Eastern Door Volume 6 Number 37

Volume 6 Number 37

October 17, 1997

PK's not police before Policing Agreement
By: Kenneth Deer

The Kahnawake Peacekeepers are being challenged in court as not being police officers under the Quebec Police Act prior to the signing of the 1995 Policing Agreement and the Quebec Department of Justice seems to agree. Three persons, two of which are police officers, are being charged with impaired driving.

The accused have asked the court to invalidate the charges because they claim the Peacekeepers did not have the authority or competence to make the arrests because they were not sworn in as police officers under the Quebec Police Act. The charges were laid before the signing of the Policing Agreement on September 11, 1995 in which the Canadian and Quebec governments recognized the Peacekeepers as the primary police force in Kahnawake.

According to lawyer Allen Dubois, Crown prosecutor Michel Breton, informed the defence that the Crown will not be disputing the challenge by the defense. This is a complete flip-flop by the government of Quebec, who has stated in the past that they recognized the Peacekeepers as police officers. This court case does not challenge the Peacekeepers authority after the signing of the Policing Agreement in September of 1995.

The defense state that the Peacekeepers were created by a band council resolution in 1979 after the Amerindian Police were fired. The resolution, number 44, used section 80 and 81 of the Indian Act to appoint the Peacekeepers. The defense contends that the Band Council Resolution was not approved by the Department of Indian Affairs and therefore the resolution was invalid.

In 1982, in R. vs. Norton, a Quebec judge decided that a band council resolution was enough to appoint police officers. This judgment was never appealed. Quebec has always used this judgment to uphold the validity of the Peacekeepers until now.

Crown Prosecutor Breton would not make any comment to The Eastern Door about his statement to Dubois. He said he will make his announcement in court on October 27 and he will answer questions after that time.

The implications, should the Crown Prosecutor not challenge the defense as he has indicated, are that the Peacekeepers had only the power to make a citizen's arrest from 1979 to September 11, 1995. Any citizen can arrest someone for breaking a law but they are obligated to turn that person over to a police officer as soon as possible. A citizen's arrest does not allow a citizen to hold or imprison an accused criminal nor can they administer a breathalyzer test.

Should this scenario come to pass, each of the outstanding cases in the courts will have to be judged on an individual basis to see if the rights of the accused have been violated.

There is also the possibility of civil suits against the Peacekeepers and the MCK by those already found guilty.

The MCK are quite surprised by this turnabout by Quebec and will make no comment until the Crown makes its statement in court. The justice system will be watching the court on October 27 with interest.

The challengers are: Anik Dore, 26, a MUC patrolman, on September 23, 1994. Jacques Vigneault, 50, an SQ Lieutenant, on May 16, 1995, Carlo Di Menna, 29, on February 20, 1995.

RETURN

Dan Goodleaf knows more than the way to San Jose
By: Michael Higgin, San Jose

When Dan Goodleaf ex-deputy minister for Canada's Native Affairs department arrived in tourist friendly Costa Rica two years ago this month, he was given advise from two members of the diplomatic community here. He took the advise of his embassy chauffeur who told him to slow down.

"You're going like a truck coming at us at 100 miles an hour. We're like an old cart going up a hill," the Costa Rican man said.

While Canada's often tumultuous Indigenous concerns and a busy advisory stint on Mulroney and Chretien's Privy Council left him little free time, Goodleaf says he can now "read a book from cover to cover."

The trim 140 lb. Mohawk says his passion for 52-kilometer bike rides through the busy market streets of San Jose has helped the caloric effects embassy receptions can cause.

While not identifying the non-Canadian diplomat who gave him the following advise, Goodleaf recalls it vividly "If I were you, I'd downplay the fact you are indigenous.

Goodleaf says he's done just the opposite - with good results. He notes that Josette Altmann, Costa Rica's First Lady, has a strong interest in Native issues. Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista who previously served as president of Nicaragua, also asked him questions about the Mohawk Crisis of 1990.

Then there were the picturesque trips down Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, hosted by a tribe who expressed price that another Indigenous person could hold such a high post for a top nation like Canada. His country can, in fact, offer a good example when it comes to Native issues, Goodleaf believes.

"We've gone through it," the Loyola graduate begins, "absorbing aches and pains along the way but dealing squarely with land claims and desires for more autonomy."

His government can, "Mirror back here the values that are Canadian," Goodleaf says. It's a subject area well travelled by Canada's First Native ambassador (also the first Native Deputy Minister). He's lectured on Canada's Native issues at Oxford, Cambridge and the Sorbonne. According to Goodleaf, a former high steel worker in New York and Chicago, Canada has more success stories among its Indigenous people than Davis Island tragedies.

"I'm proud to be a Mohawk and I'm proud to be a Canadian," says Goodleaf. "And I'm proud to be a Quebecker." He then adds, "I know that's not a popular thing to say in The Eastern Door."

After saying diplomatically that he can't reveal the sort of advice he provided the Mulroney government during the summer Kahnawake and Kanesatake will never forget, Goodleaf repeats a dire comment twice. A much bigger tragedy, including many deaths was, "Much closer than anyone will ever realize."

Using a collective we, the Mohawk Federalist adds, "We came close to blowing up everything we understood and love in Canada." Change is always possible during a period of national modifications, but, "We need not take out tanks and we need not take out the AK 47's."

Asked if he objects to the fact most Kahnawake Mohawks boycott voting in Canadian elections, Goodleaf says he does. Kahnawake residents should have, "A sense of gratitude," for what Canada's social fabric has helped bring them. The list includes nice streets, good schools, pretty homes, swimming pools and arenas, a well-functioning water and sewer system. A nice, middle-class place to live, "Part and parcel of the fabric of Canada," Goodleaf says.

Yet, many Mohawks want to swear off Canada or claim they've been neglected, he continues. These types should remember that a United Nations survey has deemed Canada the top country to live in four years running, according to Goodleaf. And yet, they have a sense of, "We ain't got enough."

The ambassador then compares Indigenous life outside Montreal with things he sees here. Managua's countless street kids. Lives lost trying to attain the right to vote. Costa Rican's Bri Bri Natives "Walking seven, eight hours overnight," to meet him and present their concerns.

"Kahnawake can be so insular," Goodleaf says. "Stop bitching. Let me take some of them with me (around Central America)!" One previously mentioned problem he can't help but notice in this region is the street children; a cultural phenomenon he sees most often in Managua, Nicaragua, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

"I was amazed to see the level of poverty," says Goodleaf. "The numbers are astronomical," he adds, referring to the number of children living in the street. Children are punished by their managers if their take from daily begging doesn't meet goals set for them. Goodleaf also details seven or eight-year-old children who hold sleeping toddlers while they beg; the smaller ones often drugged to make for a more emotional appeal.

Using a discretionary embassy fund, Goodleaf helped arrange for some funds to go to nuns who were opening a six bed clinic in Managua for AIDS patients. Small loans averaging about $16 were given to women in a San Jose neighborhood. They had sewing machines fixed or purchased allowing them to land a contract with a local hospital making booties and surgical masks. Rural women bought hog feed with embassy loans totalling about $50 apiece.

"We're not talking about big things, but they do make a difference," the ambassador says.

Costa Rica, which has hosted 40,000 Canadian vacationers a year, dropped 18 percent in 1996. "And where did the 18 percent go? Cuba," Goodleaf answers, noting that holding the line on prices is a good way to keep otherwise loyal Canadian tourists. As for their neighbor to the north, Goodleaf says Nicaraguans have good memories of how Canada treated them during their civil war.

"You (Canada) were there with us in all the darkest days when pressure from everywhere else was to do nothing," he was told. Nicaraguans and Guatemalans were previously given sanctuary as refugees in Canada, a legacy that aides Canadian companies doing business here today, says Goodleaf. An official observer during the recent national election which brought President Arnold Aleman to Nicaragua's presidency (a fair and transparent vote). goodleaf says Nicaragua's economy has only one place to go, up. All Central America has seen great improvements this decade, he concludes.

"Every country here is a democracy. There has been a significant shift in the role of the military (less power). the militaries have become less onerous, more professional," said Goodleaf.

Now divorced after 19 years of marriage - children Christopher, 16, James, 14, and Elizabeth, 10, live with their mother, Patricia, in Western Canada. Dan Goodleaf admits he doesn't miss winter blizzards in Montreal or Ottawa. His posts aren't as dangerous as Columbia and he professes to like to the constant travelling. Pressed for drawbacks, Goodleaf said new acquaintances tend to stiffen up when he tells them he's an ambassador. So do Central American drivers.

"Give traffic tickets," he suggests, "It's horrendous, the driving habits. Machismo."

The Mohawk in Central America says thanks to a crash course taken when he was given the post, he can now deliver speeches in Spanish.

RETURN

Editorial

ADM should be considered on its merits
By: Kenneth Deer, The Eastern Door

There is growing concern over the proposed ADM grain storage facility on the borders of Kahnawake. The majority of opposition to the plan comes from the Kahnawake Survival School at the present moment but there have been other individuals who have expressed concerns before the school became involved.

The final decision on the project has not been decided yet and before an agreement is signed, the community should take into accounts all of the pros and cons of such a project. If the project is to be stopped or approved let it be for factual reasons and not based on emotional feelings or misinformation.

It is not the intent of this editorial to take a position for or against, only to encourage a thorough study of the issue in order for the community to make an informed decision.

Who's responsibility is it to investigate the project to its intimate detains? Is the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, the Kahnawake Survival School, ADM or some other body in Kahnawake?

So far, there has been an environmental assessment done. A large report was produced which, although difficult to read at times, appears to answer all the questions and gives a green light to the project. But the firm paid to do the study was hired by ADM themselves. Why couldn't an independent study be commissioned to remove any suggestions of bias in the report?

An environmental study launched to tackle our concerns about the environment would have been much more palatable and more thorough in areas that may not have been covered in the report commissioned by ADM. It is our environment at stake, not theirs.

The Kahnawake Survival School Students should be complimented for their zeal and initiative in closely looking at the implications of a large storage facility in our back yard. They, more than anyone, have raised the environmental, safety and health issues of this project to every one's attention. Their field trips, research and public debates have done more to raise the issue of storage silos in the public eye than all the other public information events held by ADM and the MCK held early in the summer.

Certainly, there is a lot of passion and emotion in the efforts by the students of KSS to bring to light the negative impacts of the project on the school. Who can blame them for being so concerned? They will be the most affected on a daily basis by the construction and operations of the facility. It is an unfortunate circumstance that they were the last consulted and the first affected.

There is also a significant amount of people who seem to favour this project as it now stands.

The onus now falls on the MCK, who are the clear proponents of the project, to inform and reassure the people of Kahnawake that the project will not adversely affect our children, the environment and the health of our community.

The MCK must be forthright and thorough in informing the community on all aspects of the project. Then the people of Kahnawake can make an informed decision on whether to allow the project to go ahead.

Under what process will the MCK determine the will of the people: A referendum, a door to door survey, a series of public meetings or some other process? The political process in Kahnawake is always an interesting one to gauge. It will be interesting to see what the public ratification process will be for this project.

RETURN

Comics

RETURN