June 11, 2006

Caledonia and Gambling

Update: More links between the Caledonia protests and unsavoury criminal interests.

The OPP are looking for several people with regards to violence at the Caledonia stand-off involving the Six Nations Reserve.

One of those people is Ken Hill:

Ken Hill, 47, of Ohsweken, faces two counts of assault

Ken Hill is not just some two-bit hooligan. He's a two-bit hooligan with a business plan:

Ken Hill, a Mohawk from Six Nations, and Jerry Montour, a Mohawk from Wahta, are partners with others at Grand River Enterprises, which is located on the Six Nations Indian Reserve. GRE, which is a cigarette manufacturing plant, is the largest private business on the Six Nations Reserve, employing approximately 175 people. They have recently expanded operations to a plant located in Germany and are also looking at establishing a plant in South Africa. Ken and Jerry will talk about this exciting international project.

Besides smoking, Ken Hill is interested in gambling as well:

Preliminary Report On Six Nations Gaming Commission And Internet Gaming Activities On The Reserve

On May 13, 2003 Steve Williams, then Chair of the Gaming Commission, met with Harvey Filger, Director of Economic Development, to discuss a proposal he had worked on in his capacity as Chair of the Gaming Commission. He advised that a third party on the reserve wished to use a private facility consisting of 12 computers for internet gaming.

During the month of June Chief Roberta Jamieson, and Councillor Sid Henhawk attended a meeting at Grand River Enterprises (GRE). Gerry Montour, Ken Hill and Steve Williams attended the meeting. During this meeting, Mr. Montour and Mr. Hill stated their interest in operating a call center and becoming involved in on reserve internet gaming. Chief Roberta Jamieson requested a legal opinion and business plan on the proposed initiatives and Mr. Montour agreed to forward these documents to the Six Nations Economic Development Committee.

Now this planning for an internet gaming operation was hung up on legal matters. The Council was not satisfied that the reserve could host internet gambling without running afoul of Canadian law despite their status as a reserve. But that did not stop someone from moving forward with the idea.

First, there is the Six Nations Network, a server hosting company dedicated to bringing "your offshore hosting back to the main land." Most internet gaming interests maintain their servers on small islands in the Caribbean to avoid law enforcement entanglements in the US and Canada. Apparently, someone at Six Nations thinks being on a reserve amounts to the same thing, but affords the client the comfort of knowing the servers are close by (and not in the path of hurricanes). Interestingly, there is a link from the site to the Six Nations Gaming Commission, though the link dies.

Somebody then started up AbsolutePoker.com, and claimed it was being managed by that same Six Nations Gaming Commission:

A commercial internet gaming site www.absolutepoker.com currently hosting its website on the Six Nations reserve with a company or partnership called Six Nations Network (SixNet), www.sixnet.ca, which indicates that it has received a license to operate on Six Nations by the Six Nations Gaming Commission.

This will advise all Six Nations members and the general public that this commercial activity has not been approved by the Six Nations Council. [October 2003]

The poker site is still active, and it still claims to be regulated in the Six Nations Internet Gambling Regulatory Body.

There is another gambling authority operating on the reserve called the Haldimand Mohocks and Allies Gaming Commission. They are also connected to the Six Nations Network. Two commissions? Not unless they share an office. Both are located at 2176-B Chiefswood Road on the reserve (see here and here).

Guess who else has an office exactly at 2176 Chiefswood Road. If you bet all your chips on the name Ken Hill, you would have won! In fact, the cigarette company Ken Hill owns, Grand River Enterprises, has their office there.

OK, I think it's fair to say that despite the protestations of the Six Nations Council, Ken Hill is deeply involved in internet gambling using the Six Nations Network as his "offshore" server farm.

Is Ken Hill still trying to make it into the lucrative world of reserve gaming, the bricks-and-mortar kind? Is he looking at the Douglas Creek Estates land as a potential site for a casino?

For a businessman with significant responsibilities, it seems strange for Ken Hill to be engaging in riots and assaulting people -- unless there was something in it for him.

Something big.