then the man, standing up again, went to where the
vessel sat, looked into the vessel again, saw the man looking out, and he was handsome, he having a nice face.

Thereupon the man moved away again and he sat down again on the long bench, and then he bowed his head, pondering and thinking, “I am exceedingly handsome and I have a nice face; it is probably not right, my habit of eating humans. So I will now stop, from now on I ought not kill humans anymore.”
Thereupon he stood again, went to where the vessel sat, picked up the vessel with meat in it, and then he went out, sliding straight down the slope beside the river and near uprooted tree he poured out the vessel full of meat.

Meanwhile Tekanawita’ hurriedly climbed down again from on top of the house, and went to where he had gone, the man carrying the vessel containing human flesh. Just then, he having ascended the top of the hill, the one holding the vessel, the two met. Thereupon they both stopped, and the man said, “We two are meeting; where do you come from? We are strangers; what is your name?”

Thereupon he began to speak, saying, “Really, it is true, we are strangers; it is the first time we have met. Now moreover, I will tell you that the place I came from is the other side of the lake, and as to me, my name, Indeed, is Tekanawita’.” Thereupon he said, “I will ask you what that is, that vessel you are holding?” and the man said, “It is surprising what happened: I was just about to take my meat out of the liquid to make a meal of it, when I examined it to see whether, indeed, it was done. And this: When I stood up next to the vessel, I looked into the vessel and I saw a man looking out. Now then, I went back to the long bench and sat down again and then I felt astonished at what
was happening, for never had I looked and seen that kind of thing. Thereupon I thought, I will repeat it and look again into the vessel.’ Thereupon I stood again and moved over next to the vessel, and I stood looking where the meat was cooking in
the vessel, and I saw the man looking out again; he was handsome, very handsome.

Thereupon I unhooked the vessel, and placed it beside the fire. Then I sat down again on the bench, pondering and thought, ‘It is an amazing thing that I, indeed, am handsome, very handsome.’ Thereupon I decided, ‘Now I will stop eating humans, and now I will stop killing people.’ Thereupon I again stood up, picked up the vessel, came out of the house and went near the hill to a tree that had uprooted itself; there I poured out the human flesh; so now I am stopping that work of mine. Only this, the vessel, that is what will remain, and I will use it for cooking meals.”

Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “Now I understand everything; so now you will return, going to the village to tell your people, ‘Now it is arriving, the Good Message, also the Power, and also the Peace.’ Now indeed you have ended your killing of
humans.” That, moreover, is how it will happen; kindred people will stop massacring and scalping one another. As to that, it will stop now; from now on it will come about that everyone will be related, members of all of the different nations. So go
back now, take note of these matters, and accept the Good Message, and the Power, and the Peace. I also will depart now, I will go to the place where here, you share food with them; indeed, repeatedly, when they finish eating, they go on to kill people, and also to scalp them. And when these warriors return, they stop here again, and again you feed them, doing so repeatedly, and you help both sides, those living to the west and to the east. So now you will stop; now, indeed, it is coming, the Good Message, also the Power, and also the Peace. Now, moreover, you will depart
and towards the east that is where you will go. On the third day, indeed, you will become a peace chief and a leader for the Good Message, the Power, and the Peace. There, moreover, you will arrive, at the place where they will assemble, the chiefs; and you will all cooperate in working on the Great Law, so that all the people will survive, because now everyone will become related; now there will be peace in days and nights to come; and it will stop, the bloodshed among human beings here on earth. Moreover, we two will meet again there at the place where they will assemble,
where a number of nations will unite by accepting the Good Message, the Power, and the Peace.” Thereupon Tsikuhsahse’ said, “I accept the various words you have said to me. It will happen that I will go to the place where we will all meet again on
the third day.”

Then Tekanawita’ said, Now, then, I will pass on, going to Kanye’ke where they are expecting my arrival.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ left, getting back to where he had his boat next to the lake. Then he departed. Moreover, when he got to the vicinity of
the village, there, near the river, he kindled a fire. Thus at dawn they saw smoke rising near the river. Thereupon the chief said, ” You two investigate who kindled the fire causing smoke to rise near the river, and if you see the man, bring him back, saying, ‘The chief commissioned us to summon you back with us.’ Indeed, now he is arriving, the one who sent word that he is coming; maybe this time it is the man who is arriving.” Thereupon the two departed, going to where the smoke had risen
near the river, and arriving they saw the man sitting next to the fire, and they said, “He sent us along, the chief, we have come to fetch you and take you back to where he has his house, the chief, there where the village lies.’ Thereupon
Tekanawita’ said “That is how it shall happen. Very well, let’s go.”

Thereupon that’s where they went, to the place where the chief had his house, and they arrived there. Thereupon the chief said, “It was I who sent them there to summon you, thinking perhaps this time it is you whom we have been expecting,
Tekanawita’, who sent the message that he is coming; for a long time we have been expecting you.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ said “Indeed, it is I, I have now arrived.” Then the chief said, “I will notify the Great Warrior and his deputy; we will all
assemble as a group, we will have a meeting, and you will wait until we are ready”
Then Tekanawita’ said “I accept the way in which you are planning it; I will wait until you are ready.”

Thereupon the chief sent his message to them, the Great Warrior and his deputy, for the two of them at once to spread the news among all the people, to come together at the chiefs house, for now he has arrived, the man whose name is Tekanawita’.
Thereupon they were informed, and immediately the two spread the news among all the people to assemble at the chief’s house, and the news spread immediately, that now he had arrived, Tekanawita’, and all of the people wanted to see the man, the one who had sent a message that he was coming. Then everybody, men and women and infants and children, they all assembled at the chosen place. And this: when all were ready,
the chief stood up, saying, Now we are ready. So now you will proceed with the matter; now you will reveal the matter you have along.”

Then Tekanawita’ stood up, saying, “I, indeed, am arriving with the Good Message and the Power and the Peace; now it will cease, the warfare and the scalping and the shedding of human blood. This, actually, is how it is on earth: there are pools and
streams of human blood. And this will now cease. This, too: you are the first whose village I am visiting with this message you are hearing now.

Thereupon the chief and the Great Warrior and his deputy conversed in whispers, deciding that they would ask what was the meaning of the three words. Thereupon he stood up, the chief, saying, “We have heard you report the message you are bringing, and we want to ask you about the three words: first, what does ‘Good Message’ mean; secondly, what is ‘Power’, and thirdly, what does it mean ‘Peace is now arriving?’ ”

Then Tekanawita’ stood up in front of the whole group and said, “You shall listen well, for you wanted to ask questions so as to understand what it means, Good Message’; t his is what it means: people respect each other as though they are one
person; also everybody is related among the various nations, so that now they will stop, the sins and activities of evil people; now everyone will repent, the old people and the young people; now everyone will respect one another among the
nations; and just this is what will operate again, the good, and that is what the ‘Good Message’ means.

Secondly, this is what ‘Power’ means: all of the Nations will unite all their affairs, and the group of several nations will become just a single one, and their power is that they shall join hands. This moreover, will be the basis upon which they will survive as a group, forming a single family, similar to being one person having one head and one life, surrounded by the Good Message. This is how peace will come about among all the nations, and power will arise for families to continue from here on in.

Thirdly, this is what ‘Peace’ means: now it will stop, the massacre of humans and the scalping and bloodletting among themselves, specifically, among the people of various nations. Now to that, it will end, the human slaughter, because the Great
Spirit never planned for humans to hurt one another nor to slaughter one another. So now it will end, the warpath, and everywhere it will become peaceful; the different nations’ villages are as neighbours and as to the localized families and
their children, what will happen is that they all will be very close relatives; and it will come to pass that they will become just like one family which will
encompass every nation and every language. And this: when everyone can travel from village to village, then it will end, the danger and the terror, and everything will be peaceful, and they will rejoice by day and by night as the family continues
on. There being no end to peace that is what it means, the Great Law of Peace, and everyone will be united; now I am finished.”

Thereupon the Great Warrior stood up, saying, “Now we have heard Tekanawita’ explain
to us the three words he mentioned, and to me, this is what I personally am questioning:

What will happen if we accept the Good Message and the Power and the Peace, and the other tribes do not accept it? Subsequently this could happen: perhaps they will come to massacre us. Hence this is what I personally would say to this man who has
arrived, Tekanawita’, whatever the message he has along which now he has finished delivering to us, moreover, this is it: I might believe it, if he were able to climb that tree growing over there beside the river, on the high bank, and if when he sits
on the top of the tree, subsequently we were to cut down the tree, which would get knocked down in the direction of the river, now if this man has arrived, Tekanawita’ were to pass the test, surviving until dawn tomorrow, then I will immediately accept whatever message he has brought along.” Thereupon the deputy to the Great Warrior stood up saying, “I will tell you this; I will affirm what he said, the Great Warrior, to the full extent. If he is able, this man, to climb up and perch on top of the tree, and then we cut the tree which will topple into the river, and if this man will pass this test, If we see him the next morning, then I will accept and believe the message he has brought along.”

Thereupon he sat down again, the deputy of the Great Warrior and the chief stood up and said, “I rejoice that he has arrived, Tekanawita’, and that he has finished telling everything, explaining to us the happens of the Good Message which he has
along as well as the Power and the Peace. Moreover, now that I have heard everything, Tekanawita having completed his account, I now therefore accept the Good Message and the Power and the Peace; as they say, my people and also my
grandchildren, that is, the ongoing family, will carry on from here on into the future.” Thereupon the chief sat down again.

Thereafter Tekanawita’ stood up and said, “First I will respond to the questions of the chief, to what he said, for now it is beginning, that is, the action of the Good Message because indeed, Hayehwatha’ (the second Mohawk Title of the League Chiefs)
is accepting it. This moreover is how it is happening, because it kept you awake as it was arriving, the Good Message, and this especially, the Power and the Peace, consequently, this is now your name and they will use it to address you:
Hayehwatha’, and all of the people will live by it, your name, and it will help them in succeeding generations to say Hayehwatha’.”

Thereupon Tekanawita’ said ” Now then, I will respond to all the words spoken by the Great Warrior and his deputy for they want me to climb the tree growing at the top of the bank beside the river. Thereupon they will cut the tree so that it will go down into the river, and if I pass the test and survive until tomorrow, then they will accept the Good Message, the Great Warriors. Moreover, I agree to it, that this is how it shall happen.”

Thereupon the whole group said, “That is just what we want, for the truth to emerge.” Thereupon Tekanawita’ said, “Now just that is what I also am prepared for, that I should climb the tree growing there, I sitting down on top of the tree, and
then everyone will observe what is to happen.”

Thereupon the Great Warrior said, “Now we are ready to go to where the tree is growing.”

Thereupon they departed, the whole group, and arrived at the growing tree. Then the Great Warrior said, “This is it, this growing tree; you will climb it and when you sit down on top of the tree , you will look down at the river. Thereupon we will chop into it, cutting down the tree which will drop down to the river. Moreover, they will watch, the whole crowd, to see whether you pass the test and survive until tomorrow. Then we will respond to the message you delivered to us.”

Thereupon Tekanawita’ said “Now, then, I will climb up.” Thereupon he went towards the growing tree. Thereupon he climbed it, sitting down there on the top of the tree while a large crowd watched as witnesses as they chopped into it. The growing tree, cutting the tree which went down towards the river, and into the depth went the branches; he disappeared underneath the water’s surface, Tekanawita’ did, and nowhere did they see him again. Thereupon the Great Warrior said, “Now, indeed, it is coming to pass that we do not see Tekanawita’ anywhere. So now we will go home to
wait until tomorrow, just in case, indeed, he should reappear.”

(To be continued)

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Calling any real journalists

Posted on by
This is long. But it shows us how to decipher corporate media stories about us. Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation NewsSIX NATIONS: MACHIAVELLIAN GHOSTS HAUNT CANADIAN MEDIA Where is “Deep Throat” when we need him?
MNN. April 23, 2006. The Canadian media continues to deliberately distort what’s happening at Six Nations. The law and British guarantees to protect our land are completely on our side. We want to show just how tricky and deceptive the corporate media is. Let’s go through the editorial published in the Montreal Gazette on April 21st 2006, the day after the police raid on the Six Nations at Caledonia.

Their heading was, “Enforce the law for natives, too. Authorities are chronically terrified to deal with native truculence and belligerence.”

We agree with the first part. The law should be enforced on behalf of Natives too. That’s what this demonstration is about. Canada has laws against theft and fraud. We want Canada to obey those laws. Why is it alright to steal our land? Why do they call us “truculent and belligerent” when we try to live by the law? Why are the authorities afraid? We haven’t attacked them. They surround us with guns, bullets, pepper spray, tasers, M-16?s, ambulances ready to ship us to the hospital and body bags to put us in when they drive us to their morgues. Who is being belligerent? We have no weapons. We have not made any threats. We are sitting on our land. If they are afraid, it must be of their own ugly faces in the mirror and shadows on the ground. All that weaponry in their hands is not a pretty sight.

The Gazette says we have been “illegally occupying a subdivision construction site”. Since when is it illegal to sit on one’s own land? This is a deliberate attempt to defame us. Such as their claim “In the Alice-in-Wonderland world of native policy” nobody really expects the laws to be applied to aboriginals as it is to everyone else. “Yes, why don’t we get the same benefit of the law as everyone else? Why aren’t we considered innocent until proven guilty? Why is it still open season on “Indians”? Why, in 2006, more than 50 years since Canada supported the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are we being vilified in the Canadian press?

Canadians don’t have to obey American laws when they are not in the United States. The British don’t have to obey French laws when they are in England. Why are we treated different? We aren’t Canadians. We have our own jurisdiction and Britain promised to protect it. Every time we have tried to present our case in a neutral tribunal Canada has refused to participate. It has done everything to avoid respecting the promises made by Britain. Colonialism is supposed to be dead and gone. But Canadian officials continue to conspire to stop us from getting justice.

It’s not as if we haven?t tried to get justice before. We had a lot of international support at the League of Nations in the 1920’s. Canada’s response’ It officially deposed our government, denied us access to our trust funds, set up a puppet band council regime and passed laws to prevent us from hiring lawyers to fight our case. What’s legal about that?

Of course, Canada could not legally depose our government. No more than the Nazi’s could depose the legitimate government of France in World War II. Our legitimate government was and always has been by and for our people according to the Kaianereh’ko:wa. Our traditional Confederacy government always continued. Canada only persuaded a tiny minority to vote in their puppet elections. Now they can?t find enough puppets to fill a band council. The Six Nations Indian Act band council has now publicly decided that Six Nations land claims should be dealt with by our traditional government. The Gazette never mentioned that.

That editorial was meant to defame us and our legitimate struggle to hold onto our assets, to right injustices and to exercise our right to self-determination. The Gazette did not do any research or competent reporting. It did not explain the legal basis of the Women’s trust responsibility for the land, the reason why we are standing up.

The Gazette trotted out a bunch of trite and hackneyed insinuations. It outright lied, declaring that, “There’s not much real evidence” of “legitimate land claims rooted in historic complaints”. What? Check out the League of Nations Archives or Canada’s own National Archives [watch it get burnt down suddenly!]. The latter includes a 1952 memo by the national archivist, A.E. St. Louis. When he was ready to retire, he decided to put his shock over the mistreatment of the Six Nations people on record. There is a ton of work by accredited scholars. Sydney L. Harring stated that a substantial proportion of the litigation in Upper Canada courts concerned Six Nations land.

Our ancestors hired the best lawyers available. But we still couldn’t get justice from a system that was all too willing to accommodate illegal squatters and dip into our trust funds. More recent research includes Brian Titleys’ book, “A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada”. In the 1970?s the late Sally M. Weaver received a Canada Council grant to research the Six Nations situation. Her findings were upsetting and never published. They lie hidden in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room at the University of Waterloo. Royal commissions and other official studies have been done time and again. They all show that the Six Nations have been defrauded. The Law Society of Upper Canada and McGill University borrowed from our trust funds and never paid it back. If Canada believes in the rule of law, why doesn’t it do the right thing?

The Gazette stated that, “courts have been consistently generous, many say too generous – in accepting native arguments”. What judgments are they talking about? To date our arguments have been almost universally ignored, misunderstood or misrepresented. Naturally many might say the courts have been “too generous” – especially if they’ve relied on the Gazette for their information. With such biased media shaping public opinion, no wonder people imagine that we’re a gang of hoodlums.

It’s obvious that yellow press, like the Gazette, is deliberately trying to create the impression that we are a bunch of uneducated criminals. They can’t do this by showing pictures of us beating anyone up. They do heavily cover trials where it is “proven” that we did something “violent” when we defended ourselves from armed attacks. But they can’t plant violent images in their readers’ minds.

The Gazette editorial said: “Ask yourself this: in a province deeply concerned about crimes, gangs, and gun violence, would any other ethnic or cultural group be allowed to shut down a legal construction site for 52 days and counting?” Notice that it didn’t actually say that we had guns or gangs or did anything violent. It couldn’t because we aren’t. It just inserted these images into the middle of its statement about us.

Every time people read about “Natives” they see something about crime, guns and violence. They get conditioned. They start to think that “where there’s smoke, there must be fire”. That’s how they keep the old missionary stereotypes alive. They could steal our land. They could kill us. They could steal our children, because God was on their side. They want you to keep on thinking that they are “civilized” and we aren’t.

But you have to wonder. If the Gazette is really so concerned about crime, why didn’t the Gomery Report on major bureaucratic fraud get full front page treatment? Most of the Gazette’s anemic reporting got shuffled to the inside pages, while the front page ran a feature on the heart wrenching plight of children who are apprehended from dysfunctional parents. That goes on every day. One of the reasons why there’s not enough money for legitimate public work is that too much is being skimmed off by crooks with official government positions.

They are using the same tactic on the Six Nations Caledonia story. Guess what the front page featured the day of the police raid? A new portrait of the Queen!!! As if what happened to us that day did not leave the British monarchy in total disgrace!

Back to that shameless Gazette editorial. Another trick it used to make us look violent was mentioning that an SQ officer was killed in the “Oka affair” of 1990. They didn’t recall that the man was killed by a police bullet when they opened fire on our people, including people who were asleep and a two year old toddler on a tricycle. Talk about selective memory!!!

We do agree with one statement, however, “rewarding bad behavior only encourages more of it”. Right on!!! So we wonder why is the Gazette refusing to do an honest and competent job of reporting? Why is it spreading lies about us and covering up past and present bureaucratic corruption and incompetence? We think Woodward and Bernstein, those reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, based pm secret informant “Deep Throat”, wouldn’t work there. The spirit of investigative reporting is alive and well. It lives in the hearts of the people. We are getting our tips from latter day Deep Throats! Honest decent Canadians Americans and friends all over the world. You won’t find out what they know by reading the corporate press.

Canadians and Americans, for that matter, are being told bare faced lies. As we write, they are being “fibbed” to by the corporate press that “everything has been resolved” [at Six Nations]. Those shady characters who run Canada want our supporters to stay away from us. We are still here. We’re still ready, and we’re still on alert. We can see the build-up of troops before our eyes. Twenty vans full of armed RCMP have been spotted in Caledonia. This is a life and death situation. The corporate media lies to you.

Tricks the Media Plays to Try to Colonize Your Mind.

1. “There is No Story”.

We knew a lot was happening. We knew high ranking government officials, police, military and courts were involved. We sent everything to the media. They published nothing.

2. When something important happens, the front page features a big photo about something heart-touching that isn’t really news.

Like the Queen’s 80th birthday hat!

3. The media tells you there is only one way of looking at things. (Their way).

When the mainstream media finally said something about the Six Nations issue, it only gave the viewpoint of Henco Industries? and the “government”. They didn’t speak to us or ask us or our supporters why we were there.

4. The media ridicule the issue and any public official who tries to find out the truth and deal with it honestly.

The Montreal Gazette accused government officials of being soft on us and claimed that we live in an “Alice in Wonderland World of Native Policy”. That’s right! They do look at us “through their twisted carnival mirror”! Or down their rabbit hole where they want us to go!

5. The reporters do no research then say there’s no evidence.

Woodward and Bernstein need not apply.

6. The media call for “law and order” and refer to “guns” or “crime” in every third sentence.

Yes, we want law and order. The media won’t tell you that. They don’t tell you that only the cops have guns and only government officials can lie and commit crimes.

7. They claim the courts have been generous when actually they have bent the rules against us.

Canada does not want a neutral tribunal to hear our cases. The current court orders were made when we were not there by a judge who owns property in the disputed area.

8. The media claim that angry “citizens” are attacking the protesters

The media makes ordinary citizens angry by misrepresenting the facts. They’re driving some young hot heads to attack us to justify the presence of the army to carry out state violence against us. They did this during the Mohawk Oka Crisis in 1990. Someone persuaded people to evacuate the sick, elderly and children from Kahnawake. The police blocked the convoy on the bridge for hours, while the rabble-rousing radio stations encouraged crowds of thugs to gather. When the Indigenous people were finally released, they had to drive through a gauntlet of stone throwing hooligans. Cars and windows were smashed. Police stood by watching. One man died of a heart attack. Countless infants and children had glass embedded in their skin. It was fully photographed. Only one man was convicted.

A few years later French-speaking fishermen attacked their Indigenous neighbours at Burnt Church. Government officials used this to deny Miq’maq fishing rights where they had fished since the end of the last ice age.

At Six Nations Caledonia a few misguided youths have been lead to believe that attacking natives is a right. No one says anything about the thousands of peaceful non-native supporters from all over the world who are trying to help us.

9. The paper only publishes one letter to the editor.

That’s it for the Six Nations/Caledonia issue. The corporate papers will only publish your letter if: (a) you have figured a witty way to repeat their editorial line; or (b) you give cliché “red neck” support that’s easy to rebut. That way they can pretend they”ve covered both sides of the issue. The Editorial page articles in the Gazette include, “No cures for traffic woes” and “Marital rescue needed”. Someone fought with his wife over who gets to do the Soduku puzzle!

10. The summary of the week in pictures makes it look like the protests are on some other planet.

On Thursday, April 20th, the Warriors and the Peacekeepers at Kahnawake closed the Mercier bridge for half an hour to mount ten unity flags on top of the bridge for all the world to see. This same bridge was blocked for most of the summer of the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990. It was a big deal for Montrealers. The Gazette ignored the home-town news. It also didn’t have any photos of the protesters blocking the train track between Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s two largest cities. It did show a picture of a South Korean protesters burning a Japanese military flag’ and was the panda in someone’s zoo having indigestion or something?

Welcome to the corporate media’s job to promote the new world order!

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies: Continue to be vigilant. Send along all your info and ideas. Spread the word. If you can come, bring along perishable food, rain gear, radios, batteries, alternative communications, tents, alternate transportation, tools, clean clothes, towels, etc., any kind of shelter, sleeping bags, cots, lawn chairs, for a long stay. Bring along any alternate media that’s covering the story truthfully. Cameras, camcorders. Signed flags of your nation. Any useful electronics. Medical supplies and anything in case of injuries. Gas masks. Lemons to wash off tear gas. Tell the so-called authorities “lighten up and back off”. Keep up the pressure. Tell the world what’s going on. Organize protests. Hand out flyers. If you have any ideas, send them along to us and we’ll let everyone know. Get support from unions, workers, ordinary people, anybody. Write letters to the editor and see if you can get one in the corporate media. Don’t let them shut out our fire, our spirit. Have bail money and lawyers ready. Keep putting out press releases on and off the ‘net. Get all native organizations and the tribal and band councils to get on board with us. Get support in Mexico, Central and South America, other parts of the world. Native and non-native. We need people who can get through the police and army lines to get supplies to us. Presently the way still open and most can come in. Just Send supplies to c/o Hazel E. Hill, RR #6, Hagersville, Ontario Canada N0A 1H0. By mail, by any courier. They need urgently a wireless laptop so they can send reports and messages hourly, if necessary.

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

RETENTISSANTE

Posted on by

ROTISKENRAKETE

MNN .?KAHEHTI:IO?, one of the young men jailed by the OPP yesterday morning for being on the Six Nation Nations land, remains in jail. Following the precedent set by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Kahehti:io is being kept in jail for refusing to give any other name except the one he has. It means ?he plants a good garden?. They are asking him for a colonial name does not have. He refuses to be fingerprinted and photographed. He is a young skinny kid who was beaten up by 4 OPP officers. He asked for me, Kahentinetha, to come and take him into my care. I would have to assure them he will be a good boy, without mentioning that I think he has been a wonderful boy so far!

AKWESASNE ROTISKENRAKETE, the men of the longhouse are handing out information on the International Bridge between New York State and Cornwall. They have a duty to protect the land which is held by the Women Title Holders. The decision of the people was for these men to express our outrage at what is happening to our brothers and sisters at Six Nations.

COLONIAL WAR RE-ENACTORS ? CANADIAN ARMED FORCES
ARE STILL PLAYING
?COWBOYS AND INJUN GAMES?.

They?re behaving like little kids marching around the kitchen banging on pots and pans. You know how Canada re-enacts old wars, like the Plains of Abraham, Louisburg and other monuments of the colonial past. The fife and drum set clowns around with old flintlock guns just for fun. You can get you photo taken on that guillotine thing. They sure took this seriously, didn?t they? They?re still playing their baby games, but they?ve got serious artillery in their hands.

12:10 PM There are now between 2,500 and 3,000 OPP and RCMP in a perimeter around the people about 1 mile away. There is 50 sq. mi. squared off.

How to get there: From Niagara Falls and Toronto, take Highway 6 straight south from Hamilton to Caledonia. From Buffalo take Highway 3 west to Highway 6 and north on Highway 6 to Caledonia. From Windsor take Higway 3 East to Highway 6 and go north. These are back ways.

10:30 am. On Site

Most of the scouting is being done by the native women, doing groceries, laundry, happen to be driving around window shopping. At the nearby subdivision is the RCMP staging area where they have 20 vehicles parked. Personnel around throughout the area. The military staging area is at the John Munro International Airport in Hamilton Ontario, 12 miles from Caledonia. Unity Road is just north of Caledonia which is closed off. This is the staging area for the OPP. Ambulances and buses all around. Onsight surveillance indicates that the OPP have upgraded from ?riot gear? to ?tactical gar? which is bullet proof vests, keeping their weapons nearby. One of the concerns of the Indians is that negotiations with band council and the Confederacy chief will be used by Ontario and Canada as a diversionary tactic to distract the people, calm everybody down. As soon as we relax, they will attack. This is what they did last week.

WHAT?S THE MESSAGE? POLICE STATE OFFICIALLY IMPLEMENTED

The Canadian government wants to send us a message that if we ever again lift our heads and demand our rights, they and their goons are coming after us with overwhelming military force. They want to show us they are the conquerors and we are the conquered. They want to tell us we have no rights and, even though we are in the right, they are taking our land and resources away from us anyway. They have never had a public hearing to look at the evidence of the Six Nations. They tell us, ?You can?t do anything about it. Too too bad for you?. With all their ambulances parked up front, it seems obvious they are out to make another Tianamen Square right in the middle of rural Ontario. They may even come in and bulldoze our houses and put non-native subdivisions on our lands. All Indian communities across Canada can be overwhelmed and bulldozed for developers from all over the world. They are being welcomed to come and take over stolen Indian land. The Canadian government institutions are protecting them. Do the Canadian people want this? I don?t think so. We know about this old strategy. Soon, if we look at them the wrong way we might be eliminated one way or another. Canada is sanctioning this process. In the Six Nations case, neither Canada nor Ontario take responsibility. Is it the police?s? All these public enquiries into police behaviour show is how police can hide the abuse and murders of Indians and how to cover up their crimes efficiently.

9:10 am

Need more people. The Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty stated that the presence of 1000 OPP was confirmed by CHCH TV news this morning. RCMP are using the Hamilton Airport as a staging ground.

Behind Canadian Tires on Kinross St. Caledonia, there were 18 ? 11 passenger vans, great big ones. They are full OPP officers. One seen with gun on passenger side. There were some standing behind the vans. Couldn?t tell what they were doing.

From Marlene: ?Yesterday at night at Radio Canada (CBC in french), at the end of 6:00 pm news they invited a rights specialist, and he told what happens now was highly predictable due to Canada’s mistakes on the matter of territories and that your claims might be justificated (welll….it is still CBC, they won’t accept to say you guys are totally right!). Not surprisingly though, the only coverage of the event shows images of haudenasaunee flags and tires burning, nothing about police violence. This media manipulation is sickening?.

7:30 FRIDAY APRIL 21, 2006

EXTREME HIGH ALERT! POLICE MOVE IN FOR THE SLAUGHTER

Twenty RCMP vans arrived loaded with Mounties and weapons arrived. Ambulances nearby. Need people right now! Phone working sporadically. Need alternative communications. Need people to stand with us with cameras, eyes and ears. Contact everybody you can to get the word out. Need some medical personnel to help in case of injury.

OPP and it is believed the Canadian Army are coming in too at Hamilton airport at 9:30 am.

5:20 AM Friday April 21, 2006

PREPARE FOR MILITARY OPPRESSION: OKA BLUEPRINT BROUGHT OUT AGAIN

Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies,

We need information about the moves being made against us, solidarity, witnesses to stand with us, alternative communication systems, cameras, food, medicine, runners, people to apply pressure on the Prime Minister, Parliament, Premier of Ontario, Governor General, etc. Addresses and phone numbers are further down this email, contact with and information to media to get the word out, supporters outside of Canada to put pressure on governments, United Nations, protests?. and whatever you can think of to help us prevent bloodshed, imprisonment, persecution.

As happened at Oka they cut off our communication with the outside world. They seem to have already done that at Six Nations. We need reports, to ensure safety if someone gets hurt.

We have learned 1000 OPP have been brought in nearby and WE received the following email:

C wrote:

I wanted to pass on information I heard from an employee who works at the Hamilton Airport. Apparently at 9:30am tomorrow the military will arrive there and begin using the airport as a staging area.

in solidarity,

Thanks, C. What other info do you have? Anything at all. Whatever. Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News

Thanks to our Canadian supporters who do NOT want to live under a military dictatorship. Yesterday Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Montreal. Mulroney was the Prime Minister during the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990. One day after his visit with US President George Bush, he came back to Canada and ordered the army to attack us for defending our ancestral ceremonial site and burial grounds. We were under siege for 78 days. It?s really sad to see that Canadian leaders have learned nothing. If Prime Minister Harper is using the Mulroney blueprint, he?s headed for disaster. Look at the botch up that guy made in 1990. If he?s listening to George Bush, we?re all in trouble.

We need negotiation, consent and peaceful coexistence. The Six Nations grievances are deeply rooted, complex and well documented, going back centuries.

CONTACT NUMBERS:
Six Nation Contact: Dick Hill 519-865-7722, 519-445-1351; Hazel 519-717-4292, 519-445-0719; Jacquline House 905-765-9316; thebasketcase@on.aibn.com; Jacqueline_house@hotmail.com

Send or phone messages to stop this lunacy:
Premier of Ontario, PHONE: (416) 325-1941 FAX: (416) 325-3745 email: dalton.mcguinty@premier.gov.on.ca (cc: mkwinter.mpp@liberal.ola.org)

ONTARIO RCMP Headquarters 130 Dufferin Ave PO Box 3240 Station B London, ON N6A 4K3
Telephone: 519-640-7267
Hamilton/Niagara Reg Det, STN Main BOX 487,Hamilton L8N 3H8 (905)572-2401
Kingston Det 1000 Gardiners RD 3RD FLR Kingston K7P 3C4 (613)384-7201
Kitchener Det 17 Executive Place Kitchener N2P 2V3 (519) 896-3542
London Det 451 Talbot ST 8TH FLR London N6A 5C9 (519) 645-4329
Sault Ste Marie Det 22 Bay ST Sault Ste Marie P6A 5S2 (705) 941-7267
Sudbury Det 1310 Sparks ST Sudbury P3A 2C8 (705) 671-0645
Thunder Bay Det 21 Archibald ST N Thunder Bay P7C 3Y3 (807)623-2791
Toronto East Det 415 Baseline RD W BOX 1500 Bowmanville L1C 4V7 (905)697-6000
Toronto West Det 2755 Highpoint Drive Milton L9T 5E8 (905) 876-9500
Toronto Lester B Pearson Airport Det 255 Atwell DR Etobicoke M9W 7G2 (905) 405-3750
Toronto North Det 345 Harry Walker PKY S Newmarket L3Y 8P6 (905) 953-7267
Windsor Det 6080 Riverside DR E Windsor N8S 1B6 (519) 948-5287
——————

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE Haldimand County O.P.P. (6C01) P.O. Box 148 72 Hwy. # 54
Cayuga, Ontario N0A 1E0 Phone 905-772-3322 Fax 905-772-5815 Dispatch Office: 1-888-310-1122 Primary Contact Brian Haggith, Inspector Alternate Contact Pat Colley, Staff Sergeant
——————-

CANADA GENERAL ATTORNEY webadmin@justice.gc.ca
Department of Justice Canada 284 Wellington Street

Send emails to stop this insanity to: Prime Minister Stephen Harper pm@pm.gc.ca; Attorney General Ontario http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca; Henco Industries Ltd., 128 Highland Blvd. Caledonia Ontario. N3W 2P1; Brant County Community Development: Fax (519) 442-3461; to cities on our land – City of Brantford: Fax (519) 759-7840 E-mail: mhancock@brantford.ca; Corporation of Haldimand County: Fax (905) 772-2148 E-mail: mayor@haldimandcounty.on.ca; Oxford County: E-mail: info@city.woodstock.on.ca; Onondaga: Customer Service Fax (519) 758-1619; South Dumfries: Customer Service Fax (519) 448-3105; Dufferin County: Fax (519) 941-2816 E-mail: warden@dufferincounty.on.ca; Kent County, Michigan: Mike Cox, Attorney General Fax: (517) 373-3042; Waterloo: E-mail: sken@region.waterloo.on.ca; Innisfil: bjackson@barint.on.ca; Attorney General: Fax (416) 326-4007 Media Relations E-Mail: Brendan.Crawley@jus.gov.on.ca; Governor General: Michaelle Jean Fax (613) 998-1664 E-mail: info@gg.ca; Chinese Consulate in Toronto Fax: (416) 324-6468; OPP Brantford 519-756-7050; Hamilton 905-572-2401; Jim Potts OPP liaison 613-795-3907; RCMP London 519-640-7267; Dalton McGuinty, Premier. Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto ON M7A 1A1, Attorney General of Canada; Attorney General of Ontario; Department of Indian Affairs;

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Indian Affairs….

Posted on by
INDIAN AFFAIRS RATTLES COLONIAL SABRE AT SIX NATIONS TRADITIONAL PEOPLE – AGAIN! “WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING” MEDIATION PROPOSED

MNN. March 26, 2006. Michael Coyle, a professor at University of Western Ontario, has been duped into “undertaking” what Indian Affairs calls “a fact-finding” mission. He has plainly been hired to “bury” the facts. The current protest is against the theft of more of the Haldimand Tract belonging to the Six Nations Rotinoshon’non:we. Since mid-February the Rotionshon’non:we owners of this land have been opposing the illegal construction of homes on a large tract known as “Douglas Estates” of Caledonia Ontario.

It’s nice to know that Indian Affairs has finally decided to inform itself and dig up some facts. We hope they’ll finally start digging up some of the skeletons they’ve been burying over for over 200 years. If they do a proper job of excavation, it won’t take them long to find out that the band council they’re so keen on negotiating with is a twisted creation of their own dearly beloved Department. If they do a proper autopsy and DNA analysis, they’ll find out it ain’t “Indian”, it’s genetically “white”.

In 1924 Indian Affairs dug a mass grave for the Rotinoshon’non:we Confederacy. Even then the procedures they used would have been considered violations of international law, if anyone had known what they were up. It was pure unadulterated “might makes right”, the kind of skullduggery the League of Nations was designed to stop. To survive we all had to go “underground”. But we weren’t the dead corpses Indian Affairs wanted us to be.

In the 1920s, celebrated Canadian scoundrel, Duncan Campbell Scott, was the head mortician at Indian Affairs. Conniving with Joseph Pope in Canada’s makeshift Department of External Affairs, they managed to bribe League officials into derailing the Six Nations quest for a legal determination of their rights by a neutral tribunal. This left him free to depose their government in 1924. In its place a puppet government was set up using the Indian Act. Only 26 people voted in the election that replaced the 30 regularly participating members of the traditional council.

This illegal band council was given control of the Six Nations’ trust funds worth close to a million dollars. The coup effectively prevented the traditional Six Nations government from functioning as usual. To this day the Canadian government continues to negotiate with its puppet creation. A sober look at the “mediation” that Indian Affairs has announced reveals a number of problems.

1. The band council does not represent the Six Nations peoples according to international law.

2. The mediator, Michael Coyle, was appointed unilaterally by one party to the dispute rather than by agreement between both parties, as required according to standard mediation norms. The mediator is being paid exclusively by Indian Affairs. As such, he cannot function impartially. Because of the high stakes involved for both Canada and the Six Nations, this case requires a mediator who has no vested interest in the outcome. In order words, the mediator should come from outside of Canada. The Six Nations has been attempting to resolve this dispute on such neutral terms since the 1920’s, at the very least.

3. The mediator has been given a mandate to resolve legal issues when he has no training in either domestic Canadian law, international law, and the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the constitution of the Rotinoshon’non:we.

If Indian Affairs would like to understand why the protesters have been camping out in the mud and snow for so long, it is strongly suggested that they read their own archival files. Members of the Six Nations have expressed their concern in no uncertain terms in countless occasions in the past. Yet Canada continues to invade Six Nations jurisdiction and to hold onto stolen Six Nations assets.

The Six Nations People can see right through Indian Affairs’ bluff. They’re trying to give us purple Cool-Aid. We can see the strychnine bubbling. They’re talking in dulcet tones while they prepare jail cells, hospital beds and body bags for us. We know what this is about. This is why the Six Nations have decided to “deep six” this thinly disguised death sentence. We need properly conceived negotiations using a mutually agreed impartial mediator. In lieu of flowers, contributions to a genuine Six Nations mediator may be sent to Dick Hill.

Contact: Dick Hill, 519-865-7722, R.R. #6, Hagersville, Ontario, Canada N0A 1H0 thebasketcase@on.aibn.com JanieJamieson 905-517-7006 Attached: Objection filed by Women Title Holders; and Mohawk Manifesto.

MNN Mohawk Nation News, kahntinetha2@yahoo.com (coming soon daily news at http://mohawknationnews.com )

Send your opposition to:

Objection sent to: Henco Industries Ltd., Fax (519) 442-3461; City of Brantford: Fax (519) 759-7840 mhancock@brantford.ca; Corporation of Haldimand County: Fax (905) 772-2148 mayor@haldimandcounty.on.ca; Oxford County: info@city.woodstock.on.ca; Onondaga: Customer Service Fax (519) 758-1619; South Dumfries: Customer Service Fax (519) 448-3105; Dufferin County: Fax (519) 941-2816 warden@dufferincounty.on.ca; Kent County, Michigan: Mike Cox, Attorney General Fax: (517) 373-3042; Waterloo: sken@region.waterloo.on.ca; Innisfil: bjackson@barint.on.ca; Attorney General: Fax (416) 326-4007 Media Relations Brendan.Crawley@jus.gov.on.ca; Governor General: Michaelle Jean Fax (613) 998-1664 E-mail: info@gg.ca; Chinese Consulate in Toronto Fax: (416) 324-6468; Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace; Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca ; Canadian Prime Minister Hon. Stephen Harper, pm@pm.gc.ca ;

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

MNN Series. THE PATH HOME: 1. “Warriors”: (Tekarontakeh)

Posted on by
MNN Series. THE PATH HOME: 1. “Warriors”: (Tekarontakeh)MNN. June 28, 2006. What is a warrior? One does not become a warrior because he is a young person. Creation mandated this as a duty and responsibility. It is the most natural part of nature. It is based on the instinct to survive. All species, humans, insects, animals, birds and every species of life has this instinct. Without it, there would be no life. Spirituality is the natural spirit to live. It is not man-made.

Where is this reinforced in our culture? A warrior has to know our laws and ways. When he is asked, “Who are you?” Can he answer in his language? A warrior is brought to the people during one of the four appropriate traditional festivals. He receives his name through the naming ceremony. When his name is announced to the people, then he becomes part of the community. This is the political side of it. This is the first step in becoming a warrior.

Then he remembers how he was raised by his mother after his birth. How his relatives took care of him until his voice changed. Until that time he always had his grandmothers and grandfathers around him. They brought the philosophy and principles of our culture to him. The women fed him, clothed him and made him comfortable, strong and healthy.

As his voice began to change, it was a sign to the old ones that it was time to start the next phase of his education. His uncles on his mother’s side took him. He went through a fast to seek his protection and medicine. When he received it, then his medicine bag was made for him. After he receives it, this is his protection. His umbilical cord, which has been saved since his birth, is returned to him by his grandmother and placed in his medicine bag. Through his woman relatives, the soil of the earth is put into his medicine bag by his mother or grandmother. He always wears it to remind him of who he is and what is his protection.

Now he is ready to learn his duties, responsibilities and obligations to his people.

He begins his physical training. He trains before sunrise every morning. His uncles awaken him to start running in the forest as far and as hard as he can. He stops at high noon. His stamina increases every day. Finally he is able to run from sunrise until high noon without stopping. During that time he sees something different within nature around him. He sees the night creatures as they go to get their rest. He sees the flowers open up, the birds start to sing and the day insects come out. Every day he sees and learns something new. All the while he is building his body and developing his mind.

Once he does this, he is taken into other advanced areas of learning. He is taught how to defend himself, to wrestle and other endurance building sports and activities. For example, our people had a highly developed knowledge of the science of physical development. Our ancestors knew how to pass down this knowledge. The early Europeans were amazed at the highly advanced physical and mental development of our people.

The grandfathers and uncles teach him more about his responsibilities under the Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law of Peace. Prior to this it was explained to him by his women relatives in a symbolic way. The men then help him put the laws, culture and traditions into actual practice. As he gets older, he starts learning the adult version and its realities. Our people knew that our young people had to learn in stages.

Symbolism is deciphered and applied to his every day life, in governance, responsibilities and his continuing development. This is the path to becoming a warrior.

Each man is different. Each is an individual. Each has to learn how to work with others. The formula for working together has always been in the Kaianereh’ko:wa. When a young man proclaims he is a warrior, he must have this knowledge. He can’t go by assumptions. He has to learn and accept the truth and the reality of his responsibility. This is the most difficult part for people – to accept and apply the truth.

The Kaianereh’ko:wa is based on truth and nature. It is skenna, kariwiio and kastatsensera (peace, righteousness and power).

The thousands of years of knowledge, experience and answers are all there in the Kaianereh’ko:wa. It has traveled the proven path and retraces the steps of our ancestors. It doesn’t matter the time in history. Truths never change. One has to begin by respecting ourselves and knowing what respect is. All can learn to treat everyone with respect. But true respect is given to those who earn it. Respect can be shown to everyone no matter what opinion they hold. It is the respectable thing to do.

Today we have people who criticize the warriors. For most it is simply because they weren’t raised this way. For some critics it’s a political agenda. Circumstances have made it so our young and older men were not raised in the traditional way. It doesn’t mean they can’t learn these teachings. We shouldn’t criticize the warriors of today because they did not grow up with this knowledge. Even though some of the elders failed to teach them, they are doing the best they can to carry out their duties and responsibilities. They are putting their lives and safety on the line on behalf of our people. This criticism could cause great disillusionment.

In many of our struggles the warriors have lost their families, jobs, careers, and sometimes even their life. Remember Dudley George and all those AIM warriors who were killed, many through the agencies of the United States government. They were without exception doing what they could for the future survival of our people. They fought for our lands and our natural human rights. They did everything they could to protect us. We have to admire and respect these men and women, even though the colonist have labeled them as thugs, goons and terrorists. Our warriors have worked very hard to maintain peace. They have never gone out to kill or hurt anybody. They never caused the harm they’ve been labeled with.

We are being made ashamed of those of our young men who would actually stand and defend our nation, our government and our people. We are told to be look away from all those sacred values that were passed down to us by our ancestors. We should not turn our backs on those who stand for those values that were given to us thousands of years ago.

Today we are having difficulty dealing with those who have turned their backs on us. These people are like a disease, such as one that is causing so much wrong and harm to our people. They are like the diabetes that has affected 80% of the Onkwehonwe people. We know the cause of diabetes. Very few change their eating habits which would start the process to recovery. It’s the same with our spies and traitors. We know how they are killing and hurting our nations. Just like diabetes, we know the cure. Yet we are not taking the time to rid ourselves of these diseases.

Something is holding us back. It is a germ that was implanted in our minds by those who came here from across the ocean. They knew that anybody who had a healthy mind could not be controlled. They needed to weaken our minds. We have to look at what we call the “brain”. It’s called “o-ni-gon-ra” meaning “it takes care of you”, “it watches over you”. The brain is the center of our survival. It controls everything. If our mind is strong, everything about us will become strong. Our ancestors knew that. Our mind should always be used to do what is good for all.

Due to this lack of knowledge among our people about our ways, we are encouraged to make decisions based on our emotions. The colonists have sent people among us who tell us, “Listen to our heart”, go on emotion, rather than using our brain. He doesn’t want us to exercise our brain. He wants us to think with our heart which is not an organ that is made to think. It is our mind that is made for thinking. Elders say, “Let us gather our minds together and become one mind”. They never say, “Let us gather our hearts together”. They know that is not the purpose of the heart. We use our mind to help us survive. Thinking is the traditional foundation of being a warrior.

(Part II – continuation: “warriors”)

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
kahetinetha@mohawknationnews.com

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Rejecting our Sovereignty?

Posted on by
She:kon. The following letter speaks for itself. It calls for support by emailing the Prime Minister at pm@pm.gc.ca and anyone else your see fit. Nia:wenKanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh
P.O. Box 49
Kanatakon. Akwesasne (HOM 1A0)
518-358-6012 fax 518-358-6007
katenies20@yahoo.com

December 4, 2005

VIA FAX URGENT

Lance Markell
District Director
Canada Customs
Ottawa 613-930-3234 Fax 613-991-1407

She:kon

Today a meeting is taking place between Mike Mitchell, Angie Barnes and pseudo Iroquois Paul Williams of Akwesasne Mohawk Band Council regarding the Kanion’ke:haka Nation’s “Red Card” identification. This card is the choice of the Roti’noshonnon:we/Iroquois who are citizens of the Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk under our constitution, the Kaianereh’ko:wa. Any usurpation of our right to issue this card to anyone is considered a hostile act of international consequences.

These members of the Canadian government band council system, who are Canadian citizens of Mohawk ancestry, are impersonating us and usurping our national identity. These band councils are municipal level entities illegally set up by the Canadian government. They cannot represent us or use our national instruments such as the Red Cards or even to negotiate any kind of agreement on anything. The reason we believe this is happening is due to the continued assertion of our constitutional jurisdiction according to our laws that are respected by the laws of Canada.

The Two Row Wampum Agreement is the guide for our relationship with the newcomers to our land. They agreed to stay in their ship with their laws, customs, languages and ways and whatever land they brought with them. We agreed to stay in our canoe with our laws, ways and culture and title to all our land and jurisdiction over our unsurrendered lands. So far our sovereignty and none of our land has ever been surrendered.

Our relationship with Canada can only be on a nation-to-nation basis according to our constitution, the Kaianereh’kowa, as respected by the British North America Act 1867. International law is clear. We could only give up jurisdiction and sovereignty through informed consent of a clear majority of the constitutional Indigenous people. This never happened.

These fakes are followers of the illegally imposed Indian Act which violate the Canadian constitution, international law and the rule of law. They have relinquished their claims to Mohawk nation rights and lands.

Sections 109 and 132 of the Canadian constitution respect our nation-to-nation relationship, which sets out the process for our formal relationship. Parliament only has jurisdiction to make treaties with us, that’s all. We never surrendered anything to anybody. We were and continue to be governed by our own constitution.

Customs Canada and all federal, provincial and local agencies who try to deal with us through their own puppet governments violate the rule of law and breaches section 109 of Canada’s constitution. International law is clear. Your appropriation of our rights and possessions is illegal. Canada is not exempt from international standards in dealing with Indigenous nations such as ours. Neither Canadian federal, provincial or local laws apply to us because we never consented to them. They were imposed on us against our will at a time when Canada was actively involved in promoting policies that are now identified as genocide.

Regarding the crossing of your “imaginary line”, you must deal with the true Mohawk Nation government. We are not subject to your “imagination”. We refuse to see it. You cannot show us where we ever agreed to this border line on our territory. You cannot deal with your illegally imposed band council on Nation issues. We are not British or Canadian subjects and we never have been. We Mohawks have always been on our land under our own constitution. Your own laws confirm we are independent. We have “prior interests” to our lands, resources and jurisdiction that Canada and its provinces must respect.

Canada in passing the Indian Act treasonably superseded its constitution and placed itself above the law. Any business conducted under the Indian Act is null, void and illegal. We have asked your Supreme Court if the Canadian constitution still stands. The answer of course is “yes”. Canada and its provinces have no jurisdiction over us and our lands were never validly surrendered. We continue to be independent.

Cease and desist your meetings about us with these imposters. We’ll be glad to come and explain the facts of life to you in person.

Nia:wen

/s/____________
Katenies, Woman Title Holder

Cc: Governor General of Canada
Ms. Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister
U.S. President George Bush
Band Council of Akwesasne
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Inc.
Assembly of First Nations
Etc?.
All Embassies and Media

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Poospatuck attacked by NY state

Posted on by

Poospatuck attacked by NY state

Here are the emails that someone sent along to us. Nia:wen. Kahentinetha
Email can be sent to Gov. Pataki at
http://161.11.3.75 there’s a webform to email him
Email Eliot Spitzer via Webform at
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/online_forms/email_ag.jsp Prez Bush at president@whitehouse.gov, Vice Prez Cheney vicepresident@whitehouse.gov
Once again, New York State is knocking Indigenous nations to our knees by killing our economy. Protest by going on their website. Giving them a piece of your mind would help. Their constant bashing has got to stop. cc me your comments. Nia:wen – Kahentinetha
Kahentinetha Horn
P.O. Box 966, Akwesasne (New York 13655
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

MNN.Dec. 8, 2005.

Mr. George W. Bush
President, United States
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C.

Mr. George Pataki , Governor, New York State
The Capitol, Albany, N.Y. 12224

Mr. Elliott Spitzer
New York State Attorney General
The Capitol, Albany, N.Y. 12224

She:kon

It has come to our attention that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance started on December 8th to place an illegal and unconstitutional embargo on businesses conducted by Indian nations. It is a blatant attempt to economically strangle our economy. You are criminalizing customers who purchase products from us by threatening to prosecute, jail, fine and seize their cars. Even internet and mail order sales have been criminalized. This is a small remaining part of our economy that survived your appropriation of the land and resources that sustained our ancestors from time immemorial.

Throughout the territory claimed by New York State, Indigenous people are governed by our constitution, the Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law of Peace. As a Woman Title Holder, it is my duty to inform you that you are violating the Two Row Wampum Agreement, which governs our relationship. You have no jurisdiction over Indigenous people. All of New York State is unsurrendered Indigenous land. According to our constitution, we can only deal with the President of the United States as set out in the U.S. Constitution.

New York State is not only breaching the two constitutions by invading our jurisdiction, but they are attacking our economy. Your embargo is meant to strangle our nation economically in order to topple our government. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, all Peoples have a right to freely assure their economic, social and cultural development. This obvious attempt to strangle us economically is a violation of the duty to promote international cooperation between nations. It?s an attempt to stop the creation of equal opportunities for employment and economic development for our people. It?s interfering with our social security and represents a new variation on the ongoing attempt to commit cultural, social and economic genocide.

Because of the economic stranglehold that the colonial states exercised over our people, cigarette manufacturing has become the largest employer of our people on our territories. No attempts have been made to negotiate alternate economic arrangements with our traditional constitutional governments. We have a right to conduct tax free commercial enterprises. Your attempt to stop people from buying products on our territories makes it obvious that you do not want to accord us the same rights that you assume you have on territories you claim to govern. Moreover, you are occupying our land for which you have not paid us any taxes whatsoever for your use of our land and resources. Whatever makes you think that we do not have the same right as anyone else to support our families?

You are the visitors on our land who stole everything from us. You impoverished us. Now you want to kill our means of livelihood. Everyone has a right make a living – individuals, states, nations. So do we, internationally and locally.

The Haudenosaunee and New York State have no treaty. A ?treaty? is ?a compact made between two or more ?independent? nations. New York State is not a nation. It cannot conclude treaties with Indigenous nations nor invade our jurisdiction. If you want to alter current relations you should send an emissary to our constitutional governments through the President of the United States. Your attempt to impose your will by force is a violation of international law and a throwback to the old days of colonialism and piracy. Only the President of the United can deal with us. Even in this case, a neutral arbitrator agreeable to both parties must help with the negotiations between us and the United States. Using the police and courts of the usurping party to threaten the other party is not legal.

We have never submitted to American sovereignty. According to the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, Paragraph 1, our relationship is nation-to-nation. The Poospatuck Nation is one of our allied nations whom we have agreed to protect under our Constitution of the Haudenosaunee. It is not legal for New York State to deal in anyway with the Poospatuck Nation of Long Island. New York State cannot invade this nation?s jurisdiction. There are no agreements with the United States for the Poospatuck to submit themselves to the jurisdiction of any foreign government such as the United States, or to any federal, state or local government without our participation and consent. The Poospatuck cannot gain federal law recognition without our permission.

In 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson spoke for the world when he declared that the era of conquest and aggrandizement was gone. Everybody realized that you can?t have peace so long as strong nations continued to force their will on smaller ones. Not content to have driven us to the bottom rungs of the economy, you are continuing to search for new ways to squeeze the last drop of life blood from us.

New York State is an invading colonial society which is located on unsurrendered Indigenous land. New York State is committing a crime when it coerces customers to pay them taxes for purchasing cigarettes, tobacco, gas or any product from Indigenous nations. New York State is illegally invading the sovereign jurisdiction of the Poospatuck Nation who never gave their informed consent to give up their land, sovereignty and tax free rights.

Your illegal imposition of taxes to attack our economic base, to end our custodial responsibility for our land, to limit our rights in all the communities of the friends and allies of the Kanion?ke:haka/Mohawk Nation, to extend New York State and federal jurisdiction over us, or to otherwise compromise our inherent sovereignty is a crime.

Onen

/s/_______________
Kahentinetha Horn

cc. UN Office of High Commission for Human Rights, UN Plaza, S.2914, New York 10017; St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Route 37, Akwesasne (NYS) 13655; Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, P.O. Box 579, Cornwall, Ont. Canada K6H 5V5; Kanion?ke:haka Kaianereh?ko:wa Kanon?ses:neh; Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington DC; Ganiengeh Mohawk Territory; Haudenosaunee On-Line.

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Forgotten arguments of Deskaheh. (Speech)

Posted on by
YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND
Conference McGill University
Speech by Kahn-Tineta Horn

MNN. Nov. 10th 2002

HOW CANADA VIOLATED THE BNA ACT TO STEAL NATIVE LAND: THE FORGOTTEN ARGUMENTS OF
DESKAHEH

Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples now admits that the relationship between the First Nations and the European colonizers began with the Two Row Wampum Treaty. We agreed to live side by side with each other – with us in our canoe and they in their ships. This is an agreement that allowed our peoples to share the river. The Two Row recognized that the Indigenous Peoples and the newcomers belonged to different families with different languages, culture, laws and ways of life. Back in the days of first contact, Europe’s monarchs recognized that we were not their subjects and they agreed to leave us alone to live according to our laws and customs. We agreed to share the land as separate social groups, not as one political entity.

As time went on the colonizers started to look at things differently. They forgot about the Two Row Wampum and adopted a geographic description of themselves. They had battles with their European cousins over who could come to North America. Then they started to impose their laws and ways on everyone over here based on the treaties they made to end their wars with each other. They never consulted the Indigenous nations who had been taking care of the land since time immemorial. Instead of staying in their own ship they decided to take over the whole river.

Some of Britain’s North American colonies confederated in 1867 to form Canada. The new political organization was called a “dominion” because the colonial visitors started thinking they had a right to dominate the land and all the people on it. They changed the way they defined their political identity. Instead of basing it on the allegiance they owed to their king or queen, they based it on the land they claimed. They changed from sharing to dominating.

There was no legal basis for this change. Canada was a British colony and Britain could not give her subjects here more than she had to give. All the British had was an agreement to share. Maybe Canadians forgot about the Two Row Wampum, but Britain could not give Canada the right to make laws for our people because we were never British subjects.

The Indigenous peoples never agreed to change the terms of the Two Row Wampum treaty. Our ancestors were not consulted. They would never agree to such a serious change because that takes the land away from our future generations. And they had no right to do that. The whole concept violates our law. We are the caretakers. We hold the land for the future generations. Britain’s Canadian subjects had no right to force Indigenous peoples into their territorial concepts of nationality and property. They have no right to continue to disregard the original agreements by imposing their new geographic definition retroactively.

When Europeans first came to Turtle Island everybody knew they were subjects to their kings, and that Indigenous people were not. The way of life of the Indigenous peoples was a revelation to Europeans. We were free. We treated everyone equally. We were all citizens of our own nations.

The European peoples were influenced by the freedom we had. They didn’t want to be subjects anymore and so there has been a change in the colonizer’s way of thinking about law and international relations. Europeans have formally embraced equality along with the rest of the world. Britain does not have subject status anymore. Canadians define “nationality” in territorial terms now. They have citizenship based on place of birth. But they have not fully grasped the meaning of equality. Their institutions don’t give their citizens much of a voice. And their new First Nations Governance Act shows that they don’t respect our voice at all. They are ignoring their obligations under the Two Row Wampum.

As far as we are concerned, the colonizers are free to change the way they think of themselves….but this does not give them the right to define our identity and appropriate our resources. They made many changes in themselves during the 19th and 20th centuries. But, especially since Confederation, Britain’s Canadian subjects have been violating Britain’s agreements with the Indigenous nations.

Confederation and the British North America Act did not give Britain the right to let Canadians violate the Two Row Wampum. Britain recognized that its people could only come onto our land as a separate social group that would share the river with us. But Britain’s Canadian subjects fell into the erroneous habit of thinking that they owned the land. This lie is taught in your education system. Canada draws its maps to perpetuate the propaganda that justifies the theft of our resources.

The Six Nations 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. That piece of British legislation only gave Canada the right to negotiate with us in place of Britain. It did not give Canadians the right to impose their laws on us. But Canadian officials would not let Deskaheh have his day in court. Maybe they were afraid of losing their jobs.

After all, if Deskaheh had proven that what they were doing was illegal, these bureaucrats would have been out of a job. So they sent troops, the RCMP, to invade the small piece of the Six Nations`Grand River territory that was left after a century of theft and fraud. In the end they deposed the traditional government, one of the oldest governments in North America. This is the model the Americans copied rather poorly for their constitution. Since that time Canada has refused to recognize or deal with our real leaders. They will only deal with councils imposed under Canadian laws.

Six Nations diplomats had been honoured guests in Britain’s courts. But by the 1920’s Britain was refusing to deal with the problems that had befallen her old allies. This is why Deskaheh went to the League of Nations to appeal for justice. The Six Nations wanted membership in this new international organization so they could present our arguments and 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 skulking behind the scenes to make sure the case never got a formal public hearing.

Today, whether Canada wants to admit it or not, our people still maintain our right to independence. We were allies, not subjects of Britain and so we are not part of Canada – the colony that became a successor state. Canada imposed Canadian laws on us unlawfully, in violation of both the Two Row Wampum and modern International law. This is outrageous. As Deskaheh put it in his last address before he died in 1924, it’s as if Mexico tried to apply its laws in the United States. Canadians know how it feels when the United States tries to impose its laws on them. So why are they doing this to us?

The root of this problem is the failure of European colonists to fully understand the meaning of equal rights. Besides, they refuse to look at their own history and acknowledge that they have changed the way they define themselves. When we made the Two Row Wampum Treaty with Britain we both defined ourselves in terms of personal relationships. Our nations were based on our clans. The European nations were based on subject status and the allegiance they owed to their sovereigns. Their decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves does not give them the right to impose their laws on us or to take our resources. As a successor state, Canada is still bound by Britain’s treaty obligations. The settlers and their descendants are still a guests on our land…even though Canada has presumed to take over our whole house. Canada has not worked out fair and valid agreements with the First Peoples.

When the colonizers celebrate “Canada Day” they forget that Canada was not an independent nation at Confederation. In 1867 there was no such thing as Canadian nationality. Nationality is tied to idea of having shared ancestry and culture. Being Canadian is not a nationality. The settlers and their ancestors have only the shared experience of fleeing oppressive regimes and immigrating onto someone else’s land.

Canada is a “dominion” that was produced by Britian’s will to dominate. The concept of a “dominion” has its origin in feudal customs carried to Britain by foreign lords who conquered the land and the people on it. It is based in deeply rooted cultural habits that violate the egalitarian respect represented by the Two Row Wampum concept.

As a consequence, the whole existence of Canada is illegal. There is no legal foundation for the present territorial description of Canada – even by the European’s own rules which say that treaties continue to bind successor states. Canada’s self-definition that appropriates both our political identity and our resources violates the initial treaties made by Britain with the Indigenous peoples.

It violates both the European version of international law and our Indigenous law. It violates the principle of human equality that Canadians finally recognized in a formal way in the middle of the 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.

Deskaheh tried to present this argument way back in the 1920’s but Canadians didn’t get the message. Even today Canadians and their institutions continue to close their ears to our demands for political and economic equality. They have not thought things through. When Americans had their revolution they threw off their subject status. But they went crazy, grabbing land, killing people and destroying resources. They called the people of the First Nations “Indians” and treated us as vermin. In Canada people accepted this idea of the Americans that might makes right and that Europeans had a god-given right to grab lands, possessions, resources and lives. Canada thinks it was more honourable, but they bought into the sleazy American dream.

What happened was unthinkable. In the subsequent treaties on the prairies there was no meeting of the minds of the people who signed. The Anglo-Canadians imagined those people agreed to give up everything they had. The First Nations thought there was just an agreement to co-exist. It was not like the time of the Two Row Wampum treaty when there was a real meeting of minds. Back then the British knew they were British and recognized that Indians had nations. There was mutual agreement to live side by side.

The anglo-Canadian decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves does not give them the right to take over our land and resources. All this has to be done through treaties and agreements. Canada needs our consent and we do not have to consent just because they lust after our resources and crave the right to ransack the land.

If Canada believes that all people are equal, Canada has no right to impose its laws and beliefs on us. We are the original caretakers of the land and resources. As a successor state Canada is still bound by the limitations of Britain’s treaty obligations, which were agreements to live as a separate social group on our land. This is according to international law which Canada has agreed to. The colonizers are obliged to share the land. They do not own it. They have no legal right to claim dominion over us, or to take our lands and possessions. They are visitors still. They have not worked out fair and valid agreements with us that consider the needs of seven generations to come among our people or among their own. Canada’s current attempts to force Aboriginal peoples to prove to their courts that we have a claim to our own lands is ridiculously backwards. They are the ones who are robbing us and their own future generations. They are the ones who must prove to us and to their descendants what right they have to be on this land, to ransack our resources and to leave a trail of pollution behind. If Canadians own this land, where is their receipt?

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Canada wants back Ahenakew’s Order of Canada medal.

Posted on by
MNN. Nov. 8, 2005. Canada wanted David Ahenakew’s Order of Canada medal, back. It’s the colonial honor they bestowed on him for being an “obedient Indian”. What they really want is a ceremony where the Governor General of Canada yanks the medal off his chest and slaps his face. That would make them feel better. Then they don’t have to look at their own disgusting behavior and actions towards Indigenous people. They like to pick faults with us. That way they don’t have to confront their own flaws or do anything about the plight of our people.Ahenakew, a WWII veteran, is the Indigenous man who uttered what the politicians, media and court decided were “anti-Semitic” remarks in a private conversation with a reporter of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.Canada gave him the medal to signify that he had served the Queen and Canada well. Giving medals is an old colonial ploy to co-opt leaders among the Indigenous people and to pacify them while they’re stealing our property and resources.The colonizers like to imagine that Indian chiefs were keen to wear their gaudy medals and paraphernalia because they were attracted to glitter. Nothing could be further from the truth. We posed for those awkward photos just to be polite and have a good laugh. Usually the coats didn’t fit. Those scrawny malnourished hunch-shouldered Englishmen couldn’t imagine how fit and self-confident Indigenous men were.

Such a fake “honor” puts an Indigenous person above his own people. It violates the egalitarian nature of Indigenous culture. Ahenakew may even have felt uncomfortable about this honor given to him by the colonial masters. Could he subconsciously have wanted to get rid of it? (I wouldn’t take it because everybody would think I was a sell-out.) When one of our people receives this kind of “recognition”, we always wonder what Indigenous right they gave away or what compromises they made. Now he’s finding his way back without this medal weighing him down.

Nobody should make light of the suffering of the Jewish people. Is the perception they suffered more significant than the persecution suffered by anybody else? All people should be treated equally. Nobody should be persecuted.

Why is the holocaust suffered by Indigenous peoples being swept under the rug, forgotten, denied or belittled? It has been going on for over four centuries. It has never stopped. Canada killed off most of us, stole our resources and refuses to deal with us on an equal nation-to-nation basis. Why don’t Canadians acknowledge and repudiate the sins of their ancestors? They have never prosecuted anyone for constantly spreading misinformation through all their institutions about our true rights and history.

Canada made claim to Dave Ahenakew. They said he represented Indigenous people. He certainly never represented me or my independent Nation. He was a chief under the illegal Indian Act, which violates Section 109 of the British North America Act. At one time he headed the National Indian Brotherhood, now known as the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). This government-funded and controlled organization of band council puppets carries out the agenda of the Canadian government and the genocide of the Indigenous people. They make sure that the true constitution-to-constitution relationships between the Indigenous peoples and Canada is ignored.

It is doubtful that Dave Ahenakew hates Jews. Did he have to do something outrageous to lose his colonial badge? The dominant society no longer has any use for him. So they will put him back where he is comfortable, with the Indigenous people.

Why the fuss over medals? Canada is currently sending out medals to elderly World War II veterans. Once again Canada is tagging behind the United States. Both are glorifying war because they want more youth to enlist in the military. A television news item shows a woman in her office in Ottawa with shelves of plastic boxes full of new medals (probably made in China). When she gets a letter, she boxes them and sends them out to the soldiers who request them.

What can Dave Ahenakew now do with that medal? He could melt it down and make spurs for his cowboy boots!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Mohawk Jurisdiction Question “Denied” by USSC.

Posted on by
MNN October 26, 2005. On October 11th, 2005, we found out that our question on constitutional jurisdiction was ?denied? by the United States Supreme Court. The Judicial Conference decided not to send it up to the justices for consideration. The only answer they could have given to our question about whether Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 is still in the U.S. Constitution would have been ?yes?. This Article points out that they can only deal with Indigenous nations on a constitution-to-constitution basis.

We’re proud of our accomplishments. We felt it was the right decision. We know for sure that the United States is ?hell bent? on continuing the genocide of the Indigenous people, at least of those who refuse to knuckle under.

We confirmed that the law of the North American courts is the law of coercion and force. The Kaianereh?ko:was/Great Law is the law of consent. There has been no conquest of us and no consent by us for them to force their jurisdiction on us.
Therefore, we continue to be independent sovereign Kanion?ke:haka, not American citizens. We continue to live by our own laws.

The constitutions of our people and that of the United States do exist. They have not been amended. We thought we could get the court to say, ?Well, yes, we do have a constitution-to-constitution relationship with you Rotinoshon?non:we/Iroquois?. In effect they said, ?But we don?t want to publicly acknowledge that you never gave up your sovereignty or surrendered any of your land. It would be unspeakable! It would turn the world upside down! We can?t have that! It?s mind boggling!?

Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court in his concurring opinion on April 19, 2004 in USA v. Lara and our work has now confirmed the original and authoritative precedent on the constitutional
jurisdiction issue. Thomas? opinion is binding on the United States until it is overturned by the full Supreme Court. This won?t happen. It is still the law of the land for the U.S. and its citizens. The federal government is hoping that no one will notice it.

When the court refused to address our case No. 05-165, this showed that the United States does not want to follow the rule of law. The Court knows Thomas was right and the constitutional jurisdiction issue will continue to ?haunt? until it is addressed. In other words, we killed ?colonialism? and ?federal Indian law? in Kaianereh?ko:wa territory.

Why did we do this? To reaffirmed our position. Said one member of our group who worked on this, ?Whether you acknowledge it or not, USA, this is our land. We are continuing to claim what is ours. Don?t forget that! We don?t need you to rule in our favor, to validate us, to win anything from you. We know who we are! You know who we are! We put the issues of jurisdiction and genocide in your face. We?re watching you. We always will. We?ll never go away. No matter what you think, you have to deal with us. We have lineage that predates colonial contact. You can?t block us. We are the grandparents of this land. So there!? (Ain?t that the truth!)

In the meantime, we have been successfully asserting our jurisdiction. We consistently informed New York State courts they did not have any jurisdiction to deal with us in their fraudulent attempt to settle Indian land claims. Consequently, they all crashed. Remember, New York State is our land. Otherwise, why are they always trying to settle their claims to our land?

We constitutional Indigenous people have been notifying our point man, the U.S. President, to stop any development on our land. We have been sending disclaimers to him about such mega projects as the New York Power Authority who want to build a power station, and to the Army Corp of Engineers who want to expand the St. Lawrence Seaway. We told him to make them stop their work immediately. We never surrendered
the lands in question. We remind him that according to constitutional law they need our authority. The President?s office has acknowledged and not disputed our legal notices. The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority just announced they are not going ahead with the expansion for the foreseeable future, without giving any reasons.

We also evicted a non-Indian from Akwesasne in full view of all U.S. Homeland Security forces. They were informed ahead of the action and stood by and watched the whole operation.

Resolution of the issue cannot come from their courts. We left our paper work throughout their judicial system. We discouraged them from using their courts to commit genocide. This was their main route in the past. They will continue to try to apply the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and New York State Constitution to set up casinos. But they will always be worried about being hit with a jurisdictional suggestion asking them how they got
the right to do this on our land. We can never be the plaintiffs as we can?t attorn to the court.

There is a stalemate. The federal government will try to use unconstitutional legislation. Or they will make ?contracts?, which will be illegal too.

We have exhausted all domestic remedies. This is a pre-condition before going into the universal jurisdiction. Some have suggested we should put the issue into the international realm. Basically, it boils down to requiring the other constitutional courts in the world to alert the constitutional courts of Canada and the U.S. that they must follow their constitutional law to stop committing Indigenous genocide. They have to address their constitutions and deal with us on a nation-to-nation basis.

We have the Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law as the governing constitution. It is now time to decide whether to bring it to a resolution according to the Great Law in the international arena. We continue to be united.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh