frostyca2000
Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:32:09 -0700
Update from Grand River, Sept. 22, 2006
Well, did everyone get to watch the 2nd part of the show 'Indian
Summer, the Oka Crisis' which aired tonight on CBC. I am so
emotional right now and my thoughts are everywhere I don't know where
to begin. Watching them come out of the pines and the brutality used
against our people who were only doing exactly what we have all been
doing or trying to do, and that is to uphold our Law, and protect the
future of our people. I cried so hard it made me sick. Sick to know
that nothing, in the last 16 years has changed in the thinking of the
canadian government. Nothing in their attitude toward the original
people of this land. The force they used then is the same force they
used on April 20th when they came in to Kanonhstaton. They beat
people, they had weapons drawn, and they had no care of whether or
not we were entitled and justified in our stand. I think the trauma
of being tackled and kicked and kneed by the police on April 20th has
finally surfaced. I had the opportunity to speak at Guelph
University a couple of nights ago, and recounting what had happened
on the day of the raid; and then watching the Oka movie tonight
brought out all of that mixed emotional baggage I've been carrying
around since then. What do you do with those emotions but let them
go, and gain strength in knowing that the power that they give to
each and everyone of us by their actions will be what defeats them.
I didn't recall the date when the people came out of the pines in
1990, but when I noticed the date tonight when watching the show, and
realized that the appeals court date is September 26th, it resounded
deep within the pit of my stomach and the date echoed throughout my
mind like the ripples from a rock being dropped in the lake. Co-
incidence? Who knows. Perhaps another attempt at utilizing certain
dates in history in the hopes of re-creating an outcome that absolves
them from having to take any responsibility for their actions. They
never resolved anything then, and they have no intention of resolving
anything now.
I am filled with such an unbelieveable anger at the ignorance of this
so-called country of Canada and the treatment of our people that I am
left with an emptiness and numbness inside. They have no remorse
because they continue with the same practices today. They would
rather kill us than look at what they have done to the very people
who welcomed them, fed them, and who supported their very existance
since their arrival. Why is it they can't see that the lands which
they built their country, the resources that financed their empire,
and the freedom that they enjoy today, was built on the backs of the
Onkwehonweh, our ancestors. They call us criminals and terrorists
and yet they forget that they are the decendants of people who were
considered criminals and diseased and were sent to this continent
because they were unwelcomed in their own. They are afraid to look
in the mirror because they cannot handle the truth of what is staring
back at them.
Today, we sit at a table and we talk, we negotiate, about trivial
things like the return of a bobcat, about the noise and lights that
bother our caledonia neighbours, about police buffer zones, and
relationship building; and always, always it is about their needs
and in the best interest of their people who are now occupying stolen
lands. Since 1784 when the land was granted through the Haldimand in
one hand, they stole it and gave it away from the other. Even the so-
called Indian Agents at the time who were suppose to be looking out
for the interests of the Six Nations, were looking out solely for the
interests of the squatters and their compensation of improvements
that they made to the land. It is exactly the same policy they are
working with today. Never mind the fact that we didn't ask them to
improve anything. We didn't ask them to come and squat on our land,
and honestly, we don't give two squats on whether or not they've been
compensated for it. They don't give two hoots about what they did
to our people, the frauds they committed or the negligence and
downright theft of the lands, our trust monies and our resources. It
is and always will be what is best for, and how it serves them. Not
once have they ever considered how their genocidal and assimilation
practices have effected our people. Not once in their manipulative
ways of frauding away our lands did they consider the effects that it
would have on our environment, on our hunting and fishing and our
respect and relationship with the land. Today they want us to
consider our neighbours on how the land will be used and how it will
effect them. Did they ever give consideration to our people when
they stole our lands, built their towns and townships and left us
boxed in on a little 'reserve'. Did they ask us before they stripped
the earth of our trees and polluted our rivers with their industrial
waste? Do they ask us as they continually develop lands that they
know they have no title to. And yet they want us to consult with and
work together with the people of caledonia before we even plant a
tree at Kanonhstaton. They want us to bring down the flags because
some people don't like the looks of them, or they find them
offensive. I guess when they bring down all of their canadian flags
flying around our country we may consider it.
I don't know if they've learned anything or not over the past several
decades. I know they hoped that by now we would have been good
little Indians and succumbed to the ways of the white man because
afterall, they were the dominate and better race. They had to save
us from our heathenistic ways, even ordering fumigation of our
community hall after any of our gatherings and ceremonies. They had
to beat our children out of using our language because it was for our
own good. Why, they even had to steal our children and place them in
residential schools so their ministers could rape our young women and
educate us to their ways to make us a better people. They had to use
their guns and force to bring in their Indian Act because it would
help us to govern ourselves in a way that was more appropriate and
more civilized than the Kaienerekowah, the law given to us by the
Creator. They had to save us from our spiritual practices because
they were considered evil. Today, that word is still being used by
some when referring to our Confederacy Council and the Onkwehonweh.
We are an evil people because we dare to resist colonialism and
oppression. We dare to hold on to the original teachings and Law
that supercedes any man made laws. We dare to uphold our obligation
and responsibility that was given to us not only for our own good,
but also for the good of all of Creation, including all of the other
races of the world. We are an evil people because we dare to resist
the Indian Act and the imposition of foreign laws by our modern day
indian agents. If upholding and respecting the oldest and purest law
of peace and light and love makes us evil, then I guess that is what
we are.
That Indian Act is still their trump card because they're hoping that
that is what will continue to divide our people. It has been working
since 1924, and they are counting on that to hold true. They are
counting on us to get tired of the stall tactics that they use at the
negotiations. They are hoping that if they wait long enough, we'll
turn on each other and this will all go away. But I have faith in
the people of Six Nations. I have faith that our people will realize
that this fight is not between the Confederacy and the Band Council.
This is about centuries of spiritual, mental, emotional and physical
abuse and manipulation. It is about the arrogance and downright
superioristic attitude of a race of people who abandoned the very
Peace that we are trying to protect, who turned their back on their
Messenger and hung him on a cross; all for a semblance of power and
righteousness. Not in the spirit of which it was intended, but in
the means of dominance and control and monetary gain. They take
innocent men and women and create armies and invade other countries
all in the name of Peace. They have not learned that all of the
riches of the world will never give them the peace that is suppose to
come from within. I am asking all of the Six Nations people and our
supporters to remember and look to that Peace that is within.
Remember that if we continue to walk the path that the Creator set us
on this earth to do, to uphold and respect the Peace with each other
as we were instructed, and to remember those 5 arrows that He bound
together as ONE in UNITY; that we will succeed in our duties of
protecting the future for our generations to come, and we will have
honoured the Creator in doing so. It does not matter if you support
the elective system or confederacy council. If you go to church or
follow the traditions of the longhouse. It doesn't matter if you're
Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneido or Onondaga, Tuscarora or any of the
other Nations who have taken shelter under the umbrella of that great
tree. As Onkwehonweh we have a responsibility that cannot be left to
our children or our grandchildren to deal with. We are the original
united nations, the keepers of Peace, and we must continue to
inflict peace in whatever we do. Having said all that, I only have
one thing left to say, Peace on you Canada!
Hazel
Sharon Green Owner and Editor Gathering Place First Nations Canadian News " http://gatheringplacefirstnationscanews.ca/"; Interesting websites or pages. www.kahonwes.com Best Mohawk Site on the web www.frostys.qc.ca Website of Computer Products www.kcnativecommunity.org www.globeandmail.com www.mohawkflute.com www.canadianaboriginal.com Ecellent Site www.tuscaroras.com www.tekanews.com http://nativenewsonline.org/ www.indigenations.com/index.shtml www.indiancountry.com http://dreamkeepers.net www.transformcolumbusday.org www.owlstar.com www.nanews.org www.redwiremag.com www.treatycouncil.org www.destination.ca/~curybuck ( French Language ) www.ubcic.bc.ca www.nativeheritage.net www.un.org/News/ www.bloorstreet.com/200block/rsparrow.htm www.bloorstreet.com/200block/rguerin.htm www.indigenousmedia.org www.nativegiftbaskets.com/ Material for read-only purposes and may not be further distributed, published or broadcast without prior written permission of the owner. Please use links as much as possible and subscribe to them to get complete details. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frostysamerindian/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frostysamerindian/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/