And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 14:33:52 -0500 >From: Kahn-Tineta Horn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.02 [en] (Win95; I) >MIME-Version: 1.0 >To: Action Canada Network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: IS THE UNITED NATIONS FACILITATING THE EXTINCTION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE? > >CASNP. Kahnawake M.T. 11 Dec 98. The following speech was presented >by Kahn-Tineta Horn, President of the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity >with the Native Peoples to the City of Toronto Celebration of the 50th >Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, >1998. It went over well with some and not with others. > >"In the last few years I have been to the United Nations in New York >City and I wasn't impressed. > >THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION THAT IS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT OUR FUNDAMENTAL >HUMAN RIGHTS. > >THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION THAT SAYS IN ARTICLE 1 OF ITS CHARTER THAT IT >IS "BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND SELF DETERMINATION OF >PEOPLES" > >THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION THAT CLAIMS TO PROMOTE EQUALITY "WITHOUT >DISTINCTION AS TO RACE, LANGUAGE, SEX OR RELIGION" > >YET once again UN officials representing the dominant states lined up >their people to tell us what to do. They controlled the meeting, set >the agenda and decided how many questions were asked. And none of our >questions were answered. > >THERE ARE COMPLICATED EXCUSES FOR THIS. Today, I can only tell you what >I know. So this is what I have to say. > >Did you know that Canada WAS THE FIRST COUNTRY TO SHUT Indigenous >Peoples OUT of international ORGANIZATIONS? > >It was Canada that placed Indigenous societies throughout the world on >the path to genocide and extinction. > >And this happened recently in 1923 & 1924.... IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST >THING CANADA DID WHEN IT STARTED TO SEPARATE ITSELF FROM THE BRITISH >EMPIRE AND ACTED AS A STATE ON ITS OWN. > >SO I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT HOW Canada's strategy continues to perpetuate >this atrocities on Indigenous societies worldwide. > >THERE ARE A LOT OF GAPS IN THE WAY CANADA TELLS HISTORY. >I BET MOST OF YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY NEVER AGREED >TO BE PART OF CANADA! > >Did you know that the Iroquois Confederacy of Six Nations, near >Brantford Ontario, sent a representative, Deskahe, to Geneva in 1923 to >apply for membership in the League of Nations? > >I AM A CITIZEN OF THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU >THAT WE STARTED OFF AS ALLIES OF BRITAIN AND WE NEVER AGREED TO GIVE UP >OUR INDEPENDENT STATUS. > >We had a democratic government before you had even heard of "responsible >government". > >When Europeans were having a hard time making it in North America, we >were their allies and helped them. > >When her colonies revolted in the American War of Independence we moved >north and to this day we remain independent British allies. > >Things started to go wrong for us when Britain started giving local >self-government on our land to European settlers. > >Canadians started to ignore us. We did the best we could. They >mismanaged our trust funds & allotted our lands without our consent. In >the end Canadians started treating us like wards of their Crown and as >British subjects. They wanted to assimilate us & they started forcing >their laws on us. > >How would you feel if the United States started to make laws about stray >dogs or collecting taxes in Canada? That's what you did to us! >In 1920 we petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada to decide on the >legality of the Indian Act and on the interference by the Department of >Indian Affairs in our government. > >We asked for a constitutional reference, like Canada did on Quebec. But >in 1920 Canada refused to let the court hear our case on the advice of >Duncan Campbell Scott in the Department of Indian Affairs. > >Just think about that. We were complaining about Scott�s interpretation >of the law & Canada let him decide if our complaint should be heard! > >So we petitioned the Governor Genera. Our petition got sent back to >Duncan Campbell Scott. > >Then we petitioned the King in England & our petition got sent to the >Governor General in Canada. Guess who he sent it to? You guessed it! >Duncan Campbell Scott! > >We still wanted our issues to be looked at by an impartial third party. >So we chose Chief Deskaheh, the Speaker of our Council, to get >international help. > >Then Canada started to make plans to send the RCMP to invade our >territory! That was the last straw! Deskaheh sent a petition to the >Queen of the Netherlands because the Netherlands had been our allies >back in the days when New York was known as New Amsterdam. > >The Netherlands submitted our petition to the League of Nations. But >Canada claimed that we were not independent. They got Great Britain to >bury our case by putting pressure on the Netherlands. So the League did >not considered our case. > >You had to be a state to be a member of the League of Nations and Canada >thought that they could just tell everyone we were not a state and that >would be the end of it. >Then Deskaheh went to Geneva and got the support of Estonia, Persia, >Ireland and Panama for the Permanant Court of International Justice to >decide whether or not we were a state. The Confederacy is entitled to >the respect that is due any other nation in the world according to the >criteria of nationhood - having a population, a functioning government, >language, culture and a land base. > >Well, guess what happened? Canada got the British Empire to lean on all >those little states. So...instead of the international court realizing >we were a state, people just had to take Canada's word for it that we >weren�t. > >We were still looking for a way to get a neutral investigation of our >complaints. So we were looking into arbitration at the Hague. Then >Canada found a way to shut us out once and for all. > >How? Canada, that great defender of democracy & human rights, quickly >got an order in council declaring that our government was going to be >replaced with a council elected under Canada's Indian Act. > >What would you do if the United States sent in the Marines and announced >it wasn't going to deal with the Canadian Prime Minister any more, that >it was going to give you a right to vote for Senators and Congressmen? >Would you appreciate your free choice to vote in that kind of election? > >That's the kind of choice Canada gave us and we didn't like it. > >Canada turned its back on our Council where over fifty Chiefs >represented our people and held an illegal election. > >Guess how many people voted? Only 25! > >In October 1924 Canada sent in the RCMP and brutally threw out the >Confederacy Chiefs from the Council House. They put in their Council >and announced to the world that the Six Nations had a progressive new >council, which promptly passed a resolution saying that Deskaheh no >longer represented the Six Nations. > >This closed the door on our ever getting any neutral adjudication of our >issues. To this day Canada insists on dealing with us through its >fraudulently imposed Indian Act. And Nations throughout the world HAVE >adopted this same position. > >Indigenous people everywhere are excluded from the society of nations >and this did not change when the League of Nations was replaced by the >United Nations. > >We are excluded from neutral adjudication of the injustices imposed on >us. WE ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE NEGOTIATING TABLE AS EQUAL VOTING MEMBERS >OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. All our powerful neighbours have to do >TO EXCLUDE US is to claim that our complaints are an "internal domestic >concern" and we are left to their mercy that is abusing us. > >WE CANNOT HAVE A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR TO DETERMINE OUR RIGHT TO REPRESENT >OUTSELVES. > >ACCORDING TO CANADA MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. > >Canada's action has gone on to create, in effect, a Department of Indian >Affairs within the United Nations to enforce the colonization of >Indigenous people worldwide. >Indigenous people everywhere are denied basic human rights and are >targets of genocide. We cannot officially ask for help outside the >colonizer state that is denying us human rights. > >Today Canada lobbies vigorously to deny us a voice at the United Nations >and at the international level. > >TODAY I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THE CANADIAN PEOPLE...IS THIS REALLY WHAT YOU >WANT? > >DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN EQUAL RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY....OR DO YOU BELIEVE >IN THE COLONIAL POLICIES OF YOUR DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND YOUR >RACIST INDIAN ACT? > >IF YOU BELIEVE IN THE PRINCIPLES SET OUT IN THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER, >ISN'T IT TIME TO START TREATING ALL PEOPLE EQUALLY, REGARDLESS OF RACE? > >ISN'T IT TIME TO STOP YOUR ASSIMILATIONIST POLICIES AT BOTH THE NATIONAL >AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL? > >According to documents recently found in the National Archives By >William Schabas, of the University of Quebec, John Humphrey, of McGill >University, wrote the 48 articles in the draft declaration. He had just >been appointed the UN�s first commissioner of human rights. There was a >conscious strategy within the Canadian government to stop the >declaration. Canada said, "We don�t like it and we�re going to stop >it". The Canadian government played a subversive not a supportive role >with little regard for human rights. The cabinet intensely disliked a >document that baldly stated everybody is equal before the law. They had >a deep and abiding fear of economic and social rights. In the end, the >Canadian delegation lead by Lester B. Pearson did not sign the document. > >We are glad the truth about Canada is starting to come out. The problem >is not that Aboriginal people did not have the right to vote in Canada. >The problem was and continues to be that Canada refuses to recognize >Aboriginal jurisdiction and refuses to recognize our true traditional >governments. Canada is willing to look for human rights violations >overseas but they are not willing to deal with human rights violations >here. > >Canada hides the fact they are so wealthy because they know now how to >take and sell our property. Remember, stolen property that is given to >others for their benefit is still stolen property. Canada refuses to >deal fairly with the Indigenous nations from whom they stole all the >land and resources. But they so ready to criticize the Asians who >finally told off Prime Minister Chretien about their genocidal policies >against Indigenous people. Canada refuses to recognize and deal with >real Indigenous governments except with their own puppet councils under >their own Indian Act. > >Canada refuses to subject the relationship between Indigenous Nations >and Canada to an third party, violating the first principles of the >rule of law, which is the right to an impartial neutral party to mediate >disputes. Canada�s genocidal practice is to control the tribunal and >courts which judge the native people and their issues. They are the >judge, jury and executioner. > >I SAY TO YOU, ISNT IT TIME TO ACCEPT US AS EQUAL PARTNERS IN THE FUTURE >AND LET US PRESENT OUR COMPLAINTS TO INDEPENDENT AND NEUTRAL >ADJUDICATORS WHO ARE NOT UNDER THE THUMB OF OUR COLONIZERS? >-------------------------------------------------- >JOIN THE CASNP MOVEMENT. We are a grassroots movement of native and >non-native people who take direction from Aboriginal people and refuse >governmental funding. Memberships, sales of books and videos and >donations are the main source of funds, and volunteers are the backbone >of CASNP. > >Please order CASNP's "Resource Reading List - an annotated bibliography >of works by and about Native peoples" ($20). > >Address: P.O. Box 991, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (via Quebec, Canada) >J0L 1B0 450-632-6926 Fax 450-632-2413 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Website: http://users.cyberglobe.net/~casnp > >Iroquois style jewellery for sale: >http://www.cyberglobe.net/users/otsira > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment ...http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ `"` `"` `"` `"` `"` `"`
