Tag Archives: Jay treaty

50 YEARS SINCE CORNWALL BRIDGE BLOCKADE

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MNN. Oct. 21, 2018. For over 50 years this National Film Board documentary film was seen by millions of people around the world. Participants regularly get comments on the blockade of the International Bridge at Akwessne. It is one of the most important milestones in which natives made a definite statement to the world and governments that we have special rights and that the Canada-U.S border does not exist for natives people. The Jay Treaty of 1794 was for the intruders only. The treaty between the British and Americans has withstood many legal challenges by governments in the United States and Canada. It affirms our natural rights as the original peoples of turtle island. 

It is an international treaty between foreign nations with a provision [Article III] respecting our natural freedom and right to live freely on our land where creation placed us without any hindrance. 

All natives benefitted from this action by kanionkehaka/Mohawks who stood at the Customs House on that cold day on December 20, 1968. 

The rotinoshonni’onwe Iroquois have a long history of making such statements to the world. Annually in Niagara Falls the natives have marched across the Niagara River since the 1920s to remind them of our free passage and their borders do not apply to us.

Another history making event was when Paul K. Diabo of kahnawake, an ironworker, was ordered by the American government to be deported to Canada as an alien. The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the rights of natives to cross freely between Canada and the United States without hindrance or molestation. 

In 1968 the world saw a small group of Mohawks and other natives make a declaration that we are not going to allow anyone to interfere with our natural rights.  

This commemoration at Concordia University is a significant event. Everyone is welcome.  

THIS FILM AND OTHERS WILL BE SHOWN: CINEMA POLITICA NETWORK, “YOU ARE ON INDIAN LAND”, 1455 de Maisonneuve, Hall Building, Montreal, Quebec. Monday, Oct. 22nd 2018. Arrive at 6.30 pm. 37 mins. followed by open discussion.

 

www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec,Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen. See MNN Home Page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_on_Indian_Land

MNN: IMAGINARY LINE [Reprint]

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MNN. Feb. 25, 2013. Kanen:to Paul Diabo was a very important man in Indigenous history. He made it possible for ironworkers and all other Iroquois and Indigenous to cross the border to the Unite States freely. 

Problems began when the US Congress instituted the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. The Haudenosaunee [Iroquois] people refused to accept US citizenship when they realized that they would lose their treaty status and all claims to be a distinct nation. It seems that the American government didn’t like that and decided to make an example of one young ironworker who still dared to cross that [Canada-US] border to work. 

Lunch break!

Lunch break!

 

Diabo was an iron-worker from Kahnawa:ke. He was arrested in 1926. In 1927 at age 36, he appeared in court to discuss his deportation to Canada as he was considered an illegal immigrant because of the new act. 

Ben Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia, 1927.

Ben Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia, 1927.

Although Kanen:to faced trials and the possibility of going to prison yet another time [he had been in prison for getting caught in Philadelphia before, working on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge], he did not give up. He argued that it was his right to cross the border without interference, according to the Jay Treaty of 1794. He said that since he was a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy he was able to cross the border without anyone stopping him. During his time in court, the people in Kanawa:ke were helping Diabo and his family by providing both financial and moral support. 

Finally in 1928, he did win his case and the right to cross the border freely, a victory for him and all his people. The court later deemed in 1952 that any person who had at least 50% Native blood could have these rights. 

This was an amazing success. And this all happened because one of our Indigenous men risked his freedom to fight for the rights of his people.  

As Johnny Cash sang in: “As long as the moon shall rise, as long as the rivers flow, as long as the sun will shine, as long as the grass shall grow.” As long as the grass shall grow

Story by Celeste Groux, Vision Feb-March 2013 Celeste Groux in Vision

The United States vs. Kenen:to Paul Diabo:U.S. vs. Kanento Paul Diabo

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0 WHERE EAGLES DARE TO SOAR available from MNN.