4-30-06, 9:52 am
But racist voices are also being heard, denouncing the Six Nations people as 'terrorists' and calling on the government to 'send in the Army to deal with these criminals.'
Yet who are the real criminals? The rightful owners of the disputed land, who face jails and police violence? Or the ruling class and the Canadian state, who for centuries have stolen aboriginal territories, in Caledonia and across Canada?
The land in question is part of the original Haldimand Deed ceded to the Six Nations by the British Crown in 1784 for their support as allies in the U.S. War of Independence. The Haldimand Tract comprised 950,000 acres of rich lands, arbitrarily reduced just eleven years later to 275,000 acres. Since then, through theft, illegal seizures and phony sales, the reserve has been shrunk to less than 5% of its original size.
Prior to Confederation, the colonial administration confiscated part of the Haldimand Tract to build a plank road which crossed the Grand River at Caledonia. In 1987 this Plank Road Tract was officially placed as a land claim by the Six Nations. Despite this well-documented claim, developers remained intent on using the land for their own private profits.
Both the elected band council and the traditional leaders of the community, the Clan Mothers, support the land claim and condemn any use of force against the occupiers. There is well-justified fear of a repeat of the anti-aboriginal violence seen at Ipperwash, Oka and Gustafsen Lake during the 1990s, with the potential for tragic results.
One often hears the racist argument that 'conquered' aboriginal peoples should accept their fates and 'not rewrite history.' Ontario Provincial Court Judge David Marshall said this to the Clan Mothers: 'What's the matter with you people? Why don't you forget all about the past and listen to me?'
But in reality, most of Canada was taken not through military victories, but by signing nation-to-nation treaties which were then violated by the colonial state.
The Six Nations played a critical role in the formation of Canada. As PV contributor Sam Hammond pointed out in our previous issue, 'In 1812 the native people, who did most of the fighting under Tecumseh, took heavy casualties and probably saved the country despite British bungling and deceit. The Six Nations Confederacy (the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora, Cayuga and Mohawks) is a tradition of one of the oldest participatory democracies in the world. It is a tradition of a courageous and unconquered people, a parallel nation who have been allies and supporters in the formation of Canada. In the last 300 years they have been robbed of 95% of their original land - one hell of a rotten way to treat allies and friends. This ongoing struggle will continue to boil over everywhere in this country until justice is done with the Aboriginal Nations.'
The Six Nations have stated that the blockades will end when the people at the camp decide for themselves whether enough progress has been made towards ending the ongoing theft of their land. We urge readers to extend full solidarity with this demand, and to press the Ontario and federal governments to deal with the Six Nations without force, in a nation-to-nation process.
From People's Voice
