Six Nations "More dangerous than Oka"
This is the way things look to many of our people. MNN sees that
things are not so great for many Indigenous People in the U.S. The
land and resources of Turtle Island being claimed by interlopers is
illegal. We agree that colonial settlers and their descendants
should come to the table and discuss this. Most of us are not
getting benefits from the collective exercise of our sovereignty.
We should think about whether we want a resource and casino driven
economy. Do we need to get back to saving the environment as the
spirit of the Kaianereh'ko:wa drives us towards? It's obvious that
the colonial way of doing things is a path of destruction that will
destroy the world for everyone. Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk
Nation News,
www.mnn.mohawknationnews.com ROSEAU RIVER ANISHINABE FIRST NATION GOVERNMENT
P.O. Box 30, GINEW, Manitoba R0A 2R0
(204) 427-2312 FAX: (204) 427-2584
(204) 427-2312 FAX: (204) 427-2584
More Dangerous Than Oka
April 25, 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 4,000 Canadian soldiers squared off
against the Mohawks.
In 1990 most Canadian Indians were in shock that Canada would use
the army against our people. In 2006 there is no longer any shock
value, thereby allowing Indian people to be better prepared to
respond to bloodshed and also Indian youth in Canada have more anger
today than they did in 1990. Not only are Indian people better
prepared, the strategy is much clearer.
Had then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney carried out his
threat to send in the army to take out the last 25 barricaded
Mohawks regardless of the consequences, it was very likely that
burning cars would have blocked every railway line in Canada.
The protest at 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 trading partner and of vital economic
interest to every American. Canada is America's largest supplier of
oil with 97 per cent of all Canadian energy exported to the United
States. Canada is also the leading buyer of American exports. Think
about the Mayan uprising of 1994, multiply that by 10 and you have
some idea of the economic impact of a similar crisis in Canada.
American multi-national corporations, financed in the open market,
with heavy investment in Canada, may not yet have realized the
danger.
The difference in treatment of indigenous people between Canada and
United States is shocking. In the United States, American Indians
proudly fly the American flag in every Indian reservation. Thirteen
thousand American Indians currently serve in the US military, and
2,000 of those are serving on the front lines in Iraq.
Thousands of American Indians are millionaires, hundreds are multi-
millionaires. Attend a National Indian Gaming Association summit,
and you will see proud American Indians talking and making multi-
million dollar deals. You will see trade shows that would be the
envy of many countries. Not so in Canada.
You would be hard pressed to find a Canadian flag flying on an
Indian reservation. You would be more likely to find a Mohawk
warrior society flag in the window of native homes. With well over
50 per cent of the Canadian Indian population under the age of 25,
what you have in Caledonia is a potential flashpoint that could
cripple Canada.
Canada has had eight straight federal government budget surpluses.
It has a 2005 reported net worth of $4.5 trillion, and a GDP well
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 the provincial royalties or corporate resource sales
profits. With oil now over $75 a barrel, up from $10 a barrel in
1999, and Canada claiming 1.4 trillion barrels of oil in the Alberta
tar sands plus hundreds of other oil and gas producing areas, this
makes for a resource driven economy.
As the third largest producer of diamonds, with 10 per cent of the
world forests, and over 60 metals and minerals, there is little
doubt why Indian land claims are a big issue in Canada. The fact
that there are over 6,000 land claims in limbo and that progress is
so slow is not surprising given the numbers and the revenue
generated for government coffers.
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.
Amnesty International has written several reports citing Canada for
human rights violations. In the case of the Lubicons of northern
Alberta, Amnesty has forced the appearance of Canada before the
United Nations for a hearing set for May 5th.
While Canada can laugh off the United Nations and weather
international shame, E 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.
To understand the issue of land claims in Canada, one must see the
numbers. Canada is the second largest country in the world, larger
than China and larger than the United States. Canada is 3.83 million
square miles of vast land mass, but the population is only 33
million, giving Canada the largest per capita land base of any
nation in the world. Given the resource base, it is little wonder
that net worth is $137,000 per man, woman, and child.
In 1969, Canada issued the appropriately named "white paper" on
Indians, which identified that 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. Since then it has been a battle zone of
land claims and frustration for indigenous people.
In the United States where Indian land claims are also contentious
items, and where the population density is almost ten times higher
than Canada, American Indian reservation lands accounted for 2.13
per cent of the United States land mass. Today that percentage has
improved due to Casino generated revenue used to buy back land plus
Casino revenue generated court cases and political lobbying that
settled some long standing problems.
This is not to say that everything is perfect in US and American
Indian relations but at least there is hope. It has been widely
reported that American Indians spend more money to get Senators and
Congress men elected than even Enron did its heyday. The lack of
similar hope for change in Canada is what could trigger a crisis.
How Canadian media handles the situation at Caledonia can make or
break the confrontation. In the Ipperwash situation where unarmed
native activist Dudley George was killed by an Ontario Provincial
Police officer and the Premier of Ontario allegedly shouting to "get
the f**king Indians out", the issue of land claims couldn't be
clearer. Stoney Point First Nation lost land to Canada during WWII
for an artillery range, with the promise to return the land after
the war.
In over 50 years of Liberal and Conservative federal governments,
none delivered on that commitment. Hence, there was direct action by
Ojibway Indians to occupy the land, with the resulting killing of
Dudley George. The same court injunctions issued by white courts and
the 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 regardless of the consequences. My
community spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to settle a
land claim from 103 years ago; we hold the record of the longest
file in the Indian Claims Commission process. We understand the need
for direct action.
Elected native leadership risk their creditability in Caledonia. 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 of Canada dollars.
To issue a call to our people not to attend the blockade and to
question their right to protest is nonsense. To blame our unarmed
people for the increase in tension is absolutely ridiculous.
It has always been the whites who first bring guns and the threat of
violence into any confrontation. To declare that Dudley George got
himself killed because he grew tired of ineffectual politicians is
historically incorrect.
Hope is the only medicine for angry youth who see no other way but
to take action. If it takes a national blockade to bring the world's
attention to the issues in Canada, we 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, in this, one of the wealthiest nations in the world. It
is time to force Canada to the table and negotiate some real
settlements of land claims instead of holding out for more false
hope promises while we collect our pay from the government.
Chief Terrance Nelson
Message from Chief Terrance Nelson, elected chief of Roseau River
Anishinabe First Nation, spokesman for Anishinabe Warrior Society
and Board of Director for American Indian Movement
