Demonstration for CBSA Move Held at People's Fire

A demonstration organized by Atahontsison was held at the People’s Fire in the Kawehnoke District of Akwesasne on Saturday. The demonstration was to give people an opportunity to view and sign a petition that indicates support for movement of CBSA border crossing from its current location within Cornwall, Ontario to its previous location on Kawehnoke, or possibly co-located with U.S. customs at the U.S. Port of Entry.

Atahontsison said, “We are gathering people here to give them a chance to sign this petition. We would like immediate action, and our best hope is that they would relocate to the American side, but that would take a while to come to an agreement between the two.”

At around 12:20 people starting pouring in, coming from as far away as Six Nations and Toronto, all coming to show support and encourage positive social actions, on what has now become a nearly 4 year old struggle for the people of Kawehnoke.

Atahontsison said, “I hope to accomplish some unity going on in all people. Get people communicating and get some energy exchanged.” Atahontsison cited a need to show that movement can be made using paper, and to encourage governmental action on the issue.

This demonstration underscored how divisive this issue can be, as another petition was being circulated by community members absolutely forbidding the CBSA port within the District of Kawehnoke. At a meeting held on the Thursday prior to the demonstration a few people came to express their displeasure with the wording of the CBSA movement proposal. Ultimately being dissatisfied with the efforts of Atahontsison, Nona Benedict was circulating a different petition demanding that that CBSA not return to Kawehnoke at all. Benedict was outside the building speaking to the people from Toronto and explained the history of the dispute with CBSA as they were somewhat unfamiliar with the issue. Benedict spoke at length about her involvement with the struggle to get CBSA off the Island in 2009 and equates the competing petition with wanting to bring CBSA back to Kawehnoke over what amounts to an inconvenience, and is an insult to the battle to remove CBSA.

Mohawk Council of Akwesasne chief Brian David was also on hand, and after considering and signing both petitions said, “You can come out and vent, but what you can’t do is stop this man from going from house to house if he wants to, to talk to people and get their ideas in this day and age. It’s undemocratic and it goes against everything we believe in. If one of the functions of leadership is to promote and provoke dialogue on critical political issues, than we haven’t strayed from that. People may not like the method, but you can’t argue the outcome is good.”