Blockades & Police Raids at Tyendinaga

The following two reports from Mohawk Nation News:

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE INVADE PEACEFUL MOHAWKS AT TYENDINAGA. ANOTHER CALEDONIA STYLE DEVELOPER “CASHOUT” SCAM

* View
* Track

April 22, 2008 – 9:37pm — Gary

Two reports from MNN below…

MNN. Mon. April 21, 2008. Attacks on Indigenous people continue. Canada isn’t satisfied to waste billions of dollars a year on war missions overseas. It’s using the same armored fist at home. Today the town of Deseronto on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory was surrounded by the armed forces of the Ontario Provincial Police. Deseronto is an illegal nonnative enclave.

With eyes wide open, Emile and his father Theodore Nibourg of Napanee Ontario, who own the “Smiling Wilderness Restaurant” on the TransCanada Highway, decided they wanted to build a $35 million condominium on Mohawk land in Deseronto overlooking the Bay of Quinte. Never mind that they don’t own the land, Canada refuses to acknowledge Indigenous property rights. The Nibourgs are real estate developers of commercial and residential properties out of Kingston Ontario. They are fully aware of the Culbertson Land dispute which has been the focus of negotiations between the federal government and the Mohawks since 1995. [Nibourgs at cell 6135610984 fax 6135447868 enibourg@sutton.com.

Last year the Thurlow Aggregates Quarry Site run by Tim Letch of Intergrorup Finance of Kingston was shut down by the Rotiskenekete. There was evidence of extensive illegal dumping including large amounts of asphalt. Not only was the dumping illegal it also violated environmental protection laws by contaminating ground water with toxic waste. Tim Letch was involved in some way in the condo development. The Nibourgs appeared to have pushed Tim Letch out of the picture.

In a press release from the Sadie’s Lane Longhouse at Tyendinaga supporting the occupation, according to the Two Row Wampum agreement, they said that, “It’s our land and we are prepared to help defend it”. [Contact Jan Hill 6133966742 janh@fnti.net].

A Rotiskenekete said, “We are prepared to stay as long as necessary to defend our land. Mr. Nibourg or anyone else trying to develop our land in Deseronto better think again”. The peaceful encampment is on a large grassy knoll, overlooking the Bay, surrounding a large tipi. The full moon was glistening off the water. There was drumming, singing and good humor. Flashing Rotiskenekete patrol cars ringed the encampment. According to the OPP budget plan, they need to find some Mohawk fall guys to arrest to illegally enforce their foreign laws. Everybody except us cashes in – police doing overtime, justice system, Indian Affairs, bureaucrats, media, the town, and maybe the developer. All because they know we will do what we are supposed to do, defend our land!

This morning at 5:00 am an overwhelming force of armed OPP are “just monitoring” the situation. The Mohawks of Tyendinaga camped on the property last night. This morning they set up blockades on highway 2 just east of Deseronto. “They’ve got East and West bound roads blocked”, said Constable Jackie Perry of Napanee provincial police. He said vehicles can go north on Deseronto Road at the T-intersection. On April 11th the Nibourgs had started cutting trees on the property. The Rotiskenekete appeared on the scene, stopped them and told them to leave. Nibourgs seem to think that the OPP is their private army. Ignoring the legal rights of the Mohawks at Tyendinaga, they declared, “If you Mohawks don’t leave, we are going to call the OPP and have you kicked out”. He appeared to be setting up a confrontation.

A few days later Nibourg decided to apologize and asked for a meeting with the Rotiskenekete. Obviously, he had his eye on the lucrative pay out received by Henco Inc. for their illegal development at Six Nations Caledonia. He was quite blunt about it. He offered to use them as pawns to extort money from the Ontario Government. He asked the Rotiskenekete to occupy the said land and block the roads in order to escalate the situation. Then he would ask the government to pay him for the land, his expenses and his forecasted profits. Then he would agree to stop the construction. We understand he doesn’t even need the money to build this because he’s planning to be bought off.

Regarding Deseronto, the government violated our lands rights by fraudulently giving out permits for nonnative people to build on our land also referred to as the Culbertson Tract of 1873. The Rotiskenekete told Nibourg, “No. There will never be a development on our land”. We want our land that Deseronto sits on returned to us. We demand that the government deal with the nonnative residents of Deseronto by compensating them and paying for their relocation. They told Nibourg, “You will be the last to be dealt with”. The Rotiskenekete added, “We don’t want to be used as a tool for extorting money from any foreign governments, including the governments of Canada and Ontario”.

Then Nibourg said that he would be back with a construction crew on Monday, April 21st, to start building. The Mohawks have stopped construction, are occupying our land and have blocked the roads to keep him and any of his coconspirators away from creating another “Caledonia” so they can cash in big! Supporters of the Mohawks are welcome. Residents may pass through the occupation without hindrance. We are anxious that everybody understand this issue from the Mohawk perspective.

The Rotiskenekete will carry out the peace and the tenets of the Kaianereh?ko:wa [Great Law of Peace].

Contact: Rotiskenekete: 6138491314; 6138274991;
email davidrmaracle@aol.com

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

UPDATE: OPP BRINGS IN RIOT SQUAD AND SWAT TEAM.
MOHAWKS OF TYENDINAGA RETREAT TO QUARRY
OPP CLOSE PERIMETER AT 9:00 A.M. TUESDAY APRIL 22, 2008

OPP USING CHILDISH VIDEO GAME TACTICS

300 RIOT SQUAD IN FULL GEAR, SHIELDS, ARMS AND
ALL. ANOTHER 80 TO 100 OFFICERS IN “GHOST CARS”
AND “MARKED AND UNMARKED” CARS.

REAL ESTATE AGENT EMILE NEIBOURG STAYS AWAY.

Choppers flying overhead. Low flights over our heads at Culbertson Track and the quarry. On the water there a dozen OPP surveillance boats. Six Nations Rotiskenekete have just shut down the court house in Brantford, Ontario Kenny Hill 5192093849.

BACKGROUND
MNN. Apr. 22, 2008. Last night the nonnative Deseronto squatters, whose town is on Tyendinaga Mohawk land along the Bay of Quinte, made human chains along the road leading up to the demonstration. They held up signs for the Mohawks to see, with messages, like “power to people [themselves]” “Remove your masks” and “You are a disgrace to your race”. Pictures available. Are they copying us or what? They get the tactics but not the principle.

Band council chief R. Don Maracle distanced himself from the blockaders saying “”Blockades are not the way to settle land claims. People need to understand that it takes time to resolve these issues. They need to remain calm to allow [me] to negotiate peacefully in a climate that is not hampered by protests and blockades”, he told the local radio station.

R.Don Maracle would be right except for two things. One, a negotiator needs to be picked by the people for the purpose. You can’t assume the right to negotiate because you’ve been elected to a colonial band council office who function on colonial capitalist brains.

Two, negotiations have to be in public to meet the requirements of both Haudenosaunee Law and international law. Agreements cannot be the result of the informed consent of the people if the people have not been informed. In camera closed door negotiations are not legitimate.

The land in question is the Culbertson Track of 1832 which was never given up. The Ontario government knows full well that there’s a problem with squatters on the Tract since 1832. How long do they expect us to wait for them to uphold the law.

The roads trespass on our land. It’s our land. It’s our business where we stand on it. The OPP, the squatters, the trucks carrying toxic waste to the quarry and the construction crews are all trespassers. The illegal colonial governments and agents defame us by accusing us of saying we’re the law breakers instead of doing their duty to protect us from their unruly law breaking people. Why are the cops breaking the law?

The squatters roamed around all night shooting verbal threats left, right and center, “You better take down your blockade or else!”, with the OPP standing behind them probably setting them up and urging them along. The OPP are following the same “Whiskey Trench” tactics used by the SQ during the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990 at Kanehsatake and Kahnawake. They’re just standing there watching as their citizens break the law. By doing this they are encouraging them to act like rabble.

What needs to happen in a proper democracy is that the legal rights and principles have to be set out and recognized by all responsible parties. In keeping with the requirements of both international law and the Great Law of Peace/Kaianereh’ko:wa, we have set out our rights. The British Crown agreed to recognize and protect our right to our land on the Culbertson Tract. Ontario has not set out its rights. It has provided no legal authority for its claims. Instead it’s using armed force to support those who would violate the law. This is totally dishonorable behavior. This isn’t the 19th century anymore. When are Canadians going to leave colonialism behind? It”s been formally recognized as illegal for almost a century now.

They should know by now that their strong arm strategy to wear us down and scare us into submission by defaming us and our ancestors just won’t work. We have been unwavering since the time of first contact. We never agreed to be British subjects. We never became Canadian citizens. We never agreed to accept the injustices that have been visited upon us. We will continue to ask questions about their illegal actions. We will overcome this nonsense.

The Rotiskenekete did take down some of the blockades last night in good faith as we feel we had made our point about the fraud that is taking place. The condominium construction on the Bay of Quinte is illegal. Ontario should stop feeding into the scam artists who are trying to use us to extort cash pay outs out of them. They should simply uphold the law and evict the squatters. Succumbing to these tactics is unfair to Ontario tax payers.

When the Deseronto squatters started attacking us, it was left to the Mohawks to defend ourselves and our land by putting the blockades back up. The OPP should have been cooperating with these efforts to ensure the safety of everyone.

The OPP came in yesterday morning and set up a perimeter further out. This morning at 8:00 am they moved closer.

The OPP came to every area where there was a Mohawk blockade pushing threats from OPP Headquarters that they are “”coming in”” and “”taking us out””. Constables Ron Van Straalen and C. Flynn of the OPP at Napanee Detachment are in charge [6133543369, Fax 6133549183]. We had 4 sections blocked. The roads are open, #2 highway going through Deseronto to Napanee.

Emile Neibourg, the real estate agent created this situation. He is trying to extort a pay out from Ontario by threatening to build condos on our land. Caught on video was the police saying, “We know that he created this to deal with this land issue”. Then he can help Canada say, “We don’t have any money to pay the Mohawks for the disruption of their land, or to relocate the Deseronto squatters. We gave it all to Mr. Neibourg. The OPP has become a tool of corporate corruption. They”ve been turned into a private army of the opportunistic scumbags who will stop at nothing to line their pockets.

To our brothers and sisters, “”We need help. Pressure the OPP and the governments of Ontario and Canada to stop the violence and stop the corruption on sovereign independent people. Nobody has spoken to us. They just came in and attacked. Is this the new OPP protocol? These OPP look like they are itching to converge on us at the quarry and take us out. They want to try out their new Faschist Fantino tactics. Their ultimatum is, “get out of here!!” They know we are right. They refuse to talk to us. Ontario citizens should be asking why their government is letting itself be used for this organized thuggery.

Rotiskenekete 6138491314 –– 6138274991 email davidrmaracle@aol.com
OPP Eastern Regional Headquarters 6132844500 fax
6132844597 lg.beechey chief supt. Commander, Eastern Region, Smiths Falls.
MBQ R. Don Maracle, 6133963089, CELL 6133919249
RDONM@MBQTMT.ORG 6133963424 ext. 106 info@mbqtmt.org
Jan Hill 6133966742
Emile Neibourg 6135610984 fax 6135447868 enibourg@sutton.com