Retyped for your information are 2 News releases and an URGENT announcement by the Mohawk People. ************************************************************************ News Release from Haudenosaunee (Mohawk Nation) September 12, 1990 On Friday, September 14, 1990, at 8:00 A.M., three to four thousand Native people from all over the United States will be entering Canada through the Detroit border enroute to the Parc Paul Sauve in the town of Oka. They will be bringing two tractor trailers of food. Also participating in the caravan will be United States Senators and Assemblymen. The Ontario Provincial Police and two television stations will be escorting the caravan once they arrive in Windsor, Ontario. Today, the Jesse Jackson Show interviewed Mavis Etienne and the Seminole people at the Peace Camp. Colonel Daigle of the Canadian Armed Forces invited the media for a flyover of Kahnesatake, scheduled for 12:30 P.M., Thursday, September 13. The Jesse Jackson Show is scheduled to interview Joe Norton on Thursday, September 13 at approximately 3 P.M. Kahnawakeronon are needed at the Peace Rally scheduled for Sunday, September 16th at the Park Paul Sauve in the town of Oka. There are no checkpoints and no police problems. NOTICE FROM BIG MOUNTAIN AKTIONSGRUPPE e.V., Munich, West Germany, September 13, 1990: The European Parliament this morning decided with a majority vote to send a delegation to Canada to observe and investigate the current situation of the Mohawks. More details will follow. ** ** ** ** ** ** ** MOHAWK WARRIORS SOCIETY/MOHAWK SOVEREIGNTY SECURITY FORCE PRESS RELEASE -- SEPTEMBER 13, 1990 As we approach the critical point in Canada's plan to exterminate the Mohawk/Native rights to their ancestral homelands and sacred burial grounds, it is extremely important to refresh our memories as to the original issues on the Kanehsatake Mohawk/Oka dispute. It's important that non-Natives and Natives throughout the world understand that the barricades were erected for the protection of the Mohawk people from attacks and assaults of Canada and some of its citizens. That the warriors (men, women, children and allies of the Mohawk Nation) took a defensive stand according to the great law of peace of the Creator. THE MOHAWK NATION AND ITS WARRIORS/PEOPLE NEVER TOOK A POSITION OF THE OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE NON-NATIVES OF CANADA. The barricades initially erected were to prevent the desecration of burial grounds and the destruction of the Pines on Mohawk land. The municipality of Oka, through the Surete du Quebec consistently threatened the Mohawk people of Kanehsatake with an armed and violent invasion prior to July 11, 1990. The Mohawk people refused to abandon their mother earth and the burial ground of their ancestors, which was to be removed and relocated for the recreational purpose of expanding the Oka Golf Course. Mayor Ouellete of the Municipality of Oka is a member of the Oka golf course. These threats are well documented in newspaper reports of the threats, dating back to March 3, 1990. It was not until the attack on Mohawk women and children by the Surete du Quebec with concussion grenades, automatic weapons and tear gas bombs at 5:15 A.M., July 11, 1990, did the Mohawk people and other media persons in the area realize that this was indeed a deadly game in order to expand a golf course. The Mohawk women and children approached the S.Q. and requested them to stop the assault and, contrary to recent fabricated and distorted reports, the S.Q. continued their attack on a few women and children. The total community and nation of the Mohawks then set up defensive positions to prevent a future armed assault that would destroy this small Mohawk community. Many Mohawk people came to the assistance of their fellow Mohawks and committed themselves to the protection of their people. The enormous armed assault had to be countered with an equal show of strength to prevent the death of the Kanehsatake Mohawks, although the military and political strength of Canada was overwhelming, Natives and non-Natives of Canada then the world, pressured Canada and Quebec to peacefully negotiate a resolution to the land dispute in Kanehsatake. In the negotiations process between the Government of Canada, Quebec and the Mohawk Nation, the Government of Canada was paralysed with a mandate set by the Federal Government that they could not negotiate unless the Mohawk people dismantled their barricades and surrendered their defense weapons. This, according to the Government of Canada was returning to the "status quo" before July 11, 1990. The Mohawk delegation asked that an assurance be given for the protection of the Mohawk Nation and its people when the barricades were taken down and surrender of their defense weapons. This assurance was flatly refused. The negotiators of Canada were told, repeatedly, by the Mohawk delegates that the Mohawk people were not asking for anything that does not belong to us. We have never asked for lands not given to us by the Creator when he placed us on Turtle Island (America). When peace agreements were made between our peoples, we agreed to live in peace, side by side, not interfering with one another, and in many instances, it was the Natives, and specifically, the Mohawks who helped the non-Natives to survive in a foreign land. We helped to feed, clothe and protect their women, children, men and elders. We have never demanded anything in return but to live our own way of life. Throughout the negotiations and after, the Mohawks/Natives have never asked for immunity or amnesty. These were fabrications of the Canadian Government to offset the main issues of the land rights at Kanehsatake, which led to the crisis which occurred on July 11, 1990, at Kanehsatake. The issue of the land rights at Kanehsatake is and always has been a frustrating issue for 200 years. When the people at Chateaugay and elsewhere address the frustration of being inconvenienced, the Mohawk people can reiterate these feelings because the lack of understanding on the part of the Federal Government of Canada toward the identity and culture of the Natives and procedures to resolve, peacefully, these very issues are very real. Every person, organization and nation of the world must be reminded that the Natives of the First Nations of Canada have tried to resolve issues through peaceful talks, and these talks have accomplished almost nothing to this date, except more confusion. The attacks by the Government of Canada at the alleged irresponsible attitude of the Mohawks in not surrendering and dismantling barricades although "Canada had purchased the land in dispute and was ready to turn over the land to its rightful owners" is another fabrication. This statement has never been verified or confirmed with actual land acquisition documents. In essence, Canada, its armed forces through the Surete du Quebec and the Canadian Army has lied consistently to the Mohawks/Natives and the world about their intentions. Negotiations to resolve issues at Kanehsatake were always without merit because of pre-planned deceptions aimed at discontinuing negotiations and engaging in an all-out armed assault on the Mohawk people and force the expansion of the golf course. The lack of understanding as to the history and culture of the Mohawk, as well as other Natives of this land, the nations of the world and its peaceful people must step in and ensure justice is rendered to the Mohawks/Natives of the Turtle Island, known to non-Natives as Canada. Throughout the history of Canada, and the U.S., there have been horror stories related to processes of termination against the Native people. Some were processes to assimilate and some were to exterminate, openly and secretly, in order to gain clear and unquestioned title to land belonging to the Natives of America. The Mohawks will be tortured, as they have already been, at the hands of the Surete du Quebec, and imprisoned for their rightful struggle to maintain their land base, the remains of their ancestors and to protect their fellow Mohawks at Kanehsatake. The Mohawks, as well as other Natives of the Turtle Island known as America, must be able to live in a way of life given to us by the Creator, long before the coming of the colonial period of the non-Natives: WE MUST BE ALLOWED TO LIVE IN PEACE. Mohawks, already arrested for protecting their brothers and sisters, have been beaten, kicked in their privates until their underwear is saturated with blood, burned with cigarettes, slapped and punched in the face and hidden until the swelling has gone down, bathroom privileges denied to known diabetics, legal representation denied, women and children urinated and spat on, women called vulgar names, etc. This is the protection the Mohawks asked for if the barricades came down and defensive weapons surrendered. There recreational purpose of the expansion of the Oka golf course means more to Canada than the value placed on the lives of Mohawks/Natives of this land. The Mohawk negotiators asked for a paragraph, in written form, from the Government of Canada assuring the protection of the Mohawk Nation and its people from these very actions at the undisciplined S.Q., the Canadian Army and the racist citizens of Canada. The only barricades remaining for the protection of the Mohawks/Natives of Canada is the strong support of the Natives and non-Natives of Canada, the United States and the world. It is through these peaceful people that the next step in the termination process of Canada may not happen. The all-out assault on the Mohawks/Natives of Canada, at Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and elsewhere is imminent. The Government of Canada has tried to cover up the main issues of July 11, 1990, with fabricated and distorted information to criminalize the Mohawk people who are trapped inside the "treatment centre" in Kanehsatake. Statements made are corrected before the ink has dried on the newsprint. It is Canada's hope that Canadians, Americans and citizens of the world will consider the Mohawk patriots as criminals and thereby allow the planned massacre. The world must never allow a "holocaust" to happen in Kanehsatake. If these Mohawk patriots had not offered their lives as a buffer between the S.Q. of Canada and the Mohawks at Kanehsatake, the community of Kanehsatake would have been wiped out. The concussion grenades, tear gas bombs and automatic weapons fired on the Mohawks were not toys and they were fired at a deadly level. At 8:30 P.M., on September 13, 1990, the telephone lines to the "treatment centre" were cut by Canada and its armed forced. Many terrorist tactics are being used on the Mohawks in the treatment centre, but with a commitment to the defense of the people, the spirit of the Natives will survive. How long will the world allow this type of torture to go on! Another 200 years possibly. It is evident to the peaceful people of the world that Canada is incapable to deal with the Mohawks/Natives of this land in a humane way. Natives and non-Natives must bring about a forum whereby issues of the Ongwehhonweh, the Natives, are addressed and resolved in a peaceful negotiated process. If we do not, then the history of Wounded Knee, the Holocaust and the Oka Golf Course is what we will teach the children in the future. Calls to the United Nations, the World Court and international human rights organizations should be made immediately to overturn the plans of Canada to exterminate the Mohawks/Natives at the "treatment centre" in Kanehsatake. If we allow the inhumane treatment of the people of the First Nations, then we will face similar treatment with any and all people of Canada and the world. A massive support campaign for the Mohawks/Natives is currently underway at the Paul Sauve Park in Oka. Vigils are held daily to prevent the impending massacre. Six Nations Confederacy ** ** ** ** ** ** ** PRESS RELEASE -- URGENT -- from Haudenosaunee This is to notify all PRESS that the ARMY has cut off all communications. They threatened to cut off the water supply and to move in closer. The Surete Quebec Police have currently blocked off Route 344 and 640, corner of St. Germain and at the Monastery. The people in the Treatment Centre are forced to communicate with just the ARMY. Mohawk Nation Six Nations Confederacy Kahnawake Phone: (514) 638-4750 Fax: (514) 638-6790 (514) 638-1892 Kanesatake Phone: (514) 479-8353 Fax: (514) 479-8355 ************************************************************************ Only a handful of dedicated reporters are still inside the treatment centre with the Mohawks. The last means of communication are cellular phones as long as the batteries last. Sources predict an assault by the weekend. ************************************************************************ 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