Ahni

Take all the money that goes to band councils today and issue checks to each individual band member and then tell the band council that they need to fund themselves by taxing their band members. I am willing to bet the system will get cleaned up so fast that the band councils wouldn't know what hit them. An even better Idea: dissolve all (Government-Installed ) Band Councils, abolish Indian Affairs and the AFN, and let the many Indigenous Nations of the land Select their own Leaders, by their own customs and traditions... Enskat, you probably have noticed this by now, but there is no point in going tit-for-tat with these folks. It's a nice exercise for the brain, but a waste of time because these people are not interested in sharing, learning, or correcting themselves for their absurd assumptions that they insist are fact. Well, I guess there is one point, and it's for the benefit of others who many end up believing these fallacies. So then: The treaties are invalid because the original Signatories are dead? Your thought is a theory and nothing more, Riverwind -- Further, one that has no basis in reality. The fact is, as Charles said, the titles to the treaties are inherited by someone from the next generation (I even know one of the Signatories) They are valid. You are welcome to think or beleive otherwise, but you'll always be wrong. As for the race thing - well, if you want to talk about fact, then it's your responsibility to properly include the past too. It doesn't serve any of us to exclude facts because they're inconvenient to our arguement! As I said before, and as someone else here pointed out, the treaties were not orignally about Race. They haven't even really been made into a racial matter - race is only used as a qualifier by the Government of Canada so they can decide who benefits from the treaties. This is a minor problem created by the Government of Canada (and agreed to by many of the Band Councils, not The People), not grounds for dissolving every treaty on this land. Again, you are free to disagree or say "how absurd!!" but just because you say something is wrong, doesn't make it wrong. Respectfully, Tjurrara Ahniwanika

Hey All. First, heres a Press Release by the Six Nations: GostHacked, thanks for the clarification. I made an assumption on that (and glanced at the news piece), and I apoligize. Scribblet, It's only politically incorrect to speak the truth it's politically inconvenient... The problem here is not about trying to discount or avoid facts, the problem is with all these people making all these assumptions and being so quick to judge, condem the whole, justify the use of violence and validate your own prejudices because of the actions of a few - whether or not they are from the Six Nations. The OPP simply didn't move in because Six Nations Territory is Foregin Soil. Canada does not have any jurisdiction on that land, Canadian Law doesn't apply there. Canada has no authority. That's what everyone's missing here - this situation is not about some group of Canadians doing something in Canada. This is an international situation between to Separate Nations. It could just as easily be between China and Tibet (maybe a bad example, since China did exactly what you're calling for, to the Tibetan People) or France and Venezuala, or the US and Guatemala.

Hey Scribblet. I've been trying to follow this stuff you're talking about, tv news is awefully 'selective' though. A couple things about these incidents: The first is not all the People (if any) were from the Site. In fact, atleast two of those arrested are Canadians http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20.../caledonia.html Note the mentioning of the ATF in that article. Secondly, here's a statement from Hazel Hill, the official Spokesperson for the Haudenosaunee, talking about these incidents: http://sisis.nativeweb.org/actionalert/upd...0hazelhill.html Third, it's be nice for everyone to accept the fact that there has been many incidents from all sides here. Really, these are the first incidents that have happened from the Haudenosaunee side. There have been a couple others here and there, like the native man who the news caught 'taking down' this big white guy. What they didn't report was that the Haudenosaunee man was defending a local Canadian who the big white guy was beating up. There was also the time when four cops were beating up a Native woman... four Native men went over there to help her, they attacked the cops. The CBC only showed the men attacking the cops. How convenient for them! There's been many other things like this. The most striking point about all this though is non-natives are responsible from the majority of the incidents, And Now Canada has partnered with the ATF (before these recent incidents) which is obviously in direct relation to the NAFTA stuff that was just on the news last week, and no doubt in relation to the Bilderberg meeting that just happened N. of Toronto a few days ago (before the ATF thing was made public) Anyways, I agree with Enskat, it's too bad this topic got side-tracked... but this stuff is important. Here's an illustrative and very brief introductory history lesson: It saddens me to hear and read about these recent incidents in Caledonia, just as much as the numerous attacks, abuses, and threats that non-natives have been agressing. I will not attempt to justify or rationalize any of it (from either side). You gotta remeber though, the situation in Caledonia does not exist in a Vacuum. It is nothing more than one more line on a nearly endless list of criminal acts of genocide and terrorim against us. Some of you probably don't like that I said that, and that it's a bunch of propaganda. Maybe it is, I'm not here to convince you or prove what I say. Learn Canada's history, decide for yourself based on the facts and perspectvies from ALL SIDES, and decide for yourself. Here's a starting point: A History of Land Claims in the Americas The Demise of the Ongwehoweh Warrior Societies in Contemporary Indigenous Communities The Canadian Holocaust (PDF) On the Art of Stealing Human Rights a speech given by Gerry Gambill at a conference on Human Rights at Tobique Reserve in New Brunswick, in August, 1958. Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide in North America and Kosovo

You're right Temagami, and I should take a step back and be a little more patient. There are actually alot of other contributions that have been made too. The Haudenosaunee were actually advanced geneticists. They had over 100 varieties of corn BC (Before Colonialism ) and I tell you, it wasn't that cattle corn crap that most of us are customed to eating now. They also played lacrosse, which is what hockey is based on. There was also the invention of snowshoes, Vaseline (olefin hydrocarbons and methane to make petroleum jelly), canoes, snow goggles, and chewing gum (from the Spruce tree) to name a few more. Another interesting thing - if anyones ever heard of the Three Sisters before (Corn, Beans, and Squash) when grown together, not in private sections like we do with our (extremely redundant and wasteful though extremely profitable) annual crops - the three sisters create a perfectly self-sustaining relationship. They provide each other with the nutrients the others' lack, and protect each other from various insects and other diseases that would otherwise decimate them. Cheers Enskat. Ahni

Hey. Here's a list of the treaty areas of Canada: and, if anyone want to giggle a bit, here's a list of all treaties with America Riverwind: Can you show me one single example where that's true? (that's simply not true.) As archaic and insulting as some of the treaties are, and eventhough some are invalid because of the notwithstanding clause (which basically cancels out what was said) and other nice and shiny loopholes (Aswell, in the states a document was recently discovered which documents orders that no treaties are to be signed without getting the natives drunk first. This was before alcholism was a common affliction) they are still,irrefutably, legally-binding contracts. When some Nation who signed a treaty fails to uphold the obligations they agreed to by signing the treaty, well there are consequences.. and they cannot simply pretend the treaties don't exist, or come up with any legitimate arguement that validates such a claim. Even if such a claim was (so-called) proved in the Supreme court, it still would be false - not to mention the big oops! that would get pointed out regarding the jurisdiction of a federal court addressing intenational matters - unless the Natives of the 'disputed' treaty submitted to the will of that court... Riverwind, if the Indigenous Nations didn't exist (treaty rights and obligations are inherited), or if we forfeited our inherent title on the land (and fully subordinated ourselves to the gov of can), or if every treaty was not based on, refer to, or in lieu of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (PDF) - and validated time and time again by all signatories (Canada is perpetually a signatory) then yes, the treaties would be invalid/non-existent, But this is not the case. You're certainly right about the whole blood quantum thing, and thanks for pointing that out. The relationship between the Canadian State and Indigenous Nations is definitely based on race... The blood thing is because of greed. If this wasn't done than everyone would have a legitimate claim to treaty benefits, which are sometimes good (free university education), other times lame (eg $5 a year in the 1800's is not $5 a year now, though that's what they get. That's nothing compared to what we're owed though - A recent estimate totalled a few hundred billion dollars owed by Canada... over 1 trillion in the states.) Personally I don't like the divisions this blood-quantity thing has created. Some people who should have had legitimate claims were outright ignored. If i reall there's even a point somewhere about if a women marries outisde of her tribe, she forfeits her (and her children if she is to have any) treaty benefits. There's even some instances (especially in the states) where hundreds and thousands of people are disenrolled, because dividing several billions dollars from Casinos is so time-consuming, I guess but that's a small minority. For the majority it's business as usual... Ahni

Umm... Democracy. As a matter of fact, modern democractic states and their consitutions (esp. Canada, the US) and even the United Nations Charter are based on Haudenosaunee Law (which was written over 1000 years ago) We are nothing special geoffrey, and do not claim to be above or below anyone, eventhough federal policy insists we are sovereign-dependant wards of Canada, umm err, the Queen. The fact is, the so-called extra treatment is a legal requirement the government of Canada committed to perpetually uphold by signing international contracts (treaties). We can all talk and argue all we want about this sort of thing, but the fact remains - Canada owes over 100 Billion in arrears - not to mention the gross, common-place violation of treaties like what happened in Caledonia (the reason the Six Nations is disputing it is becuase in order for the Six Nations to sign a treaty, the entire Mohawk Council must be present, and be in 100% agreement -- this is required by our law. This 'disputed' land was singed away back in the day, but only some of the Mohawk council was present - thus it is not a legal contract.) As for Enskat's initial query, I had the same experience as others here - we made tipi's, and ate real-artifical bannock. Once though we travelled to an all-native school, and learned about Sweet Grass and Dream Catchers. Trivial knowledge, in other words, that promotes tolerance but conveniently ignores reality, the history of violence, and the Canadian Goverment's Policies of legislated Genocide towards the First Nations People. For instance, has anyone ever heard of the Sexual sterilization Act? Or about the thousands of children that were disappared while attending Residential Schools? These are disgusting truths, and I apoligize for bringing it up here, but this is just a mere fraction of what we have experienced historically, and the fact that probably no one here knew about these two matters is proof of the problem, which has nothing to do with The Six Nations People (except they too have been involuntarily subject to this criminal behaviour as the rest of the Native populations in the Americas) Lastly, as far as the situation in Caledonia goes - it is definitely not unique or isolated. There was also Oka, Gustafsen Lake, Burnt Church, Ipperwash, Ahnishinabe Park, Sun Peaks, Grassy Narrows, Barriere Lake, Clayoquot Sound - and that's just off the top of my head. Each situation happened exactly as how Caledonia started - the government criminally overstepped it's jurisdiction, and the Natives of the region did what they felt was best to resolve the situation - I mean, going to courts has proved moot. There are over 6000 unresolved land claims in the court right now... and the same goes for going to the UN, ICC, ICJ, or OAS. None of these heralding courts/organizations even acnkowledge the Indigenous Nations because we are not States, nor will we ever be... even if we unite and become a Continental Government (South America Included) we will still not be a state because we would not engage in any of the reticent behaviour of Western States. Why? Because it's antithetical to the needs of the people - it doesn't serve anyone. So what's left? Do we do what the Palestinians do to the Israelis? Well no, because terrorism is as archaic and redundant as Colonialism. We do what we have the resources and access to do. Sometimes things get stupid on our side, but what do you expect? At Gustafsen Lake, the RCMP shot over 20000 bullets, and there was only a handful of people there. At SunPeaks they arrested and Jailed Grandmothers. At Oka the SQ allowed the Canadians to throw rocks the size of baseballs at women, children, and old men. There was even one incident where a Six Nations Women was about to give birth - a crowd of Canadian Citizens stopped the ambulance that was taking her to the hospital, and one demanded that he get to look at her privates to see if she was concealing any weapons... Despite these perverted and unnecessary actions - many believe that setting up roadblocks is the only resource available where we can get results. Though there have been very few positive outcomes for either side, it's better than waiting for 5 generations for the Courts to refuse the case, or jimmy it so the next administraion can overturn and exploit it. If the roles were reversed, who knows, maybe some of you would compromise your integrity, sacrifice your history, silence your voice, shun your culture - because that's what it takes to feel safe... i'd like to think that no one would do that, because without history and identity, you are nothing.

How does free trade legalize slave labour? Well, first I'll admit that was a little sensationalistic on my part to say that, but the benefits behind reallocating jobs from Canada to Mexico simply because of the massive wage differences of the two countries - while the economic base of the company tranferring the jobs is canadian - ultimately translates into hiring people who will work for slave wages... not to mention the often ridiculous and unsafe working conditions in non-first-world states which you nor I would be ever tolerate or cope with --- only to end up with a wage so meek that they can't even afford to shop at the new walmart down the street. Remember, we're talking about Mexico here -- you know, the place where the pres is a previous CEO of COKE, the place that just legalized personal posession of crack and heroin to coax the people to stay... Anyways, here's a little something to think about regarding NAFTA (they're PDF files) » The Ten Year Traack Record of NAFTA: Mexico » The Ten Year Track Record of NAFTA: Agriculture » The Ten Year Track Record of NAFTA: Democracy » The Ten Year Track Record of NAFTA: Jobs

Hey. I haven't read all the comments in this thread, but I can say I've been watching what's happening in Caledonia since day 1. In fact I am part Haudenausaunee, and I can say without reservation (hold the laughs) that the Haudenosaunee DID NOT cause the recent power outage. The Traditional Council has made it abundantly clear that acts of violence are not to be inititiated, and this is has been, is being, and will continue to be respected - no exceptions. Here is a recent statement from Hazel Hill, camp spokesperson From: TheBasketCase <[email protected]> Sunday, May 28, 2006 10:32 AM Hello from Grand River Things are pretty quiet around the site these days. Maybe too quiet. I've been reading alot in the surrounding newspapers. Caledonia mayor marie trainer was quoted this week as saying the army should be brought in. one of her councillors thinks that the government should just cut off all of the funding that comes into the territory. "cut off the tax exempt cards, cut off the monthly cheques, cut off the food banks..." (I still wonder where they get the idea that monthly cheques come to our people.) my response to those types of suggestions is "you're absolutely right!", but first the crown should pay the billions and billions of dollars owed on land leases, the taxes collected on our land, the resources taken from our land and compensations for the destruction of the lands stolen and abused etc. etc. If the crown paid her debt to our people there would be no need for the scraps that come to our people through their government structure. and then there is the interest monies on top of all that. when canada pays her debt we'll gladly get rid of all of those other things. wonder if canadians realize they've been duped? they talk as if we are a burden to them. like they're supporting us. does it not occur to them that they are the burden. they have been freeloading off our lands and resources for thousands of years. even IF, and i say if because we know that the land "surrenders" are fraudulent, but IF the 1841 surrender was real, where is the money?????????? they have never paid for one single lease that they have obtained throughout history (to my knowledge anyway). when you lease a car and don't pay for it what happens.....they take it back. that's exactly what we did with our lands. in fact, we should be ready to re-possess the whole haldimand and then let PM Harper say that it's not a federal matter. and as far as mayor trainer's irresponsible remarks about bringing in the army.....guess she doesn't think much of her citizens in caledonia if she really wants a war zone in her back yard. and they call us terrorists! then she was quoted as saying that the natives damaged the hydro station causing the power outage in caledonia, six nations, hagersville etc. "it was definitely natives" trainer said friday (quoted from the Brantford Expositor) The fact of the matter is that there is no way anyone will no for certain whether it was natives or non-natives who did the damage because all of our people were up on the front line, and ANYONE could have done the damage. we had removed the barricade at #6 hwy and 6th line the night before, and the opp were the only ones at the end of #6 (argyle st) and #6 bypass. we had opened up the road for pete's sake and she is trying to say that she knows it was natives. all throughout this reclaimation we have had non-native shit disturbers sneaking into the camp for one purpose and one purpose only, to try to discredit and disrupt the peace. we have had the army dude who admitted to shooting one of our men in the face a few day's before he was caught. we have the idiots in camoflauge on four wheelers taunting our men and the opp trying to incite the war. they brought their video camera with them and proudly turned it over to tv 11 but for some reason were ashamed enough to want to have their faces hidden. and they are the jackasses who threw rocks over the bi-pass and could have potentially killed someone but blamed it on our men because their camera caught one of our men throwing something back at them. look at the direction of the throw and look at where the barricade was. we were over half way over the #54 hwy so there is no way we caused any damage to any vehicles. it was all a set-up. and then there was the fire at the barn across the road the night after the police raid on April 20th. even the farmer believes it was non-natives who were trying to make it look like we were vandalizing the neighbourhood. and yet our men are the ones who went to put out the fire even before the fire trucks arrived. on thursday nite we were accused of shining laser lights and shooting off firecrackers and rattling the nerves of the opp. next night they caught 3 non-native punks with their firecrackers and bottle rockets after having fired off a few, again to try and incite the war. we are continuously having to deal with this type of action and yet do we retaliate? no. we keep the peace. we turn over the idiots when we catch them in our camp. we could beat the crap out of them and teach them a lesson and i'll tell you, i give our men the deepest respect and credit for NOT doing it! and why shouldn't we? do you see us going into caledonia and acting like idiots? do we sneak around trying to incite a war? we have kept the peace. we are upholding our Law and yet we are criminalized for it. to me the criminals are the ones who refuse to look at the truth. they make ignorant comments like "just because your ancestors sold the land for beads and now you're crying about it" and other stupid remarks that a kindergarten child would say in a playground fight. i hope stephen harper and marie trainer realize that we are beyond kindergarten and this ain't no playground. and in answer to all of those who wonder or like marie trainer "know that the natives did it", all i can say is that it wasn't something that we did. our people were on the front line wondering why caledonia didn't want the plank road opened, and the first realization that the hydro was out was when we noticed that the street lights were off and then someone noticed the black smoke. so as far as i'm concerned anyone could have done the damage. and i like how the government is so quick to respond with thousands of dollars to Henco and the Caledonia businesses for their losses, and yet get them to pay their debt with respect to land leases, they immediately send in negotiators to try and get out of it. how long have we waited for compensation. they don't want to pay up so they send in the guns. that's exactly what they did in 1924. our confederacy had asked for an accounting of the lease monies and rather than give the accounting (because they had already embezzled the money), they used the RCMP to bring in the guns and establish a form of government that they new they could control. and then they set up a process that requires big money to fight them and hundreds of years to get it into their courts. it is the biggest fraud going and the only reason they get away with it is because we let them. and as far as the people who say that we wanted the band council system, the families that went and asked for this new form of government, is the same as it is today, a handful of people who didn't like the way things were going and rather than council and have their voices heard through the process, they went behind the back of our people and sold us out. those same families still are in existance today. only this time, there is no way we are going to let them sell us out. we have our delegates at the table and the people are making the decisions just as it should be. and we are no longer going to let them hide behind their ficticious justice system. it is all a fraud based on unilateral decisions of the crown and that IS illegal. then we have others who believe that they are the titleholders and that only they will make the decision. sorry to bust your bubble, but the few of you who meet are NOT a nation. you are like the rest of us. only a small number of people when standing alone. only together in Unity and Solidarity will we get through this and it is ALL OF THE ONKWEHONWEH who are affected by this. not just the Mohawks and not just Six Nations. the Onkwehonweh are the title holders to the world, and we have a responsibility to the onkwehonweh nations of the world to protect our land for the future of our people, in honesty, in peace and with integrity. setting up barriers to divide and conquer is the game the crown has played and by continually creating the divisions within, you are playing right along side of the crown and into their hands. perhaps you should look at who is guiding you and question their motives. the people at the site are doing what we are obligated to do according to the Law. We are working together with all of the Six Nations, including those from the other territories because yes they have a voice in our circle and yes they have an interest in what we are doing. it is not for selfish gain and it certainly isn't about money. i pray that you will come to an understanding and continue to work WITH the people and not against them. it is only you who can decide this. finally, so that everyone is clear, Mr. Peterson has given the time frame of May 31st to have dealt with the barricades. i don't know exactly what his plan is, but i understand that is his goal. to have all of the barricades down by the 31st of May. the people need to be aware of this, because between the media using polls to suggest bringing in the army or using the opp to remove us, marie trainer and other's calling for the army to come in, and the history of our people and the way the government on behalf of the crown has always "dealt with" our people during any kind of "occupation", you need to be aware of the reality of the situation. Keep the Peace, Keep Strong, and Keep getting the word out. As soon as we know of any further developments, we will let you know. talks are to resume on the 31st and we are having a people's council tomorrow. all are welcome. hazel

Hey. It's really nice seeing all these replies! I agree that the odds of the US/CA overtly integrating politically is pretty slim, but integration doesn't have to mean we become another star on the US flag. The agenda of the Task Force suggests, for starters, integration in Economic and Military areas, Institutions, and in General Policy -- "deep integration." The specfic plan as introduced here (PDF), says that these are the short-term goals. As a few of you have shown here, we can see this happening already - an example of policy integration is the timing of the issue on immigration in both US and Canada right now... Also Harper's devote contribution to the Military - and the fact that the term "PeaceKeepers" now seems to be invalid. Another example, that most of us don't see is the behaviour of both governments internationally - especially with regard to the UN declarations, security Council decisions, and many other agreements-in-faith. 70% of the time the decisions of both are the same (Australia and Israel are often in agreement to what the US decides aswell) Now this doesn't readily effect any of us, just like the WTO and FTAA... (NB the only reason free trade seems good is because 'civil society' has the stick of wealth in-hand. The rest of the Nations involved, excepting the governments of those Nations who usually benefit 10-fold over the people, are utterly repulsed by all this. If anyone's interested, there's a movie called "the fourth world war" worth watching. You may also want to look up "argentine miracle." Among other things, Free Trade legalizes slave labour.) but it's no less relevant with regard to deep integration, because we are effected by their decisions regardless of where they make them - and we are the ones who have to suffer the consequences, if there are to be any. Finally, eventhough most Canadians won't tolerate "full integration," the fact is it's not necessarily up to us. I mean, do our voices really carry that much weight when it comes down to the government setting policy? When was the last time there was a referendum (trudeau), or were genuinely asked our opinion, besides for some inane poll for the news? So it may not matter what we think, want, or don't want - not unless we become democratically active.

Hey folks. I just would like to kickstart this topic (it's been 365 days since the last post) as there is a particular document that should be listed here, and discussed. It is the agenda of the taskforce on the future of North America which was leaked to the public in Feb '05 You can read about it at canadians.org An interesting, though perhaps coincidental development was the recent gathering of the heads of the American, Canadian, and Mexican States -- about a month ago, just after 2 Canadian tourists were killed in Mexico) Anyways, I'm hoping someone here can find some new updates on all this. Thanks, AHni