Sunday, May 31, 2009

Mohawks Should be Very Careful

There are some pretty serious threats coming out of the AkwesasneMohawk reserve. They demand a firm response from the Canadian government. The Ottawa Citizen reports:

Mohawk Warriors from the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve near Cornwall say they will storm a Canada Border Services Agency post on Monday and shut down the international border crossing, unless their political leaders receive a commitment from the government not to arm border guards at the post, which stands on reserve territory.

The agency started arming guards in 2007, and officers at the Akwesasne reserve, which straddles the Ontario-Quebec-New York state boundary, are scheduled to begin carrying 9-mm guns on Monday.

So, border security guards have been armed without incident for 2 years but now we may have an armed conflict with the Mohawks just because the border is treated like any other. Let's just say I'm not sympathetic with the native position. The most extreme rhetoric is coming from Thomas Stacy:

"We are going to clear them (border guards) out," said Thomas Stacy, a middle-aged former professional wrestler who stood across from the border post with a small group of young men carrying large Mohawk Warrior flags. . .

"Tomorrow night at 12 o'clock (midnight) we have to have an answer," Stacy said.

"If that answer don't come, that's it. Monday is going to be the worst. That's the crackdown. It's going to be over. It's going to be done. No more signing papers, no more negotiations -- nothing."

Stacy said the reserve's political leaders have been in fruitless discussions with the border agency and federal officials. "We are not getting anywhere with the government. The government is going to come over here and take over everything," Stacy said.

The Mohawk Warriors are a long-standing group that is separate from hereditary chiefs or more modern elected chiefs and councils. Stacy said they have made it clear to the council and to the Akwesasne police that if the government does not back away from its plan, then the Warriors will act.

At minimum this guy should be arrested for uttering threats and held personally responsible for any action that may happen tomorrow. Although the official Mohawk leadership has spoken well of negotiations some of their rhetoric has been less than helpful:
"We seriously consider your government's actions in arming the (CBSA) guards as a direct assault on our sovereignty, which resonates into an act of war against our people," wrote (Akwesasne Grand Chief Tim) Thompson in a 2008 letter to Stockwell Day.
The Mohawks should be very careful about declaring war. That means armed conflict, and I'm pretty sure nobody wants that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Send in the army

Anonymous said...

civil disobedience is a policing matter. Cornwall is in Ontario. Fantino will chicken out . Border will be closed.

Anonymous said...

They want sovereignty give it to them the ROC could shut of ALL the freebee programs and treaty money. It would help cover Canada"s $50 billion deficit.
Rob C

Anonymous said...

IMHO...

Put 200 seasoned vets of Afghanistan in there, and send a message to these terrorists.

"We're ready when you are!"

Gadget said...

There you have it. So much for the "peaceful opposition" that the Mohawk Council claimed they would demonstrate. They now state that they will basically stop governing their areas of responsibility and leave things “in the hands of the community” allowing them to instigate vigilante aggression and violence against Federal law enforcement officials. They say they don’t want armed guards at the post because it would violate their sovereignty and increase the likelihood of violent confrontations, yet they are willing to engage in these same violent confrontations they claim they want to avoid! Canada has a right to govern it's borders as it sees fit. Like it or not, this reserve is a part of Canada.