Mohawk Nation News
Sept. 8, 2007 . On Saturday September 8th MNN went to Sharbot Lake to support the Algonquins in friendship. We Mohawks are concerned about the outcome of the protest against uranium mining because the Ottawa and St. Lawrence River watershed on Kanion’ke:haka land is going to be affected. We won’t let our water table get poisoned.
Algonquin war chief Harold Perry initially sent a wampum to the Tyendinaga Mohawks for our people to join them. The wampum is an official invitation for us to take part in the operation, not just to be bystanders.
The Algonquins have asked supporters to visit the site of the protest. They are trying to stop Frontenac Ventures from opening up a uranium mine on their unsurrendered territory. Every sane and healthy person, whether indigenous or a member of the colonial society, can support this.
The reception at the site was stiff. We were invited to go behind the wired fence in front of the old vacant Robertsville Mine on Highway 509 west of Perth Ontario . We talked with war chief Earl Brodeur. His wisdom appears to be beyond idealism. Earl told us they were getting worldwide attention following the MNN articles. This is an issue that the governments who have been bought off by commercial ventures would rather ignore.
Then the old war chief, Harold Perry, came out of the tent meeting that was taking place beside the road outside the gate. He told us we were not welcome and to leave immediately. He accused MNN of inaccuracies in the stories about their issue. They say they’ve been “damaged by them” and wanted control over MNN stories. We were then escorted to the outside of the front gate and stood next to the road.
Then the Ontario Provincial Police officer, Randy Cota, who is also a chief of the Ardoc Lake Algonquins, joined us. He voiced solid opposition to three issues that MNN had raised: the OPP’s presence within the protest; his association with MREL Mining Resources Engineering Limited who had been developing and testing bombs about 6 miles behind the protest site; and the presence of the religious right.
This reminded us of when Jim Loney of the Peacemakers Team was held hostage by the Iraqis. Jim Potts, advisor to the OPP, phoned around and asked us to make statements to the Iraqis to let him go. Not long after Potts was plotting a raid against us at Six Nations which we headed off and Potts backed down. The religious right has in fact impacted negatively where lives were lost because people were bought into their rhetoric based on positions that everyone can agree with, such as the need for peaceful solutions.
When MNN pointed out that the research on MREL was correct according to their own website, they stopped short. Also, that close associations do exist between the OPP and the defenders, particularly himself.
We agreed that MNN will peruse their reports provided “from the site”. In other words, they appear to have adopted the customs of the dominant states which want to prevent investigative journalism and for the media to publish only the stories by their “imbedded” reporters. So much for freedom of the press which was once considered a pillar of democracy.
They were asked, if the inaccuracies were so glaring, why weren’t they brought to MNN’s attention. MNN has always conducted fuller investigations and printed corrections or retractions. They replied that, “Everybody was too busy!” They were asked if at anytime did MNN not support the Algonquins? They said that was not the problem. So what is it?
From all appearances a hierarchy has been developed and taken hold of the site, with the OPP sitting at the top. They maintain police cruisers before and after the site and constant surveillance of everyone going in and out. They have enlarged their presence at the Sharbot Lake detachment with a huge trailer and some of the paraphernalia a para-military force might need for a sudden attack from an obscure position.
Brian Heslip, of MELT, “Major Events Liaison Team”, is there to help the people develop the “right approach” toward the OPP presence. His Colgate smile sparkles and his eyes twinkle with warmth when he says, “I couldn’t hurt a fly”. He’s not stiff like an OPP. His body language is relaxed as often happens with people who are secure in their power. Two weeks of Aboriginal Sensitivity Training got rid of any outward appearances of racism. He actually made a beaded bracelet and took part in a sweat lodge. No kidding! This makes him an expert? There is nothing like a good sweat to make you feel like an indigenous, he thinks. The next thing you know, he will be applying for his Indian Status card.
It was also strange to see all those tents along the road allowance. How good of a defense could a few elderly white ladies launch when the invasion happens?
Then we left and went to visit an elder member of Ardoc Lake Algonquins who lives nearby. Let’s call her “Madge”. She lives in a small house in the bush at the end of a dirt road.
While we sat at her kitchen table drinking tea and eating her nutritious cookies, she received a call from OPP officer, Brandy Winter [Badge number 9323, phone 613-279-2195 ]. Brandy is part of ART “Aboriginal Relations Team”. She warned Madge, “If you go to the main site, you may be turned away because you are not welcome there. This message is from the Algonquins and the settlers”. Butter couldn’t melt in her icy mouth.
It looks like the OPP has authority to tell Algonquin elders if they can speak with their people. The elder then asked, “Could I be in danger? Everybody knows I live alone. What can I do for my safety? I thought this was a non-violent demonstration”.
Madge phoned the OPP and reported the incident. Then MNN reported to the OPP that they were witnesses when Madge received the threat. MNN then asked the OPP for safe passage out of the area. Last July the OPP had followed and intimidated three women supporters who had come to Perth for the demonstration and then to the site at the invitation of Harold Perry.
Yesterday MNN phoned several relatives and told them about the latest incident.
On the way out OPP cars passed us every 5 minutes. Normally people don’t see them for weeks at a time. A resident has to call the local donut shop to get them to do their job. Please, Tim Horton, don’t set one up there. The OPP should leave those people alone instead of creating all this trouble. Maybe their rash actions are the result of caffeine withdrawal because they’re always speeding through Lanark County . They’re the main violators of the speed limit.
Brandy Winter refused to give Madge her phone number. “What will I do if I am attacked?”
Brandy said, “Just go outside and wave down a passing OPP”. Honestly, this is basically what Brandy said. Brandy said three times that this was “not an order from the police”.
As funny as this account is, these are state police tactics.
Even the OPP dispatcher at Smiths Falls said it “was weird”. She wondered if it was a prank. No, it was a threat against an elderly wisp of a member of the community. She eats a lot of spaghetti trying to put some weight back on. She lost ten pounds since the start of this protest.
What will happen if the OPP bring in armed troops with all those infiltrators in there? The Algonquins may not see it coming. At least five OPP infiltrators have even formed a drum group at Ardoc. They were the host drum for the recent pow wow on September 1st.
Instead of being thanked for our assistance, we were chased away. Why? Their defense of the OPP, the religious right and MREL is bizarre. We can’t tell who is giving the orders from Ottawa or Washington or some corporate headquarters. How can the OPP threaten solid support that has not threatened or committed any crime? Don’t forget that uttering threats is a crime. The documented threat so far has come from the OPP.
It is becoming apparent that the outsiders have infiltrated the site. Let’s hope that the majority of Algonquins are not heading into the “acquiescence stage”?
MNN is not undermining support of the land, water table and the prohibition of uranium mining that the Algonquins and settlers are working for. MNN continues to support this stand. Attention has been successfully diverted from the threat to the water shed posed by the uranium mine and to the skullduggery involved in state sanctioned manufacture of car bombs.
What is the OPP staging? Are they trying to ease the Algonquins into a settlement of their unsurrendered lands? Then Frontenac Ventures can start their uranium mining?
Recently Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny of Ottawa made a decision regarding the 2004 RCMP raid of the home of Julliet O’Neill, an Ottawa Citizen reporter. They wanted her sources of information and seized all her documents and computer files. This was found to be unconstitutional and illegal in a free and democratic society.
OPP and Canada , MNN is not “Pravda”, which was the official voice of the communist totalitarian regime in Russia at a time when no media could criticize the government. Canada is going in this direction by trying to intimidate all media to go along with their “party line”.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News