Eastern Door Volume 7 Number 9

Volume 7 Number 7

March 20, 1998

Beauvais in Big Bear Miniseries
Unique film from a Native's perspective is a lot of hard work
By: Cory Phillips

An upcoming CBC miniseries finished a two-week shoot this weekend at Ile St. Bernard, Chateauguay, just outside of Kahnawake. The miniseries is titled Big Bear.

It tells the true story of a Cree chief from Saskatchewan and the massacre of the Native people at Frog Lake in 1885. It will be a unique film, in that it is told completely from the Native point of view. It is co-written and directed by Gil Cardinal, a winner of a First Nations Achievement Award.

The miniseries stars some well-known Native actors. The cast is mostly Cree. The lead role of Big Bear is played by Gordon Tootoosis. It also start Tantoo Cardinal, Michael Greyeyes, Lorne Cardinal and Simon Baker.

One of the few Mohawk actors appearing in Big Bear is Kiera Beauvais from Kahnawake. Kiera is six year old, the daughter of Lisa Phillips and Chris Beauvais. She plays Summer, the grand-daughter of Big Bear. It is a non-speaking role and a first time acting job for Kiera.

Kiera'a mother Lisa heard about the casting call over K103 radio and later on she got a call from Nicky Diabo saying that she should bring her to the interview. They went to the casting call not thinking that she would get the role of Summer because the role was intended for an eight year old. To their surprise, they did get the call three days later on Tuesday saying that she got the role, and she had to start the following Thursday.

The part only required four days of film about eight scenes she'll be appearing in. during those four days she had to get up as early as 5:00 a.m. on some days and finish up at around midnight on others. "I don't know how she did it. She is very energetic," says her mother.

She also had to bear the cold weather and long shoots outside, but that didn't bother her either. "It's all fun to her. She said she would rather be here than in school," says her mother.

Off the set, Kiera shares a dressing room with Simon Baker, who is best known as Charlie Muskrat from the television series North of Sixty. He has a speaking role as one of Big Bear's Grandchildren. The two get along great and Kiera is treated well by the other cast members. "I'm really going to miss Dianne and Kenneth (another actor who holds her in the scene)," she said after her work on the set was done.

She left with autographs from her fellow cast members and her first look at what kind of work goes into making movies.

Her mother is now considering enrolling her in acting classes after she was told that Kiera has a great energy and a very expressive face. When asked about the experience, Kiera said she enjoyed herself and would like to act in more movies, although she had her complaints, "It's hard. You have to do things over and over."

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Membership unresolved
By: Kenneth Deer

One month has past since the last public meeting and Mona Nolan is still waiting for an answer as to why her son is not on the Mohawk Registry. Nolan raised the question of the status of her son Kevin, 25, at the last meeting on February 17.

Nolan says she has letters from the MCK that state that she is 100 percent and Kevin is 50 percent Mohawk. She cannot understand why her son cannot be added to the registry.

She was particularly upset because she was told that there would be no other additions until the membership issue was settled but she pointed out that four people were added last summer. In the MCK newsletter, a resolution in July/August instated the names of Bernie Hamlin, Katherine Rufiange, Peter Leblanc and Chuck Barnett. Nolan asks if these people could be added to the list, why can't her son?

Adding to the frustration was the fact that Nancy McComber, Kevin's girlfriend, was not allowed to have land because of her relationship with him.

At the time she raised the question, no one on the Council had an answer. She was told that the MCK would look into the situation.

"But nothing has been done since the last band meeting about my son," said Nolan. "Peggy Mayo approached me after the meeting and assured me that something will be done as soon as everyone gets back from vacation. I know Peggy is trying but I don't know about the rest of the Council."

Chief Peggy Mayo said she can't say anything to The Eastern Door about this issue as it is a confidential matter but would only say that she will bring it up at the next Council meeting.

Another community resident that has expressed frustration in the membership process is Mason Whitebean. He has been waiting to transfer his band number from Akwesasne to Kahnawake but has also been told that there is a moratorium on transfers. Yet there are the four individuals who were enrolled last summer.

Nolan said she is not giving up. "I'll go back to the Public Meeting this Tuesday and raise the issue again."

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Regis challenges arrest
By: Kenneth Deer

Edwin Regis, 31, who was arrested last December 18 for violations of the customs and excise laws regarding tobacco, is wondering if the MCK has reneged on its claim to jurisdiction over this issue in Kahnawake. According to Regis, he was picked-up but not arrested by the Peacekeepers that day. The Peacekeepers transported him to RCMP Headquarters where he was read his rights by the RCMP and charged by them with violations under the customs and excise laws.

Regis is wondering if the MCK has changed its policy of claiming jurisdiction over cigarettes and alcohol in Kahnawake. If eh Peacekeepers can pick him up for violations of excise laws than what is stopping them from picking up anyone else involved in cigarettes?

The warrant for Regis was issued September 9, two days before the aborted raid on South Texas Ranch on September 11. The RCMP had Regis under surveillance, particularly in December. According to Regis, the RCMP had called the Peacekeepers twice before to arrest Regis but they did not respond. The third time the RCMP called the Peacekeepers, the RCMP said that if the PKs do not pick-up Regis, they would. The Peacekeepers then made the move to pick him up.

The RCMP had previously arrested Loanne Leborgne Lazare, 42, at the traffic lights by the Kahnawake Survival School. Other suspects with warrants had turned themselves in to police by December 22.

Chief Peacekeeper Warren Lahache stated that Regis was not picked up until they had a proper warrant for his arrest. Requests by the RCMP to pickup suspects were not entertained until the proper paper work was done. When the RCMP gave them a warrant for Regis' arrest for criminal code charges as well as excise offenses, the Peacekeepers picked up Regis.

Lahache says the original warrant had criminal code charges but the RCMP may have dropped those charges since.

"I don't know anything about the case of Edwin Regis," said Grand Chief Joe Norton. "But we have said that we will not serve summons or warrants on anyone on the reserve for excise offenses. If, however, someone is caught outside the community we can't do anything about that."

In essence, cigarettes operations in Kahnawake are not being prosecuted but anyone caught running cigarettes on the outside does so at their own risk. Peacekeepers will exercise warrants on individuals who have acquired excise charges while off the reserve.

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Editorial

Police shooting in Alberta: Deju vu for Kahnawake?
By: Kenneth Deer, Eastern Door

Astonishment and despair, anguish and sorrow are just a few of the feelings that rush through your mind when you hear of the shooting of a mother and child by an RCMP officer in Alberta.

One shot from a police officer's shotgun and two, maybe three Natives are dead if reports are true, that the mother was pregnant. And five others are left without a mother.

The scene is tragic but not necessarily unthinkable in Native communities. Relationships between Natives and non-Natives, especially in areas of law enforcement and other areas of enforced authority, have been strained at best and violent quite often.

We in Kahnawake are no strangers to excessive force by police officers. In 1979, David Cross was shot and killed by an SQ officer. The officer, who was sitting in a police cruiser with a fellow officer, had a night stick and mace as defensive weapons. Cross had a pool cue.

The officer shot Cross three times in the chest at close range from inside the car. His life was not in danger. But because of the general stereotypical, racist attitudes towards Natives, that we are wild and uncontrollable especially when drinking, police officers tend to shoot first and ask questions later.

If Cross was a non-Native wielding a pool cue, the officers would have subdued him and taken him into custody. Instead he is dead and the police officers were exonerated from any wrongdoing.

If Connie Jacobs was a nonnative white woman wielding a gun, would the police officer have reacted the same way? The high majority of Natives would firmly believe that he would not have and Jacobs and her son would still be alive.

And what makes a woman take a gun to protect her children? The reality is that generations of destruction of our institutions by the settler society have dis-empowered our extended families. Native social workers and native police are trained by the mainstream society and apply those values within our communities. The mechanisms and bureaucracies designed for non-Natives are applied in Native communities and many times they are just not effective.

The breakdown of our extended families, the high unemployment, and the despair and loss of hope of ever improving our living conditions takes a high toll in the social fabric of a community. Raising children is sometimes the only meaningful responsibility in life. Taking the children away makes life all the more unbearable.

Jacobs will probably become a symbol of all that is wrong in the social programs in Native communities. This incident speaks volumes of the repairs that need to be made in our communities.

How is this going to be achieved? Our leaders, our elders, our families and our young parents have to re-kindle the respect for the ways of our grandfathers. We have to re-learn how all the support mechanisms worked in an extended family and how our traditions and spirituality reinforce the well-being of our communities.

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Comics

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