Showing posts with label Kanenhstaton Reclamation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kanenhstaton Reclamation. Show all posts

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Jacqueline House on Recent Events in Six Nations

From Jacqueline House, regarding the September 13th fight which left Sam Gualtieri unconscious in Caledonia:

What has been happening here on Six Nations?

Scano

Tonight, my heart is heavy. However, I thought I would write a little of the past few days. First of all, there have been a few of us gathering on a daily basis discussing Unity for our people, to find a way to come together. We came up with an education march. We feel education is what is lacking and if we could learn to reach out to one another and share knowledge with one another, we can start building some gaps. There are two governing bodies; one is our customs through our traditions. We are born into this; therefore, are our inherent rights. The other has been illegally placed upon us to divide and conquer our existence. We are not saying or trying to convince anybody to believe where we are coming from, but to learn the truth of what has happened to us. We came up with doing three themes, the first one we did on Thursday September 13th, "Where We Were" which consists of who we are. The second we are doing October 19th will focus on, "Where We Are". The third one we not have set a date but will target, "Where We Are Going".

A few of us marched from Polytec into the front yard of the Band Administration Office where we placed our signs all over the front yard. We had a lot of support and quite a few people coming up to us and asking what we were doing and they felt it was a great idea. Other's were giving us information such as the construction in Caledonia and another informed us that Elected Dave General was holding a private meeting of governance and it was his second gathering with other elected officials as far as Rochester New York, and some thought there was a parade of some sort. After spending a little time on the front lawn, we decided to take our sign and mobile ourselves taking us into Mr. General's meeting where we held up our signs so the delegation can see them clearly. We were so nonchalant as we just stood there holding our signs. We did share the mike with Dave; after all, he was the entertainment. He and his elected buddies got to hear the Declaration of Independence for the first time. They got to here our concerns of how they are misusing our money, how they don't care for our elders, how they are arms to the government and how they are a part of committing genocide on their own people.

We then drove over to the development and enforced our stance; which is, no development on the Haldimand Proclamation as we are in a process of a resolution. Everything was fine until one of our young men started putting up our Hiawatha flag and the developer got hostile, so angry that he climbed up the scaffold cussing and then began throwing things such as the board with the cement mix on it and tried ripping down our flag. The developer then gave a press release and after about 10 minutes everyone left. Two and half hours later five men sit and watch waiting for the perfect opportunity to express their anger and hatred for what, a flag? The baseball bat that they carried was an assault weapon as they had every intention on using it to inflict pain. Instead, one of their own was hurt and by no means, do not put words into my mouth, as I am so relieved he is alright because this isn't about hurting one another it is about respect. We have customs and we have laws and we need ours respected just the same as one wants there's. We have shown this all of our lives for hundreds of years and now is the time to show the host the courtesy of having visitors. I also want to stress, there are two sides to a coin, and one does not override the other just because of the color of one's skin.

With this note: I am calling on Marie Trainer of Haldimand County and hold her accountable as she is well aware of a "Notification Agreement" regarding; development, land, water, animals, and most importantly there is an emergency phase where she could have called all parties that are involved to the table, to try defuse the situation. In fact, I have tried to meet with her and talk so that Peace begins to roll off her tongue as it is significant to uphold the Treaty of Peace. The community of friends have requested to meet with her, only to be ignored. Again I hold Mayor Marie Trainer and the OPP accountable for the terror that has been inflicted upon our people as they continue to tarnish Her Honor by not helping to keep the peace by not helping to protect Her Majesty's interest.

This day will be burned in our heads forever as we were forced to stand there and watch our people again being pepper sprayed, hand cuffed and thrown into jail when we have done nothing wrong. We just got thrown back to a time where we are being robbed and molested of our lands. What's next - Residential schools? Oh yeah they have there puppet government working on that as our language was just cutback. Is it me or does it seem we are taking a step back into a dark history where our people were physically attacked and our children kidnapped?

P/S Thanks for modern technology for without camera's and video's, people might not believe what we are saying.

Also I send my best wishes to the family that is involved.

Nya weh
Always Jacqueline



Friday, February 23, 2007

Protests in Montreal and Toronto on February 28th, 2007

In case it you didn't notice it in the long post i just forwarded:

On Wednesday, February 28th, to mark the oe year anniversary of the Six Nations Reclamation at Kanenhstaton:

In Montreal, supporters will rally at the federal government buildings located downtown at noon. Speakers from various Haudenosaunee territories will join us in the speak-out.


MONTREAL SPEAK OUT & RALLY
Wednesday, February 28th 12PM
Complex Guy-Favreau
200 Réné-Lévèsque O.
(métro Place des Arts)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved in the organizing or mobilization for the Montreal Rally and Speak-Out, please contact 6nationssolidarite@gmail.com

*******************************


In Toronto, supporters will gather at the provincial government buildings, seat of the Liberal government and of the Lieutenant Governor, the Queen's representative in Ontario. All are welcome to speak out in support of Six Nations.

TORONTO SPEAK OUT & RALLY
Wednesday, February 28th 12 PM
Queen's Park (Front Lawn)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved, please contact ocap@tao.ca



One year is too long! Recognize the rights of Six Nations!

February 28th, 2007 marks the one-year anniversary of the Six Nations Land Reclamation. One year ago, a group of people from Six Nations took back a piece of their land that was under construction by developers and demanded an end to the destruction of their land and to settler encroachment on their territory.

Now, one year later, the Canadian government has yet to recognize the truth: that this land is not owned by them nor can it be sold by them. It is Haudonausaunee (Iroquois) territory, stolen and sold by the colonial authorities illegally.

The people of Kanohnstaton, formerly "Douglas Creek Estates", have asked for and encouraged solidarity actions and a pressure campaign in support of the Reclamation. The Six Nations Land Reclamation needs your support and solidarity to make the Canadian government understand that Six Nations is not alone. We must speak out against the injustices of colonial land theft and genocide and take a stand for dignity, indigenous land rights, justice and autonomy.

Despite the disinterest of the mainstream media, the Six Nations Land Reclamation represents a pivotal example in the history of indigenous decolonization in Turtle Island. We, as people living on stolen land, have a responsibility to support and demand that Haudenosaunee land rights and sovereignty be recognized. We must also demand that the government immediately cease the criminalization of those who have been involved in the Reclamation, as over 32 people continue to face bogus charges for defending their rights. It is time to stop spending tax-payer money on negotiators' and OPP salaries, to stop the lies, and to recognize the treaties between the Haudenosaunee and the colonial powers.

The federal and provincial governments recently brought a pack of lies on paper to the negotiation table, claiming that Six Nations sold their land. Let them know that we will not be swayed by age-old colonial tactics of forgery and false dialogue. If the government has any issues with the Iroquois protecting their own territory, we suggest that they file a land claim with the traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose credibility outweighs that of the Canadian government by a very large margin.

==>>> FAX/EMAIL/PHONE: February 26th to March 2nd, 2007

Speak out and make your voice heard!

We have been asked to participate in a week-long fax, email and phone campaign to government "negotiators" and representatives starting on February 26 and ending on March 2, 2007. The contact information for this week-long pressure campaign can be found below. A sample letter is provided as well. Please take the time to make your voice heard, and make the government accountable for its unlawful actions and illegitimate claims.

==>>> TAKE ACTION: February 28th, 2007

Invitation to organize local activities and/or actions!

The people of Kanohnstaton have asked for support demos and rallies for the one year anniversary. Local actions that can exert political pressure on our government are needed and encouraged. If you can organize locally, please let the people at the Six Nations Land Reclamation know. You can organize a delegation to a governmental body to deliver a letter, hold rallies and demonstrations, or simply participate in the week-long pressure campaign.


******************************

In Montreal, supporters will rally at the federal government buildings located downtown at noon. Speakers from various Haudenosaunee territories will join us in the speak-out.

MONTREAL SPEAK OUT & RALLY Wednesday, February 28th 12PM Complex Guy-Favreau 200 Réné-Lévèsque O. (métro Place des Arts)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved in the organizing or mobilization for the Montreal Rally and Speak-Out, please contact 6nationssolidarite@gmail.com

*******************************


In Toronto, supporters will gather at the provincial government buildings, seat of the Liberal government and of the Lieutenant Governor, the Queen's representative in Ontario. All are welcome to speak out in support of Six Nations.

TORONTO SPEAK OUT & RALLY Wednesday, February 28th 12 PM Queen's Park (Front Lawn)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved, please contact ocap@tao.ca


==>>> FEBRUARY 26 to MARCH 2, 2007
WRITE TO FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES TODAY!


February 26th to March 2nd week-long fax, email and phone campaign to negotiators and government representatives:

Demand:

1) That the government stop its' stalling tactics and recognize Six Nations title to the land once and for all.

2) That the government stop criminalizing the people of Kanohnstaton.

3) That the government fully recognize the traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the traditional government, and stop undermining the Confederacy they have been trying to squash since 1924.

*(Sample letter below…)*


To voice your concerns and demand that the government recognize Six Nations Land Rights, send an email, phone and/or fax:


Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2

Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca



Jim Prentice,
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians
Parliament Hill:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 992-4275
Fax: (613) 947-9475
Email: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca



Barbara McDougall, Federal Negotiator
Former Cabinet Minister
c/o Jim Prentice,
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians
Parliament Hill:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 992-4275
Fax: (613) 947-9475
Email: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca



Ron Doering- Federal Negotiator
c/o Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians
Parliament Hill:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Telephone:(613) 992-4275
Fax:(613) 947-9475
Email:Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca



Jane Stewart
Provincial Negotiator, Province of Ontario
Former Brantford MP and former Federal Indian Affairs Minister
c/o Dalton McGuinty,
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1A1

Phone Number: (416) 325-1941
Fax Number: (416) 325-3745
Email: Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca

Find and contact your own MP!


====>>>SAMPLE LETTER

To: Stephen Harper/ Barbara MacDougall/ Jim Prentice/ Jane Stewart/ Ron Doering

Object: Stop the Criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation, respect the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and immediately recognize Six Nations land rights.

I am writing to demand that the Canadian government uphold its responsibilities and return full title of Kanohnstaton (the Douglas Creek Estates) to the people of Six Nations.

It has now been one year since the people of Six Nations rightfully took back and reclaimed a piece of land that had been stolen and illegally sold by the Canadian government. This piece of land, formerly known as "Douglas Creek Estates", is Kanohnstaton, or The Protected Place, and the government is well overdue in recognizing the truth of the matter: that this is Six Nations land, guaranteed by the Haldimand Proclamation, and the Canadian government has no business claiming, selling, or leasing land that is not theirs.

Land claims put forward by First Nations communities are highly overdue. Section 35 (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms clearly states that: "The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed." In addition to demanding that the federal and provincial governments follow basic universal rules of human decency, I demand that the government follow its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlined in the Constitution Act of 1982.

Moreover, I demand that the ongoing criminalization of the people of Kanohnstaton cease immediately. Indeed, instead of charging, persecuting and criminalizing unarmed indigenous people who are rightfully and peacefully reclaiming their own land, you should be bringing to justice the OPP and RCMP officers who used violence with tasers and batons on unarmed people, causing injuries and bodily harm, on the vicious raid of April 20th, 2006.

Hazel Hill, spokesperson for Six Nations, has stated: "We didn't create the situation, we are only trying to rectify it, for our children and future generations. We have taken action and have re-claimed land that is rightfully ours. We are there in Peace, and have been since February 28th... Will Canada allow the hatred and violent displays of racism of its citizens to continue and possibly create another Ipperwash, or will it use the lessons of the past to ensure that the violence stops and admit to their citizens that it is through their own actions and abuse of assumed power that we are in this situation today."

I strongly urge you to heed these words and take action to ensure a just resolution to this issue in a swift and fair manner.

Sincerely,



Community Friends Group Organizes Protest to Support Six Nations Political Prisoner Chris Hill

Feb 21st, 2007 – CALEDONIA, ON. The group Community Friends -- an organization comprised of Caledonia residents, members of the labor movement, community activists, and people from Six Nations working together to support indigenous sovereignty and the Douglas Creek Estates reclamation – is organizing a public protest outside the Barton street Jail in Hamilton, Ontario to support Six Nations political prisoner Chris Hill and demand his release.

On January 3rd, Six Nations Police, in accordance with the demands of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), arrested and imprisoned Chris Hill, a 20 year old young Mohawk man of the Wolf Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, for allegedly “assaulting a police officer with a weapon” on April 20th, 2006 – the day that the OPP and the RCMP invaded Douglas Creek Estates and violently attempted to evict the people of Six Nations from their land. That day, the OPP used tazer darts and batons on unarmed people, including women and youth, and arrested 16 people on a day that brought nation-wide attention to the struggle of Six Nations for land rights and autonomy.

Since the Haudonausaunee of Six Nations reclaimed Douglas Creek Estates, some 30 indigenous people have been charged in relation to the Reclamation. Chris Hill is one of the latest to be charged. Since January 3rd, he has been sitting in Barton Street Jail in Hamilton, Ontario where he is locked up for 18 hours a day.

On Sunday, February 25th from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Community Friends is organizing a peaceful protest to be held outside of the Barton Street Jail in Hamilton, Ontario to demand his release.

Jan Watson, a spokesperson for the group is available for comment and can be contacted by phone at 289-284-0154. The webpage of the group is available at www.honorsixnations.com



Thursday, February 22, 2007

[CKUT RADIO] Another Warrior faces Canadian Courts: Jeff "Hawk" Welcomes Support and Solidarity

Listen to an interview with Jeff Hawk, who faces charges relating to the Six Nations Land Reclamation adjacent to Caledonia, Ontario. Jeff “Hawk” has been charged with allegedly assaulting a police officer on April 20th, 2006, the day that the OPP and the RCMP came on mass to the Six Nations Land Reclamation with Tasers and batons, beating and arresting unarmed people, and unsuccessfully attempted to evict the Haudenosaunee from their land.

Produced by Fiona Becker of the CKUT Radio Community News Collective in Montreal - anti-copyright 2007.

Available for download from Radio4All (and also mirrored here)



Stop the Criminalization of Indigenous Resistance to Colonial Land Theft! Free Chris Hill!

The following is one of several documents from the February 2007 report The Criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.

On January 3rd, Six Nations Police, in accordance with the demands of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), arrested and imprisoned Chris Hill, a 20 year old young Mohawk man of the Wolf Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, for allegedly “assaulting a police officer with a weapon” on April 20th, 2006 – the very day that the OPP and the RCMP invaded Douglas Creek Estates and violently attempted to evict the people of Six Nations from their land. That day, the OPP used tazer darts and batons on unarmed people, including women and youth, and arrested 16 people on a day that brought nation-wide attention to the struggle of Six Nations for land rights and autonomy.

Since the Haudonausaunee of Six Nations reclaimed Douglas Creek Estates, some 30 indigenous people have been charged by the settler-colony of Canada in relation to the Reclamation. Chris Hill is one of the latest to be charged. Interestingly, the warrant for his arrest in relation to April 20th was issued 6 months later in October of 2006. Since January 3rd, he has been sitting in Barton Street Jail in Hamilton, Ontario where he is locked up for 18 hours a day.

Chris Hill was denied bail on the basis of his record of “failure to comply” when he was a young offender. Chris Hill was denied access to legal aid on the basis of him not having a permanent address. His mother, Rhonda Martin, is a mother on assistance who just underwent surgery, and now faces lawyers’ fees in the thousands in order to be able to free her son.

Chris Hill sits behind bars for having defended his land. The proceedings at the Cayuga courthouse have proven to be extremely lengthy, as nearly all court appearances have resulted in remand after remand.

Chris Hill needs moral, political and financial support and solidarity. Please send reading material and write letters of support to Chris Hill for him to receive while he awaits a trial date. Furthermore, please contribute to Chris Hill’s legal defense fund. Please continue to demand the end of the criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.


Address your letters of support to Chris Hill to:

Chris Hill Wentworth Detention Center. 165 Barton Street East Hamilton, Ontario

To contribute to the legal defense fund of Six Nations send checks marked “legal defense” to:

Janie Jameson RR1 Ohsweken, Ontario N0A 1MO

Alternatively, to support Chris Hill directly, send checks, marked “legal defense” to

Rhonda Martin P.O. box 383 Ohsweken, Ontario N0A 1MO



Trevor Miller Set Free after Declaring Mohawk Sovereignty to the Colonial Settler-State of Canada

The following is written by Sarita Ahooja, and is one of several documents from the February 2007 report The Criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.

On February 9, 2007, Trevor Miller, a 31 yr-old Mohawk man charged by the colonial authorities due to his participation in the Six Nations Land Reclamation, and who was sitting behind bars for over 7 months, was finally released on bail. Trevor Miller was greeted outside the courthouse by his supporters with tears and applause.

At a prior court appearance, Trevor declared to the Cayuga court “I am a sovereign Mohawk man, and you have no jurisdiction over me.” Trevor is being represented by his lawyer Justin Griffin, as well as Stuart Myiow, a representative from the Mohawk Traditional Council of Kahnawake (MTCK).

As Trevor stood proudly in the witness booth, dressed in traditional regalia, he greeted the full courtroom of supporters who rose and stood in his honor. Grassy Narrows activist Bonnie Swain was also present, having traveled from her Ojibway territory, Northern Ontario, where the fight to stop clear-cutting on their lands by Abitibi Consolidated and Weyerhaeuser has been on-going since the blockade began in 2002.

The defense lawyer began the proceedings by stating that Trevor’s ongoing detention is contrary to the principles of due process and public justice outlined in colonial common law and the Canadian Charter of Rights. Mr. Griffin pointed to the court transcripts (which were not made available by the Crown earlier despite a court order), stating that the Crown misled the court and the police have withheld crucial video evidence. Although Judge Borkovich immediately dismissed this issue, he stated, “I would be prepared to grant him bail, but what gets me is that he doesn’t recognize this court’s jurisdiction…He can’t have it both ways. He must respect this court, if he wants respect for his sovereignty.”

Stuart Myiow of the MTCK intervened to address certain racist comments uttered by the Crown and explained to Judge Borkovich, “the initial act did come from Trevor. It is an act that is part of the continuing genocide that has been brought upon our people.” Mr. Myiow assured the judge that “if Trevor is released into our custody, we will guarantee that he attends other court dates”. In 1998, a Six Nations Mohawk man, facing charges of assault was released from the colonial court system proceedings and into the care of the Mohawk Traditional Council of Kahnawake. All charges were dropped in a pre-trial agreement.

The Crown’s rebuttal claimed that the risk was too high as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy had advised the accused not to appear in court, and Trevor had “fled his warrant.” He insisted on cross-examining Stuart Myiow to see how the supervision would take place, claiming that there are no legal consequences for the MTCK if Trevor were not to obey. Judge Borkovich denied the crown’s request and responded, “Why shouldn’t I believe this man’s word? The Mohawk Nation has its entire reputation at stake.” The sighs of relief and tears of joy overwhelmed the courtroom.

Judge Borkovich then granted Trevor’s release to the Mohawk Nation, and ordered a 10,000 deposit to be paid as well as two acceptable sureties. The judge also imposed a series of conditions which include keeping the peace, early curfew, non-association with co-accused, to remain 200m in distance from the land reclamation, no driving, and that he live and follow the rules of his aunt’s home.

Trevor must appear in court again on March 7, one day after the Superior court hearings for the jurisdictional challenge put forth by Kanohnstaton defender Erwin Ron Gibson, represented by his lawyer Stephen Ford.

Although there is a lot of organizing and fundraising to do, the months of agonising and worry for Trudy, Trevor’s mother, are over. “I feel so uplifted. When they said the words Mohawk Nation, I felt our power … we can do anything.”

Trevor Miller is among a growing number of young first nations activists who are taking action by directly challenging the colonial legal system, and raising the hopes of their elders and their people towards liberation.



Tears, Applause as Activist Freed

The following is one of several documents from the February 2007 report The Criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.

The Hamilton Spectator
CAYUGA (Feb 10, 2007)
by Paul Legall


Mohawk activist Trevor Miller pumped his fist into the air as he stepped out into the sunlight for his first breath of freedom in six months.

The 31-year-old, who had been involved in the occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision in Caledonia, had few words for reporters as he emerged from the Cayuga courthouse.

He had just put up $10,000 in cash and two aunts from the Six Nations reserve had each pledged $5,000 to secure his release on bail pending his trial on assault and robbery charges.

"Great. It's been a long time coming," he replied when a reporter asked how he felt.

"I prefer not to talk now. I prefer to be alone," he added as he walked away with his girlfriend.

But his mother, Trudy Miller, persuaded him to come back and have his picture taken with two native activists and his lawyer, Justin Griffin, as they posed with a Six Nations flag in front of the courthouse.

"I'm so proud of him," said Miller who had reached over the railing in the courtroom and hugged her son when she learned he would be getting out on bail.

"He made a stand nobody else had done. He opened a lot of doors." She said Trevor, who wore a Mohawk headdress in court, would be celebrating his release with a traditional native dinner of corn soup and scones.

Tears were streaming down Miller's face after he signed his release papers and finally walked through the railing into the arms of dozens of native and non-native supporters. After a loud round of applause, they all rushed up to hug and kiss him as he walked through the courtroom.

During his incarceration, he had been portrayed as a freedom fighter and political prisoner. He claimed he was defending Mohawk territory when the incident occurred that led to his being accused of assaulting and robbing two CH TV cameramen at a Canadian Tire parking lot in Caledonia on June 9.

He was arrested at the Grassy Narrows reservation north of Kenora on Aug. 8 and had been denied bail until he was released yesterday by Ontario Superior Court Justice Nick Borkovich.

During a bail review yesterday, Stuart Myiou of the traditional Mohawk council was allowed to address the judge on Miller's behalf. In the past, Myiou had offered to supervise Miller and guarantee his appearance in court if he were released on bail.

There was a gag order on yesterday's proceedings. But from the judge's comments during the proceedings, Miller's supporters assumed he was released in the custody of the traditional Mohawk council.

"The judge has shown considerable sensitivity to the situation. He's recognizing the Mohawk council," Griffin told reporters after the hearing.

He suggested Borkovich's remarks recognized the traditional Mohawk council as "the legitimate voice of the Mohawk nation" and that the judge's decision yesterday had set a precedent.

But Crown Attorney Larry Brock, who had opposed Miller's release, pointed out Miller's recognizance order makes no mention of the Mohawk council.

Therefore, Miller had no legal obligation to be under the supervision of the council.

Instead, the recognizance order requires him to live on the reserve with his aunt, Katherine Martin.

Martin and another aunt, Eleanor Miller, had each pledged $5,000 for his release.

As his sureties, they must make sure he abides by his bail conditions and shows up for court.

As part of his conditions, Miller was ordered to stay away from the CH TV cameramen, keep away from the Douglas Creek Estates protest, observe a curfew, have no weapons, abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs and not drive a vehicle.

He must return to court on March 7 to set a date for his preliminary hearing.



Jeff “Hawk” facing Canadian Courts Alone

The following is written by Donna Durlik and Lynda Powless, and first appeared in Turtle Island News on January 24th, 2007. It is one of several documents from the February 2007 report The Criminalization of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.

When a handful of women walked onto a housing development on the outskirts of Caledonia almost a year ago, Jeff “Hawk” was there.

Through the sub-zero temperatures and winter blizzards of 2006, the “hawk”, as he became known, was there.

When the spring rolled around, he was still there. A mainstay and almost a household name.

Jeff “Hawk” stood firm in his belief that Kanohnstaton is Six Nations lands.

“I asked my Clan mother, should I leave. Should I leave the site and forget about our land,” he says and that slow smile and twinkle in his eye that all his friends know, comes to the surface. “No way, she told me,” he says and laughs.

But he quickly turns serious. “I think now, if I hadn’t stayed there then, right up to April 20th when the OPP raided, if I hadn’t stayed with the women then, maybe, just maybe we wouldn’t be there where we are today with our chiefs at the negotiating table,” he says.

Jeff Hawk, a household name during the early months of the Six Nations Land Reclamation, has lost count of how many court appearances he has made since he was arrested during the OPP pre-dawn raids on April 20. […]

He’s the man who came out to the site the very first day when a small group of people including Dawn Smith and Janie Jameson walked onto the land in order to stop construction of the Douglas Creek Estates housing development on Feb.28th, 2006 saying the land was stolen from Six Nations illegally.

He’s the man who swore that the police would have to drag his body off the site in order to remove him (which they eventually did). He’s the man who bore freezing temperatures, knee-high snow and wind chills of -20C and below when there was nothing but tents to shelter them in order to fulfill his duty to protect the women and children of Kanohnstaton.

And now, the 28 year old father is going broke defending himself against charges of assault with a weapon, intimidation and causing a disturbance, charges that all stemmed from Kanohnstaton.

Hawk had been sleeping at the site the morning the OPP snuck onto a sleeping camp of protesters under the cover of darkness and arrested 16 people. He was one of only a handful of people that escaped being caught, but a few hours later, after hundreds of Six Nations people reclaimed the site from the OPP, Hawk’s luck ran out on him.

It was around 8 am when he says he noticed a young group of OPP officers heading toward the site entrance to the site off of Thistlemoor St., known as “O-Town” to people at the site.

“They were going around the back entrance and I wanted to see what the hell was going on.”

As he was running through the Canadian Tire parking lot, he says a non-native man came out of the store and started screaming at him.

“He was freaking out. He said, ‘why don’t you go back to where you f***ing came from. This is our town.’ I asked the police to remove him, but instead they attacked me.”

He says eight OPP officers shot him with a Taser and tackled him to the ground.

“As I was on the ground, they shot me again with the Taser saying I was resisting arrest. I was physically and verbally assaulted. They called me a gutless bastard and said I only did what I did because I had an audience. I’m dead serious,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it.”

He claims one officer shockingly thanked him for making it possible for the OPP office to use a Taser for the first time.

Hawk ended up suffering two fractured ribs, countless bruises and pinched nerves on his wrists from the handcuffs and Taser cuts to his back.

Police took him to the Cayuga detachment, where he was left waiting in a cruiser with the windows rolled up for at least three hours while they tried to process him. He said there was no room in the holding cells for him because they were full of other site supporters who had been arrested.

That morning was unusually hot at about 25C and Hawk says that he became dehydrated while waiting in the cruiser.

“The windows were all steamed up from my sweat,” he says.

Police finally processed him at noon, and he spent the night in custody. He phoned his wife, who he says was quite upset about the whole affair.

The next day, at 1 p.m., he received bail at the Ontario Superior Court in Cayuga with his aunt acting as his surety. It wasn’t until after that that he was able to go to the hospital for medical treatment. Doctors gave him painkillers, told him that the fractured ribs would heal on their own, and advised him to get further treatment for the pinched nerves.

He didn’t go back to the site.

“It had nothing to do with what the court said,” says Hawk, referring to one of his bail conditions that he not attend the site anymore. “My aunt strongly suggested I not go back and I didn’t. She had fear of me getting hurt far worse.”

Since then, he’s had numerous appearances in court, represented by Six Nations lawyer Debra Loft, but his case has gone nowhere.

“It’s still in the same state as day one. It’s been nothing but remand after remand. It’s doing nothing but costing me time and money.”

[…]

After the arrest, Hawk returned to his home in Caledonia to try and live a normal life. But the townspeople found out where he lived and began harassing him, he says.

His house was also under 24 hour surveillance by police, he says an OPP liaison officer told him.

He decided to leave the rented home after an incident in August in which Janie Jameson had gone to visit him in the early evening. Both of their kids were playing in the front yard when Jamieson said she heard one of them scream because an OPP officer was allegedly trying to climb Hawk’s fence. Three more OPP cruisers then drove by, and aboriginal OPP officer was contacted, and then a group of young men from the site rushed down argyle street toward hawk’s house on ATVs but then returned to the site shortly without incident.

Not long after, a group of Caledonia residents gathered on the sidewalk in front of his house shouting racial slurs and threatening to burn the house down, “with or without his family inside”, he claims.

“That’s when I said enough is enough. They found out where I lived. They said they didn’t want ‘troublemakers’ in their town. I left that night.”

He’s currently staying with his parents on Six Nations and his common-law wife and their five-year-old daughter are staying with the parents until they can find a place big enough to accommodate the young family.

He appeared in court last Wednesday for a resolution discussion between his lawyer and the crown to see if they can resolve the matter without a trial. However, the lawyers have yet to meet after canceling on each other twice, and the case was put over until Jan. 31st.

He said he’s dreading the thought of him going to jail and says that the charges against him are unjust.

“I hear that the crown’s asking for a year. I’m like a bag of nerved every day I come to court. I hope to beat the charges. I don’t care how much it costs.”



Saturday, February 10, 2007

Trevor Miller Released!

Aboriginal man released from custody
Feb, 09 2007 - 12:30 PM

CAYUGA (AM 900 CHML) - The aboriginal man charged with assault at the standoff in Caledonia has been released into the custody of the Mohawk traditional council.

Trevor Miller has been in jail for six months since his arrest in a northern Ontario reserve.

Miller's detention was a bone of contention among supporters of the Six Nations people, because he has been behind bars for so long.

He was charged with assault and two counts of robbery after two incidents in Caledonia in June.

One involved the assault of a television cameraman and another involved the theft of a U-S border patrol vehicle.

A judge said he doesn't see why Miller shouldn't be released.

The council said they guarantee that Miller will be in court for any future hearings.




Sunday, December 31, 2006

December 26th Update from Grand River

The following from Hazel Hill, at the Six Nations Reclamation Site just outside Caledonia:

Greetings!

It has been a few weeks since I last updated everyone and I have had
people e-mailing wondering what is happening.

Before I begin, I need to ask that those of you who forward and post this to your blogs, PLEASE do not change it.  I have had radio stations slandering me, discrediting me, only to find out that they had been duped and someone had sent them a "so-called update",  that had been drastically changed painting me out to be a racist etc.  I write what I SEE,  and while it may not be journalistically or grammatically correct, it is MY thoughts and MY feelings.  The message is being received and understood by everyone else who reads them, so there is no need to change them.  Perhaps this would also account for the Crown representatives who have been complaining about my updates to our Haudenesonne delegates.  They do not like my updates and are concerned that they could be construed as coming from the "negotiations".  So as a matter of clarification, when I update the people, which IS what my job is, I update based on looking at things from the Eagles perspective.   It is not from a politicians perspective, and it is not from the Chiefs or delegates perspective.  It is  from the perspective of one who can bring herself away from the table of discussions and look onto the situation and look beyond the words that are being said, and look at the actions of the Crown and from that, put on paper the words from my heart and from my instincts, of  what is really going on.  So for the federal government to have made issue with my updates, not just once, but several times, tells me that I AM DOING MY JOB!  One thing I made clear at the beginning of my attending the meetings is that I report to the PEOPLE.  There is no such thing as confidentiality when it comes to the  Haudenesonne.  Our people counsel in honesty and openness and that is how we will continue.  For us to state otherwise, will only lend to question what it is that we have to hide.  I report to the Clanmothers and Chiefs on what I am doing, and answer any questions that they have, and I will continue to do so.  My obligation is to the People, and to keep them informed.  These updates are for all of the Haudenesonne who are spread across Turtle Island and cannot attend meetings or council to be updated.  They are for the millions of Onkwehonweh across the world who are reading and watching and counting on the Haudenesonne to uphold their responsiblities to Creation in order to help bring about Justice for all the Onkwehonweh.  More importantly, my updates are for the Creator.  To do what I believe is what is the highest good of ALL concerned.  Not in the interest of any individual or Nation.  This is about the PEACE that was intended for ALL.  I have been put on this earth to answer only to the Creator and to do the job that he set me on this earth to do.  It is not for any one to question, it is between me and the Creator, and while some may not appreciate my perspective or my thoughts, OH WELL, cause I am not here to please anyone either.

Having said that, the first thing I have to take issue with, IS the Federal representatives reason for taking issue with my updates.  Their concern was with my use of the word Genocide and how I refer to their actions as "the continuance of the genocidal practices of the Crown".  Well, HELLLLOOOO!   Spot it you got it I say.  Perhaps they took issue with the fact that it is the TRUTH, and while they might not like it, it is a FACT.  One of their legal representatives is apparently Jewish and felt that my use of the word was inappropriate becuase of the suffering of the Jews at the hands of Hitler.  Well as a matter of clarification, Hitler studied the Onkwehonweh and while I have been told that he liked how our people lived and how our law worked, he also seen how Western Civilization treated the Onkwehonweh, and he modelled the treatment of the Jews after THAT and so YES!, Geneocide is an ugly word, but no one people can take ownership of the word, and those that do, need to study a bit more of where it comes from and how it even became a word in the english dictionary in the first place.  It came from the treatment of the Onkwehonweh by those who invaded our homelands and tried to wipe us out for their own benefit and gain.  So as far as I'm concerned, the Crown IS continuing with its genocidal practices because of its insistance on thinking it has some sort of governance over our people, which they do not; and by their refusal to uphold the Treaties to which their ancestors swore to, which they are obligated to do.  You can't just have it your way.  They want us to acknowledge all of the agreements and treaties that benefit their people, but the moment we remind them that that Silver Covenant Chain can rattle in both directions, they close their eyes and ears.  Well, our people are tired of it, and we are not going to tolerate it any longer.  The Crown needs to ensure that the representatives that they send to the table to talk, are one's that have the ability to make a decision, not one's that are there to bide time while they try to figure out a way to get out of it.  Barbara McDougal herself told Teka reporter Jim Windell that she is not there to negotiate or make decisions.  So again, what is it that the taxpayers are paying these big dollars for???????????  For the last ten months they have been dancing around and talking about everything BUT the issue at hand.  The Land.  We've talked about blockades, fences, buffer zones, governance, 4-wheelers, flashing lights and flags.  When are we going to get to the heart of everything.  You stole our land, we've proven it.  What is there to negotiate?  We took it back and there is nothing to talk about other then when are you giving the rest back.   Or do we have to come and take that too?    When have you ever seen a car thief negotiate with the owner over when and how to give it back.  This whole process is ridculous!  All I know is that the People are getting tired of being led down the garden path once again and in July when the barricades came down, we gave our delegates a few months to deal with it.  It has been well past a few months and it is time that the Crown representatives remembered that the delegates that have been chosen to sit at the table with them are exactly that, delegates.  I have heard our delegates remind the Crown representatives that they can only hold the people back for so long.  I know that the PEOPLE are definitely not happy about the apparent lack of good will on the part of the Crown, and if the people so choose, we may have to send in more convincing delegates to get the message across.

And talk about messages.  Gary McHale has been on a campaign to prove that there is a two-tiered justice system when it comes to the Native people and he has finally proven himself right.  He is a walking talking evidence of the two tiered justice that exists within Canada's so called democracy and its treatment of native people.    He has been weebling in and out of the reclamation situation by holding marches, demonstrations, and setting up his web page campaign to try and undermine our people's position, and to get out his propoganda.  His latest venture was using the Canadian Troops with his flag campaign.  Well, he got what he wanted.  He proved that there IS a two-tiered justice.  Gary was arrested and released WITHOUT condition.  Every single "Native" person that was arrested with respect to the reclamation of OUR lands near Caledonia, had the condition "not to return to Douglas Creek" as part of their release.  If the Crown's agents of the Courts really wanted Gary McHale to go away and stop interfering in what is NONE OF HIS BUSINESS, they could have easily directed him with the same conditions as our people have been given.  Stay away from Douglas Creek.  I guess the Crown doesn't want him to stay away because with the Gary McHales of the world, there is no guarantee of PEACE,  and he has been given a "get out of jail free card" to allow him the freedom to continue to manipulate and undermine the Peace by instigating trouble.  Good job Gary, thanks for proving our point.

Along side of Gary McHale are the homeowners who claim that the "Native's from the Site" broke into their home and vandalized it.  They have Mayor Trainer of Caledonia and MP Toby Barrett going on national television, and in their house of commons blaming our people for the vandalism and continuing with their claims that there is no peace within Caledonia, and that they are constantly being terrorized.  It does'nt take a genious to figure out that perhaps there is some dirty pool going on with this so-called break in.  First of all, if there was truly a break-in and vandalism, WHY would you compromise the evidence by inviting CH TV Channel 11 in to take footage, and have half the neighbourhood in there trapsing through and eliminating  ny chance of the police being able to do a thorough investigation because you've compromised the crime scene.  Also, if it was one of our people from the site,  there should be alot of mud in the crime scene and foot prints leading to and from the house as they claim the 'individuals' ran out the back when they got home and went into the reclamation site.  Our men did our own invesitation and can clearly see there were no footprints leading to or from the house from the site, and for all of those who came to the site when the homeowners had the media and their supporters there claiming the natives had broken in, calling us names and holding signs that read "Peaceful People my Ass", everyone who was on the site had their shoe sizes enhanced by a couple of sizes from the mud that caked on their shoes from walking in the field next to the house,  so don't tell me that anyone from the site did this.  It was a staged set up, and poorly done I might add.  They're either stupid or think we are.  Our people are fully prepared to co-operate with the police to ensure that this is investigated thoroughly because we know it wasn't any of our people from the site, and we know a set up when we see one.  This is the same crap that was pulled in Kanesetake during 1990 trying to use the media as a negotiating tool and to play out their political bs at the expense of the Onkwehonweh.  In this particular case, it has been alleged that the homeowners want to be bought out and the government won't answer to their demands for an outrageous amount of money.  It is also been alleged that the three times they claim that the "natives from the site" stole their Canadian flag off of their lawn,  they were seen by police removing the flag itself, and then calling in a false police report.  I think that the politicians who are supporting these slanderous accusations against our people need to think about who and what they are supporting (unless they are part of the plan) because at this point, perhaps we should go ahead and jump into the boat and into their court system with charges of slander against our people and sue them for everything they got, including their homes that are sitting on land that already belongs to us.  The only terroristic action that is happening near Kanesthaton, is that brought on when the instigators from outside try to come in and insite trouble, or when the politicians who think they are doing something for their people, continue with their lied filled campaigns based on slanderous gossip and  who are both supported and allowed to report it as facts by irresponsible news media.  So, a message from our people, go ahead and continue with your plots of deception, keep on trying to prove to the world that we are an evil people as your latest blog "faces of evil" tried to imply, because when you live and answer to the Creator, you live without fear.  We have nothing to hide.  We have simply stated the facts.  The land is ours.  The road which you hang your flags on is ours.  The business which you are claiming millions of dollars of losses on, is a result of the racism and hatred shown against our people that has caused our people not to shop in your stores anymore.  It is not a result of barricades and it isn't based on fear from the outside townspeople coming in to shop, because they continue to come to Six Nations.  It is your own doing.  It is your mayors doing.  It is because you did not understand or respect the fact that the Haudenesonne,  whom you want the army brought in to eliminate, are the very people who supported and kept your business running by our spending our money in your community.

I also wanted to touch on the whole "faces of evil" thing.  There was a recent blog which was allegedly started by the same individual from London Ontario who supports Gary McHale and who apparently scanned different pictures of our people and our supporters to create a little video depicting so-called "faces of evil".  I didn't get to watch it because by the time I tried to view it, it had been shut down.  But the whole thing about our people being evil was started a few months ago within our own community by the elected chief and his political advisor after the band council voted to stop paying the salary of this particular legal advisor and took him out of his position. ( Note however, that the individual is still out there speaking on behalf of the Six Nations, and still wanders around the band administration building as any other employee even though he supposedly was taken off payroll........what gives!? )   It was an attempt at a smear campaign to undermine the position of the people at Kanehstaton, it was done out of anger to try and get our people to stop supporting the site, and somehow try to stop the movement of the people at forcing the crown to deal with our only true government, the Haudenesonne.  The people, through our traditional council.  As a matter of fact, it was implied that our traditional council was evil.  It was an ill fated attempt to smear some of the people who supported us financially.  It was and continues to be used as a tool by those who want to discredit the Haudenesonne in order to perpetuate the fraud of the crown in its insistance at dealing with the illegal entity known as the elected band council.  I understand that there was something out there with my own name attached to it, that an individual was calling me evil.  I don't know because I didn't read it, I was only told about it.  It doesn't matter.  What matters is that it is right in line with what has been prophescized.  That we, the Haudenesonne,  would be called evil.  That we would referred to as the "666" which apparently one of the article's was referring to the "6-6-6 Nations".  I have been told by many elders in the past, that this time would come,  and that those who truly work for the Creator would clearly be separated from those that don't.  I guess that time is now, and those individuals are showing themselves.

Finally,  I want to talk about this holiday season in particular and how deeply it has effected me.  For many years, I have struggled with Christmas, and have tried to teach my children the truth about this season, and how I see it.  That for the Christian people, it is a time to celebrate Christs birth, and to enjoy Peace on Earth.  And yet, for the Onkwehonweh, this is something that we are suppose to live our life by.  Every day.  Not just one day of the year.  Just like many of the other Christian/Calendar holidays.  Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc. Why would you only honour your mother and father on one day of the year.  So why do we only acknowledge this person, Christ, who gave his life for your sins, only one day of the year. In our teachings, He was known as the Peacemaker, and the Kaienerekowah, this Great Law,  is the Law or Message of Peace that he brought to help us to live our life by. It is symbolized by the Great White Pine Tree with an Eagle sitting at the top.

I'll share with you this story I was told and then I will explain why.  I was told that when the Peacemaker came and our people accepted the Peace, He then told us that He was going to go across the great big waters and deliver this same message to the people over there.  He left instructions for our people to cut a notch out of the Great White Pine every day, and if one day that Pine was to bleed, we would know that those people did not accept the Peace and that they had killed Him.  So every day, our people cut the notch out of the tree, and finally, there came a day when that Pine did bleed.  Our people were angry and set out to build a big raft and were going to go across those great waters and kill the people that had killed our Peacemaker.  But while they were building this raft, the Peacemaker returned to them in spirit and told them not to go across to kill those people. He reminded them of the Peace that we had accepted.  He showed them the holes in his hands and feet, and the crown of thorns on his head and he warned our people that there would come a time when those people would come across the waters to our homelands and it was up to us if we welcomed them and helped them.  He also warned our people to beware of the man carrying the black book.

This is something that has never left my mind.  It was not the book itself that he warned us of.  It was the man who carried the black book, and just like anything written, it can be changed and manipulated to control people. And like everything else in the battle of good vs. evil, right handed twin vs. left handed twin, everything that was good that the right handed twin did, the left handed twin has to undermine.  So too has this message of Peace been undermined.  This celebration of Peace, that was given to all people,  was never intended to be commercialized, nor was it intended only to be acknowledged only one day out of the year.  The Eagle, representing the Onkwehonweh who have the responsiblity to uphold that peace,  that rests on top of the Great Tree;  was replaced by the Star of David, and the Message of Peace has been replaced by commercialization and the giving of presents.  It has become something that is used to further the stress and hardship of the people by putting pressure on parents to go into debt to buy presents for their children based on what?!  On Peace?  No wonder statistics show that Christmas time has the highest rate of suicide because we are buying into the fraud and continue to teach our children this fraud.  So when I was on my way home from town on Christmas Eve with my daughter, and I had just hung up the phone with my husband who was at the site at Kanehstaton, and I was thinking of the people at the site, who weren't at home with their families enjoying foods and celebrations, but who were there on that site maintaining our position and upholding the Law that Creator gave to us, my tears began to fall.  When she asked if I was ok, I told her how I felt.  How hypocritical I felt because how I know that this whole Christmas Season is just a fisaude, and that those people who were at the site were doing exactly what the Creator intended for us to do and what we are obligated to do and how this Peace that we speak of isn't suppose to be only acknowledged one day of the year, and that it isn't about presents, and that even though my tree at home has an Eagle on it rather than a Star, am I truly upholding what the Creator intended by continuing that fisaude.  I cried alot of tears that night.  But my tears were not for the people at the site,  they were for the rest of us.  Again, just MY thoughts.  And while everyone at Kanehstaton knows my heart and my spirit is with them even when I can't be, I want to acknowledge all of them who are staying on the site full time, and I want the rest of the world to know that those individuals have my deepest respect because of their committment and dedication to the Onkwehonweh, to our Sovereignty, to the Kaierenekowah and to the Creator.

I am truly inspired by you all!
Nya Weh Kowah!

For now, that is it for my update.  I was asked to give some thought about the new year, and perhaps share some of what I envision for the Onkwehowehonweh.  What I envision is a time of change for the Onkwehonweh.  I can see the Unity and Peace growing and the Haudenesonne slowly taking back their responsiblities and rightful place in the Governance of the People, and I see the People, knowing it is OUR responsiblity, making sure that this is what happens.  I see the Crown finally recognizing that it is the People who are the government and that they can continue to try and manipulate individuals and the elective system, but they will never manipulate nor dictate to the Onkwehonweh. I know for myself, and in speaking with some of the women who are part of the "negotiations" both band council as well as traditional, we are committed to having more community meetings and updating the people so they are more directly involved with what is going on.

My biggest message is to all of our supporters.  For it is with all of you that recognition must be given.  When I stood with the Women & Clanmothers in that circle and we sent out the message to re-kindle the Fire of Peace back in April,  and I look at how far our message of Peace has reached, and how truly amazing times that we are in and what an impact that this is having on the World,  It is all of you that we have to thank.  So Nya Weh Kowah to all of you who accepted that Peace and who share that Message with others.  Nya Weh to all of those who have supported Kanehstaton through your financial donations, through your encouraging words, and through your prayers.  All of you are greatly appreciated and thought of in our prayers as well.

In Love, Light and Peace,


Hazel



Monday, December 18, 2006

Nazis at Caledonia

While most of the people who have demonstrated against the Six Nations Reclamation outside Caledonia are your run of the mill settler chauvinists, content to believe the oh-so-convenient racist myth that this land all belongs to them, there have also been some fascists and neo-nazis spotted.

The relationship between settler chauvinism, white supremacism, and fascism is a fluid one, and while it would be a serious mistake to view all racists as being actual fascists, in times of political crisis its a transition which can happen very quickly indeed.

Here are two videos shot at recent racist settler demonstrations, in which the fascists can be spotted. Gotta love the dude explaining that the National Alliance is just a "free speech" organization!












Sunday, December 17, 2006

[Toronto] December 18th Demonstration to Free Trevor Miller!

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FREE TREVOR MILLER:
FAMILY AND SUPPORTERS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE IN TORONTO:
SIX NATIONS MOHAWK POLITICAL PRISONER REMAINS BEHIND BARS
---------------------------------------------------------

Demonstration
Monday, December 18th, 2006
7:30 AM onwards
720 Bay Street
(Just north of Gerrard St.)
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On Monday, December 18, 2006, family members, friends, and supporters of Trevor Miller, a Six Nations Mohawk of the Turtle Clan, will gather at the Attorney General of Ontario's Head Office, to call for the immediate release of the indigenous political prisoner, held in a Hamilton jail for more than four months.

After being arrested near Grassy Narrows for charges related to the Six Nations Land Reclamation adjacent to Caledonia in southern Ontario, Trevor, 31, has been denied bail and no trial date has been set.  This week, he was again ordered to remain in custody by none other than Justice T. David Marshall, an Ontario Superior Court judge who issued the injunction against the Six Nations Reclamation of the "Douglas Creek Estate", leading to an OPP raid, and whose continued efforts to suspend the on-going negotiations between the Six Nations peoples and the Canadian government were sharply overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday.

In the recent court appearance, Trevor asserted that he is not a Canadian citizen, but a Mohawk and a member of the Six Nations, clarifying that the Ontario court has no jurisdiction over him. He asked to be allowed to leave with his people and maintained that he was being held against the terms of the two row wampum.  Stuart Myiow, of the Traditional Mohawk Council, requested that Miller be released to the traditional Council
which will guarantee his appearance at all forthcoming court hearings. (There is precedent for this as the Traditional Mohawk Council has intervened in previous court hearings and had prisoners released to them.)

In light of the continued detention of Trevor, preventing him from being with his three children, family members will travel from Six Nations to gather with friends and supporters outside the Attorney General's office on Monday, to demand Trevor's release and his right to be governed by the laws of his people.

Demonstration
Monday, December 18th, 2006
7:30 AM onwards
720 Bay Street
(Just north of Gerrard St.)

Media contact person: Trudi Miller, Trevor's mother, 519.717.3674

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just in case anyone missed this in my last post...



Support Grows for Trevor Miller

A couple of weeks ago i reposted an item from Indymedia about Mohawk political prisoner Trevor Miller. Miller was arrested at a protest at Grassy Narrows on August 9th and was charged with being part of an incident between Six Nations men from the Reclamation Site outside of Caledonia and two CH TV cameramen who happened to be in the Canadian Tire parking lot to film the confrontation. One of the cameramen was injured in the fracas that ensued. (i posted on this incident at the time, if you need your memories refreshed...)
Until recently, Miller received very little support, be it financial or political. During his four months behind bars he has suffered ongoing harassment, and has been told repeatedly that he will be released if only he pleads guilty, but that his continuing defiance could land him a fifteen year prison sentence. Nevertheless, he has remained steadfast in his position that the Canadian government does not have any jurisdiction over him.

Following a letter written by Trevor, in which he questioned the lack of support he has received, and signed “The Forgotten Warrior,” the situation has improved. Supporters, including members of the Traditional Mohawk Council, packed the courthouse on Trevor’s last two court appearances, on November 29th and December 11th, and there was a spirited picket line to support Trevor outside the Hamilton Detention Centre on the 9th. (For videos of these events, see here.)

A leaflet has been designed, that can be downloaded in PDF format, explaining both Trevor’s case and the context of the Six Nations Land Reclamation.

On December 12th Jaggi Singh, of CKUT-Montreal’s NO One Is Illegal Radio programme, interviewed Trevor’s mother Trudi Miller. (You can listen to an mp3 of this where i have mirrored it here, or else on the Radio4all site.)

And tomorrow, family and supporters of Trevor are going to be holding a demonstration from 7:30am on, outside the Ontario Attorney General’s Head Office, at 720 Bay Street in Toronto (just north of Gerrard), demanding Trevor’s release, and his right to be governed by the laws of his own people.

More to come...



Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Deepening Resistance, Upping the Anti



Upping the Anti is a radical journal, weaving together strands of non-party Marxism and grassroots anti-authoritarian praxis with some very interesting results. Here is how i describe it in my new catalog:

Upping the Anti #3 (November 2006 - 184 pages) The most recent issue of this radical journal from Canada includes interviews with Aijaz Ahmad (“The Anti-Imperialism of our Times”) and William Robinson (“Latin America vs. Global Capitalism”), articles by AK Thompson (“Making Friends With Failure” - thoughts about Richard Day’s book Gramsci Is Dead), Isabel MacDonald (“Haiti: Adventures in Colonialism”), RJ Maccani (“The Zapatistas: Enter the Intergalactic”) and Jen Plyler (“How To Keep On Keeping On” about sustainable modes of long-term community activism). Also, a fascinating roundtable discussion about the struggle at Six Nations and the possibilities and limitations of non-indigenous solidarity. Book reviews of Sociology for Changing the World (Caelie Frampton et al.), Outlaws of America (Dan Berger) and Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My life and times in a racist, imperialist society (Inga Muscio).

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Like issues one and two, UTA3 contains interviews with movement intellectuals (some “organic,” some academic), articles by activists, and “roundtable discussions” with comrades involved in contemporary radical politics across Canada. It’s a winning combination, with the interviews and roundtables especially providing an accessible format for dealing with some very important issues, ranging from theory to practice and back again. Certainly not an academic publication (that’s a compliment btw), Upping the Anti is well written and touches on complex questions, providing much food for thought.

Issue number three starts off with a thoughtful editorial, Growing Pains: The Anti-Globalization Movement, Anti-Imperialism and the Politics of the United Front – an analysis of the state of the movement and then some. The authors do a good job at summarizing the “anti-globalization moment” of 1997-2001, and examining the differences between politics at that time and the anti-war movement today. More than just a trip down memory lane, this is an ambitious text, one which stakes out positions and tries to define terms.

The most useful part, for me, was how Growing Pains explores the tension between the “pedagogy of confrontation” (associated with the anti-globalization movement) and the politics of “the united front” (associated with the anti-war movement today). To discuss this properly would require a separate post, but to (greatly) summarize, the pedagogy of confrontation involves more aggressive tactics and politics aimed at empowering people and getting results, as “people will be moved to action once it is demonstrated that action is both possible and effective.” (35) The united front, on the other hand, is concerned with not alienating less radical people, pursuing “minimum demands while at the same time arguing against the limitations of the minimal platform.” (34)

It’s a good lens through which to examine movements, more fruitful (at the present time) than either the anarchist/socialist or reformist/revolutionary ones.

That said, Growing Pains seems to stretch a little too far, proposing that we need to transcend the “politics of responsibility to the Other” and use “dialectical images” as a way of moving forwards. While i agree with some of what i understood, it felt like the argument should have either been pared down or else given an extra few pages to fully explain what the authors mean. As it is, the logic seems a bit too fast and some of the examples a bit too easy, leaving this reader unsure if he had understood everything that was being said.

A good beginning nevertheless. Even if - or perhaps especially because – one may have to read it a few times to grasp what is being said. Editorials are often bland little things where the people behind a publication fly their flag and pretend to be important, indulging in their favourite platitudes – Growing Pains is several cuts above that.

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In previous issues the best parts of Upping the Anti were the interviews and roundtables, and #3 is no exception.

UTA3 features interviews with Aijaz Ahmad and William I. Robinson, each of whom discuss different questions pertaining to different parts of the world, but nevertheless return to some common concerns. I’m not sure if this was the intention of the UTA crew or just happy happenstance, but they work well side by side.

Ahmad, a leading Marxist academic from the Indian subcontinent, defends the need for a revolutionary party, argues that communists should immerse themselves in practical struggles responding to the needs of the oppressed, and briefly describes the different factions within right-wing anti-imperialist Islam. There is a lot going on here, and this interview could have easily been twice as long – as it stands parts of it feel more like a tease than anything else... (lucky me, i notice a local library has several of Ahmad’s books...)

Robinson’s interview is less far-ranging, focusing on the “turn to the left” in Latin America and the nature of global capitalism. Like Ahmad, Robinson argues that revolutionaries should not abandon the struggle for State power, while stressing that it is only because of the extra-parliamentary pressure from the masses that even “progressive” governments are enabled (or forced?) to stand up to global capitalism. Particularly interesting was his discussion of capital’s separation from the nation-state, and the strategic importance of indigenous struggles today – though again, each could have been discussed in quite a bit more detail.

If both of these interviews touch upon the question of the State, it would be misleading to pretend that this is a preoccupation of the journal as a whole. UTA is clearly situated within the non-party radical left, and i understand these dialogues as being a positive byproduct of an ongoing openness to the experiences and lessons of intelligent people, regardless of their precise tendency.

While the interviews with Ahmad and Robinson were very interesting, the Six Nations Roundtable is probably the most important part of UTA3, as a document from a struggle actually going on within/against Canada today. As readers of this blog will know, the people of Six Nations have been involved in a historic struggle to reclaim their land along the Grand River, a struggle which has had as its flashpoint the settler town of Caledonia, where this year Six Nations people managed to put a stop to real estate development on their land through a ten-month occupation.

UTA3’s Six Nations section starts out with a summary by Tom Keefer of the situation at the Kanenhstaton (Protected Place) reclamation site, providing an overview of what this struggle is about and what has happened, both during the “hot points” (a massive police raid, racist settler rallies, etc.) and the less dramatic day-to-day.

This is followed by an interview with Degunohdohgae (Brian Skye), a member of the Cayuga Nation who explains the significance of the Reclamation within the struggle against Canadian colonialism. Degunohdohgae also describes the positive role of solidarity from non-indigenous people.

It is this question of solidarity which constitutes the real focus of the entire Roundtable. Which is an honest thing to do, as UTA is a not an indigenous journal, but one mainly written by and directed towards the settler left. So the rest of the Roundtable consists of an interview with Jan Watson, a white woman from Caledonia who has been active in organizing against the rise of racism in the settler community, and with three members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

It is the discussion with OCAP members that is particularly interesting, as these are anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian activists – people from the same broad tendency as UTA – discussing their own perceived strengths and weaknesses in regards to providing solidarity with Six Nations.

The question of solidarity, what it means and what its limitations are, is one which has been grappled with for years by comrades in North America. It has been of particular saliency to white activists, as so many of the heaviest struggles do not obviously involve us, and so many of us find ourselves more often in the position of “privileged outsider” than actual protagonist. The middle class complexion of the white left combined with the retreat of feminism and queer liberation onto the terrain of cultural politics just exacerbates this situation. And when we have gotten solidarity wrong, we have sometimes done more damage than the State itself...

So while these issues are addressed in relationship to events at Six Nations, there are some lessons here that will be familiar to many.

For instance, i can certainly relate to this observation by A.J. Withers:

It is very challenging as an outsider to negotiate the need for me to be in my place as a supporter and still be myself. In the beginning I acted very differently than I do now as I increasingly feel confident in myself and my actions. My desire to be pleasing when I first started going meant that I actually behaved poorly. Because I was afraid I would offend someone. I wasn’t as honest as I could have been, even when I was being asked for my opinion. That wasn’t fair to anyone. (161)

Many of us have struggled with this racist tendency to tailor ourselves to what we think people want us to be, making ourselves in fact disingenuous allies. Which is no way to be a real ally at all.

The discussion with OCAP folk has a refreshing lack of defensiveness, and participants seem to share a sincere desire to be honest about the racist errors that solidarity activists so often stumble into. Here is another useful observation Withers makes:

It is important to remember that we [non-native supporters] are not and never will be the central players in this movement. Solidarity work is not in itself liberatory, only the struggles of the people directly affected will see their liberation.

I think that it is key that we take leadership from native people and that we ensure that we are taking it from the people, not a few people. It isn’t hard, in a community of a few thousand, to find someone to tell you what you want to hear and call that leadership. It is hard to try and figure out what an actual community wants and do that. (163)

Of course, this in itself is not a perfect response. After all, “the community” is rarely monolithic. Acting on behalf of “the community” can translate into acting on behalf of those who have more power or prestige and have hegemony, rather than those whose struggle bears with it the greatest potential for liberation.

In certain situations the correct thing for revolutionaries to do is not to respect the wishes of the majority, but to ally with those people we have the most in common with, even though they may only be a minority.

I am not talking specifically about Six Nations here, nor am i talking about intervening in other people’s societies – in fact regardless of our alliances, i think we definitely should not intervene to boost those we consider the “most revolutionary” – but the basis of our alliance should go beyond simple solidarity. It should be based on a shared position of struggle, and with that grounding it should be with those whose struggles intersect with our own. With an eye to spotting class differences, and pushing against the capitalist grain that keeps our perspective pointed upwards, we must turn our sight to the most oppressed.

This kind of politics, which in bygone days would have been called “internationalism,” is clearly reflected in several things the OCAP comrades had to say. For instance, quoting Withers again:

The obvious connection to OCAP’s anti-poverty work is that a lot of Native people are poor, especially in the cities. [...] More than being about poverty, though, connecting anti-poverty and Native rights movements is about building resistance. Aside from there being a lot of poor Natives, poor people and First Nations people have a great deal in common in regards to our issues, struggles and repression we face. (156)

Or as Josh Zucker recalls:

I remember the first conversation I had with anyone at the reclamation site was about welfare rates. It was the first day I was there and I was talking with a man named John about when he lived on the streets in Toronto. He told me point blank that we should be fighting to get the welfare rates raised in Toronto and so we talked a bit about the OCAP “Raise the Rates” campaign. The connection is obvious. Native people live in extreme poverty unknown in many other communities across the country. (156-7)

As Stefanie Gude explains:

Our relationship to supporting indigenous struggle, as an organization, is centered on our own struggle against the government, for welfare, disability, housing, access to health care – a fight for respect and dignity, against poverty and oppression. (160)

Finally, Gude reminds us that:

Non-native activists need to understand that indigenous struggle will never be won because of the actions of settlers. We need to understand our responsibility to fight the racism and power on the settler side, which may not be the most glamorous or exciting part of the fight, but a part of it only we can and should do. Many people who spent time at the site or who came together to plan support for the reclamation here in Toronto are rooted in struggles of their own. This is one of the reasons why we came together, because we are already fighting. This is also one of the reasons why it is hard, albeit crucial, to support the six Nations peoples. You can’t drop your own fight – because it is exactly that which grounds you and offers one way to understand why indigenous struggle is so crucial and what your role supporting it should be.  (167)

These are all important points, positions which are the product of past generations of struggle. They don’t add up to anything particularly complicated or awe-inspiring, just a basic call to work within one’s own community, wherever that might be, and to use one’s grounding there as a basis for forging alliances with other people in struggle.

My one criticism of the Six Nations section as a whole is that, given its focus on solidarity, it could have benefited from a summary of what forms solidarity has taken. The roundtable format has important strengths, but because of its emphasis on subjective experience it is best tempered with more “objective” informational piece. This would make it easier to see how some of the self-criticisms advanced by the interviewees played out in concrete ways. References are made to spending too much time at the cookhouse, and insufficient ties to First Nations people in Toronto (where OCAP is based, 100km from the Reclamation site), but for people from other communities who have not followed this struggle closely, the relevance of this may not be clear.

Given that this section is a good historical document that comrades could learn from in future struggles, it should be noted that this shortcoming will be only grow in importance as time goes on. In this vein, i would recommend for instance Tom Keefer’s article Caledonia's fifth column: white anti-racism in solidarity with Six Nations which appeared in the August 2006 issue of Briarpatch magazine, which provides a good deal of background information and context to the debates around solidarity with Six Nations.

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Upping The Anti continues to be a welcome source of ideas for North American, and specifically Canadian, activists... and i haven’t even mentioned the articles about Canadian imperialism in Haiti, about the Zapatistas, or about sustainable habits of activism – perhaps in a future post!

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

December 7th Update from Grand River

The following update from Hazel Hill from the Six Nations reclamation site just outside of Caledonia:


Good Morning from Grand River.  I know everyone has been wondering what is happening with negotiations and our land reclamation of Kanonhstaton.

Since I last wrote after our November 14th Lands Side Table, there has been no meetings so nothing really to report.  Unfortunately, we had another death in one of our Clanmothers family's and so our meetings that were scheduled for the end of November were cancelled.  They have been re-scheduled to December 13th and 14th and we will see then how the Crown responds to our presentation of our documents and historical evidence as provided through our Wampum and Oral History at our last meeting.  

Clearly the Crown has found itself in a dilemma since we have presented the TRUTH.  They know for a FACT that the title for Plank Road (also known as Argyle Street and formerly #6 Highway) itself still rests with the Six Nations/Haudenesonne, they cannot contest this.  They also know that the so-called land surrender that they are resting their entire case on is merely minutes of a council meeting with no order in council to support it, and no legal grounds to support it. they also know that the Indian agent at the time who was drafting these fraudulent surrenders, was also the individual who was translating them to the Six Nations, and who clearly was telling the Chiefs one thing, and then recording it as something else.  This is not a new practice.  Our Chiefs pointed out several times in history how this was done, including the Nanfan Treaty, the Simcoe Deed, many areas that the Crown, when realizing that they still were'nt satisified with our generosity and good-will, needed to not only take more of our lands, but to create their own patents so that they could take ownership of them.  This is no more valid then as it would be today, and yet the Crowns Legal Advisors have told them that they have a valid surrender.  Most of their principal negotiators continue to mislead the people of Caledonia telling them that they have a presented a bill of sale for the lands and that the Six Nations will not get it back.  The politicians of today are speaking with the same forked tongue as the Indian agents back then did. They do not know how to speak the truth.  They cannot look their people in the eye and tell them that their ancestors lied cheated and stole to get what they have today, and they cannot tell them that their True Landlords are the very people who have been treated with such disrespect, racial discrimination and have been the victim of many hate crimes and antagonistic behaviours since the land reclamation began in February.        

You know, one of the things I forgot to tell you about from our last meeting was one of the most significant events since we've begun.  Our people decided to see what the crown representatives would do when put in the same situation our people were in during the 1800's.  Jock had put together a document written in the Cayuga Language that outlined our presentation that day.  He stood and read this document to the Crown representatives in the traditional language, and then he translated it into english for them.  He also asked them to sign this document to verify that they had heard this presentation today.  None of the Crown representatives would sign.  At that point Jock then thanked them for proving our point.  

Our ancestors were faced with this throughout our history, with Crown representatives being the ones who not only drafted the documents, but also translated it, having the opportunity to give false information to our people.  The difference being is our people trusted the Crown, and this is where we went wrong.  They were continually being scammed and mislead, and the evidence was clearly represented that day because what was written and what was handed down orally through our history was not the same thing.  After he thanked them for proving that point, Federal Representative Ron Doering put "His X Mark" on the paper.  While again, he did so only after being shown that this was how they frauded our people.  It would be very easy for anyone to put an "X" mark there, and for us to write down who it was and what their role was.  As a matter of fact, that is what we intended to do to show them how we can see through the veil of deception of the past.  Jock told them, we were going to get you to put your "X" mark there and we would give you an Indian Name to describe who you are.  He also told them that we could have written that you just signed all of Canada back to our people, and you have no way of knowing because it is not your language of understanding.  Just as it wasn't our ancestors language of understanding and again, our ancestors trusted your people. Today we know better. This is one of the reasons why I've always said, and quoted Pope John Paul II, it’s not the LAW, it's only paper.    

Today, we are faced with having to deal with all of this.  However, many things have progressed and continue to progress.  At last Chiefs Council meeting there were at least six development companies that have come to our Traditional Council in hopes of finding a way to begin consulting with the Landowners as opposed to the Crown.  Interestingly enough, each of those developers have stated that the Crown representatives continue to mislead them.  In this case every single one of them mentioned that the lead provincial negotiator Jane Stewart continues to tell them that they need only to consult with the band council.  I guess the Crown hasn't clearly understood what is happening in our community as well as across the country and the world with respect to the Onkwehonweh.  The PEOPLE have said they have had enough.  We are no longer going to tolerate the Crowns interference in our governance.  The band council does not represent the people.  Please understand that it is not the individual people within that system who are at fault, they have been mislead into believing this is the government because this is what the Crown, and its corporation of Canada has set up.  It is the system itself that has been developed to do exactly what it has done, to undermine the authority of our traditional government, our people, for one thing; but also to assimilate our people into canadian society so that the crown will never have to answer to its crimes.  This is why the people have stood and will not back down.  It is not a personal attack against the Elected Chief, or the elected councillors,  nor is it an attack against any of our other brothers and sisters who have been forced into a system to try and help their people.  It was a set up.  It was part of the genocidal practice of the Crown.  Well, again, our people have turned that negative into a positive.  The Chiefs Council has invited representatives from across Canada to join us for a meeting on December 9th.  All of the Chiefs of Ontario as well as the AFN have been invited to come to meet with the Traditional Council.  All of our territories and people are invited to attend.  The purpose of this meeting is to explain the very same wampum and history as was explained to the Crown.  Only in this instance, to show how that relationship worked with the other Nations, how they fall under the shelter of that Great Tree, and how today that can be worked out so that the Haudenesonne Council, the Original League of Nations, will have its rightful place again, and carry the voice and concerns of the Onkwehonweh to the Crown.  This is the way it was, and this is the way it should be.  We had an opportunity to look at minutes of the council meeting from 1870.  Many of our people traveled to Six Nations at that time to counsel.  There were representatives there from Rama, St. Francis, Muncey, Alderville, Chippewas of the Thames, Oneidas of  Muncey, Sarnia, Lake of Two Mountains, St. Regis, Caughnawanga, Saugeen, Cape Croker, Walpole Island, Rice Lake, Sauble, Kettle Point, Bay of Quinte, Snake Island, Mississauga of the New Credit, Moravians of Thames as  well as Six Nations.  What is happening today is exactly why the Crown brought in the Indian Act in the first place.  To prevent the Haudenesonne from doing its job.  So, this meeting on December 9th, 2006 is like a continuance of our counsel from June 10th 1870.  We've been slightly interrupted for over a hundred and fifty years, but again, as was pointed out to the Crown, our Traditional Council has continued, uninterrupted, and nothing the Crown has done, nor can do, will ever cancel that out.  This is something that was given to us by the Creator, and this is what the people continue to uphold.

I guess, while there are going to be many who say that our Confederacy Council cannot work with the band council, it is this very issue of governance that our people must begin to put their minds to.  To figure out how we can help our people who have been taken outside of that circle, and bring them back in.  Again, we can say that they have done so willingly, and that they have no voice.  From my perspective, just like when our children were stolen and put in residential schools, or when our children were beaten and strapped for speaking their own language, or how we were forced into their education and religions, and how today when our people are criminalized for trying to defend the future of our people and our homelands.  It was all part of the overall plan to get rid of the "Indian Problem".    When the Peacemaker came and reminded us of the Great Law, he also gave us the mechanism to work together in Unity & Peace.  This was the Five Nations Confederacy.  The Original League of Nations.  It is very much alive today, as it was the day it was given.  Anything we are faced with can be resolved through the Great Law, and through the Confederacy Council.  We need only take up our responsibility to it and uphold what was given to us.  This is how we can bring the other councils in, they can come under the Confederacy and support the Confederacy in carrying the voice of all of the Onkwehonweh to the Crown.  We must stand United and we must stand Strong.  This is all part of the prophecies and it is also what the Crown has been trying to prevent from happening for many generations.  

This is also why they continue to use tactics such as instigators like Gary McHale to come in and hopefully create a situation that will divert the people from our path.  Last weekend they had the nerve to use the Canadian Troops as an excuse to try and create such a situation.  They claim they wanted to hang ribbons and flags up in support of the troops in Afganistan.  They had the television media there even before they got there with their flags, waiting in anticipation and hoping our people from the site would come out and try to stop them or fight with them. They did not anticipate that we would simply inform the OPP to deal with their people, and that again, we have been respectful.  we have our flags flying on the site and in front of the site.  we could go into the town of Caledonia and fly them, because as i've said, we've proven that the road itself is still ours, and that most of the town is still ours too, but we have respected the people and have maintained our presence on and near the reclamation site.  We only ask that the same respect be shown in return.  We do not have a problem with them hanging their flags anywhere outside the proximity of the site, it was being veiwed as it was intended, to try and instigate a fight.  When the OPP prevented them from hanging the flags across the road from the site there was much anger at the fact that they should be able to hang their canadian flag on canadian soil.  I understand and respect this.  However, it is questionable whether there is any land within Turtle Island that they can claim as Canadian soil, and in this particular case, again, the road itself we have already proven is within the Six Nations jurisdiction and we were within our rights to ask them to respect that.  Interestingly enough, when they did go down just past 6th line to hang their flags in support of the troops, (still in our jurisdiction but we gave them permission to hang them there) the television camermen didn't follow them.  Again, they were there only to make sure they caught on tv any violence that they were hoping would erupt.  Shame on those who used the troops in that way!  

There are many things going through my mind and things I would like to share, but at this point, I will close with one last message.  I want all of you to keep in mind December 17th 2006.  It appears that since the Crown has been put in the position of having to address the issue of the theft of our lands and resources, at having been put in the position of answering to the crimes they have committed, we are going to be faced with continued attempts of instigation and potential violence. Gary McHale is again planning another rally.  I've been told he has the help of a woman (sorry I don't know her name off hand), but she is like the president of a white supremist group.  Again they are hoping to bring violence to our people at Kanonhstaton. I would like all of you to bring your minds to PEACE on that day, and offer your sacred tobacco or medicine to help support us in upholding the LAWS OF CREATION. According to the star map, December 17th is directly under the Temple of Taurus, and Orions Belt which is representative of the Peacemaker.  The Temple of Taurus is our Rosetta Stone.  It is our Great Law.  It is who we are and how we connect to the Peacemaker.   These are things our people have forgotten, but it is how our ancestors knew when to do things, just like they know when to begin the midwinter ceremonies and our other ceremonies.  Through the Stars.  It IS OUR MAP in Creation. But, the Crown has learned this too.   Throughout history the Crown has used the stars just as our ancestors did, to sanction their continued use and abuse of our people and the Great Law.  This is how they have been able to keep our people down and under their thumb for so long. They have kept us in spiritual bondage.  They use our own people and our medicines to do this. This is what the People have been fighting and this is what the Women and Clanmothers stopped the day they went onto our lands to stop development, and this is what the Men have been standing and protecting.  And this is what today, we have to continue to stop.  Today, we need to bring all of our minds together to do this. All of the Onkwehonweh must stand before the Creator and acknowledge the Law that was given to us, we need to acknowledge our responsibilities to Creation, and acknoweldge our duty to uphold and protect the Law that He provided.  That is what I would like each of you to do everyday, and specifically on December 17th.   We need only to let Creation know we are standing strong and doing our best, and Creation will respond.

That's all I have to say for now.  Nya Weh!

In Love, Light and Peace,
Hazel