Akwesasne man pepper-sprayed by CBSA

A tense situation worsened this weekend at the temporary Canadian Border Services Agency port in Cornwall when an Akwesasne man who was a passenger in a vehicle allegedly refused to show identification and was subsequently pepper-sprayed by CBSA officers, according to witnesses.

Stephen Barnes, 56, is a resident of Kawehno:ke (Cornwall Island) and he and his wife were traveling home to the island from another Akwesasne district. Responding to CBSA’s requirement that they report to Cornwall before returning to the island, the couple waited in line to do so.

Barnes’ wife, former Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Grand Chief Angie Wahienhawi Barnes, was the driver of the vehicle.

Stephen Barnes spent hours at a Cornwall hospital for monitoring following the incident, but he declined comment and his family has said they’re traumatized by the incident. Barnes, an ironworker, has a reputation in the community as a hardworking family man and community members have been outraged over the incident which they felt was coming for some time. Angie Barnes has been asking for concerned community members to work together at addressing the border issues in a peaceful but powerful method.

“We feel that the Customs officers were very unreasonable when they assaulted him and they’re pressing criminal charges,” said Angie Barnes. “We don’t look at this as criminal action, we look at this as discriminatory action and we’re going to be fighting it.”

Angie Barnes said that CBSA is breaking down Akwesasne people by requiring them to state if they live in the U.S. or Canada when reporting to Cornwall. Akwesasne and Mohawk people existed before any U.S. or Canadian border and Angie Barnes wants people to work together peacefully to make sure that message is not lost in the turmoil that has been ongoing at Akwesasne’s border since June of this year.

“The community really needs to start thinking about what we are going to do about this, it can’t just be our leadership,” Angie Barnes said. “People of Akwesasne need to start thinking about what we can do peacefully to show Canada Customs that what they’re doing is not right.”

The former grand chief said that CBSA officers assaulted her husband, but neither she nor her husband wished to comment on the specifics of the incident pending court action.

Others in line at the Cornwall port that evening got out of their vehicles when the incident took place, beeping their horns, yelling, videotaping with cell phones and calling around to others for support. In one waiting vehicle, Barnes’ daughter and grandchildren sat, unable to move from their spot in the single lane lineup. They met up with Barnes later at the hospital.

Barnes has been charged with assaulting a peace officer, assaulting a peace officer with intent to resist arrest, and obstructing a peace officer. Cornwall Community Police said the charges stem from Barnes’ refusal to show identification. Barnes is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 24, 2009.

CBSA could not be reached for comment.