SIX NATIONS BLOOD BATH AVERTED
THANKS TO POPULAR SUPPORT
MNN. March 23, 2006. It was a victory for the power of the
people! It was a victory for Indigenous land rights. It was a
victory for all those struggling for recognition of Indigenous
jurisdiction. Since mid-February the Rotinoshon'non:we/Iroquois
have been protesting the construction of a luxury residential
subdivision on their land called "Douglas Estates" near Caledonia
Ontario. With the Canadian and provincial governments intent on
ignoring our rights, there were no options. We had to stop the
construction ourselves.
Our people braved freezing rain, snow,
sleet and ankle deep mud. Many slept in tents and cars to keep the
barricades manned. Supporters carried in pots of food and
truckloads of firewood. We're in it for the long haul! We are
continuing the fight that our grandparents and great-grandparents
fought and that our children and grandchildren are prepared to
continue if the colonization doesn't stop.
Henco Industries, the developer that is squatting on our land, went
to court and got an injunction. Judge David Marshall of the Ontario
Provincial Court thought he had a fool proof plan to get rid of the
people protesting Ontario's persistent violation of Six Nations
Territory. On March 16 he issued a strange convoluted order. He
announced that at 2:00 on Wednesday, March 22nd, the Ontario
Provincial Police OPP would come in. They would read the order to
us. Anyone who didn't leave immediately would be arrested and taken
to the police station where they would be photographed,
fingerprinted and released. He also ordered that anyone who
returned would be charged and placed on probation for a year. The
trouble is he seemed to have forgotten about due process and the
honor of the Crown. He didn't mention a hearing or a trial.
Neither Ontario nor Henco was required to prove they owned the land
in question. This may have something to do with the report that
Judge Marshall and the Crown Prosecutor, Owen Young, both claim
parts of our land themselves.
The people weren't frightened by Marshall's attempt to bully us with
his bogus order. We've seen it all before. Everyone rallied to
support us. By 2:00 on Wednesday hundreds of people had converged
at Douglas Estates. The Women locked arms together on the front
line. It's our duty under our constitution, the
Kaianereh'ko:wa/Great Law, to protect the land for our future
generations. We were going to do our best. We weren't alone. All
across Turtle Island from the Dene of the Northwest Territories, the
Western chiefs of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, natives and
non-natives alike bombarded everybody they could with the
message: "Stop the OPP bloodbath". It did not happen because as
2:00 came and went people continued to arrive to stand with us.
We lead ourselves, which we had every right to do. That's autonomy
and freedom of expression. We found out that we all follow the
same philosophy. We all want to protect the natural world and to
live in peace and harmony together. We all have the same vision, to
preserve our sovereignty in order to protect our land to ensure a
future for our people, as creation intended us to do. We are not
Canadians and not Americans. We have always rejected the genocidal
colonial European vision.
Super Indian Cop, Jim Potts, a self-described expert on us, pulled
himself and his Aboriginal mercenaries out of the protest at the
last minute. He had set up a squad of his own people to attack
their brothers and sisters at Six Nations. He said, "They aren't
going to have any weapons", like we're supposed to believe that the
OPP is unarmed! That's who he said was their back up. If anything
happened, the Aboriginal inductees would take the flack and act as
human shields for the provincial gestapo. Looks like he read Ward
Churchill's "A Little Matter of Genocide" and decided to be
Ontario's `Little Eichmann'. "We have a court order to do this", he
said. That's the plan that was outlined in his report on "Dealing
with Indigenous Protests and Occupations" that fell into the hands
of MNN. It came from one of its most valued and trusted sources.
The OPP have no jurisdiction on land claimed by the
Rotinoshon'non:we because we never gave any to them in accordance
with our nation-to-nation agreement. The Ontario courts used to
recognize that back in the 1920's before Duncan Campbell Scott
deposed the traditional Rotinoshon'non:we government.
Colonial practices have gotten worse since then. The popular action
on Wednesday has turned the tide, we hope. Maybe Ipperwash made
them think, finally! We will no longer be lead into the ovens by
sell-outs like Jim Potts! When we pull together and assert
ourselves, we will win by standing on our principles. Our path has
been blocked for so long. We removed the `log' on the road, chopped
it up and used it for firewood. Yes, we are going to find non-
destructive ways to get Turtle Island back. Every time we neglected
our responsibility, hard times came upon us. But our duties and
responsibilities were still there.
We lost our way because there was so much dust on our constitution.
Generations were forbidden to speak our language. They were
interpreting everything through residential school eyes. The
Kaianereh'ko:wa was being used to control the people as if it was
colonial law instead of helping us. The servants of the
colonialists try to make the people serve them. On Wednesday no
leaders showed up because the minds of the "leaders" are the minds
of the colonialist.
In the early 1800's there was a Judge Marshall in the United States
Supreme Court whose reasoning is relied on to this day by courts
that are trying to defend Indigenous rights in an honorable way. If
Ontario's Judge David Marshall is a blood descendant, he's certainly
not philosophical kin. This guy believes in "big gun" injunctions.
He can't be bothered with little details like legal proof. He was
determined to charge people even if he didn't know who they were.
His orders were all made out mostly to fictional people called "John
and Jane Doe". He wanted to sentence them without a hearing or a
trial. He threatened them with criminal records, bad credit
ratings, inability to borrow money, border crossing trouble and lots
more. Sounded like he said something like, "We'll even hose you
down with bad water if we have to". But he really wanted
to "atomize" us! Oops! Hey! Isn't that genocide again? He seemed
to want to dump every kind of threat in his quiver to stop us from
exercising our rights and to perfect Henco Industries' theft of our
land.
These kinds of things always attract scammers as well as serious
supporters. This time we got one, Pat Holly, who claimed to be the
trustee of Mohawk Nation Grand River and maybe even Mother Earth
itself! He sure didn't look like a clan mother! But this white guy
thought he had a good thing going. He had two native fronts. Maybe
he thought no one would find out he'd been caught selling fake
Indian and Metis status cards in the United States.
He served Henco
Industries with Notices of International Claim for $110 million US
through the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of Texas.
He wanted a check made out to Pat Holly, Bill Squires and
Thedawahka. Then the whole issue would go away. This sounds almost
as legitimate as the previous "sales" of Six Nations land. Maybe
this guy has an option on the Brooklyn Bridge too!
People are still at the site. They intend to stay. They invite
supporters to come and stand with them. The injunction is not legal
and is going to be challenged. We have the support of people across
the whole of Turtle Island and beyond. Today even Indian Affairs
Minister Prentice sent a representative to the site to open up a
dialogue. They told him, "Give us your name. We'll call you
sometime". I wonder if he would open up a dialogue if someone came
to squat on his land and tried to kick him off?
Kahentinetha Horn – MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha Horn
COMING SOON! MOHAWK NATION NEWS
See related report Six Nations Clan Mothers
Contents
March 2006 Reports
Last updated on March 24, 2006