An Akwesasne businessman says he can't help but feel that natives are being singled out when it comes to the fight against tobacco smuggling.
He's been stopped twice, once in the city and the most recent time on Highway 401, for no other reason than sketchy suspicion that he might be hauling contraband.
Few weeks back he decided to take his wife out for dinner. Around Cardinal they passed an OPP SUV parked in the median.
At the same time a Quebec car passed, obviously exceeding the speed limit.
When the OPP vehicle pulled out, his wife assumed they were going after the speeder. "I said 'no they aren't, they're going to stop us because we're native.' "
Seconds later, he said, the OPP vehicle pulled up alongside his vehicle. The officer in the passenger seat glanced over, then the police vehicle backed off, pulling in behind him. The lights came on and he pulled over.
"I told my wife that when they saw that we were native, they decided to check us out to see if we're smuggling."
The man, who has never been in trouble with the law, said that while the two officers were polite and very professional, he felt that they had no right to ask him where he was coming from and where he was going.
"I told them they already knew I was from Akwesasne (because they had run his Ontario plate) and that I didn't have to tell them where I was going," he said.
He said the officer agreed that was his right.
The man says he then told them if they really wanted to know, he was taking his wife for dinner.
"He said, 'Oh, up to the truck stop.'"
He was actually taking his wife to an Ottawa restaurant.
"I guess they figured that since we were native we must be going to the truck stop for supper, so I just said yes that's where we were going, if that's what he wanted to think."
He said that while one officer was asking him questions the other was checking the back of his vehicle.
He was asked if he was carrying smuggled cigarettes, which of course he wasn't.
He complained to the OPP but says he was told by a sergeant that this was the interdiction team and they can stop anybody they feel might be smuggling cigarettes.
He's also been stopped in Cornwall by the RCMP and went through the same "Are you smuggling cigarettes?" routine.
Not surprsing, he's convinced that native people, especially those driving SUVs or trucks, are being targeted.
"Being from Akwesasne is like having a big target on your back," he said.
Right or wrong, many other residents of Akwesasne share his feelings. It is a sensitive issue among the native population.
The fact is, the OPP interdiction team (not part of the regional task force) also targets non-natives.
A high-ranking police official can vouch for that.
He has first-hand experience... on the other end of the stop.
He was driving a rental van westbound on Highway 401 in the Cardinal area when pulled over by an OPP officer interested in what he was transporting.
"Obviously, he (officer) suspected I might be carrying (illegal) cigarettes," he said.
Police on smuggled tobacco watch outside Cornwall might not be targeting a specific group such as natives, but the address that shows up on their computer system might raise a red flag.
A smuggler caught after being stopped on Highway 2 near Belleville said police told him he was selected because his vehicle was registered to a Cornwall address.
"The cop told me that they were looking for plates from the Cornwall area."