Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation
Fight like a brave / Don’t be a slave / No one can tell you you’ve got to be afraid – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Flashback: New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | RCMP and US Coast Guard to integrate as Canada signs border pact with Homeland Security | New US border technology directed at insidious threat: Canadians | US Homeland Security forced to retract statement accusing Canada of importing 9/11 terrorists | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Homeland Security Assuming Broad Powers, Turning Swaths of U.S. into “Constitution-Free Zone” | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | Drivers licences with chips spark heated debate | Border ‘two-headed monster,’ industry minister says | Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies | U.S. Northern Command, Canada Command establish new bilateral Civil Assistance Plan
CBC News
June 1, 2009
Canadian authorities shut down a border crossing into the United States at Cornwall, Ont., Monday morning after Mohawk leaders from the nearby Akwesasne territory warned they would not tolerate guns in their community.
Talks on the weekend between Mohawk officials and the Canadian Border Services Agency broke down over the issue of arming guards assigned to posts on Cornwall island, which is in the middle of Akwesasne, a territory that straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York State.
The border guards in Cornwall were set to start carrying 9-mm handguns Monday morning, under a new federal policy enacted across the country. Instead, guards left their posts at midnight Sunday, citing safety concerns, after hundreds of Mohawks set up camp near the border to protest the gun policy.
Border authorities later closed the border altogether, allowing no vehicles to cross the Seaway International Bridge.
The Mohawk protesters are angry about guards being allowed to carry guns, because they say it violates their sovereignty, and increases the likelihood of violent confrontations.
“Their biggest fear is that because of the animosity that exists right now, that one of them young people that has guns in there [and] three weeks of training, probably no psychological testing either — that one of them is going to lose it in there and kill one of our people,” said Cheryl Jacob, district chief at the Akwesasne Mohawk Council.
Hundreds of protesters near the border crossing gathered around a bonfire and held signs that said “Guns kill,” “This is Mohawk land” and “Honk for no guns,” said the CBC’s Lauren McCallum, reporting from the scene.
The Mohawk protesters reportedly cheered when news of the border guards’ departure became known.
“They’re so nasty and harassing our people that we can almost feel … their finger being itchy on the trigger,” said John Boots, a Mohawk from Akwesasne. “That’s how bad those people are. The customs officers.”
“We’re no more of a threat today than we were yesterday,” said Anenhaienton, another Akwesasne resident. “So, why all of a sudden do they need guns?”
Boots warned that people are not going to back down from the issue. “If they say they’re going to arm the guards, we’re going to stay here, and we’re going to stop them whenever we see them coming,” he said.
It’s not clear when the blockade would end and the border reopen.
People who “want to leave the reserve are allowed to leave, but they’re not allowed to return” for as long as the conflict lasts, said Cornwall police staff Sgt. Pierre Pilon.
Public safety minister Peter Van Loan said the gun policy will be applied to all Canadian border crossings, with no exceptions.
Source | See Also under Natives: RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year | BC Court Tells Ottawa to Amend Status Rules for Natives | Chair to have final say as residential schools commission jobs rewritten | Geronimo’s descendants fight Yale secret society for their ancestor’s remains | Remaining 2 members resign from residential schools commission | Quebec First Nations declare sovereignty, opposition to provincial development plans | Commission to Probe Graves at Native ‘Residential School’ Sites | Government to hold talks over future of residential-schools commission | Chairman quits troubled residential-school commission | Truth commission tied too closely to government: aboriginal groups | Mounties pinned me down in cell and tasered me, Manitoba girl says | OPP threatened natives to end blockade | Alberta natives protest oil exploration on their land | Water shut-off on Manitoba reserve an ‘act of terrorism’: chief | Canada hears of native abuse pain | Native leaders vow to fight mining law in Ontario | Mohawk protesters set up blockade in eastern Ont. town | Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed for the First Time; Independent Tribunal Established | Judge gets 7 years for sexual assault on young native women
June 5th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] school commission: report on Remaining 2 members resign from residential schools commissionstatism watch » Blog Archive » Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border cro… on Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along borderstatism watch [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
[...] Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | RCMP and US Coast Guard to integrate [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
[...] briefly, anything seemed possible | Harkat lawyers accuse officials of conducting illegal raid | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | The Main Result of the “War on Terrorâ€Â: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Blast at Iranian [...]
July 20th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
[...] violence kills natives and police | New members tapped for residential school commission: report | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year | BC Court Tells Ottawa to Amend Status Rules [...]
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
[...] Mohawk protesters block Ontario bridge over arming of border guards | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | New US border technology directed at [...]
July 28th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
[...] violence kills natives and police | New members tapped for residential school commission: report | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year | BC Court Tells Ottawa to Amend Status Rules [...]
October 24th, 2009 at 8:35 am
[...] [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 8:23 am
[...] briefly, anything seemed possible | Harkat lawyers accuse officials of conducting illegal raid | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | The Main Result of the “War on Terrorâ€Â: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Blast at Iranian [...]
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:51 pm
[...] violence kills natives and police | New members tapped for residential school commission: report | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year | BC Court Tells Ottawa to Amend Status Rules [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
[...] arming of border guards | Vancouver pot activist Marc Emery to plead guilty to U.S. drug charge | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | RCMP and US Coast Guard to integrate [...]
February 27th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
[...] briefly, anything seemed possible | Harkat lawyers accuse officials of conducting illegal raid | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | The Main Result of the “War on Terrorâ€Â: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Blast at Iranian [...]
April 30th, 2010 at 5:48 am
[...] interrogate Winnipeg couple | Mohawk protesters block Ontario bridge over arming of border guards | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | New US border technology directed at [...]
June 29th, 2010 at 10:28 am
[...] interrogate Winnipeg couple | Mohawk protesters block Ontario bridge over arming of border guards | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | ‘Say please’ at U. S. border [...]
July 21st, 2010 at 1:14 pm
[...] briefly, anything seemed possible | Harkat lawyers accuse officials of conducting illegal raid | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | The Main Result of the “War on Terrorâ€Â: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Blast at Iranian [...]