Forgotten arguments of Deskaheh. (Speech)

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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.

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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.

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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

 

“MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL”

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 WHAT HURRICANE KATRINA REFLECTED.MNN. September 20, 2005. Hurricane Katrina put up a mirror that exposed a hole within “democratic” society. She swept away the veil of delusion. She revealed a societal crisis. She showed our flaws. In a hierarchal system, only the man at the top can give the order. President George Bush delayed assistance to the victims for four days causing death, havoc and chaos. Now everybody is taking shots at George Bush. Bush says, “I take responsibility for what happened”. Does it really make sense to balance our lives on the narrow little shoulders of this man? What does he know of the struggle that the people are facing? Why should we turn to someone who has no experience in practical reality?.

The problem is deeper. Bush is a pawn in the system in which he exists. He is trying to play the hero. He has to look good. “I am responsible”, says he, while
saluting the flag. Who cares about a flag when babies are dying of starvation and dehydration in the middle of a cesspool?

Decaying structure. As Katrina showed, the Americans have a structure that’s supposed to take care of them. It’s rotted, crumbled and washed away by winds and tides, eroded by pollution and neglect. They aren’t sure how this happened. So they are trying to find some scapegoats, some sacrificial lambs that they can burn on the alter of convenience to feed their fear and confusion. The energy they waste would be better spent listening to the people.

Scapegoating takes American society off the hook. Nothing gets solved. Katrina showed us their system cannot cope. It is structurally fraudulent. How much can they build with delusional beams? They refuse to look at a system that is supposed to have a rule of law root. They think that all their hierarchical structures will stand every hurricane even though they’re crumbling.

Smoke and mirrors. Bush says he’s going to rebuild New Orleans. Their system produces contrived leadership. It tells people whatever they want to hear. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” It’s too busy asking silly questions to know how to roll up its sleeves and get to work rebuilding the structure and sorting out the rule of law.

The hierarchical system versus the true democratic system. The judiciary is supposed to uphold the basic principles of constitutional democracy and the rule of law. The judiciary has not permitted the power of the people to express itself, even though they have an inherent right to do so under the constitution. The judiciary is supposed to make sure a true democracy functions.

Our constitution. The Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law of Peace, is a true democracy that is not hierarchical. It is a tripartite system. Every citizen’s opinion is valuable. Every person is responsible. Individual responsibility goes along with individual empowerment.

The U.S. Constitution is based on the Kaianereh’ko:wa. Accordingly, each individual is responsible at the grassroots level. In our language we call the brain “oni kon ra” which means “it takes care of you”. We take care of ourselves with others by putting our minds together. Everybody has an opinion because humans are equal and everybody gets to have their say. The Longhouse government and court hears everyone, in the presence of everyone. This sets the truth free. By this means justice, as the application of truth to affairs, comes into existence.

The U.S. Founding Fathers have acknowledged the debt owed to the Kaianereh’ko:wa. They tried to copy our constitution. They got it almost right, but not totally. Now they’re busy covering up the mess they’ve created.

U.S. and Canada. The constitutions of the United States and Canada are both based on the rule of law. Neither the political leaders nor the people have given much thought lately to what this means. Their legislatures passed federal laws which violated their constitutions and undermined their nation-to-nation relationship with the Indigenous people. The newcomers turned their backs on caring for the people. Katrina left them with a lethal combination of chaos and despotism.

They have to go back to first principles. Any leader in any country at anytime is a product of the society. Bush did not create society or its rules. It is a tragedy to see so much responsibility placed on the non-existent shoulders of such an uninspired man. Under the Kaianereh’ko:wa he would still have his contribution to make. But it wouldn’t take precedence over the depth of human experience shared by fellow Americans.

Obligations. If they want to avoid chaos, they need to learn how to restructure their society in a way that respects their founding belief that all men and women are created equal. Everybody matters. Under the Kaianereh’ko:wa the relief effort in Southern United States would have been spontaneous. You have to help your brothers and sisters.

Symptom v. Cause. Bush made a deadly mistake when he delayed responding to the flood victims of New Orleans. What happened is deeper than any individual. He is a symptom, not the cause. The rule of law is not functioning as it should. To solve the problem you have to clean the wound and get the infection out of it.

Bush bashing is another way of avoiding responsibility. The man is not that important. The people are. We all have to join hands with our neighbors and learn how to work together again.

Everyone is responsible. The Kaianereh’ko:wa doesn’t scapegoat the guy at the top. There is no guy at the top. There isn’t a top. There isn’t a bottom. The people are all together with all else in the circle of interdependent life on Mother Earth. The Kaianereh’ko:wa is pure democracy where each individual, all the relatives and nature are respected. Everybody is entitled to speak and be listened to. You never know where a good idea might come from, or who will tell the truth when all others are lying.

What’s in store.? Katrina showed us what will happen if we don’t reform the structure. We must return to the fundamental principles of justice. If nothing is done about the structure, society will break down.

Root Cause. The rule of law will change society if they address the constitutional jurisdiction question. Our case in the U.S. Supreme Court, number 05-165, addresses the root cause of the breakdown of the system. The Kaianereh’ko:wa is the origin of civil government and society which is the rule of law. This is not working right now. The judiciary allowed the structure to be created that allows people to take advantage of other people, contrary to the rule of law. Bush is a competitor. He takes advantage of the system. Scapegoating him instead of correcting the system is merely treating the symptom, not the cause.

Restructuring. The Kanien’ke:haka/Mohawk have been trying to get the system to address itself structurally. Bush is operating competitively within the system as it has been set up to operate. Should we continue taking pot shots at him? Or can we listen to the Kaianereh’ko:wa and the Indian message? We are trying to stop the genocide of Indigenous people. When we help re-establish the rule of law then genocide of others will stop too.

The Kaianereh’ko:wa represents something good about humans. It expresses the justice that is inherent in the natural world when it is based on responsibility for “all my relations”. The people are the final decision makers. If Bush makes mistakes, it is the people’s response to correct it by insisting that their judiciary do its job of upholding the constitution. The rule of law is based on the power and responsibility of all the people.

We are getting conflicted messages. The Kaianereh’ko:wa message of taking care of each other, and the mainstream message to take care of number one. The structure out there is not working. It produces scapegoats instead of structural reform.

Conclusion. Can we save people from themselves by correcting the system that produces and rewards such people? Is it our fault that this happened? We do have the ultimate power. We are the people. Our system of constitutional law and the rule of law is the solution. This is implemented by weaning the judiciary away from opportunism about what it wants the law to be, into respecting the law as it is. There is no point in a people having the rule of law if the people’s judiciary makes up the law as it goes along instead of taking the law as given by the people.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

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It’s constitutional! Not political!

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MNN. August 10, 2005. Some people were afraid that by bringing this case into Canadian and American ?top? courts, we would be subjecting ourselves to the shortcomings of these colonial legal systems. They asked, ?Are you happy that one black man, six white men (maybe seven) and one white woman (maybe 2) might be deciding the rights of Kanien’keha:ka people??

Free from politics.

We brought our constitutional jurisdiction question to U.S. and Canadian Supreme Courts into a neutral forum, free from politics. We wanted to confront their false assumption that we have no rights except what they give us. This is totally false.

Decisions made outside constitutions.

Keeping the question out of these two ?top? courts does not solve the problem. Both countries are making decisions outside the constitution anyway. Unless these two courts bring their constitutions into line with the rule of law, our sovereignty and possessions will continue to be lost. By what we?re doing we hope they will have no choice but to respect our sovereignty and return our possessions.

Narrow question of law.

The courts have restricted us to a very narrow question of law. Political questions are irrelevant.

Is your constitution in force and effect? If so, why aren?t you obeying it?

Our sovereignty is not ?political?. Constitutional law confirms its existence. There have been no constitutional amendments. Law can?t be ?created? by a judge. Law must exist before they can judge. Otherwise, it is political lobbying by a judge to create law. The judge can?t do this. The judge can only recognize a previously created statute, precedent or unwritten customary law which has always existed. Judges cannot repeal or amend existing constitutional law. ?Rule of law? means the law rules, not the political feelings of the judges.

Housecleaning needed.

U.S. and Canada must clean their constitutional houses. It?s time they got rid of their colonial cobwebs. They should sweep their old federal extermination laws and policies into the dustbin. They can tear down their moldy old strategies and
rotting genocide laws and chuck them into the demolition dumpster. It?s time for the original constitutional relationship forged between the Indigenous people and the settlers to re-emerge, on a constitution-to-constitution basis.

USSC Justice Clarence Thomas? point.

The law as it is written has to rule without political considerations. Politics belongs in the legislative branches of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies. We always say, “Never mind the political questions. Let’s look at the law”…

Pierre George and Iokerononh file in Canada.

On August 10, 2005, Kanion?ke:haka and Pierre George filed in the Supreme Courts of both the U.S. and Canada. Both courts were put on notice about the law, summarized by Iokenononh, in his affidavit to the Supreme Court of Canada:

?The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence/Hudson River Drainage Basin of Northeastern North America is subject to the Kaianereh?ko:wa. The Kaianereh?ko:wa continues to govern. Since 1871 in the U.S. and 1876 in Canada the federal, state and provincial courts have intentionally applied federal, state and provincial law. The Kaianere?ko;wa is the governing law. All previous attempts to stop the genocide were stopped by the combined chicanery of the non-indigenous legal
establishment and their puppet ?Indian? governments. Together they made and implemented treasonable and fraudulent treaties. The actus reus and mens rea ?guilty act and guilty mind – was recently spelled out by the Chief Justice of Canada in R. v. Marshall; R. v. Bernard, 2005 SCC 43 p. 48, 107.

The Court?s task in evaluating a claim for an aboriginal right is to examine the pre-sovereignty aboriginal practice and translate that practice, as faithfully and objectively as it can, into a modern legal right.?

This means the judges can make the laws as they go along according to which side of the bed they got up from. Read 05-165 ?In the Supreme Court of the United States In re Kanonion?ke:haka Kaianereh?ko:wa Kanon?ses:neh as a ?Non-party?, The Canadian St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians as ?Plaintiffs? vs. The State of New York as ?Defendants??.

No self-defeat here.

At this point we entered a new age of having a fuller understanding of our legal situation. Had we undermined ourselves at this point, we would have been beat before we started.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

A-B-C OF ?FEDERAL INDIAN LAW?

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ANYTHING BUT THE CONSTITUTION!?

Stoney Point invaded by Ontario and Canada.
Dudley George gunned down for being on his land! 

MNN. JULY 17, 2005. Ipperwash Inquiry Commissioner, Sidney B. Linden, has again misled the public on the legal basis for the constitutional jurisdiction challenge brought against him by Pierre George. (Divisional Court suit number 05-DV 001117, June 28, 2005). Linden does not want anyone to know what Dudley’s brother was asking.

Commission lawyer, Susan Vella, misstated to Peter Edwards, (Toronto Star, Tuesday, July 12, 2005):

“The act of a public investigation into the shooting death of an aboriginal person is not an act of aiding and abetting genocide?hopefully, it’s the opposite.”

Her reference to “genocide” is in the preceding paragraph:

? she doesn’t feel the inquiry has been undermined because one of George’s siblings has launched a court challenge claiming the probe should be shut down as it as no legitimacy.

Pierre George ? [says] the yearlong inquiry aids and abets “treason and fraud? and genocide” and that the probe judge Linden is acting like “the Great White Father.”

The Inquiry has two parts.

Part i is an inquiry into the FACTS.

PART ii concerns the underlying LAW.

Facts. Part I. Pierre George wants to know who gave the order, not just who pulled the trigger.

Also, Pierre George was guarding the gate when his brother, Dudley, was gunned down on the night of September 6, 1995. The Ontario Provincial Police OPP refused to help get him to a hospital in one of their nearby ambulances. So Pierre and others had to load Dudley into his white Impala car and drove him to the Strathroy-Middlesex General, a 30 minute drive. Outside the hospital he pleaded with officers to help. His brother was bleeding to death in his car. He was charged with murdering his brother, arrested, jailed. He was officially told the next morning in his cell that his brother had died.

Dudley George was murdered in Ontario. Neil Stonechild was murdered in Saskatchewan. Over 500 native women are missing. Hundreds of indigenous young people have taken their lives in despair, far above the national average. We?re
talking about events within the last ten years. Canada pretends it doesn?t have a genocide problem!

Law. Part II. Pierre George has asked a constitutional question. How did Linden get judicial jurisdiction? What law applies? What is the constitutional legislation and precedents that regulate the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous societies?

Linden’s response has been willful blindness to the Canadian constitution. This violation constitutes genocide.

The indigenous sovereign interest was here before Canada ever existed. The whole of Canada is still unsurrendered Indigenous land. Our title can never be extinguished. We can?t and will not sell our land. Our constitution, Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law does not allow it. We hold it in trust for our future generations. The Constitutions of both the USA and Canada protect the indigenous sovereign interest. Our constitutions are in harmony. Constitutions are the law of the land.

The only deal our ancestors made with the British is for them to live here beside us. We did not open up this land for the ?peanut scramble? that we?ve been witnessing. We did not invite colonists to trample and pollute the environment and kill our people. These visitors have overstayed their welcome and over stepped the agreements. The ignorance of the children of the visitors is now generations deep.

Section 109 of the Canadian Constitution places Indian “Interest” before that of Canada and its provinces. It stipulates that until a treaty has been made with the constitutional indigenous Nations, the Nations’ constitutional ?Interest? is
above the Crown?s. Section 132 of the Canadian Constitution stipulates that only Canada can make ?treaties?. No valid treaties have ever been made on a nation-to-nation constitution-to-constitution basis.

The provincial, federal and Indian ?band? governments illegally created by Parliament and their courts read only Section 91(24) of the Canadian Constitution. This Section merely granted authority to ?negotiate? with Indians concerning the use of our lands and corresponding treaty obligations. They misinterpret this Section as constitutionally giving them never-ending and unlimited power of life and death over Indians. The Indian Act is illegal and was forced on Indigenous nations.

The judges use federal Indian law to destroy us on our land through their criminal blindness to the Constitution. Linden ruled that a mere Ontario Order-in-Council preempts the need for him, or the Judiciary, to obey the Constitution of Canada.

Why Dudley George Died! Dudley George was killed for defending his rights. The Canadian judiciary has led all the Premiers and Prime Ministers since 1876 into believing Indians who are on their ancestral land since time immemorial are trespassing on private property!

Ontario and Canada invaded unsurrendered land. They had no constitutional jurisdiction there. 

The judiciary and politicians are trying to cover up their breaking their own laws with circuses like the Ipperwash Inquiry. They aren?t digging deeper than the political level.

The uprising at Ipperwash happened while the Indians were asserting Indigenous constitutional law and defending the rule of law. He died for all the ordinary folk who sometimes feel they just can?t take it anymore. He died for all constitutionally sovereign Indigenous Nations who continue to resist genocide. We are defending the Great Law of Peace, the constitution of Northeastern Turtle Island. Linden and the Ipperwash Inquiry produced a smokescreen to cover up the underlying constitutional question of legitimate jurisdiction. They don?t want to talk about the law underlying the conflict.

Court obstruction is how they violate the rights of Indigenous people in Canada. When Indigenous people object, we are threatened or gunned down. Linden’s official response to Pierre?s question is to stall. Every day he stalls is another day of unconstitutional judicial genocide from coast to coast to coast in Canada.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Judicial chicanery in Ontario and New York State.

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MNN. July 6, 2005. Could judiciaries in Ontario and New York State be collaborating? We wouldn?t be surprised!

The press release posted on the Ipperwash Inquiry website on July 6, 2005, states in part that:
The Ipperwash Inquiry has received formal notice of legal proceedings against C by Pierre George, one of the brothers of the late Dudley George. Pierre George is claiming Commissioner Linden and the Ipperwash Inquiry have no jurisdiction ?under the laws? of Canada to hold an inquiry into the death of his brother, Dudley, who was shot by an Ontario provincial Police Officer in 1995 during a protest by aboriginal people at the Ipperwash provincial park and later died.

?The Ipperwash Inquiry was established by the Government of Ontario on November 12, 2003, under the Public Inquiries Act. Its mandate is to inquire and report on events surrounding the death ? and to make recommendations that would avoid violence in similar circumstances in the future. ? The Commission plans to respond in due course to the action commenced by Pierre George.?

This press release is meant to mislead the public. After Pierre?s first objection, Linden informed us that his jurisdiction comes from an ?Ontario Order in Council?. In effect, Linden said that Section 109 of the Constitution of Canada 1867 has been repealed by a ?provincial? Order in Council. This is legally impossible. The Constitution sets out an amendment formula by which changes in the constitutional relationship between Canada and the Indigenous nations can be given legal force and effect. A very broad base of support of the sovereign peoples involved is essential. Section 109 constitutionally prohibits the application of the laws of Canada, including federal Indian law, and provincial law, to unsurrendered Indigenous territory.

Pierre?s constitutional question is not based on the ?Laws of Canada?. This press release is a smoke screen. On July 18th, 2005, Linden must prove to Pierre that Section 109 was repealed by the provincial Order in Council. There is no repeal. He has no jurisdiction.

ONEIDA INJUNCTION

We put the same objection to jurisdiction before Judge Hurd of New York State. The Oneidas wanted to stop the enforcement of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. In a press release, Hurd informed the public that he granted the injunction to the Oneidas in the case of the County of Sherill v. The Oneida Indian Nation of New York Inc. He can?t do this without considering our objection to his usurping the jurisdiction of the Kanion?ke:haka and the U.S. Constitution.

Judicial chicanery is happening in both places at the same time.

This judicial blindness to the constitution and to the rule of law has been the criminal modus operandi of the judiciary since the 1870?s to the present time. Today Commissioner Linden and Judge Hurd carry out the judicial fraud in public, not behind court house doors.

Our ancestors were suppressed and crushed for making the same outcry. Our voice is being heard because of this odd conjunction of historic events. It?s the first step in stopping genocide. The people and their constitutions are against that crime. The tragedy is that the judiciary is for it.

That is why the constitutionally loyal Indigenous people hope that Supreme Court will respect the U.S. Constitution and the Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law.

We sought emergency relief from Linden?s genocide in the Ontario Divisional Court. We will also seek emergency relief in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals against Judge Hurd. We will also activate our previous emergency relief application in the Canadian St. Regis v. New York State, which is at the center of the horrendous casino fraud. We?re also going after the equally fraudulent contrived case of the Onondaga Nation v. New York State.

All the players in this gigantic fraud covering the whole Great Lakes drainage basin of Northeast North America is being played out in this three ring circus.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

IPPERWASH: JUDGE SLAPS US AND LOSES HIS HAND

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MNN. June 24, 2005. Commissioner Sidney B. Linden of the Ipperwash Inquiry in Forest Ontario just sent Pierre George and the Women Title Holders a letter. He virtually admitted his guilt over what we were accusing him of. He has no jurisdiction to carry on this inquiry and that genocide goes on behind public inquiries.

First we got a letter from Derry Millar, Linden?s Commission lawyer. He made his own decision to block us bureaucratically. This has been their standard ?modus operandi? to never let our constitutional jurisdiction question get past the bureaucracy to the judicial arena. This allows the genocide to go on in a rule of law society.

Bureaucrat, Derry Millar, cranked out an arrogant response to us and we blasted him right in the gut. We told him to get out of the way. He felt the pain. He ran to Sidney Linden. What we were accusing him of was blocking access to Linden, ?Look at what they are saying to me. Waaa Waaa!?

Linden says, ?Don?t worry, Derry, I?ll take care of this?. Linden answers the constitutional question that he does have jurisdiction. The law indicates he doesn?t. He did not identify a single piece of legislation or precedent All he told us was ‘in my view’!

Linden decided he has constitutional jurisdiction on Stoney Point land by an Ontario ?Order in Council?. There are 12 procedural hurdles he could have used to jam up our action. He lost his temper. He decided to put Pierre and the Women Title Holders in their place! We took the stick of judicial genocide and stuck it to him.

Judge Linden?s angry refusal allowed us to go directly to the Supreme Court of Canada via the Divisional Court. Amnesty International should look at this aspect of the Ipperwash Inquiry. Pierre George took it a step further than Dudley.

It is out of the ?political? circus set up to evade the rule of law right into the ?legal? arena. It can?t be swept under the carpet.

Linden showed his guilty mind in relation to the crime of genocide. He is judicially willfully blind to the law. He has no right as ?Commissioner? in the Ipperwash Inquiry to call himself ?The Honourable Justice Sidney B. Linden?. His only capacity legally is Commissioner? through the Order in Council. He answered the question as both a Commissioner and as a ?Judge?. We now have a precedent by a Superior Court of Justice of Ontario. He negate the constitutional question without any basis other than, ?in my view?.

The cause of genocide is the utter breakdown of the rule of law. The rule of law is the basis of our Indigenous constitution, the Kaianereh?ko:wa/Great Law. Their constitution is supposed to be the basis of their society, which they don?t practice.

Linden put our question in the court system. The Divisional Court now have to confirm or deny his decision.

When they gave us a slap in the face, they lost their hand. They better get use to that.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

“Into the West” another “dirty Indian” film.

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TO APPEAL TO AMERICAN IGNORANCE.
Why North Americans need to create historical lies!MNN. June 21, 2005. RDT, one of the actors in the series of lies, known as ?Into
the West?, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, was asked by a non-Indian,
?What contributions have Native Americans made to the progress of America??

RDT answered, ?Are you out of your mind? America has been in a downward spiral since you whites got here! I refuse to promote this stupid film. Yep! This period piece has got to be the bottom of the barrel. Steven Spielberg had no passion, no imagination. The production of these lies about Indigenous people
cost $100 million. It is meant to attract an audience at the expense of our dignity?.

This is the most ever spent on a television episode. Whose fault is it? ?It?s
our fault for not making our own films, for not stopping this kind of skank, as a
?dirty film? is called. The average American gets off looking at those sick
little Indians. They have to portray us in a glass display case. We have to be
seen as having been whipped into submission, as degenerates. There is never a
portrayal of the fact that we developed the whole idea of democracy and equality.
They refuse to see us as doctors, lawyers, professors, professional and skilled
hard working people. That?s because they think there?s no ?savagery? involved in
these endeavors?.

The Blacks have Spike Lee who made the great film, ?Malcolm X?; John Singleton who
made ?Boys in the Hood?; Edward James Olmos who made ?American Me?; and the Maoris
have Lee Tamahoori who made ?Once were Warriors?. Indigenous people have good
directors. ?We?re worried that the next one about us by white interests will be
even worse than this one!?

?There isn?t one brilliant moment, not one redeeming gem in any frame of the film.
It has nothing to do with art, vision, historical accuracy or representing
Indigenous people in a positive light?.

Pierre George of Stoney Point agrees. He has been fighting against the releasing
of the film ?One Dead Indian?. This is another ritualistic sacrifice of ?Indians?
on the alter of the North American ego. It exploits the murder of his brother,
Dudley George, in 1995 in what is known as the ?Ipperwash? event. He is trying to
find a way to shut down the Commission of Inquiry into Dudley?s murder that?s
going on right now in Forest Ontario. He has good reasons for doing so.

The commission is an excuse to avoid the rule of law. It?s an old tactic, tried
and true. The Saskatchewan Commission on First Nations and Metis People and
Justice Reform was initiated to look into the murder of 17-year old Neil
Stonechild and other native youth by the Saskatoon Police. When the report was
released, the press conference focused on ?aboriginal crime?. Neil Stonechild had
not even been charged with a crime. So why did they murder him? No mention was
made of the serious problem of police committing crimes and murdering people.

?It?s all a big lie. The Ipperwash Inquiry is set up to look only into ?abuse? by
the police of the Ontario Police Act. The police had no right to be on the
territory in the first place! There was no surrender of our land. We are still
sovereign. There was no agreement with the Stony Point people to allow the police
of a foreign nation to operate here?. They were supposed to give the land back
after the war. Instead the Ontario government turned it into a park.

Pierre says, ?Both the film, ?One Dead Indian? and the inquiry are bought and paid
for by the criminals who are committing genocide and who stole our land and our
jurisdiction. It is illegal and obscene?.

Every time we try to bring up the constitutional question, they bring on inquiries
and make movies that revise history and the law. Answering the law involves
pointing the finger of genocide, the arch crime against humanity. It?s just
disgusting!?

?Into the West?, ?One Dead Indian? and now the ?Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990? are all
part of the same crime. To date there have been no widely circulated accounts of
any of these events from an Indigenous point of view. Our experience and our
sensibilities are left completely out of an equation now thoroughly discredited
that European invaders were somehow more civilized than the people they invaded.

The Canadian and United States governments are spending big bucks to buy and
manufacture excuses in two coordinated moves. One is to bury the law, the
constitutional question. The second is to rewrite the factual history with these
movies. Why is our point of view left out? It?s meant to continue to advance the
big colonial lie. What really happened cannot be properly portrayed in movies
until the underlying constitutional question is acknowledged and addressed in
Canada and the United States.

As RDT said, ?They do it all the time. The colonists hope that if they drag
around a falsehood long enough, everybody will forget the real facts. They want
to divert attention away from their crimes and brutality by starting fires all
over the place. Eventually the truth disappears into the air like a mustard fart!
They wait it out like a bunch of buzzards flying around their predators?.

The movies and public inquiries are all part of the brainwashing procedure. This
is not a question of whites versus ?injuns?. The real issue is do all people have
a right to be treated equally? Does everyone have to obey the law, including the
constitutional law? Is it okay to keep trashing us? The only possible aim of
these films is to mislead the public and bury the question.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

?ONE DEAD INDIAN?

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SHOT BY CONSTITUTIONAL DEATH SQUAD ?
COPS, POLITICIANS AND LAWYERS

MNN. June 16, 2005. To this list add their big helpers, the media. The film, ?One Dead Indian?, is an insult to Dudley George and the ?Nishnawbe? people of Aazhoodena also known as ?Stoney Point?. It does not tell the true story. ?It won?t do us any good,? says Pierre George, brother of Dudley George.

In 1942 the Stoney Point People were kicked off their land by the Canadian government. It was turned into a firing range to train Canadian soldiers during World War II. The land was supposed to be returned to the Stoney Point People after the war. Instead, the Ontario government turned it into a provincial park, known as ?Ipperwash?.

Dudley and Pierre was part of a group of Stoney Point People who returned to their land on June 21, 1993. They planted a tree of peace. Guns were not to be used.

Two years later, on September 6th 1995, Ontario Premier Mike Harris allegedly ordered the heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to kick them off their land once more. It ended in a deadly attack. Dudley George was murdered.

One officer, Acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane, was given a tap on the wrist for the killing. There has been a year long inquiry in Forest Ontario into the murderous attack and Dudley?s death. Hundreds of witnesses have been paraded into the arena – Nishnawbe, police and soon politicians. Hanging around this circus are dozens of lawyers getting paid $300 an hour by the government. They are there as atmosphere and sensationalism.

The inquiry is supposed to pacify the public. They have to find some justification for the unlawful actions of the police. As Pierre said, ?It is to serve as a guide on how to successfully attack Indigenous people in the future. To learn all the mistakes the cops, politicians and lawyers made on this one?. Next time, either they won?t do it, or nobody comes out alive [to talk about it]!

The Indigenous people visiting the inquiry shake their heads and laugh at the array of court jesters.

The lawyers and politicians spout federal law. The police act on it. Then the lawyers clean up the dirt! It?s a show! Everybody evades the real question. The Ontario government had no right to send the police in. They say the police ?abused? their jurisdiction. Actually, the police ?exceeded? the jurisdiction they do not legally have. Their action is unconstitutional and they committed genocide.

John Carson, the Deputy Commissioner of the OPP, testified that it was written in the police log that Chief Tom Bressette had said that the Stoney Point people are ?a bunch of criminals and they should be dealt with?. Dale Linton, a junior officer, brought in the deadly Emergency Response Team (ERT) that night. They also brought in the Tactical Rescue Team. ?The provincial Crown said they had clear title to the land. If so, all they needed was a trespassing charge on a piece of paper which they could have dropped from a helicopter?, said Pierre.

Tom Bressette, chief of nearby sister community Kettle Point, gave the OPP the right to carry out that attack. ?He?s their accomplice before and after!? Tom also got Gary George to destroy their support network. Tom worked on both sides?.

The relationship with the Stoney Point people is nation-to-nation until there is a legal surrender. Ontario has no power over these lands and its people. Section 109 of the British North America Act 1867 provides that ?All lands, mines, minerals and royalties are subject to any existing trusts?. Indigenous interests come first before that of Canada and its provinces. The land in question was never validly purchased from the Stoney Point People through a treaty. So they have no jurisdiction over them.

?In the 1829 treaty the Chippewa supposedly gave up sovereignty to 2.2 million acres of land to the British government for certain goods. Chief Wawanash, who signed the treaty, wasn?t even from the area. He took whisky to the chiefs and told them they were too old to be chiefs anymore. He got them drunk and had them sign their chieftainships over to him. Then he signed this fraudulent treaty?. How would Canadian people feel if someone claimed their sovereignty by getting Prime Minister Paul Martin drunk and having him sign the same sort of nonsense?

The sit-around-the-inquiry lawyers like Murray Klippenstein, Andrew Orkin and Joanne Birenbaum are part of the whole industry of lawyers that leech on the Indigenous people. It?s a bigger business than General Motors! It?s gross! The government funds this charade to avoid being confronted about the violation of the constitutional jurisdictional and the resulting genocide.

The OPP did not act in ?excess? of the Police Act. Pierre says, ?The Police Act does not apply to us because we never agreed to it. The police acted in excess of their jurisdiction?.

The lawyers focus on condemning the abuse. They stay away from the theft of the constitutional jurisdiction of the original Indigenous people. ?Lawyers are our enemies. They?re always scheming against us?, said Pierre. Pierre likes to appear at the inquiry wearing his favorite T-shirt. He got it at a second-hand store, Value Village. It quotes Shakespeare, ?The first thing we do, let?s kill all the lawyers? (King Henry, Part IV, Act 5, Scene 2, Stratford Festival, Canada).

?These cops have zero jurisdiction over the Indigenous people they are abusing. Why, they?re not even supposed to look at us unless we give them permission. The government pays lawyers to make it look like they?re cleaning up their system. This is a scam, a fraud?.

Everybody all over the world knows that we are mistreated. It?s the theft of Indigenous jurisdiction that is behind it all. That?s what happens when a government invades another?s constitutional territory and jurisdiction, like the Stoney Point People, the Kanienkehaka and all the others.

The police are given orders to go out and enforce genocidally unconstitutional jurisdiction. Some cops do it with an iron fist. Some with an iron fist covered by a velvet glove. Some by talking your ear off. Some cops are pleasant. They don?t have to beat up someone to commit genocide. They take away our identity which is based on our tie to our land.

The politicians and judges don?t appear to be disturbed over their role in carrying out the genocide. They sit there and talk about it all day long, day after day. From what Pierre sees, ?The lawyers are dishonest. They abuse the law. They lie to us. They think we?re stupid. Some day we?ll put them on trial for what they?ve done to us?.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh