Mike Mitchell is concerned a new position created to improve relations between the community of Akwesasne and the Canada Border Services Agency is getting started on the wrong track.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) told the Standard-Freeholder on Thursday it has agreed to create an aboriginal liaison officer position to help foster a better relationship between residents of the First Nation and the border agency. But Mitchell, the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA), says the Akwesasne leadership hasn't been officially notified of the position's creation.
"We've had no (official) contact with the CBSA this week," Mitchell said.
The possibility the position may be filled surfaced Monday during a Akwesasne radio broadcast, but Mitchell said that report was repeating points of negotiation on the table for several months since the border first closed in June.
"(The liaison position) was one of the first things we brought up when negotiations started," Mitchell said. "It's something we've been trying to get for the last few years."
The grand chief said unlike the other law enforcement agencies in the area, the CBSA has not taken cultural sensitivity training. Providing such training for border services officers working locally has long been on Akwesasne's wish list.
"This situation calls for it because the officers don't know our traditions, they seize our cultural items and they have no idea about our ceremonies," Mitchell said.
"For a long time they've seemed very insensitive to our community, when really they are just ignorant."
So now that the CBSA has announced the aboriginal liaison officer position, Mitchell views it with mixed emotions because it may not be created using a workable model.
"It's supposed to be a native position ... but our impression was that (the CBSA) plan is to find someone from their regime trained to fill the position," Mitchell said.
He acknowledged the CBSA could be looking to fill the role with a First Nations member, but was very hesitant to assume that is the case.
"We want to discuss this with the CBSA because we're worried they just don't get it," Mitchell said. "The officer has to know a lot about our community, culture and traditions."
If the CBSA decides to give the job to someone Akwesasne leaders feel isn't cut out for it, Mitchell isn't worried.
"I'm not too concerned because they simply can't do that," he said. "It just won't fly. They're going to have to contact us and put what they propose on the table."
As for the morale in Akwesasne, Mitchell said "life here (in Akwesasne) is not pretty."
He spends time and council money most days helping residents get their vehicles back from the CBSA impound.
Officers have been seizing vehicles because their owners failed to report to customs after a trip to the U. S. Residents feel they should be exempt from the reporting requirement because Akwesasne straddles the U. S.-Canada border -which they don't recognize -but the CBSA has said it won't allow for anymore exceptions.
Mitchell said the MCA is still scheduled for an appearance in the Federal Court of Canada on Dec. 8 to challenge the CBSA's "unilateral decision" to remove its officers from the permanent customs post on Cornwall Island in Akwesasne.
The CBSA closed up the customs building on May 31 during the climax of a protest against arming the officers, leaving the border shut for six weeks. A temporary post opened on July 13 in Cornwall and has been expanding ever since.
Mitchell says the CBSA claims it was chased off the island, but he maintains it was always a peaceful community protest.