TOP Stories

Two Kanehsatake women named in car tax swindle
Outdated Kahnawake equipment should escape millennium bug
Three is the charm for KSCS Artistic Director
Kanien'kehaka Babies of the Year
Comics
Nosey Newsman

Two Kanehsatake women named in car tax swindle
By: Dan Rosenburg

Two Native women, Janice Osantiio Gabriel of Kanehsatake and Sharon Arbic Simon of Oka, are accused of having served as intermediaries in an ultra-fast system of automobile sales that has Revenue Quebec up in arms.

According to two warrants made public recently, Revenue Quebec suspects the two women of being involved in a scam in conjunction with the AJR Simard Society which manages gas pumps under the Canadian Tire banner in Quebec City and rents vehicles under the name of Via Route.

Revenue Canada believes the AJR Simard Society falsified documents that create the illusion that vehicles were delivered to a Native reserve, thereby evading the collection of Quebec and federal sales taxes. Revenue Canada also is charging the society with helping four automobile dealerships claim rebates for taxes which were never declared.

According to government investigators, AJR Simard in 1997 sold at least 400 vehicles to enterprises owned by Gabriel and Simon without ever collecting taxes. The law permits this when cars are delivered to a Native on a reserve.

After purchasing the vehicles in question, the two women are said to have quickly resold them to dealers. This was done so swiftly that the contracts often lead one to believe that the vehicles were resold before they were even bought, Revenue Quebec claims.

Another strange fact was that they were reselling the same cars for a cheaper price than they had paid for them, according to a recent story in La Presse.

The Revenue Ministry believes the two women incriminated themselves by charging taxes to the dealers and omitting to declare them in order to pocket that money instead of turning it over to the government. The dealers, meanwhile, claimed reimbursement of these same taxes from Revenue Quebec. And they made a profit by sending the vehicles to Ontario or the U. S.

Revenue Quebec insists the delivery invoices presented to it are fraudulent. The names of two towing companies appear on the bills but these companies both assure they never made any deliveries for the AJR Simard Society. In fact, one of the two towing firms had already declared bankruptcy before the dates indicated on the invoices. The other uses a completely different style of bill.

RETURN

Outdated Kahnawake equipment should escape millennium bug
By: Dan Rosenburg

As far as the millennium bug is concerned, Kahnawake should be thankful it does not possess exclusively modern, state-of-the-art equipment and technology.

In Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa, there is talk of bringing in martial law and invoking the Emergencies Act to deal with the chaos expected to result from the millennium bug when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve a year from now. The recommendation of Emergency Preparedness Canada is that the necessary regulations and orders should be in place by March 31.

But Kellyann Meloche of Kahnawake’s emergency preparedness team has an entirely different story to tell. "We’re looking at a 99% chance that everything in Kahnawake will still be running normally by Jan. 1, 2000," she told The Eastern Door last Monday.

"We are fortunate to have what one might term un-modern technology," she explained. "Luckily, we rely on older machinery. In fact, if you compare ours to Montreal, we’re still using typewriters as opposed to their computers." In which case, it appears that largely outdated Kahnawake equipment will only be affected marginally by the millennium, if at all.

"I talked to (engineer) Tom Scott of Kahnawake technical services and he tells me the same thing," confides Meloche. "Right now, we’re checking out furnaces and other mechanics, except computers, and there’s no reason to panic," she says. "We’ve tested all our public buildings and, believe me, we are prepared for the year 2000."

Meloche says some residents are worried about whether their money will still be in the Caisse Populaire a year from now, "but the Caisse tells us there’s nothing to worry about. And our water supply will still be good," she assures.

The key to Kahnawake’s apparent good fortune is the fact that, "we have machinery which is not time-date run," Meloche reports. "Most of our equipment is on the seven-day cycle instead of being date-stamped.

"What our team looked at in the public buildings is whether we can bypass the bug and keep on going. We verified all that was time-date stamped and everything checked out all right.," she said.

For those who may have spent the past six months on Mars, the millennium bug is a computer programming problem that some say could set off widespread disruptions in hydro-electric and financial systems. The glitch derives from the fact that computer counters could read the year 2000 as 00, thus misreading the year as 1900 and crashing as a result.

Emergency Preparedness Canada warns that computer failures could begin as early as Sept. 9, 1999 because systems might encounter difficulties handling the 9-9-99 date sequence.

Meanwhile, the Surete du Quebec is making provisions to answer as many as 10,000 calls at a time, at the turn of the New Year (2000). And, shades of the ice storm of last January, municipalities all over the province are preparing to open temporary lodging facilities for people who may be chased from their homes by plunging thermostats a year from now.

RETURN

Three is the charm for KSCS Artistic Director
By: Frayne McCarthy

"There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found..."

If only theatre could come to life as easily as a storybook snowman!

The KSCS Drama Club performed a Holiday "hat trick" this year, presenting "Frosty the Snowman" in tandem with a children’s carol-sing, "Here Comes Santa Claus" featuring the Musical Entertainers; and "A Community Christmas Concert" which showcased the drama club kids alongside the Musical Entertainers, with some guest performers. Audiences loved all three shows which, in total, amounted to nine well-attended performances in Kahnawake.

Now for those few who might imagine that such "hat tricks" are, indeed, magic, allow me a chance to enlighten you. The KSCS Artistic Director, Kevin Saylor, is not a magician. What Kevin is, however, is terrifically gifted, driven, resourceful and hard working. The months of rehearsal are never seen by the audience, but they’re up there on stage. The weeks of technical preparation are never imagined. But it is with meager means and ample imagination that Kevin Saylor, his assistant director Marian Snow and their faithful crew manage to transform the drab shell of the United Church Hall into, well yes, some place magical.

This season the hall became a glittering winter glen in such a complete way that it was hard to imagine anything but cozy atmosphere being synthesized by a ton of coloured stagelights run on miles of wire wrapped discretely around sets and props and a modest proscenium arch. Completely invisible to the audience were the long days of painting and building and cleaning involved to create the illusion. And unknown, but to a select few, is Kevin Saylor’s constant courtesy to his landlord, The United Church Committee, in abiding by rules of "hall presentation" which add precious hours of work to already supercharged schedule. But Saylor is so unassuming, uncomplaining and polite, so happy to oblige if he can (and he always makes that hall look so darned good!), that the United Church ladies are quite fond of their theatrical tenant.

Then, of course, there is the work with the talent to consider. Yes hours of rehearsal, now you know, but consider if you will, that while this season’s "hat trick" was being prepared, presented and enjoyed, Kevin Saylor was already in pre-production of the Senior Drama Club’s most ambitious offering to date, "A Chorus Line". Yes, there’s yet another group of young actors in the picture. That’s three, count ‘em, three distinct performing arts groups in Kahnawake!

Now consider the diverse needs of these groups.

*The Junior Club kids are no doubt, cherubs in the classroom and at home, and Kevin will stand by and declare that they are angels with him as well, but I’ve had my nerves jangled working as crew on the last two Christmas shows so I can tell you otherwise, folks! Working with children aged seven to eleven (in a mixed group, no less) is very demanding.

*Next is the Senior Drama Club which admits members aged twelve and up, depending on the requirements of their various shows. Kevin offers these kids a serious challenge to be as professional as they can be. Introduced to all aspects of theatre production, some members eventually intern as technicians on the shows. However, as you can imagine, such a group of young adults is a constant party just waiting to happen. Kevin Saylor manages to tap all of that positive energy and bring it to the stage instead.

*Third, there are the "Musical Entertainers". Kevin watches this group go through their paces and smiles. "They’re cute, eh?" he says, and you wonder if he imagines a burrough of bunnies on the stage. Then you see it too. Gosh, they are cute! What started off as a timid glee club is really coming into its own. It’s all about confidence building for this group which ranges in age from late teens to senior. They’re getting better, bolder, and they’re stepping out!

Finally, to all of Kevin Saylor’s dedication to the KSCS theatre arts programs, you must add his smooth coordination and direction of two major dinner/cabaret fundraising events for the K-STARS (the realization of this group’s project to build an autonomous town theatre facility is one of Kevin Saylor’s dreams). Then add his seasonal stint as church organist at St. Francis Xavier’s Catholic church, and also his personal performing interests with the Lyric Theatre of Montreal. How is he able to do so much? What is the trick?

There is no trick. There’s no silk hat. There’s no magic, per se. There is only the commitment of the KSCS Artistic Director, Kevin Saylor.

RETURN

Kanien'kehaka Babies of the Year

Nineteen-ninety-Eight brought two sets of twins to Kahnawake, here are Jhon Reider Teháhrha and Treasure Helen Kanáhne, son and daughter of Vanessa and Gummy Rice.

RETURN

Comics

RETURN

Nosey Newsman
By: Corey Phillips

What are some alternative ways to celebrate New Year's Eve?

RETURN

Have a question or comment E-Mail us at
easterndoor@axess.com
Copyright © 1997-2000 The Eastern Door
Created by Digital Dreamcatchers