More Dangerous Than Oka
April 29, 2006 The potential flashpoint at Caledonia Ontario with the Six Nations land blockade is more dangerous than the 1990 Oka crisis. In 1990 the town of Oka, Quebec , wanted to expand their nine-hole golf course to eighteen holes over a known Mohawk gravesite. A police officer died to defend the right of the townspeople to tee off over grandma's grave and four thousand Canadian soldiers squared off against the Mohawks. In 1990 most Canadian Indians were in shock that Canada would use the army against us but in 2006 there is no longer any shock value, thereby allowing people to be better prepared to respond to bloodshed. "Red Indian" youth in Canada are angrier today than in 1990, our people are better prepared and the response strategy is clearer. Had Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney carried out his threat in 1990 to send in the army to take out the last 25 barricaded Mohawks regardless of the consequences, burning cars would have blocked every railway line in Canada! Caledonia has already caused a railway blockade with huge economic impact. Multiple that one railway blockade by 30 and you have economic paralysis in all of Canada. Canada is America 's largest trade partner, largest supplier of oil and leading buyer of American exports. Think Mayan uprising 1994, multiple by 10 and you know why American multi-national corporations, financed in the open market, need to be concerned. Treatment of indigenous people in Canada and United States is shockingly different. In United States , American Indians proudly fly the American flag in every reservation. Thirteen thousand American Indians currently serve in the U.S. military, and two thousand of those are serving on the front lines in Iraq. Thousands of American Indians are millionaires and hundreds are multi-millionaires. Attend a National Indian Gaming Association Summit, you will see them making multi-million dollar deals in trade shows that are the envy of many countries. Not so in Canada. Try finding a Canadian flag flying on an Indian reservation, you would more likely find a Mohawk warrior society flag in the window of native homes. Canada had eight straight federal government budget surpluses, a 2005 reported net worth of $4.5 trillion, and GDP over a trillion dollars. In 2003 the federal government raised $125 billion in taxes but took in $141.8 billion in its share of resource royalties. This does not include provincial royalties or corporate resource sales profits. Canada is the third largest producer of diamonds, has 10 per cent of the world's forests, and mines 60 metals and minerals. Oil now over $75 a barrel, up from $10 a barrel in 1999, and Canada has 1.4 trillion barrels of oil in the Alberta tar sands plus hundreds of other oil and gas producing areas. There is little doubt why over 6,000 land claims are in limbo, why progress is so slow given the resource revenue generated for governments. Canada was the United Nations choice as the "best country in the world to live in" for seven straight years, but while Canada was number one on the index, Canadian First Nations communities mired in extreme poverty were set at the 63rd level on the UN scale. Canada can laugh at United Nations or Amnesty International even weather international shame but it cannot ignore or laugh off the economics of a national blockade of rail lines that is potentially the result of the land dispute at Caledonia. In 1969, Indian reservation lands accounted for approximately one quarter of one per cent of the Canadian land mass. To state this more clearly, 99.73 per cent of Canada was not reservation lands. In United States where population density is almost ten times higher, American Indian reservations accounted for 2.13 per cent of the U.S. land mass. Casino generated revenue used to buy back land, court cases and political lobbying has improved those numbers. Not everything is perfect in US and American Indian relations but at least there is hope. In the 1995 Ipperwash situation, unarmed native activist Dudley George was killed by an Ontario Provincial Police officer as the Premier of Ontario allegedly shouted to "get the fucking Indians out." Stony Point First Nation lost the land to Canada during WWII for an artillery range, with the promise to return the land after the war. Fifty years after the end of WWII, the Indians finally just occupied the land and Dudley George was killed. The same court injunctions issued by white courts and the same public outcry to march the police and army into battle are now occurring in Caledonia. As an elected Chief, I stand behind Mohawk people at Six Nations in the use of direct action. My community spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to settle a 103 year old land claim; we hold the record of the longest file in the Indian Claims Commission process. We understand why the people of Six Nations decided to take direct action. It is the people who suffer the housing crisis, the 80 per cent average unemployment, the health problems, the lack of educational opportunities, and every other form of extreme poverty while we as chiefs are paid for our work from government funding. For the Chiefs to issue a call to our people not to attend the blockade and to question their right to protest or to blame them for the increase in tension is absolutely ridiculous. It has always been the whites who first bring guns and threat of violence into any confrontation. The people at the Six Nation blockade are as unarmed as Dudley George was. Hope is the only medicine for angry youth who see no other way but to take action. If it takes a national railway blockade to bring the world's attention to the issues in Canada, then we as chiefs should be prepared to take that responsibility. We must end the 80 per cent average unemployment in our communities. It is no longer enough to make empty promises, or to take the word of a government that will only delay settlement of long standing issues. Now is the time we must stand together and take whatever consequences are necessary to ensure a chance for our future generations. Canada must come to the table and negotiate some real settlements of land claims instead of holding out more false hope. I stand with the people of Six Nations in your direct action, your cause is just, it is an honor to support you in your bid for justice. As an elected chief, a spokesman for Anishinabe Okiijida Warrior Society, as a member of the board of directors of American Indian Movement, I give you my word that if unarmed people are killed or hurt at Caledonia for reoccupying their own lands, there will be serious economic repercussions for the Canadian economy. There are more of us that think this way then most people believe.It is time for justice not more promises. The solutions are there if the government of Canada is serious. I apologize to the people for not doing more as I was out of the country for two weeks. I issued the yellow alert for warrior societies on Okiijida Society letterhead on March 31st in an effort to stop OPP from using force, they ignored that warning. I issue this further warning on Roseau River letterhead as a chief in order to get our leadership to get serious about this matter.
I ask Canadians and Americans, people who believe in peaceful co-existence, who know that we cannot to go down that road to violence and intolerance in North America, to express your concerns. We will do our part but until Americans who buy 87% of all Canadian exports tell the Canadian government that Americans refuse to finance human rights violations, Canada will continue to ignore our human rights and ignore the United Nations and Amnesty International. SincerelyYellow Alert for Warrior Societies
March 31, 2006
The Okiijida Society is issuing a yellow alert for all Warrior Societies regarding the escalating situation between Mohawks at Six Nations and the Ontario Provincial Police. In 1990, most First Nations were in shock over the Oka crisis. Since 1990, warrior societies have met regularly to plan out a strategy if a similar situation occurred. A yellow alert is a stand by alert issued by warrior societies to their membership on a particular situation. It is also a warning to Canada that the situation is being monitored. Mohawks at Six Nations issued the following, "At noon, Wednesday, March 29th, four Ontario Provincial Police OPP cruisers were spotted at the nearby Unity Road School, three Jimmys, about 14 to 15 undercover cops, two cruisers side by side above the site and on the other side at Canadian Tire the cruisers face the site directly .We welcome our brothers, sisters, friends and allies with open arms to stand in solidarity with us against this illegal invasion of Six nations Land (Highway 6, Caledonia Ontario)." In 1990, Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation was the first non Mohawks to blockade to show their support. The warrior societies across Canada agreed to the following on situations like this. 1. To stay in our home territory and monitor the situation. 2. That if bloodshed occurred we would take action in our territories that would include blockades but more importantly, we agreed that in the event of the Canadian army killing indigenous people, we would bring the Canadian economy to a halt. We have made it perfectly clear to Canada that the Treaties gave recognition to the whites to peaceful co-existence. Deliberate bloodshed by Canada is an end to that treaty right. As the Mohawks stated "The whole issue is jurisdiction and title and we're allies, not subjects,". Canada must stop using guns to resolve its legal disputes with the Indigenous People. They know they stole it, they have to give it back." It will remain to be seen if the Conservatives who were in power in 1990 have learned anything from the Oka crisis. For Further information contact Chief Terrance NelsonLast updated on June 28, 2007