The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake wishes to issue the following statement in response to the Ontario Provincial Police’s actions yesterday on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, the birthplace of the Peacemaker.
The Grand Chief and Chiefs at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake are intent on expressing our firm condemnations of the actions taken yesterday against members of our sister community of Tyendinaga’s unceded Mohawk Territory.
We would like to remind the Governor General and Canada that, in regards to the OPP arrests, several negotiation channels and paths to peaceful resolution were readily available to resolve the conflict.
We also learned today of an injunction, being granted to Canadian Pacific Railway, that could be used against members of our sister community of Kahnawake. There are no words that can express how deeply concerned we are right now at the direction this weathered path leads to.
We would also like to remind the Governor General and Canada that the economy, and thus damages to it, is built on the land and resources that indigenous people shared with Canadian settlers. Colonial laws have historically sought, not only to justify the appropriation of our lands and resources, but also provided the necessary mechanisms to hinder the equitable sharing of the wealth created by unlawfully enterprising our lands and resources. It is not without a sense of irony that the same colonial laws are now used to enforce arrests and remove, once again, our people from our lands in the name of protecting that economy, all the while, not addressing the root causes of the blockades.
The actions perpetrated in the past against our people on multiple occasions and circumstances have proven to only lead to disastrous consequences to both our people and nation to nation relations. It is distressing to see, once again, history on the brink of repeating itself. The Governor General as well as Canada’s leadership must realize that at the end of every injunction sought against land defenders is an escalation. What the people and country needs at the moment is calm until this situation is resolved in a peaceful way.
Indigenous peoples from all over the world are more connected and unified. The highest courts of the land have pointed time and time again the systemic repressions our people have to face. Non-indigenous people are more and more informed about indigenous issues and show more solidarity to our causes than ever ; it is in this context that we call on the leadership of the Governor General and Canada to learn from the mistakes of the past, to find ways of resolving this conflict by other means that don’t involve the use of force against peaceful protesters on their land, and to fulfil its promises of renewing relations with its most important and closest allies.
We take this opportunity to remind the Governor General and Canada to implement and respect the United Nations on the Rights of Indigenous People, as in this case Articles 10 and 26, which state that :
Article 10
Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return. Article 26
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.
2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.
3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned.
