Retyped for your continued information is a newspaper article on the situation in Kanesatake and Kahnawake the day before Prime Minister Mulroney called in the Army, our thoughts on why the Armed Forces were called in, and the text of a FAX sent by the Committee Against Racism to the Prime Minister regarding the situation. (I will be away on vacation for the next two weeks starting Friday, Aug. 10, and I hope somebody will be able to update you on the developments in Mohawk Territory.) ************************************************************************ The Globe & Mail, Wednesday, August 8, 1990 MOHAWKS REITERATE DEMANDS * * * Rights Commission Called Obstacle by Andre Picard, Quebec Bureau KAHNAWAKE, Que. - Mohawks insisted they have not changed their demands for ending the 29-day-old armed standoffs in Quebec and, as a result, they are calling Premier Robert Bourassa's bluff. "These allegations that we are not ready to deal are totally incorrect," Mavis Etienne, a Mohawk negotiator, told a news conference yesterday. In fact, if the government had dropped its demand that observers from the Quebec and Canadian Human Rights Commission be involved in the process, talks already would have resumed, said Owen Young, a lawyer for the Warriors Society. "The only thing preventing us from getting back to the negotiating table is the involvement of the Canadian human rights commissions," he said. "We feel that they would taint the proceedings." The Mohawks want 24 observers to be named by the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights. Quebec has agreed, but it wants an equal number of observers from the provincial and federal rights bodies. On Sunday night, Mr. Bourassa gave Mohawk negotiators a 48-hour ultimatum to return to the negotiating table. After that, he said, "appropriate measures" would be taken, a cryptic statement widely interpreted as meaning he would call for the Canadian Forces to move in and end the two standoffs. The other two Mohawk conditions for the resumption of talks are free access to food, medicine and other "necessities of life," and unhampered access to Kanesatake and Kahnawake for native legal and spiritual advisers. Quebec Minister of Native Affairs John Ciaccia has accepted those two points in principle. "But there are little points of language that have become a stumbling block to getting a signed deal," Mr. Young said. Mr. Ciaccia has said the Mohawks have continually changed their demands, but the natives have made public a series of confidential letters that appear to contradict that viewpoint. The two sides are looking for a way to end the armed standoffs that have been going on outside the Mohawk communities of Kanesatake and Kahnawake since July 11. On that day, police tried to forcibly dismantle a roadblock mounted by Kanesatake Mohawks opposed to expansion of the Oka golf course on to land they consider to be theirs. A gunfight broke out, leaving one police officer dead. On July 11, the Mohawks of Kahnawake erected a sympathy blockade at the Mercier Bridge, causing major headaches for commuters from Montreal's South Shore. Police have surrounded the two native communities, which are defended by heavily armed Mohawk Warriors. There have been no face-to-face talks since July 15. Government and native negotiators say that, once talks resume, an agreement to lift the barricades could be reached quickly. An armed attack is getting increasing public support, and has been backed by two Progressive Conservative MP's, Ricardo Lopez and Vincent Della Noce. Yesterday, dozens of families behind the barricades left their homes, fearing an armed confrontation. The largest exodus was from Oka, where at least 150 more people left town because of the ultimatum. Several dozen families also left the Mohawk community of Kanesatake. At least 46 people living in Ste-Catherine, on the boundary of the Kahnawake reserve, took refuge in a nearby hotel. Officials with the Civil Protection Bureau, a government agency that oversees emergencies in Quebec, refused to provide exact numbers, saying they could not discuss the "voluntary evacuations" for unspecified "security reasons." ************************************************************************ COMMENTARY: It was announced at a press conference last night, August 8, that the Prime Minister of Canada has invoked a provision in the NATIONAL DEFENCE ACT and is sending in Canadian Armed Forces to "diffuse" the volatile situation and because "We live in a civilized society where at the end of the day reason has to prevail over force." At the same time the Federal Government appointed Allan Gold, Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court, to mediate the dispute. George Erasmus, President of the Assembly of First Nations, said there was no need to call in the army since the Mohawks had accepted the appointment of Gold and signalled their willingness to start talks. If mediation fails,"Bourassa is setting up the situation for a greater bloodbath than we could have imagined," said Erasmus. IN OUR OPINION both the Federal and Quebec governments are testing the waters to see what the reaction of the public to the deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces is. THEREFORE we ask you to intensify writing letters to the Prime Minister of Canada, with copies to Premier Bourassa, condemning the deployment of armed military forces and urging him to seek a negotiated settlement of this political crisis. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Government of Canada Ottawa, CANADA K1A 0H4 FAX:613-957-5632 Premier Robert Bourassa National Assembly, Q.C. G1A 1A2 FAX:418-643-3924 ************************************************************************ COMMITTEE AGAINST RACISM P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6 (403) 282-6845 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Government of Canada Ottawa, CANADA K1A 0H4 FAX: 613-957-5632 Evidence presented by the Government and the Mohawks supports the position of the Mohawks that they have NOT changed their negotiating position. The attempt of your government to distort the facts and mislead the public are reminiscent of the disinformation campaign mounted by your government through hired propagandists against the Lubicons. To use such deceptions and to advocate violence against Mohawk men, women and children demonstrates the bankruptcy of your government in dealing with the First Nations of this country. Therefore we demand that 1) you immediately recall Canada's Armed Forces, and 2) that you seek a negotiated solution to this political problem. cc: Mohawk Nation Robert Bourassa ************************************************************************ For more information contact web:car by e-mail or in writing Aboriginal Rights Support Group Committee Against Racism P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6