Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor:

The Madness of Life at Akwesasne

Several incidents during this spring and summer are indicative of what now passes for “normalcy” at Akwesasne, the home to over 12,000 Mohawks and their friends.

Located astride the St. Lawrence River across from Cornwall, my home has long been the center of cross border traffic in people, goods and services. In fact, Akwesasne was reestablished by the Mohawks in the 1740’s because of its prime location. From its 32 islands and mainland village the Mohawks were able to monitor commerce as it passed over the river and extract profits by providing the traders with food, to serve as paddlers in the 10 meter canoes or to act as guides through the turbulent waters of the now silenced Long Sault rapids.

The Mohawks also took advantage of the area to offer their considerable skills as fighters and scouts to the French, and later British, colonial governments. Formal treaties acknowledging the Mohawks as having their own distinct nation with attendant jurisdiction were entered into by both European powers.

During the War of 1812, the Mohawks literally saved Canada by electing to fight the invading Americans and by supplying the British troops garrisoned in Cornwall with food produced in northern New York, but sold north of the river at a healthy profit. This was condemned by the hungry US soldiers as “smuggling”, but for the Mohawks it was simply selling their goods to the Brits who paid in hard currency. The result for Akwesasne was the decision by authorities in London and Washington to ram an international boundary through the heart of our territory and then use the resultant internal divisions to prevent the continuation of a national aboriginal government.

Flip ahead two hundred years and we are living, or is it barely tolerating conditions that would drive most Canadians insane. Not only are we divided in half but we have multiple policing agencies, post offices, social services, schools and medical facilities, all duplicated at great cost. For everything on the “Canadian” side there is another for the “Americans”.

But we have never abandoned the dream of a true Mohawk Nation so when Canada decided to refer to the Natives peoples as “first nations” we took it to mean just that. As self-governing entities we should be able to act as nations. So we formed the world’s first, and only, international aboriginal athletic team whose members are citizens of a distinct native nation.

For two decades the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team has competed against many nations of the world and have done so traveling on our own passports, a fact the Canadian government acknowledges since it allows its national team to play against us. This past May our Nationals won the silver in the world box lacrosse tournament in the Czech Republic. First place went to Canada, but our team put up a great contest given our very shallow pool of players in comparison to the US and other nations.

Yet on June 18 Canadian border officials in Cornwall denied entry to a resident of Akwesasne because she was entering Cornwall using the same passport as the Nationals. Joyce King said that the CBSA officials called her document a “fantasy” despite the millions of dollars spent by the Confederacy to insure it exceeds all international standards for proof of identity. The question for Prime Minister Harper is this: does a “first nation” have the right to issue its own ID or is that term its own fantasy?

The third incident was the arrest of 30 individuals on July 14 for smuggling narcotics, cash and tobacco while having various firearms in their possession. Of this group only four were Mohawks, but it was clear evidence that the majority of smugglers are not Native and that the effects of this activity reaches far beyond Akwesasne, just as it did in 1812. Cornwall has an economy because it profits from smuggling.

The fourth is the arrest of an Akwesasne woman, Rosalie Jacobs, by US authorities for her attempts to launder millions of dollars made through her tobacco business, which is being sustained by non-Native customers. She gave up $2.6 million (US). Her arrest came about because she had nowhere to deposit the vast sums that came from her sales. In the end, she agreed to compromise Mohawk sovereignty by agreeing to pay all US and New York State taxes, the very thing which she used to make her incredible wealth.

Now how does a Mohawk handle all of this? How can these contradictions be lived with? Are we taxpaying Canadian-American consumers or custodians of a rich national heritage independent by design, history and treaty?

These are questions that confront the Mohawks every day and frustrate the external agencies. It is a situation ripe for exploitation but with enormous ramifications for every Mohawk family.

If nothing else, it is surely a call for debate on the local and national level and an ideal opportunity for new leadership at all levels before the Mohawks become truly mad.

by Doug George-Kanentiio