Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Tasers- A Critique

The Following Essay was written by OCAP member Don Weitz partially as a submission to the Toronto Police Services Board.

September 28, 2006

A Reply to "Statistical Analysis of the 2005 Annual Report:Use of Tasers by the Toronto Police Service"(August 15, 2006), and Recommendations Concerning the Taser
by Don Weitz

Two major findings emerge from the statistics provided:
1.. Toronto police - particularly the ETF - tasered (fully deployed) a disproportionately large number of psychiatric survivors- "emotionally disturbed persons"/"EDPs",

2. The overwhelming majority of people tasered posed no immediate or serious threat to the oficer's life or personal safety. In 6 divisions involved in the TASER pilot project in 2005 - 11, 14, 51, 52, 53, 55 - ETF and PSU police tasered ("fully deployed") 11 emotionally disturbed people out of a total of 33. In other words, 33% or one-third of the TASER-targets
were psychologically vulnerable people - these figures challenge Chief Bill Blair's conclusion, "there is no correlation between TÅSER use and EDPs" (August 15, 2006, p.3. I strongly disagree, 33% or one-third is highly significant.

Now let's take a look at another section of Chief Blair's 2005 report on police use of the TASER by the ETF - not the PSU. This report provides details re the police divisions involved, the nature of the "incident"where TASERS were used, the reasons, and injuries. Again, we find the TASER targeted a disproportionately large number of psychiatric survivors or emotionally disturbed persons ("EDPs"). According to this report, among 65 people tasered in Toronto in 2005, 26 or 40% were "EDPs". Another disturbing finding is that among these psychologically vulnerable people, nine or approximately one-third were classified as "suicidal." In short, police threatened to use tasers against or actually tasered suicidal citizens! To say the least, this is retraumatizing, this is police overkill!

Let's also look at the reasons listed for police deploying or using the TASER - "assaultive behaviour" is listed 39 times or roughly 67% of the time. This term is not. explained. Was the assault life-threatening? We don't know, because "assaultive behaviour" is not specified. If the assault was not life-threatening, TASERS should not be used according to international standards, "set out under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law Enforcement officials. These require that force should be used as a last resort and that officers must apply only the minimum amount of force necessary to obtain a lawful objective. They also provide that all use of force must be proportionate to the threat posed as well as designed to avoid unwarranted pain or injury." ("Canada: Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers", November .30, 2004, p.1)

Some of the other reasons listed for police use of the TASER included possession of a "knife", "357 Magnum handgun", "large pipe", "shooting suspect", "running in traffic", "threatening suicide", "subject put head and hand through plate glass window", "broken bottle", "edged weapon-mirror", "2 meat cleavers".. However, there was NO MENTION OF ANY ACTUAL OR IMMEDIATE LIFE-THREATENING EVENT before police used the TASER. -such as firing a gun, using or lunging with a knife, or using any other weapon against a police officer. None of these reasons qualifies as a life-threatening event. Nevertheless, the TASER was used. Further, only 5 instances of injuries were listed - 2 self-inflicted cuts such as "slashed wrists" and 3 instances of cuts inflicted by the police. This low number of injuries is suspect, it neglects to mention any serious medical problems or emergencies such as arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, or respiratory problems that TASERS have frequently caused or triggered - according to the medical literature. Also no deaths were reported.

These reports from Police Chief Bill Blair on Toronto police use of TASER are not totally accurate, informative or credible. "Assaultive behaviour" and other unspecified reasons do not justify using TASERS to subdue or forcibly control citizens, including psychiatric survivors or "emotionally disturbed persons", judged allegedly dangerous, threatening or "emotionally
disturbed"

"Where officers have reasons to believe that a disturbed individual may be acting in a violent or threatening manner as a result of mental illness, efforts should be made to involve mental health specialists in dealing with the disturbed person. Policing methods based on force should only use as a last resort." ('Additional recommendations", Amnesty International,
November 30, 2004)

It's clear that Tasers have sometimes been used as a first resort - not last resort - against allegedly "mentally ill" or "emotionally disturbed persons" in Toronto.

RECOMMENDATIONS: PROPOSED ALTERNATIVES TO TASERS

1.TASERS should be immediately banned in Toronto and across Canada, because these allegedly non-lethal weapons are frequently harmful and deadly, despite claims of safety and effectiveness by the police and TASER
manufacturers. They should be banned for these reasons:
a. TASERS have caused or been implicated in triggering life-threatening crises including cardiac arrest, ventricular arrhythmia and respiratory problems;
b. TASERS have caused several sudden deaths of people in police custody and on the street - at least 9 deaths reported so far in Canada and over 200 in the USA; and
c. There are no credible, independent and scientific studies proving that TASERS are medically safe and can save lives.

2. The Toronto police, including the Emergency Task Force (ETF) and Public Safety Unit (PSU), should not be called or expected to respond to people experiencing an emotional crisis, a suicide attempt, or drug withdrawal crisis, mainly because the police generally lack crisis-counselling skills and are not trained to use non-threatening, non-violent, and no-force methods. People in these crises frequently act in a highly agitated, impulsive, extremely fearful or panic-stricken state, which the police sometimes misinterpret or exaggerate as personal threats to their safety. Further, the appearance of a uniformed police officer, a badge, a warrant, or any visible sign of state authority could easily aggravate the person's emotional state.

3. Instead of the police, mobile crisis-response teams consisting of psychiatric survivors, street nurses and community workers trained in crisis counseling, trauma counselling and/or conflict-resolution should be available to respond to people-in-crisis on the street using non-violent, non-threatening, non-confrontational, and supportive methods.

4. Community-based 24-hr crisis centres and 24-hr dropins staffed with psychiatric survivors, community health-outreach workers and street nurses trained in crisis or trauma counseling and/or conflict-resolution should also be available to provide safety and emotional support to citizens undergoing an emotional or traumatic crisis. Except in medical emergencies, referral to a hospital emergency department is generally not helpful to people going through a life crisis including attempted suicide, mainly because common personal crises are frequently pathologized as "mental illness" and treated with hi-risk psychiatric drugs.

5. 24-hr withdrawal centres should be available to people undergoing withdrawal from addictive 'street drugs' and psychiatric drugs; these centres should be staffed with trained health workers including street nurses, psychiatric survivors, and on-call medical doctors. These withdrawal centres should be strategically located and wheelchair-accessible in the downtown core and GTA.

I ask the Board to discuss and support these proposals as constructive and humane alternatives to TASERS, as well as "nonlethal" PEPPER SPRAY that has also caused several injuries or medical complications and deaths in Ontario and other provinces.

Postscript: Shortly after my deputation on September 28, the Toronto Police Services Board approved Chief Bill Blair's request to order approximately 500 "Advanced X-26" taser-guns for all "frontline officers". On November 23, the last day of the inquest into the death of Otto Vass on August 9, 2000, the Coroner's Jury strongly recommended the Toronto police be equipped with and use tasers.

Biographical note: Don Weitz is a social justice and antipsychiatry activist, member of OCAP, and co-founder of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assalt (CAPA) in Toronto.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Six Nations: Racism Out of Control

Okay, I know that when you first start doing anti-racist work one of the things that you learn is that feeling guilty, embarrassed or ashamed of being white is not productive. It doesn't get you anywhere to feel bad about being white, you simply have to deal with it and use your privilege to work towards change. While I very much believe that, the anti-sovereignty racists are beginning to make it hard not to be a little embarrassed.

First off, Garry McHale is a wannabe martyr whose racist demonstrating only serves to help fuel the fires of a small group of wing-nut, racist locals. He and other malicious, hateful outsiders are imported to inflame the situation, likely with the intent to cause violence. McHale and others went back to the Site not long after they failed to put up canadian flags and the OPP told them they couldn't do it so close to Six Nations' territory.

McHale was outraged when he was arrested. He was charged with breach of peace, which he says isn't a charge and isn't in the criminal code. It is. He is a liar. Breach of peace is the law that the cops use to pick up drunks and toss them in the drunk tank for the night. While you can be arrested and held for 24hrs, there is no formal charge laid. Breach of peace is commonly used against protesters; however, this is the first time I am aware of it being used against a racist, right-wing protester.

See Gary, this is how it works: if you are white and you get arrested in Caledonia you get out pretty quick (there are no criminal charges that have been laid against any white person to my knowledge). If you are Native you likely get charged criminally and don't get out so easily. There is even the chance, like in the case of Trevor Miller, that you won't get out at all. Don't feel glum chum, you got the better end of the deal. White skin has a lot of mileage in this country. I know you are trying to end two-tiered justice in the country but you don't understand that ending it means screwing yourself over, not the Native people.

Further, when we get charged with breaches of the peace for things like carrying a placard, showing up early, walking down the street, swearing or the like, you don't see us crying about it. And you certainly don't see us taking off our pants and refusing to wear them or going on a hunger strike for no apparent reason. That is what he did, according to a one sided article in the conservative Canada Free Press.

The problem isn't a few individuals like McHale, it is far more systemic than that. The media repeatedly prints false accusations against people from Six Nations. Most recently, the Spectator reported the vandalism of a house. There is no evidence whatsoever that the vandalism was committed by one of the First Nations people at the Reclamation Site. It could have just as easily been done by people trying to make trouble for Six Nations or by the people who live there who "'begged' the provincial government to buy the house." While the Spec piece quotes an OPP officer telling people not to jump to conclusions, it doesn't quote anyone from the Reclamation Site or really offer any other possibility than that one of the Natives did it.

The government, as most people reading this know, has the longest record of being racist. It has been over two-hundred years since this piece of land was stolen. The government has known for almost that long that many pieces of land in the Haldimand Tract were stolen from the people of the Six Nations and never did a thing about it. Today, the Liberal government continues to deny land claims and prolong negotiations. However, even I was surprised when the Spectator reported that David Ramsey, Minister in charge of aboriginal affairs said he would sponsor a demonstration at Queen's Parkkk for McHale, giving him a platform and a sound system. When people from Six Nations were there in the fall there was no platform, no sound system, no sponsorship. The circle is complete: Gary to the media, the media to the government, the government to Gary. Each one fuels the other's racism and each one's racism acts as a justification for pushing their racist agenda forward.

Six Nations: Miller Supporters Visit A.G.'s Office


Trevor Miller, a Mohawk political prisoner has been in custody. Today, his family, members of the Mohawk Traditional Counsel and supporters went to the Attorney General's office to demand his release. About 40 people rallied outside of the office beginning at 7:30 this morning, flyering passersby and chanting "Free Trevor Miller".

Trevor returns to court in Cayuga on Wednesday.

For news coverage, check out the Globe and Mail and Hamilton Spectator articles

(photo: members of the Mohawk Traditional Counsel speak with a representative of the Attorney General about Trevor's Case)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

$22 000 vs 2%

Premier Dalton McGuinty has just announced a $22, 000 pay raise for MPP's sitting in the Ontario Legislature. Coincidentally it comes in the same month that Ontario's Social Assistance recipients will be receiving their 2% increase.

McGreedy claims that MPP's are feeling second rate to their higher paid counterparts on the federal level. Apparently the $126, 321 a year that Cabinet Ministers like Sandra Pupatello were making (not to mention her paid for suite at the Sutton Place Hotel) was leaving them a little light in the pocket compared to scumbags like Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Today at an OCAP Special Diet Clinic there was a woman who had come to sign-up for the dietary supplement, which was slashed by McGreedy and Pupatello last year. The woman and her partner were raising eight children and were being paid $1, 100 a month or $13, 200 a year for 10 people.

To put it simply these people at Queen's Park make me sick. When she was Minister of Social Services Sandra Pupatello went on the CBC and admitted that people could not live on what Social Assistance pays out but that the Government couldn't afford to help them out with a meaningful increase. Now she's going to receive an extra $22, 000 a year and families on assistance are being nickel and dimed by welfare and ODSP offices when they try to access their minimal entitlements.

If there was any question about the necessity of fighting this Liberal Government it has been answered with this insult. The good news is that our Special Diet Clinics are continuing to drain money out of the hands of our greedy government and put it in the pockets of the people who need it. You can rest assured that OCAP is going to keep fighting until people on Assistance are getting a $22, 000 raise and those politicians at Queen's Park are swallowing a 40% pay cut.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Six Nations: get the government a calculator

Math is hard for lots of people. I understand that. If McGuinty, Harper and Caledonia MPP Toby Barret are struggling with the numbers I can't blame them but you'd think that with so much money being tossed around they could hire someone to do the adding and subtracting for them. Here are some examples:

MPP Toby Barrett is complaining because the compensation plan for those who live bordering the Reclamation Site is 156 days late. Oh, the injustice. These poor folks built the houses on stolen land and have now had to wait 156 days to get compensated for it. It is unclear exactly what they need compensated for. Yes, there may be some repetitive stress injuries from throwing golf balls and rocks at the people, including women and children at the site. Further injuries could have been acquired from dialing the phone to make false complaints. Where is the compensation for the people who put their lives on hold to fight for their land?

The math is simple. The Six Nations people have been waiting about 59,495 days to get their land back. that is at least 59,339 days more than the Caledonians. Hey Barrett: if you are upset about the government taking too long, you should be demanding Six Nations get their land back, they've been waiting a lot longer.

More numbers: the amounts the negotiators are being paid was unveiled by the Hamilton Spectator recently. Barbra McDougall is paid 1,600 a day plus expenses. Her assistant makes $150 an hour and bills 20-25 hours a month. Through a series of complex mathematical equations, I have calculated that the assistant makes about $3,000 to $3,750 a month. It turns out that it isn't in McDougall's mandate to resolve the land claim. Her job is to get the Natives off the site. The provincial negotiator, Jane Stewart, is making $1,300 a day. If you add all of this up, you spend a lot of money and get a pile of bullshit in return.





Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Six Nations: Miller denied bail...again

Someone needs to send Judge Marshall back to school. He needs to be retaught the meaning of the word "jurisdiction". Six months ago he said he had jurisdiction under Canadian law over that land that belongs to another sovereigned nation. Later he said that he had jurisdiction to enforce an injunction on land that the "legal owners" were not seeking an injunction on.

Yesterday Marshall looked Stewart Myiow from the Mohawk Traditional Counsel in the eye and told him that he didn't have the jurisdiction to release Miller. Miller was in court on a mandatory 90 day bail review. As it was a bail review and Marshall is a Superior Court Judge he had the jurisdiction to release him. Marshall chose not to release him. The Judge also told Myiow, who is assisting with the case, that he could appeal the decision because a higher court might have the jurisdiction to release him. Well Marshall, being a judge you should know that if you don't have the jurisdiction to do something, an appeal court doesn't have the jurisdiction to do it on appeal. The only way for an appeal court to have the jurisdiction to do something on appeal is if the first court had the jurisdiction in the first place.

Trevor Miller told the Judge that he was not Canadian and that the court had no jurisdiction over him. He demanded that Marshall tell him why he was kept when the court had no right to do so. Marshall simply told him that he did have the jurisdiction under Canadian law.

Stewart Myiow addressed the judge and demanded Miller's release into the Mohawk Counsel's Custody. Marshall told Myiow that he respected him, was "sympathetic" to him, but that he was unable to release him. The second and third statements were definitely a lie and it is likely that the first statement was as well.

The only good thing that came out of the hearing was that when Marshall came into the courtroom only a couple journalists stood up. When Miller came in, everyone rose out of respect and stayed standing until he left the courtroom. As soon as Miller left, the bulk of the audience sat down and remained seated even when ordered to rise for Marshall. Both men received the respect they were due.

After the hearing Myiow addressed the 40 or so supporters who had attended the hearing. He said that keeping Miller in custody "only shows there is racism against the Mohawk people" and this racism is an "official policy of the Canadian government".

To listen to the CKUT radio show on Trevor click here.

Please support Trevor:

Thursday, December 14th, 5pm
Show your support for Trevor outside the Hamilton detention center. For directions, check out this map.

Monday December 18th
Join family and supporters at the Attorney General's office. We will demand he release Trevor.
More details to come.

Write to Trevor at:
Trevor Miller
165 Barton street east
Hamilton, Ontario
L8L 2W6
Range 5CR

Make a donation to his legal costs. Make checks payable to
"Gertrude Miller"
P.O. Box 221
Ohsweken
N0A 1M0.

Housing Offensive Out West

OCAP's good friends the Anti-Poverty Committee of Vancouver have been really pushing the envelope in the fight for housing over the past couple of months. First, on October 22nd they targeted an old downtown hotel which was left vacant in the midst of the local and national housing crisis and then a few days later chased down the Mayor on Halloween. Two months later they are still occupying abandoned buildings and sticking it to the Provincial and Municipal Governments on a nearly weekly basis. Over the time that they have been carrying out these actions there have been squats taken or attempted in Victoria and right here in Toronto by OCAP.

As the Harper Government cuts funding to poor people's services, child care and housing we can expect to see the necessity of uniting from Halifax to Vancouver in the struggle for housing more and more.

Vancouver though has it's own special problems that the APC is trying to fight. In 2010 it will host the Winter Olympics. An international spectacle which promises to suck dry government spending, further gentrify the downtown east-side, open the door to social cleansing by the Vancouver Police and make Vancouver an unbearable place to live. Luckily along with other solid grassroots organizations, the APC is organizing against the games.

The Housing Offensive in Vancouver is further proof that the harder repressive governments push on people the harder people will push back. Watch this space for updates on the Struggle for Housing from Coast to Coast.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Six Nations: Hazel's Update

This is Hazel Hill's update from the Site from December 7, 2006. Hazel is one of the spokespeople for the Reclamation Site.

Good Morning from Grand River. I know everyone has been wondering what is happening with negotiations and our land reclamation of Kanonhstaton. Since I last wrote after our November 14th Lands Side Table, there has been no meetings so nothing really to report. Unfortunately, we had another death in one of our Clanmother's family's and so our meetings that were scheduled for the end of November were canceled. They have been re-scheduled to December 13th and 14th and we will see then how the Crown responds to our presentation of our documents and historical evidence as provided through our Wampum and Oral History at our last meeting.

Clearly the Crown has found itself in a dilemma since we have resented the TRUTH. They know for a FACT that the title for Plank Road (also known as Argyle Street and formerly #6 Highway) itself still rests with the Six Nations/Haudenesonne, they cannot contest this. They also know that the so-called land surrender that they are resting their entire case on is merely minutes of a council meeting with no order in council to support it, and no legal grounds to support it. they also know that the Indian agent at the time who was drafting these fraudulent surrenders, was also the individual who was translating them to the Six Nations, and who clearly was telling the Chiefs one thing, and then recording it as something else. This is not a new practice. Our Chiefs pointed out several times in history how this was done, including the Nanfan Treaty, the Simcoe Deed, many areas that the Crown, when realizing that they still weren't satisfied with our generosity and good-will, needed to not only take more of our lands, but to create their own patents so that they could take ownership of them. This is no more valid then as it would be today, and yet the Crowns Legal Advisers have told them that they have a valid surrender. Most of their principal negotiators continue to mislead the people of Caledonia telling them that they have a presented a bill of sale for the lands and that the Six Nations will not get it back. The politicians of today are speaking with the same forked tongue as the Indian agents back then did. They do not know how to speak the truth. They cannot look their people in the eye and tell them that their ancestors lied cheated and stole to get what they have today, and they cannot tell them that their True Landlords are the very people who have been treated with such disrespect, racial descrimination and have been the victim of many hate crimes and antagonistic behaviors since the land reclamation began in February.

You know, one of the things I forgot to tell you about from our last meeting was one of the most significant events since we've begun. Our people decided to see what the crown representatives would do when put in the same situation our people were in during the 1800's. Jock had put together a document written in the Cayuga Language that outlined our presentation that day. He stood and read this document to the Crown representatives in the traditional language, and then he translated it into english for them. He also asked them to sign this document to verify that they had heard this presentation today. None of the Crown representatives would sign. At that point Jock then thanked them for proving our point. Our ancestors were faced with this throughout our history, with Crown representatives being the ones who not only drafted the documents, but also translated it, having the opportunity to give false information to our people. The difference being is our people trusted the Crown, and this is where we went wrong. They were continually being scammed and mislead, and the evidence was clearly represented that day because what was written and what was handed down orally through our history was not the same thing. After he thanked them for proving that point, Federal Representative Ron Doering put "His X Mark" on the paper. While again, he did so only after being shown that this was how they frauded our people. It would be very easy for anyone to put an "X" mark there, and for us to write down who it was and what their role was. As a matter of fact, that is what we intended to do to show them how we can see through the veil of deception of the past. Jock told them, we were going to get you to put your "X" mark there and we would give you an Indian Name to describe who you are. He also told them that we could have written that you just signed all of Canada back to our people, and you have no way of knowing because it is not your language of understanding. Just as it wasn't our ancestors language of understanding and again, our ancestors trusted your people. Today we know better. This is one of the reasons why I've always said, and quoted Pope John Paul II, its not the LAW, it's only paper.

Today, we are faced with having to deal with all of this. However, many things have progressed and continue to progress. At last Chiefs Council meeting there were at least six development companies that have come to our Traditional Council in hopes of finding a way to begin consulting with the Landowners as opposed to the Crown. Interestingly enough, each of those developers have stated that the Crown representatives continue to mislead them. In this case every single one of them mentioned that the lead provincial negotiator Jane Stewart continues to tell them that they need only to consult with the band council. I guess the Crown hasn't clearly understood what is happening in our community as well as across the country and the world with respect to the Onkwehonweh. The PEOPLE have said they have had enough. We are no longer going to tolerate the Crowns interference in our governance. The band council does not represent the people. Please understand that it is not the individual people within that system who are at fault, they have been mislead into believing this is the government because this is what the Crown, and its corporation of Canada has set up. It is the system itself that has been developed to do exactly what it has done, to undermine the authority of our traditional government, our people, for one thing; but also to assimilate our people into canadian society so that the crown will never have to answer to its crimes. This is why the people have stood and will not back down. It is not a personal attack against the Elected Chief, or the elected councillors, nor is it an attack against any of our other brothers and sisters who have been forced into a system to try and help their people. It was a set up. It was part of the genocidal practice of the Crown. Well, again, our people have turned that negative into a positive. The Chiefs Council has invited representatives from across Canada to join us for a meeting on December 9th. All of the Chiefs of Ontario as well as the AFN have been invited to come to meet with the Traditional Council. All of our territories and people are invited to attend. The purpose of this meeting is to explain the very same wampum and history as was explained to the Crown. Only in this instance, to show how that relationship worked with the other Nations, how they fall under the shelter of that Great Tree, and how today that can be worked out so that the Haudenesonne Council, the Original League of Nations, will have its rightful place again, and carry the voice and concerns of the Onkwehonweh to the Crown. This is the way it was, and this is the way it should be. We had an opportunity to look at minutes of the council meeting from 1870. Many of our people traveled to Six Nations at that time to counsel. There were representatives there from Rama, St. Francis, Muncey, Alderville, Chippewas of the Thames, Oneidas of Muncey, Sarnia, Lake of Two Mountains, St. Regis, Caughnawanga, Saugeen, Cape Croker, Walpole Island, Rice Lake, Sauble, Kettle Point, Bay of Quinte, Snake Island, Mississauga of the New Credit, Moravians of Thames as well as Six Nations.

What is happening today is exactly why the Crown brought in the Indian Act in the first place. To prevent the Haudenesonne from doing its job. So, this meeting on December 9th, 2006 is like a continuance of our counsel from June 10th 1870. We've been slightly interrupted for over a hundred and fifty years, but again, as was pointed out to the Crown, our Traditional Council has continued, uninterrupted, and nothing the Crown has done, nor can do, will ever cancel that out. This is something that was given to us by the Creator, and this is what the people continue to uphold.

I guess, while there are going to be many who say that our Confederacy Council cannot work with the band council, it is this very issue of governance that our people must begin to put their minds to. To figure out how we can help our people who have been taken outside of that circle, and bring them back in. Again, we can say that they have done so willingly, and that they have no voice. From my perspective, just like when our children were stolen and put in residential schools, or when our children were beaten and strapped for speaking their own language, or how we were forced into their education and religions, and how today when our people are criminalized for trying to defend the future of our people and our homelands. It was all part of the over-all plan to get rid of the "Indian Problem". When the Peacemaker came and reminded us of the Great Law, he also gave us the mechanism to work together in Unity & Peace. This was the Five Nations Confederacy. The Original League of Nations. It is very much alive today, as it was the day it was given. Anything we are faced with can be resolved through the Great Law, and through the Confederacy Council. We need only take up our responsibility to it and uphold what was given to us. This is how we can bring the other councils in, they can come under the Confederacy and support the Confederacy in carrying the voice of all of the Onkwehonweh to the Crown. We must stand United and we must stand Strong.

This is all part of the prophecies and it is also what the Crown has been trying to prevent from happening for many generations.

This is also why they continue to use tactics such as instigators like Gary McHale to come in and hopefully create a situation that will divert the people from our path. Last weekend they had the nerve to use the Canadian Troops as an excuse to try and create such a situation. They claim they wanted to hang ribbons and flags up in support of the troops in Afganistan. They had the television media here even before they got there with their flags, waiting in anticipation and hoping our people from the site would come out and try to stop them or fight with them. They did not anticipate that we would simply inform the OPP to deal with their people, and that again, we have been respectful. we have our flags flying on the site and in front of the site. we could go into the town of Caledonia and fly them, because as i've said, we've proven that the road itself is still ours, and that most of the town is still ours too, but we have respected the people and have maintained our presence on and near the reclamation site. We only ask that the same respect be shown in return. We do not have a problem with them hanging their flags anywhere outside the proximity of the site, it was being veiwed as it was intended, to try and instigate a fight. When the OPP prevented them from hanging the flags across the road from the site there was much anger at the fact that they should be able to hang their canadian flag on canadian soil. I understand and respect this. However, it is questionable whether there is any land within Turtle Island that they can claim as Canadian soil, and in this particular case, again, the road itself we have already proven is within the Six Nations jurisdiction and we were within our rights to ask them to respect that. Interestingly enough, when they did go down just past 6th line to hang their flags in support of the troops, (still in our jurisdiction but we gave them permisison to hang them there) the television camermen didn't follow them. Again, they were there only to make sure they caught on tv any violence that they were hoping would erupt. Shame on those who used the troops in that way!

There are many things going through my mind and things I would like to share, but at this point, I will close with one last message. I want all of you to keep in mind December 17th 2006. It appears that since the Crown has been put in the position of having to address the issue of the theft of our lands and resources, at having been put in the position of answering to the crimes they have committed, we are going to be faced with continued attempts of instigation and potential violence. Gary McHale is again planning another rally. I've been told he has the help of a woman (sorry I don't know her name off hand), but she is like the president of a white supremest group. Again they are hoping to bring violence to our people at Kanonhstaton. I would like all of you to bring your minds to PEACE on that day, and offer your sacred tobacco or medicine to help support us in upholding the LAWS OF CREATION. According to the star map, December 17th is directly under the Temple of Taurus, and Orions Belt which is representative of the Peacemaker. The Temple of Taurus is our Rosetta Stone. It is our Great Law. It is who we are and how we connect to the Peacemaker. These are things our people have forgotten, but it is how our ancestors knew when to do things, just like they know when to begin the midwinter ceremonies and our other ceremonies. Through the Stars. It IS OUR MAP in Creation. But, the Crown has learned this too. Throughout history the Crown has used the stars just as our ancestors did, to sanction their continued use and abuse of our people and the Great Law. This is how they have been able to keep our people down and under their thumb for so long. They have kept us in spirtual bondage. They use our own people and our medicines to do this. This is what the People have been fighting and this is what the Women and Clanmothers stopped the day they went onto our lands to stop development, and this is what the Men have been standing and protecting. And this is what today, we have to continue to stop.

Today, we need to bring all of our minds together to do this. All of the Onkwehonweh must stand before the Creator and acknowledge the Law that was given to us, we need to acknowledge our responsibilities to Creation, and acknowledge our duty to uphold and protect the Law that He provided. That is what I would like each of you to do everyday, and specifically on December 17th. We need only to let Creation know we are standing strong and doing our best, and Creation will respond. That's all I have to say for now. Nya Weh!

In Love, Light and Peace,
Hazel

Monday, December 04, 2006

Six Nations: Caledonians try to stir up trouble

Over two dozen Caledonians tried to put up yellow ribbons and Canadian flags near the reclamation site early Saturday morning. They said they were trying to do a "support our troops" demonstration there and "couldn't believe" they couldn't fly Canadian flags.

There are a few problems with this so-called demonstration of support:

1. Kanonhstaton isn't Canadian territory it is Six Nations territory so the only flags flying there are the Confederacy Belt, Unity flag, the Two-Row and other wampum belts and flags from supporting communities. Canada is making people fight for land that is already theirs, Canada is not an ally

2. If the Caledonians are truly patriots, why aren't they supporting the Six Nations troops? These are the brave men and women who are peacefully occupying their land. The struggle in Six Nations will hopefully force the Canadian government to uphold the treaties and proclamations that it should have honoured for centuries. These broken treaties and the Apartheid system in Canada are a blight on our nation's past and present. Why aren't the Caledonians fighting to to make Canada uphold its image of an honest, just, peace keeping nation?

3. Why would they do it there? There are no armed forces around, no government officials near by. Clearly, they were just trying to cause trouble, to provoke people.


For the article in the Hamilton Spectator, click here.


Saturday, December 02, 2006

Six Nations: update on political prisoner Trevor Miller

Mohawk Warrior and father of 3, Trevor Miller is still behind bars after 4 months.

For the press release for his latest court date click here.

Also, please write Trevor a letter. There are a lot of people who support him but he doesn't necessarily know that as jail can be a very isolating and depressing place. Send letters to:

Trevor Miller
165 Barton street east
Hamilton, Ontario
L8L 2W6
Range 5CR

Six Nations: False Reports By Caledonians

This article was in last week's Tekawennake, a local newspaper. There are so many instances of one-sided media reports coming out of the mainstream media. The true story is frequently left out. Even when false allegations are corrected in the media, there is still a lot of damage done. Many times people don't remember that something wasn't true, they just remember what was said in the first place.


More false reports From Caledonia frustrate OPP

By Jim Windle
Caledonia

It appears things are just a little too quiet around the reclamation site for some Caledonia citizens.

The Haldimand OPP reported Tuesday that they received a report from a Caledonia citizen that there was a break and enter in progress and that the perpetrators were still in the house. Police responded immediately and found the complainant still on the phone talking with police. The scene was checked as were neighbouring residences. It became evident that the break and enter was a fabrication. "The Ontario Provincial Police are aware of the frustration and aggravation that lingers in the communities," says an OPP media release. "However, reacting in such a manner creates a state of apprehension within communities, which is completely unnecessary." This kind of propaganda is nothing new for certain sectors of the Caledonia population who have fabricated many stories to help support their distaste for the ongoing occupation of the former Douglas Creek Estates land.

Reports of Natives carrying guns, bonfires being lit in resident's back yards adjacent to the reclamation site, weapons stashes, break and entries, children at Notre Dame Elementary School forced to eat their lunches under their desks, Canadian flags being shot at by Natives from the occupation site, and even elaborate bunker systems being built by Natives on the occupation site, have attracted certain regional media outlets who have given the fabricators free and open camera time to spread their propaganda without any verification of their validity.

"This kind of reaction only impedes negotiations and exploits valuable investigation time," the OPP release continues. "These false calls exhaust valuable police response time and affect public safety."

Since the misinformation campaign in Caledonia began, Tekawennake has called OPP regarding several reported incidents broadcast through the media and have found that most, if not all, complaints were never reported to police at all.