Eastern Door Volume 8 Number 5

Volume 8 Number 5

February 26, 1999

Charges laid against individual with gun
By: Greg Horn

Brian Anthony Harte, 29, of Montreal, appeared in Longueuil court on Monday, February 22. Harte appeared in court on charges related to an incident in Kahnawake on Wednesday, February 17.

PK Carl Horn was performing a routine observation at the Route 207 checkpoint, when he noticed a car run the stop sign at the bottom of the down ramp. Horn then proceeded to pull the vehicle over by Cemetery Road.
Both the driver and passenger could not provide Horn with proper identification. When the license plate was run through the computer, it was found to be expired. The names that were given by the two individuals were found to be false.

It was at this time that Horn called for backup. Within minutes Peacekeepers John McComber, Richard White, and Maggie Mayo arrived on the scene.

The two occupants were arrested for obstruction because they failed to provide their proper names. They were both searched and the driver, Robert Paradis, was found to be wearing a bullet proof vest. The passenger, Brian Anthony Hart, had a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun tucked into his pants.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Harte had an outstanding warrant with the MUC Police for Article 239 a) of the Criminal Code, which is attempted murder with a handgun.

Harte was charged in Longueuil court on Thursday, February 18, with obstruction, possession of a prohibited weapon, carrying a prohibited weapon in a vehicle, carrying a loaded prohibited weapon and breach of recognizance relating to the attempted murder charge.

In court on Monday, Harte waved his right to have a bail hearing probably because he most likely would not have gotten bail, due to his attempted murder charge, and the fact he had violated his conditions. The MUC Police were going to hold him anyway, according to Investigator Tom Lahache of the Kahnawake Peacekeepers.

"They were coming here to visit someone," stated Lahache.
Other details relating to this case could not be released at this time. The driver was released later that night and was issued several tickets. The file is currently under investigation.

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Rash of bomb threats causing problems
By: Kenneth Deer

It all began with a phone call to K-103 on Wednesday morning warning of a bomb in their building and at the Caisse Populaire Kahnawake. Subsequently, the radio station and the Cultural Center were evacuated as well as the entire Services Complex.

The next day, another phone call warned of a possible bombing of one of our schools. Hence, all the elementary schools were closed and the students sent home. While no bombs were found, the Peacekeepers were taking the threats seriously.

"We can't take any chances that this may be a hoax or not. We would rather play it safe and remove any people that could be hurt by any explosive device and search the area. So far we have found nothing," said Assistant Chief Peacekeeper John K. Diabo.
The first phone call was answered by James "Java" Jacobs at K-103. "He called about 10:10 a.m. He said there is a bomb in our building and at the Caisse Populaire. The call only lasted about 10 seconds," said Jacobs.

According to Jacobs, is was a male caller with a French accent.
On Thursday morning, a similar call was made to the Education Center at about 9:20 a.m. The caller, also with a French accent, stated that a man in a blue van placed a bomb in one of our schools.
The Peacekeepers have taken all the pertinent information and are carrying out a thorough investigation. A bomb threat is a violation of the criminal code and is an indictable offense.
Buildings searched

Once the Peacekeepers were informed of the threat to K-103 and the Caisse Populaire, they immediately ordered an evacuation of the buildings and carried out a thorough search. While the radio station and Cultural Center were searched in a rather short time, the Services Complex was another matter. The entire building was emptied of all personnel and all parked cars as well. Not just the bank was searched but all the offices in the building. It took a total of two hours to complete the search.

Schools closed After the threat to the schools, the Peacekeepers met with officials of the Education Center and decided to close all the schools in Kahnawake with the exception of the Kahnawake Survival School and Step By Step. Both schools left it up to the parents whether or not to remove their children from the school for the day.

No other phone-in bomb threats were reported.

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Accepting Native tax card leads to $6,000 fine
By: Dan Rosenburg

Some Chateauguay restaurants are no longer accepting Native tax cards from Mohawk customers after receiving intimidating letters from the provincial government forbidding them to do so after February 1, 1999.
Mike's restaurant, in fact, was recently fined more than $6,000 for accepting the Band card and other restaurateurs are afraid of being the next government target.
Alwyn Morris of the MCK's Intergovernmental Relations Team says that the tax card is "a matter we bring to the table" during current negotiations designed to settle several contentious issues between the government and the MCK.

However, the strongly-worded government letter received by several Chateauguay restaurant owners appears to be pre-empting the negotiations, thereby jeopardizing or even undermining the good relations these negotiations were supposedly meant to create.

"Accepting the Native tax card is at the discretion of each individual business," says Dorys Miousse, director general of the Chateauguay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Some accept it and some don't. The Chamber itself has never had a policy governing this. It's been a Chateauguay custom for the past 40 or 50 years that businesspeople have accepted the card. But, according to the law, Natives should normally pay the tax and then recuperate it from the government later on."

Sounds fine in theory, but colleague Greg Horn says that such recuperation "never happens. To the best of my knowledge, there is no process in place whereby we can get our tax money back from the government."
When news of Mike's fine spread like wildfire, some other Chateauguay restaurants quickly battened down the hatches.

Luc Thibodeau, swing manager at Pizza Hut, disclosed that his eatery had also received a threatening letter from the government. "According to the letter, we can't accept the Band card anymore," he divulged.
"We also heard about the big fine Mike's had to pay and that's why we don't want to mess with it."
Thibodeau said that Chateauguay's Pizza Hut management plans to look at the situation with district manager Robert Ditello to figure out a possible alternative. "Maybe we'll end up giving Natives 50% discount coupons instead," he said.

A random sampling of Chateauguay restaurants showed that half of them were defying government orders by accepting the card and the other half hesitated to do so for financial or other reasons.
"I know clothing stores are accepting the card, but we have never done so," says Rejean Brault, manager of Lafleur's restaurant. "Actually, our prices are so low that it makes no difference."

"Yes, we do accept it," said the manager of another restaurant. "The government never told us not to, and we've never had any problems. From what I understand, if meals are sent inside the reserve, there's no tax. But once the Natives eat outside Kahnawake, they're supposed to pay taxes. "

"We can't accept the card," says Tom Cappelli of McDonald's. "I looked to see how we could do it and it seems that if we provide a receipt, the Natives can claim it afterwards. My accountant confirms that we can accept the card as long as we deliver to the reserve."

"The spirit of the law and the way the tax assessors apply it are two different things," said one restaurateur. "Maybe this is an interpretation issue."

Another restaurant owner says he "accepts the card even though we're not allowed. Most of the time I pay the tax myself. Restaurants in LaSalle, Lachine and Ville St. Pierre all accept it, so what can I do?" he shrugged. "I can't afford to lose them (Native customers)."

Andre Sylvestre, who owns the Mike's franchise in Chateauguay, told the sad story about how he was forced to pay between $6,000 and $7,000 in fines for accepting the Band card.

"Last year a government inspector came here and asked why my sales figure didn't balance with the sales tax," he recounted. "I had to go back three years to retrieve the bills for them. They made a calculation and it fit. Then I received a notice that I had to pay the missing tax amount, in addition to the huge fine. They said I could appeal.

"My business is not an enormous success, so I waited. Then the government charged me interest on my payment notice. 'Pay now, appeal later,' they told me. So I managed to scrape up enough money to pay. I had no choice. Later when I tried to appeal, they told me: 'There's no appeal for that.'

"I believe it was unfair of them to ask me to pay tax money I never even collected in the first place," Sylvestre says. "I thought it was okay to accept the tax card. Nobody ever told me I wasn't allowed. It's not as if I pocketed the money. If I had thought it was illegal, I never would have shown them the bills in the first place.

"I tried to be honest and I got caught," he laments. "The government is practically forcing us to be crooks. Because I'm no longer permitted to accept the card, Natives don't come here anymore and my sales went down. I'm losing customers. They'll simply patronize the guy beside me who will accept the cards.

"I want to have good relations with the Natives, but the government is tying my hands. If everybody gets caught, that's one thing. But it's unfair that I'm the only one who has been fined."

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KARA signs air base lease
By: Cory Phillips

The next step in the development of the Griffiss Air Park project was taken this week with the signing of a lease between the Griffiss Local Development Corporation (GLDC) and Aviation Resources LLC.

The lease was unanimously approved by the GLDC and was formally signed at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24. Because of a scheduling change, Kahnawake representatives and ARLLC board members Joe Norton and Myrtle Bush signed the lease later that day.

The lease on the former Air Force base was signed for seven years and is up for renewal in five. The company will also have the option to purchase the Air Park within the first and second term of the lease.

Aviation Resources LLC is 49 percent owned by the Mohawks of Kahnawake through the Kahnawake Aviation Resources Authority (KARA). In addition to ARLLC, which will be responsible for the capital holdings of the Air Park, there will be a second subsidiary company called Global Aviation Services to handle the operations.

With the signing of the lease, Aviation Resources is expecting to have planes arriving at the site for maintenance by June of this year. At that time they are planning to have a celebration in honor of this aviation enterprise, which will, hopefully, be followed by many more in the economic development zone.

In addition to the 49 percent ownership, the Mohawks of Kahnawake are expecting 25 percent of the jobs positions to be filled by Mohawks. Many people in the Rome, New York area have already started to apply for jobs and KARA is working on recruitment and training strategies. They are hoping to recruit workers who are already qualified, as well as train others through a program tailor made for the Air Park project.

The program is currently still in the planning stages. There are also a number of institutions in the Montreal area that offer programs in aircraft maintenance. KARA is looking to work in conjunction with one of those institutions, namely John Abbot College, on the training course. John Abbot already has a regular CEGEP program in this field. The planned program for the Air Park project will probably be ten months long, spread out over the course of a year.

Someone who takes this program would then be qualified to work at the Air Park. Some additional training and testing, provided by Aviation Resources, would also be required to obtain full certification. Applicants would be able to enter an apprenticeship program to get their on-the-job training.

For more information call KARA at (540) 635-8551. Job descriptions should be available on Friday and applicants can be referred to the offices at Griffiss throughout KARA.

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UN discusses a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples
By: Dan Rosenburg

The Eastern Door editor/publisher Kenneth Deer was among the 70 Indigenous people from around the world, along with governments and other interested parties, who discussed the possible establishment of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples within the United Nations system.

The group met earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland, the UN's Human Rights base.
Indigenous People first went to the UN in large numbers in an effort to get their collective foot in the door back in 1977. "At that time, Indigenous Peoples officially asked the Geneva office for a presence inside the UN," Deer recalls.

In 1982 the UN set up the Working Group on Indigenous Populations which meets on an annual basis.

"However, that's at the lowest level of the UN," Deer points out. "We are asking to create a body to sit at a higher level and wield more influence. In 1993 at the World Human Rights Conference in Vienna, a resolution was passed to establish a Permanent Forum for Indigenous People within the Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004)."

This month's working group was one of two serious meetings held to discuss setting up the Forum and putting the gears in motion. A second conference will be held next year.
The working group this month looked at the possible mandate the office would have; membership; where in the UN system the Permanent Forum would fall; and technical matters, such as financing and the location of the Forum's office.

Deer says the Forum's mandate was the most critical point up for discussion. "Lots of recommendations were made," he reports. "We want the mandate to include health, the environment, education, culture, human rights, resource management, housing and gender issues."

What in the world are "gender issues"?

"That's just another way of saying women's issues," Deer explained.

In any event, no consensus was reached on the mandate and membership issues. "Dialogue between Indigenous People and governments still might be five or more years away," said Deer. "We had broad support from most governments but we were far apart on some issues."

Deer, who was there to coordinate the Indigenous caucus, says the Indigenous Peoples want the Permanent Forum to report directly to the UN General Assembly. "But the governments want us to report to the Human Rights Commission, which is two layers lower than our wishes. There is a broad disagreement in that area.

"We want the Forum to field complaints and discuss resolution of disputes between Indigenous People and governments. But there was no consensus on this point."

Deer says the country most hostile to the working group's recommendations was India, which has 20 million Indigenous People among its total population of 800 million. "The problem is that India refuses to recognize those 20 million Natives as being Indigenous."

Since working group chairman Richard Van Rijjsen of The Netherlands handled the meeting so effectively, India "kept using procedural issues to slow the meeting down," Deer reports. "Then the U. S. chimed in to further obstruct proceedings, thus frustrating both the chairman and several other countries and many Indigenous People."

According to Deer, the country of Denmark was the most supportive followed by Norway, The Netherlands and Canada. Other Natives attending besides Deer, included Roland Pangawish of the Assembly of First Nations; Armand McKenzie of the Innu of Northern Quebec; Ted Moses of the Quebec Grand Council of the Cree. There were also delegates from Saskatchewan and Alberta.

"Despite the interference, the chairman prepared a report we can build on in the future," Deer said. Although it wasn't decided how many people would serve on the Forum, Deer said the number would probably range from 10 to 20. But anyone can attend meetings with no restrictions, he added.

Van Rijjsen's report provided for "a dialogue forum for exchange of views on Indigenous questions among interested governments."

Advisory functions would include organizing seminars and expert group workshops supporting the work of UN bodies concerning Indigenous issues; providing expert advice to the Secretary General and other UN bodies; providing expertise and technical support to interested governments, and providing expertise and technical support to interested Indigenous People.

Finally, the chairman would like to see promotion of better co-ordination of activities relating to Indigenous People within the UN system.

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