This is Kahnawake Mohawk Territory Opening Night. I just wanted to say on behalf of the clan mothers, a special thank you to our warriors, because if it wasn't for them, we would not be able to have this tonight, because they are fulfilling their duties by maintaining and protecting the boundaries of Vanuatu and our forest. Okay, the last digit. We'll go through the whole number again to make sure we don't make mistakes. Zero, seven, oh yeah, when we do the... Two, three, we only give away a car once in the first day. This little machine right here, don't stand too much in front of it. It was donated by the Warrior Society. So I don't know what the hell's in it. The number is 0-7-6-0-2-1. Mohawks have not applied for a lottery permit. authorities will seize the prize did you consider anything less controversial than a bingo hall oh no doesn't matter what we do is gonna be controversial no matter what we do is against the law unless we want to kowtow to the government Mohawks call them SQ, the Surtay to Quebec Provincial Police Force. They have raided Kahnawake and occupied Akwesasne. Then, they attacked a combined group of Mohawks over a land dispute at Ganezadage, near Oka. I could see the smoke blowing that way towards the road, and they started coming over, just like on TV. They started coming over, and I saw them, and I said, they're coming in, they're coming in. It was at that point that they opened fire. We really didn't expect it. From the beginning we expected a confrontation, but we didn't expect the intensity of the attack. We expected to be met with a riot squad or dogs or something and be dragged away, which we were perfectly willing to be. We didn't expect to get arrested in that. They insisted later on that they were only shooting over our heads, but the bullet holes in the trees are at chest level, and there's no way that they weren't shooting to kill us. It was referred to as a botched raid. No one would dare imagine what would have happened had the raid been declared a success. Mohawk people seeking talks Wildness people throwing rocks The Warriors calls For being remembered The native land Will be so very gay Goddamn Barone, goddamn Barasa, goddamn Naomi and the Surtee. Goddamn Barone, goddamn Barasa, goddamn LaSalle and Shadowgate. The Longhouse at Kahnawake, a sacred place. This is a special day. Guests representing several European sovereign nations are here. The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning Canada for its treatment of native people. This delegation is on a fact-finding mission. In welcoming our guests here today, he also gives greetings to you. He extends the greetings of our leaders. Natives from across Canada have come here to meet the delegation. Welcome officially to Kahnawake. Grand Chief Joe Norton welcomes Elijah Harper. Elijah Harper, no one spared him a thought until history was in his hands. Canada was redrafting its constitution. The Meech Lake Accord was designed to keep the country together, but Native people were excluded from the process. Okay, here comes a time when you have to stand up for your rights and certainly we brought that to the attention of the Indian public, to the international community and hopefully that governments will start listening. After Elijah Harper scuttled the Meach Lake Accord, Native people were taken more seriously as a political force. The European delegation is taken to the Kahnawake Super Bingo Hall, closed since last summer. There is a lot of interest in Europe in how Canada copes with native questions. The interest, of course, has been fueled in recent months by the publicity generated by the events in Oka. We did not come here with preconceived convictions. We come here with an open mind and we will listen during the next few days to organizations of indigenous peoples, but also to the federal government and the government of Quebec. My job here, our job, is not, and that may surprise you for a politician, our job here is not to talk, but to listen. The Europeans will now be told about the events that took place last summer. Well, what's going on actually in my way of looking at it is that the province of Quebec wants to settle its internal situation over here, the Indian situation, before it ventures on the new relationship with the rest of Canada. You know when they lost the Meach Lake Accord, that's when they really started. kicking us around because they say it does not have anything to do with Meach Lake Accord. It does. Because what went on in the Meach Lake Accord was only from 11 men. Nobody knew anything about it. It was behind closed doors. And there was never mentioned anything about the aboriginal person in that Meach Lake. So I tipped my hat to her. Elijah Harper would throw the monkey wrench in the machine. Mohawks considered themselves North American, a sovereign people, part of the Iroquois Confederacy, whose influence was felt as far as the Mississippi. Canada's Federal Indian Affairs Minister would call the Mohawks 18th century immigrants from the Northeastern United States. Mohawks would answer that Canada and the US didn't even exist until recently, and they didn't like being called immigrants by recently displaced persons from Europe. The issues are sovereignty. The issues are jurisdiction. The United Nations has issued some sort of point parameters for nationhood, and they relate to identifiable geographic area, traditional holdings, the capacity to defend, and the control of the situation by the people. And even within that context, our people have their traditional lands. Our geographic areas are well established historically. Our willingness to defend this land, if it was ever in question, is no longer in question. And as for the control, it is in the hands of our people where it should be. Not in the hands of representatives. Not in the hands of prime ministers, premiers, ministers. It's in the hands of our people and where it's going to stay. The traditional way for Mohawks to make decisions is by consensus. Colonial rulers outlawed the practice. Puppet elected band councils were then set up under police protection. From that day until this, only a tiny proportion of Iroquois see these councils as legitimate. Yet they are the only ones recognized by Canadian law. Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Barasa talk as if the loss of Iroquois land is also something that belongs to the distant past. In truth, the Mohawks have lost more land since 1950 than in the previous 100 years. They have lost it to compulsory purchase by white governments eager to build bridges, including the Mercier, hydro dams, and the St. Lawrence Seaway, cheaply at Indian expense. They have found archaeological sites not far from here, 18 miles from here. They said Indians were never in this area, and they found this site where our people have existed for 4,000 years. Right in the heart of Quebec City, Place Royale, where Champlain landed, they just found this here, an Iroquois village down below. Toit-de-Sac, they found Iroquois that were trading with the Montagnier Indians. Hunting and fishing camps of the Mohawk people as far north as Lake Mistasson. Now... Hachalaga, they try to say it's another group of people who vanished that were living there. It's ours, but there's no way we're going to get everything back. But no, we're not going to kick a million people off an island just because we own it. We'll just say we have title to it and, I don't know, get some kind of either compensation, but we still, we have a title saying so if we decide to buy a piece of land in Chattagee, well, since we already own it, well, we won't pay taxes on the land because it's already ours. What's more criminal than white men coming from Europe, stealing the whole continent, two continents, and slaughtering the people to the extent of 120 million dead Indians that they killed just to take over the land? The testimony goes on, but the actual event that began the summer of conflict took place at a symbolic barricade among some pine trees at Ganasadage near Oka. The Mohawk watched and waited today, continued to man the barricade they've been guarding for four months. We're waiting. We're waiting for some kind of response from the government of Canada. Native Affairs Minister John Chacha asked the mayor to postpone indefinitely any plans to build on land the Mohawk's claim is theirs. Ready now to abandon the project? No! That's it. But the mayor no longer intends to ask municipal workers to remove the barrier. He wants provincial police to do the job. I said, we're giving you the case. I have somebody to respect the law. The way they're going to do it, it's not my concern. It's not my job. Meanwhile, the Mohawks are appealing the injunction and show little sign of backing down. Let them come. We'll have a party, aren't we? Provincial police have still not said whether they intend to enforce the injunction, but judging from their cautious attitude so far, the chance of them coming in and trying to take this barrier down seem rather small. John Curtin, CBC News, Oka. It's a sunny day with some clouds today, July 11th, and it's a Wednesday. The temperature now is 19 degrees. It should be a high of 24 degrees, the record high for this day. It was in 1987, it was 32 degrees. And Janet, are you there? How's it going out there? Good morning. For people who are just waking up, the Mercyway Bridge has been blocked off by the Canawac Warriors. They cannot get anywhere near it. They have put up barricades. And then provincial police, Montreal City Police. The bridge and roads leading to it were blocked as soon as word came from Oka. An SQ SWAT team had just arrived at the symbolic barricade in the pines. Good morning, here is the 830 CBC Regional News. The long-awaited confrontation between natives and police in Oka has come. Jean, we're just going to have to break away for a minute. We have to go to Ivan Slobod, who's out at the blockade in Oka. We'll come back in just a minute. Ivan's on the line. Hello, Ivan. Good morning, Sally. How are you doing? I could be a little better. I didn't know when I joined CBC, but I don't know if you can hear any of that. Yes, it sounds like shots. They launched, oh, I don't know, about half a dozen or a dozen canisters of tear gas or smoke covering, I don't know, a 30 or 40 square meter area, and basically it's blocking off my view now of the bulldozer that's going to move the barricade. Ivan, from as much as you can see, are the warriors pulling back now? Oh, everybody was. Are those shots, Ivan? Hello? I was speaking with Ivan Slobod, who's out at the Oka blockade. Wednesday, July 11th. Tonight, on The National. A deadly shootout at Oka. Compromises for the sake of unity at the G7 Summit. And on the Journal, the Oka standoff. Why a dispute over a golf course flared into a fatal gunfight. The National with Peter Mansbridge. Good evening. It was a bloody day at the Mohawk Indian community in Oka, Quebec, near Montreal. Provincial police in riot gear stormed the barricades the Mohawks had set up. There were clouds of tear gas, a hail of bullets, and in the midst of the battle, a policeman was killed. All this because of a dispute over a piece of forest the Indians claim is theirs. A forest town council wants to bulldoze to expand the local golf course. I'm trying to get behind the tree actually and the tear gas is starting to come, but as you can hear there's semi-automatic weapon fire and the tears are coming from the police lines. Fearing a second raid, warriors now set up a barricade on the highway. The Oka Siege has begun. The town, once famous for its robust cheese, would now be better known for its nine-hole golf course. Everyone has maintained control. Everyone is angry and fed up with this bullshit that's going on. On River Fromoka, suddenly, there is new interest in Native people. But we must never forget, ladies and gentlemen, that this land was once home of proud Indian people. The reserve is called Kognawaga. The Indians call it Kanawaki. They are Mohawk Indians belonging to the Iroquoian family. Some journalists have heard of Louis Hall of Kahnawake. Years back, he wrote, rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy. The media hope he will shed light on the mysterious warriors portrayed in his manifesto. The warriors have been blamed for the conflict by the authorities. There would have been more trouble now, by now, if they had done anything really... Well, the man was killed in Oka, for example, last week. And there's a question about who shot him. And also he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Somebody had to be close to him to shoot him. So were the two vest meets. That's where he was shot. Maybe somebody's standing right beside him. And they're not, of course the police are not letting anybody know if they, maybe there's the man is, they want him dead and that's a good place to do it, you know, and blame blame it on the Indians, you know, again, you know, they're blaming everything on the Indians. The great law of peace, the Iroquois Constitution, calls on all men to become warriors when the nation is threatened. This law has governed Mohawks for more than a thousand years. I'm too old to be a warrior for one thing. And I can't run from point A to point B fast enough. The funeral of Corporal Marcel LeMay. They represent police associations from across Canada, federal and provincial cabinet ministers, and other dignitaries. I am sure, as you would have wished, knowing your sense of duty, I am sure that you will Le groupe continuera son travail avec le même professionnalisme, sans esprit de vengeance. Nous ne trouverons pas de réponse à nos questions dans la vengeance, les représailles ou la révolte. At Oka, a Mohawk warrior flag is hung at half-mast. The SQ denied firing any shots during the raid on the pines. Two days later, officials learn the fatal bullet was a military.223. A news blackout is imposed. One journalist, curious enough to examine the trees at the Oka Pines, reported in a U.S. military magazine that nearly all the shots came from the police side. Investigators would later admit the SQ fired, but only in retreat. They would also say the SQ did not use military shells, but soft lead, hollow-tipped bullets, the kind some people call dum-dums. In the midst of the crisis, police associations across Canada would publish full-page ads in newspapers decrying the murder of Corporal LeMay and demanding that Mohawks who ambushed him be brought to justice. The people of Chateau Gay had something to look at today, but it was a sight that didn't please their eyes. Huge mounds of earth pushed onto Highway 138, a reinforcement to the Mohawk barricade blocking access to the Mercier Bridge. If the Indian want to support the Yucca people, they just have to drive over there and bring their support over there. It doesn't involve the city being, you know, like prisoners. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense at all. With frustration mounting here, more than 1,100 people have signed a petition demanding the Army intervene. Last night, for the second time in a row, an effigy of an Indian was hanged and burned near the barricade. The crowd cheered. But not everyone here says the Mohawks are responsible for this crisis. The person who started this, the mayor of Oka, he's the one that should come here and regulate the whole problem. The Kahnawake barricades cut off access to the Mercier Bridge. Kahnawake residents who work in Montreal must also endure detours and delays. They fear reprisals if they go by road. They feel safer crossing the St. Lawrence River by boat. Has there been any interference at all from the SQ? No, the SQ have been really nice, I mean really quiet. They're out there, they're just on looking, just watching us from the water itself and just making sure that everybody's got the life preserver jackets on. Everything's been really quiet and they've been really cool. For the SQ, holidays are on hold. Over the course of the summer, they will put in 2 million hours of overtime. As the ring around Kahnawake closes, the RCMP and the SQ step up river patrol. The roads are blocked and the airspace around Kahnawake is closed. is off limits. Communication, even by letter, is suspect. The peacekeepers, Kahnawake's police force, have a new assignment. They drive to the barricade and then the SQ check the mail and this morning they allowed it to come to our barricade and we made the exchange on our side. The two previous times the exchange was made on the SQ side of the barricade. Kahnawake is now under a form of medieval siege. The store shelves are empty. The town sets up a food bank. You appeal to the people to bring in any food that they had, and others came in to get it. We do share. Mohawks now make an appeal to the Red Cross and the International Federation of Human Rights. O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds, and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I come before you, one of your many children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades as a fading sunset, My spirit may come to you without shame. They don't believe there's going to be no more Indians? Is that what you're saying? You'll get rid of us? I'm listening. I'm listening. The peacekeepers have verified that the outside barricades on Route 207 have been closed by the SQ for our own safety. We understand there is a group of demonstrators out there threatening people who leave or try to enter. Also, the Golden Age Club will be open for anyone who wishes to play radio bingo and whose telephone is out of service. Many of them are in town. So remember that Route 207 is closed for the time being for our own safety. And five minutes after 12, and time to get back to some more music. It's morning rush hour and the Champlain Bridge is half empty. There's chaos on Highway 15 as westbound traffic heads for the eastbound lane. Cars are trawling on the 132. People in masks are driving them. My bridge is closed for about four weeks. That's the answer we give back to Mr. Bourassa so we will see it. The people of Chateau-Guey are tired of that. We do have some messages to pass your way. The wedding of Burgess Dybo and Cheryl is cancelled until further notice. Also the Indian Way School on Mohawk Trail will be having a registration on Monday, September 10th. Every time there's anything going on, it's the Indians that done it. Now all this time in Chattagay, all that rumpus was going on was all started by the French people and the SQ. because some people recognize them when they leave at night with their uniforms. They come back with no uniforms, but they recognize them. They come back at night, and they're doing all that trouble and everything else. So we keep this in mind that this government is very, very rotten, Quebec at least government. And you know, when you lie, just like the cartoons we see, Pinocchio. Your nose is getting longer and longer. Now you'll take a look at Barasa. His nose is about a foot long now. The Quebec premier issues a 48-hour ultimatum and a request for the army. In other news, Iraq this morning declared that it has annexed Kuwait. TV broadcast. Reports of atrocities in Kuwait have Kahnawake residents even more on edge. I have two older sons. They're age six and eight, and they're forbidden now to watch the news. Twice they watched it and it was really traumatic for them because they couldn't understand. And it was even harder for me to try and explain to them that all people aren't like that. My eight-year-old was just terrified when he saw an effigy of a Mohawk warrior being burnt at the stake because to him that represented his father and his grandfather and a lot of his uncles. And he was really terrified. And then I had to try and explain to him why are the people saying, go ahead and let the army go in and kill all of them. So since then, we've forbidden both of our sons to no longer watch the news because... It's taken a toll on them and it's even harder for me to try and explain it to them. Yes, and I'll probably have to explain it to him one day. Mr. Secretary, I would like to present the next statement of the next few minutes. Concerning the Iraq War crisis and the absurdity of it, I would like to present the next statement of the next few minutes. The attempt to resolve the public security and administrative justice issues has all but been successful, but has been, as you know, unsuccessful. The Prime Minister names a judge to preside over the signing of an agreement between government and Mohawks. Preconditions include international observers. Negotiations would then start. Until then, the Army stays far away. I don't know what the Canadian government will ultimately decide. All of us here in North America have centuries now of experience with the government of Canada and with the government of the United States, and they've massacred many of our people. Our numbers have gotten a lot smaller. We can only hope that the tremendous international pressure that's been put on them will prevail, that reason will prevail, that they will, like us, seek a peaceful resolution to this, and that they will understand finally that this is our land, that we have a right to defend our land. That's what I hope happens. The signing took place not far from where Sûreté du Québec corporal Marcel Lemay was shot dead during a failed police raid on the Mohawk barricades. Today is a breakthrough. Today we've agreed on preconditions. That means that now we can sit down and discuss the dismantling of the barricades. The same day, this one event changes everything. Demonstrators from Chattagay tried to seize a bridge of their own, a drawbridge which spans the St. Lawrence Seaway upriver from Kahnawake. Their plan was to hold this bridge at St. Louis de Gonzague until Mohawks are dislodged from the Mercier Bridge. Hello, my name is I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I'm a student at the That night in Chattagay, the bloodiest riots of the summer. A reaction to the Drawbridge confrontation. The next night, the crowds take on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A population out of control. The Mohawk warriors on the other side of the barricades simply watch. The Quebec Premier once again calls the army. Could they please make their presence felt by moving into the area? The problem now is not Mohawks. It is the mob. The army has moved to St. Remy, Quebec, within striking distance of both Kahnawake and Chattagay. The troops have come from as far as Gagetown, New Brunswick, home of the Royal Canadian Regiment, Canada's oldest. Their first action was against Louis Riel and the Métis, who were of French and Indian descent. The issue then was also sovereignty. These troops are from Valcartier, Quebec, the Royal 22nd or Vendues, the elite French-Canadian men. Just as negotiations to end the standoff begin, the Quebec Premier asks the army to relieve police at the Chateau-Guey barricades. At the Montreal side of the Mercier Bridge. The mobs have come over from Chattakhe, where the army has moved in. Here, the police are still in charge, at least officially. Demonstrators have been allowed on the bridge. From here, they can monitor anything coming out of Kahnawake. Let's try it. Let's try it. Let's try it. I've been covering the crisis since the beginning. I was in Château-Guey, I'm staying in Château-Guey, I'm staying in the Alentour here. And then I covered it in Château-Guey. I was listening to Pierre Pacheco one morning, they told us, in Ville-la-Salle, they pass the Indians, there's a barricade, they ask people, they're not there. We said, it's perfect. We won't have the journey to go to the other side. We came here to support Mr. Mouari. It would be good to go to the ambulances, because they are not in the current, and they are neutral, it seems, but to help the carriers to transport milk and milk, there is no question, because what will happen, there will be an ambulance that will pass here. We will not pass by that. It's the others now who have not been able to pass in the middle of an ambulance, it's not us. Days earlier, the Mohawk negotiating team was taken by surprise. The government side pulled out. The Prime Minister labels their demands bizarre. Now, the Federal Minister of Indian Affairs says the call for talks on sovereignty is unacceptable. It would lead to the balkanization of Canada. Premier Bourassa issues a second 48-hour ultimatum. Surrender, or the army, the last resort, will be put to the test. The next day, the Canadian Prime Minister calls the Mohawk warriors a band of terrorists. Fear has turned to panic. Hundreds of Kahnawake residents evacuate. The safest route is over the water to a new landing site the mob has not discovered. Each person arriving has been listed for the police. Well, why are they being checked? For what? Security. Tell me, who called you? Is it a federal statement? Is it a provincial statement that it made this part off-limits? Well, they don't work really nice. Why, I don't have a right to express my opinion now? If I want, I take a box and I stand there and I talk. So the modern day officers, they're a very serious line of service. I would have been a bit more of a fan of the dress house. But we are here to make a pretty change to the digital condition problem that we have in Georgia. I'm not going to go out loud. I'm going to go out loud. The Army action, codename Operation Dismantlement, is on. The Quebec Premier has ordered the International Observer team to withdraw. A full brigade is mobilized. CF-5 aircraft, army helicopters, and a gunboat are standing by to provide cover. One journalist would describe the scene best. We are about to become a nation which, forced to choose between a potential massacre and a long drive to work, chose the massacre. Later that day. Women with young children, the elderly and infirm are being evacuated across the Mercier Bridge. And all of a sudden you just see like rocks flying and at first they weren't stopping them. They were not stopping these people and I guess all of a sudden it got out of hand and then finally they started to, you know, like that's enough. They didn't care if it was old people, young people, they didn't care what it was. They were just destined to get these Indians, you know. More or less, I don't know what the hell they want to do, but... You expect that before you left? No. They told us, okay, that everything was under control. That there was going to be a lot of policemen. Everything was going to be taken care of. We were going to go through peacefully, and that was it. And all of a sudden, we go through. And what pisses me off is if they knew this was going to happen. As soon as they seen all these people coming, they should have told us, turn around and go back. Instead, it was like, no, just go, go, go, go, and that was it. You know, these people had no pity for anybody, that's for sure. An elderly man suffers a heart attack. The police don't make a single arrest. A week later, his friends bury him. Armstrong Joseph, at Kahnawake on September 2nd, age 71 years, beloved husband of Nancy Montour, dear father of Dina, Roger Dybo, Thomas, Colleen Jacobs, also survived by four grandchildren, Christine, Kristen, Blair, Hannah. The stoning of Mohawks shocked Canada and the world. The Canadian Prime Minister, speaking from his Meech Lake retreat, would call the event deplorable and unacceptable. He would say, Canada, with all of its good fortune, is regrettably not free from traces of racism. Racism, at any time, under any circumstance, is an evil. May the prediction of our Lord descend upon you, Joe, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. At the going down of the sun in the morning, we will remember them. Is there any reason for people to stand together as a country? Do they need to fight a common enemy to be able to live together? Canada never had a revolution. The country was born out of compromise. There have been a few wars to be remembered, but even those tested Canadian unity. It was said the 20th century belongs to Canada. Will a Canada even exist in the 21st? This Legion Branch has the largest active membership in Canada. Soon, their numbers will increase when 30 volunteers return home after serving in the Persian Gulf. The politicians look at us like horse manure under your foot. And I don't think we deserve that either, because all this vast country here belonged to us at one time. And to protect our little place where we dwell nowadays, like the size of a postage stamp, and they're still trying to reach out and get that out from under us. Okay, it's going. I don't know how it's going to work, but I'll tell you in five minutes. What I want is for the minister to come here and organize you with the cameras. Informal talks have been going on non-stop. Quebec Native Affairs Minister John Chiatcha. We have agreed on many elements, and we will now continue our discussions later this evening. Chiatcha had been hoping for a peaceful solution to the standoff, even though his government had officially pulled out. The group almost reaches an agreement. Then, the federal delegate at these talks shocks everyone when he announces he has no mandate. I can't make any comments on the military. They're not answering to the minister. The talks have become meaningless. Chiatcha has been undermined. I think that matters of that nature will better be left to the discussion between the parties and we will see what the contents of the agreement is, if we and when we get a final decision. Thank you. I know that we'll see. Thank you very much. Yeah, the Mohawks of Kanesatake. I just…Jerry Peltier. Jerry what? Peltier. Peltier. I'll let Chief Joe Norton speak for the people on the Kahnawake situation. But so far, discussions are… go on in a positive manner. I believe that right at this very moment right now, there is a press conference being held, I believe in Kahnawake, with regard to the opening of, I believe it's Highway 132. If I'm not mistaken, 132 and Mercier Bridge, at least the preliminary work to begin that is going to take place, and they're holding a press conference there regarding that. With that announcement, with that type of arrangement between the military... The army and warriors at Ganawage are arranging for a peaceful reopening of the Mercier Bridge. ...as a way with any armed invasion or any kind of situation that may arise, conflict or anything of that nature. That's all I have to say. Just as a peaceful resolution to the conflict seems at hand, the Quebec premier issues a terse statement. Talking is off for good. The 2nd Battalion of the Vanduus hit the road this morning, troops whose predecessors fought in some of the great battles of this century, now heading for a showdown at a golf course. When the army comes into play, it's not the Tinker Torch game. You've got to be aware of that, eh? It's got to be serious. It means that society has decided to resort to that means of action because others have been more or less exhausted. Society, it seems, is not interested in negotiated settlements, but wants a show of force. Natives are taken by surprise. Some of them feel this is revenge because the Meech Lake Accord was blocked by an Indian. Thank you. But the established order is also faced with widespread discontent. The Quebec sovereignty movement is on the rise again. The ruling federal conservatives have fallen to an all-time low in popularity. It is time to show the electorate their governments have the situation in hand. The public is waiting for something to happen, but nothing has changed. The bridge they have all been waiting for to open is still closed. It may be a week or more before it opens. Nobody knows. The event that everyone has been waiting for is a letdown. Despite all the armed build-up, the posturing, the threats, there is no pitched battle to entertain the crowds. Only general policing. Dismantling of barricades and filling of tank traps is about as exciting as it gets. The work will take days. There were other details to settle. Someone had to explain what happened to the hundreds of warriors who were supposed to have been in Kahnawake. Only a few are seen during the cleanup. How could they vanish? Nobody is quite sure where the rumors started. 15 aircraft takeoffs and landings, spiriting off warriors in arms. No eyewitnesses. ever surfaced. Nor was there any trace of the warrior submarine that the SQ was reported to have been looking for. The women of Kahnawake become the only voice for the community. There are few men around. Any one of them might be on a wanted list. This is the largest and most significant demonstration of the summer, and the press can't get here to witness it. The next day, the press is brought in by Bo. What's your function? What's your responsibility at the Mork Nation office? I'm one of the one of the one of the workers. Name again. It's Eva Johnson. Are you concerned with what happened today at the St. Catherine Barricade? You know what happened? Yeah, my sister and her two children were attacked last night at the St. Catherine Barricade with SQ standing by and letting my five-year-old nephew get scared half to death. That will never happen again. The SQ is no better than the Nazis that Hitler had in his country. And that's what they're doing. This is a police state and they've got no consideration for nobody, not even their own people. The SQ has to be, if I had my way, they'd be exterminated. The whites are saying the same thing against the SQ. They're saying they're protecting you too much. Every time we try to stand up for ourselves, we're arrested. If 20 SQ, if 20 citizens from the outside attack one of us, they're going to arrest us. So last night, I asked my little nephew and niece how they felt when 20 of the residents outside of St. Catharines were not stopped by the SQ when they were trying to bust the windows, when they were trying to turn over the car, and the SQ stood there and did not make a move to help those people. What about the Army? Finally, the Army seen what was going on, and they just told my sister to come through, and I think she ran over somebody's foot trying to get away in safety. And this is after all the conditions were met of our people over here. We're opening the roads. We're going to be opening the bridge so now that everything looks good, they're letting the people just go crazy and then they still want bloodshed in Gatse Taga. But the army gave us some food yesterday night. The army helped us to bring in some food. Yeah, they didn't get us food. They helped us to bring in some food safely. Because a man was stopped with two loaves of bread and some milk by the SQ saying you're not allowed to bring no food into Kahnawake. Thank you. You're welcome. We can go back now by the bus. I will see. I will arrange it if that's what you wish. We wish. I think it's about time that Maroni and Barasa, you white people should get together and I think they should be fired. They cannot run the country. They can't run in peace. What's going to happen to you white people when you are? They are going to be next. This is like Hitler. That's just the way they're running it. And it's going to happen to you white people. Don't forget that. You're already fighting on the outside. You have a dark skin over there. They'll cut you on the street and they're going to beat you up and kill you just like everybody else. And you look like Indians yourself. All summer, there were rumors about sabotage of the bridge. Old car flares covered in cobwebs are the only things recovered. Times have changed. The Mercier Bridge, built by Mohawks, was named after Honoré Mercier, an almost forgotten premier of Quebec and honorary chief of Kahnawake. His great-granddaughter would write a letter to a newspaper to denounce the use of the Army against Mohawks. Is the section of the bridge complete? I don't think so, because I'm waiting for some of my men who are doing another part of the bridge. We completed a portion of it, but Oscar is working just on the federal portion of the bridge. Somebody else is working on the provincial. Before the blockade, The Mercier Bridge was under repair and on the Montreal side, the access roads were under construction. Unfortunately, little work was done during the standoff. Commuters who have waited all summer for the Mohawk blockades to be lifted will now have their patience tested to the limit. New barricades will be set up by the roads department. Traffic will be down to single lanes. In Kahnawake, the women demonstrate their support for the last holdouts at the Oka Pines. They have blocked the highway leading to the Mercier Bridge. We feel this is now our time to point out to the country, the world, that the women in Nganawage are serious about making a point of our support of what is happening here to support our men, to support our women and children in Nganazadage. With the mic, I can speak for myself personally. If there's bloodshed in Nganazadage, my spirit will die. It's not come across enough. That we brought up those men to do what they're doing. The army has asked to cross this point, but the women refuse and decide to spend the night. The army had only negotiated with the men. Now they are made to realize that the women are a real political force in the community. The next day the army holds new positions on the edge of town. There is no way in or out except past these new checkpoints. While they came in, they positioned their tanks and their guns were aiming at homes. There's a house over there that has a woman and a child in it. The Army's only mandate was to remove the barricades and reopen the bridge. Now, they are given a new mission. That evening, the Army provides cover as the SQ raids the Longhouse, the spiritual center of traditional Mohawks. This is the first time in over a decade that the SQ sets foot in Kahnawake. Can you just quickly tell us what's going on in there? Well, we've just been invaded by about 48. We've been invaded by the army. About 40 PCs, all armed, and SQ is in there also, in the longhouse. They hit women and children? Are the SQ in the Long Island? In the Long Island. Have they said what they're doing there? I have no idea. They're in there with Grand Chief Joe Norton and Billy Tererri right now. Is it true that the women hit the soldiers? Ma'am, I don't want to comment one way or the other if the women hit us or we hit the women. All I can say is once the press is allowed in, I'm sure there will be spokespersons there that will help you in any situation. The search was effected under a legal search warrant by the Sûreté de Québec. The military was there to provide, once again, the cordon and protection for the surete so that they could carry out their search without interference. The search was conducted last evening and a number of arms and military equipment were found, including the.50-calibre Barrett machine gun, a range of 1,500 metres, which has the capability of penetrating any and all of the vehicles that I have under my command. When we approached to conduct our cordon, there were numerous women on the spot who were blocking the route to the longhouse. I am told of one lady who... who did require medical assistance afterwards, was taken away in an ambulance. That particular lady, prior to being injured, had used her knee in a very private part of the soldier in front of her and had attempted to take his weapon away from her. The individual or the soldier at that point, yes, was required to use force to keep control of his weapon. These gentlemen don't have any weapons. They have been disarmed and charged for carrying their service revolvers. The chief of the peacekeepers and his deputy appear in court. Their lawyer announces the judge isn't prepared to hear the case. As far as we're concerned, within the community of Kahnawake, the peacekeepers will carry arms and will do their jobs as peace officers as they are. Any other questions? Thank you. instituted the order to pick our men up. What I understand, the decision to lay charge, to apprehend the two peacekeepers and to have them sign promises to appear was made by the provincial police. It is my understanding, notwithstanding that the ball is being battled back and forth between the army and the police, that it was the police who gave directions to the army. The decision that was made, in my opinion, was a very poor decision, a bad exercise of judgment. At this time in the history of the Mohawk people and given the context of what's happened over the summer and this fall. It was a very bad decision, a bad exercise of discretion by the provincial police to pursue this matter. Any other questions? Thank you. Charges are never pursued, but the provincial government would continue its attempt to take over policing of Native communities. Meanwhile, the Super Bingo Hall, which has been closed all summer, has been dealt another blow. I would say it's a military operation, but then every time the SQ go to the courts, they get an injunction to break the doors down on people's homes and businesses. And when it comes to that, they state that it's a police operation in that aspect. The only thing they do is protect the security when they come. They don't have a warrant. Every time they intimidate us, we're supposed to bow down, right? Are they intimidating anybody? Do they have a search warrant? I don't know. Where's the search warrant? You don't know. I don't I'm asking you. You come here. You know. I don't know. They're under civil law. Under civil law, they're supposed to have a search warrant. Yeah, well, you don't know. Well, give us some answers, then. You're yelling at us again. We'll give you some answers. I'm just asking you nice, Kurt. That's all. Everyone is on edge. Nobody knows when the next raid will come or where the police and army will hit next. He doesn't understand. Maybe you could explain it to him. What do they suspect? The search warrant, there was a search warrant. The search warrant included a suspension of arms, various different types of arms and munitions. Who's conducting it, the Army? The Army conducted the cordon. Cordon is securing the outside portion. The Sûreté Québec are doing the inside search. Okay, so as long as we stay outside the perimeter, okay. That's right. You can film from anywhere outside of the cordon, but while the search is going on, no one's allowed inside the cordon. Okay, thanks very much. Bye. The tyranny of the majority continues every day. No arms are found inside. Cartons of cigarettes and soft drinks are seized from this old roadside flea market. So how do they get something like this for a pedagogic tariff? According to their laws, they say the conventional criminal code applies over all lands in Quebec. Well, I'm going to tell them right now to get the hell out of here right now. It's private property. As long as it's my grandmother. Are you the owner of the property? Yeah, I owned on a walk. I'm the owner, yeah. Do you speak French? Yeah. Do you speak French? Yes. Can you tell me what's happening right now? Can you see? They say this is a weapon seizure. There was nothing that they seized. What they walked away with, cigarettes. If you want weapons, there, look, there's a weapon right there. That's a weapon. The only weapon we have, the only weapon I have, is this in my brain, in my mouth. This is just where they killed David Cross. They came in, they killed the middle brother. They shot him five times. This is where they took him. They shot David Cross dead over a traffic violation ten years ago. The community has not forgotten. The issue remains, who has jurisdiction over native lands, Quebec or Ottawa, or the native people themselves? Can governments tolerate a nation within a nation? This is not the first time that native people have been crushed in their attempt at sovereignty. Louis Riel was hanged for trying. This had been the summer when sovereignty had become the major concern of Canada. Not just native sovereignty, but Quebec sovereignty and Canada's survival. Well, as far as we're concerned, the occupation of Kahnawake is totally illegal. the government or the military is just serving as a puppet for the long-term goals of the province, especially Barasa. I think that what he's doing is preparing the groundwork for the eventual separation of Quebec, and he wants a crush date. He doesn't want an Indian problem to be involved with the separation of Quebec. I think that he has gone well beyond the, I guess, the area of public security, and the army is merely a... a puppet of the SQ. So, in other words, the SQ is in charge of the army. That's your impression? Oh, yeah. It's a... I mean, the illegality there is that a national army is put in the hands of a provincial jurisdiction, which is absolutely wrong. There's no parliamentary consent. There's no national consent. And for any army to be subject to the whims of the likes of Barasa is very, very dangerous. The military over here are just escorting the SQ to go and do whatever they wish in the Indian community. And I just feel that it's very, very dangerous. And Indian people should look carefully at what's happening to Kahnawake right now could possibly happen to everybody across this country. Yeah. Okay, now let me tell you what's going on. I'm getting it wrong or straight. I'm a contractor. I got three buildings in town, two on the highway here. So I'm in and out here all the time. So you can look now, but don't you check me every goddamn time. Yeah, I'm a medical technician with the fire department. I'm a contractor. So I'm just telling you now, because during the day... I've been out here seven, eight times today. I've got 25 men working total. Three buildings there, two here, so I'm all over the place. If you have some complaint to do, make this to the police. Which police? Just to me. Which police? Just you or... Just you. Check what? What are you checking about? My job is to check if somebody tried to rob... What? You're going to get me on my reserve? No other choice. What do you mean, no other choice? You're lucky. Huh? Well, them balloons have to pass. We have to walk back to the longhouse. They tried to destroy it, destroy our spirit from invading it, and we're going to walk back and take back our longhouse. How'd you get here? It's been two weeks since the Mercier Bridge has reopened and the village is still cordoned off by the Army. The band council has said the Army presence is illegal and challenges it in court. The town residents call this Eviction Day and serve the Army notice. the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, etc. This eviction is immediate and irrevocable, and the contravention of such will be dealt with according to the great law of peace. Thank you. Thank you. I happen to be a veteran on the Second World War. And I went through quite a bit of it. And we never stoned children, men, women, or old men. This must be a different kind of a people altogether. And when we got to a place where people were hungry, we gave them food, medicine, and we took care of them. We never beat them. We never stoned anybody. You know, in the good books, you people believe in the good books. Joe Deere. He tells the media he still brings chocolate to his friend, Walter Legia, confined to a veterans'hospital for the last 30 years. Legia was crippled trying to disarm a bomb placed in a mailbox by FLQ terrorists. He's also a veteran of the Second World War. Died from that frightened thing he had. He had a bad heart and going through there. with a rock going through the windshield. The man died a few days after that. Now, what kind of a people are you anyway? And then yet you call us terrorists. Do we have to kill some of these soldiers to get some honors? Well, listen, I don't want to get into a pissing contest. What? With the situation here, okay? The situation, keep things calm. That's all we're after. Are you able to deliver the petition to someone here? Yeah, I received it, ma'am. I haven't looked at it yet. I'll look at it later, ma'am. Will you be passing it on to somebody else? Well, I'll read it first and I'll see what it says. We want to understand what you talk about. You understand everything we say. When you talk that language, that's all bullshit. You're on the internet. We need the power. This is not right. This is going to work. I'm a veteran myself. I'm a veteran myself. I fought for this goddamn country and I'm ashamed of you fucking guys. I need a chance. You bunch of French pigs. Shame, shame, shame on you. Look around, you'll see lots of non-native. He is told, be polite and don't do anything to get them upset. It used to be thought of as a non-violent sport until the mayor of Oka wanted another nine holes. At Kahnawake, Mohawks themselves have a 9, an 18, and a 36-hole golf course for a total of 63 Mohawk holes. That doesn't include this one. A stone's throw from the Longhouse, the Kanawake Golf Club. It's been here since 1914. Very exclusive. For two months, while the barricades were up, membership were mildly inconvenienced. Now, things seem to be returning to normal. You didn't get to play too much this summer? Well, we were invited to the other clubs. Yeah. Yeah. But we still got a lot of play, eh? Do you think that that standoff will affect the membership drive or any of that? I don't think so. No? We're all friends with the locals. They all work at the club and everything. No. No. All the staff was still employed while the trouble was on. Yeah. No problems. Good. They're getting closer, they're inching their way in every day, they get a little bit closer every day. And they don't want us to do nothing, we're gonna create an incident. What the hell is this bullshit? On the way up, they'll be standing next to our bed with their fucking gun pointing at our head. I'm a dump? Asshole? Bye. Or queer. You look like you got the novel up. Ask to open the trunk or you leave your car there. Yes, he is the policeman. You want to open it? Back up and let her stay there. That's it. The United States border. I don't get this hassle. I've never been hassled. They ask me who I am. I said a North American Indian. Fine sir, I got a job for you. You have a job. I have a country. I have a reservation. This is a reservation. Get out of here Francis. Francis, get out of here. What's your rank? What's your rank? What we got is our rank. I got a weapon. You want to take it from me? You can take my name. But you're here so I'm asking you. You're one of his messengers? I'm not in contact. Okay. I'm not in contact. I'm not in contact. I'm not in contact. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I pass here every day. I pass twice a day. Twice a day I open. Twice a day I give you my license. Twice a day I give you my registration. That seems ridiculous to me. I mean, this is straight harassment. That's all it is. There's no reason for it every time. You see my face here every day, and every day you do the same thing to me. Twice a day I pass, I work over here at Cannata Industries. I don't do nothing, I have no guns, I have no weapons, I have nothing in my car. I'm a businessman. There's my car that I work over there, and I don't, I can't understand why. All the time it's the same thing, over and over and over again. For 20 goddamn years, nobody bothered me. I don't carry nothing in my car. September 18th, International Peace Day. Tecaquita Island, the western edge of the village. The army is landing in force. It looks as if they are about to cross the bridge and invade the community. At the other end of the island, behind the troops, the SQ have come in by boat to conduct a search. But no one explains why all these troops are needed. There are no answers. There is a lot of anger. Mohawks are resistant. They fear a total occupation and they are fed up with the Army presence. They are not allowed to go to the military. I'm going to start with the first one, which is the middle of the line. So, I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going to start with the middle of the line. And I'm going The tear gas has reached Kateri Hospital, the nearest building to the island. It houses the elderly. June DeLille, the hospital director. Her patients have been affected by the gas. God, remember, I'm Mohawk and I'm Bear Clan. And you remember the Bear Clan is Edison's clan. It is strong. Remember my family. I grew up here and I wore a mountain clothing and your blanket. I'm 63 years old. I wore a made-over-Montes coat when I had to go to school. Okay, and I used your old army blankets. We got the bag of beans once a year to sort out so we could. I'm not kidding you. I never tell lies and this is the God's truth. Please remember that in your dreams. I go home and tell you why, but you got your ass kicked! Get your fucking girls'coats out of here! I got fucking beat up at the Longhouse too, along with all the other women! Nobody did a goddamn thing! Where were you? We're not gonna solve it by attacking the media. I'm getting some of the satisfaction. Stand tall! I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm a human being. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm going to show you how to do it. One officer would later tell reporters, The strong resistance surprised us. It was amazing the way they reacted since we weren't at the longhouse or a sacred place. It's been a night here. The pilots aren't good enough. What the Army didn't understand is that Mohawks believe that the land itself is sacred. Seven hours have passed. The army isn't here because they want to be. They can't get out. They want to cross the bridge and exit through the village. But the community holds the bridge. The army will have to go back the way they came. The troops wait. The journalists file their stories. That's right. Later on, as the crowd pushed the military further and further back on the island, it got quite tense. One native person, one Mohawk man, attacked a soldier. I was an eyewitness to that. Things got quite ugly, and warning shots were fired, at least 12 shots into the air in order to calm things, which of course had quite the opposite effect. and the military then pulled back and right at the moment now we have a process whereby the military is removing itself step by step towards where the helicopters are awaiting them this was the biggest military operation since the Labor Day weekend push on the Oka barricades and the opening up of the Mercier Bridge and if anything it proves that the situation here remains highly volatile Ken Arnhofer CTV news gonna walk This is a time period in which peaceful things could be done now. I saw you go after one of the guys. Well, I saw one of the guys. No, no, but just your feeling of what sparked that. Anger. They have no business here. If they're acting under the direction of the provincial government, they have no business here whatsoever. They are no different than the SQ. They're here under Baras's orders. And they're to get out now. They've already been served their eviction. They're past due to leave here. Joe, and if anything, it proves that the situation at Kahnawake and Kahnawake remain highly volatile. Ken Arnhofer, CTV News, Kahnawake. Hey Ken, I like your first one, but they don't give a damn about cigarettes, they don't give a damn about bingo, it's just an excuse for it, okay? The politics of this community is that we are sovereign people, we are Mohawk Nation people, this is our jurisdiction. We are a sovereign jurisdiction. We will patrol it, we will make our own laws over here, and the government doesn't want that. The government says, no, you have to pay for it. You have to pay for the federal law, etc., etc., etc. That's what's behind this. We are talking about our own power. The others are talking about other means. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! After an eight-hour search at the other end of the island, the SQ have left by boat unnoticed. This is another turning point in the crisis. The Army will announce it has done its job and it intends to go home. The Army withdrawal is stalled. It was called as an aid to civil power at the provincial government's pleasure. Until such time as adheres otherwise, the Army is here to stay. They stopped me. They want to see my driver's license, my... My registration, they want to know my name, and then they want to check my trunk, and I said... Chief Norton is headed for Ottawa, where Parliament reopens tomorrow. So I'm demanding under what orders, under what section, under what law that they're doing this. And they're now checking up the ladder to find out if they can give me that information. You ask any police officer, and he can tell you on the spot. These guys have to go through 25 different layers of bureaucracy and whatever else before they can give you an answer. Sure. While the government was on holiday, the country was on the brink of civil war. There were scores of blockades in the demonstrations of support right across Canada. Now, with Parliament about to reconvene, the feeling is the crisis will be ended to avoid a debate in the House. Norton never makes it to Ottawa. Jackson, you're here as a peacemaker or as a journalist? I believe, after having talked today with government officials and with Mohawk leadership, that both parties are much closer than one may think. Jesse Jackson, former U.S. presidential candidate, ambassador of peace, is here at Kahnawake to do a segment for his new television show. The events of the last two months will be the backdrop. He has been to South Africa, Lebanon, Iran. He likes being in the public eye. Maybe I'll just tear this thing and eat all these little potatoes and stuff. I guess I won't. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Let me express my thanks to you, Chief, for being so generous in your time today and for sharing very vital information with our delegation. There is a world war brewing in the Middle East. And yet, if talking is impossible, war is inevitable, we must seek alternatives to peace in the Middle East. The other territory that is also located in this area is Agwizaste. That's the other Mohawk territory, which is also under siege. I'm going to need to leave you. Thank you, buddy. I love it. I love it. Thank you, buddy. Jackson gets his TV shots just in time. Two days later, the siege at Oka ends. Mohawk checkpoint, Kahnawake. 78 days. Longer than the siege at Wounded Knee. But instead of just beating them into a bust, they roughed them up. Morehouse were taken into rescue custody. Natives who gathered in the town were furious. The people here are shocked by what they see on television. Nobody has been killed, but it has ended in anger and confusion. Say it was a double-cross. Everybody asked the clergy and lawyers who were expected to join the moratorium, and the buses to take them to Starnum weren't there. In Kahnawake, the most dangerous confrontation happened after the siege had ended. Earlier on tonight, one of my sections of six men and one vehicle was manning its normal post when a crowd of several hundred Mohawks arrived and started to gear and attack them with rocks and come forward to attack them with axe handles. There was a Mohawk person injured tonight, is that correct? I don't know about a Mohawk injured. One of my soldiers got a lead pipe across the side of his head and he has been evacuated to the hospital. Who ordered this operation tonight, Lieutenant Colonel? This operation was commenced by the Mohawks for no apparent reason. They tell me it was in reaction to an earlier operation, whether it either be what they saw on the TV at Oka or whether it was to a sweep by the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment on Eel St. Nicola. which to my understanding is not a part of the reserve, but which the Mohawks claim is a part of Bionawaki, they say that there's a reaction to that. I have no way of confirming that, and I have no idea if there were people injured on the Mohawk side. How far are you authorized to go in the case of a so-called riot like this? Okay, our orders are to ensure that we maintain the life of people, anybody who is threatened, whether it be our soldiers or citizens. If we have to use deadly force in order to protect the life of somebody, we will do so. Did you fire into the crowd? We did not fire into the crowd. We fired warning shots into the air. There was a report that someone was shot. I don't know if he got hit or not. But I know a couple guys got hit with a tear gas grenades. They got hit in the legs. Was that firing an accidental or? No, no, they aimed right at the guys and shot them in the legs with the Q-Gas. What time was that? I don't know about now. Prior to that, there was an altercation with several people and several were shot with rubber bullets. I saw two of them here that evening. One had basically a laceration of the outer aspect of the upper part of the left lower leg. And the other gentleman had multiple fragments in his forearm. We extracted the fragments and cleaned it up and he did quite well. The last of 3,700 troops will be returning to their bases. 1,500 journalists have packed up and gone. And I want to contact somebody who is in charge for the SQ in the region. Would you have a phone number? These are the women who held off the army at Oka. They have returned to Ganawagi. A week later, the men return. They have just been released from detention. It's 1045. The whole town turns out to welcome them home. Their first port of call, the Knights of Columbus building, named after the alleged discoverer of America. It's not a happy day for everyone. Earlier, Quebec Native Affairs Minister John Chiatcha and Sam Elkis, the minister in charge of the SQ, were demoted. These are the so-called warriors. Millions saw them on television, camouflage outfits and masks. The media had made them star. It's midnight. The masquerade is over. Richard Tuats, alias Boldpin, ex-ironworker. Mike Mayo, carpenter. Joe David, stone carver, artist, sculptor. Robert Skitters, Mad Jack, former band counselor, retired. Kevin Stanger, Little Bear, student. Gerald Markley, Slim, iron worker. Noel Cataford, Christmas. Chris Stargate. Leroy Gabriel, splinter, community working. Todd Dybo, teenager. Nancy Deer, secretary, Mohawk Survival School, grandmother. Laura Dean no I know Lorraine Montour former clan mother or Norton what's the deal Laura Norton placement officer employment Canada Lorna de la rum yay manager Kahnawake flea market I just put off a gun a log Kathy sky nurse Susan Oak, journalist, CKHQFM, Kanazadage. We've got five guys still in detention from TC. That's Lasagna, Noriega, Psycho, Elridge, and Roger Lazor. And people should be there for them on Wednesday when they go for their bail hearing and when they come out We're going to have another big party In the coming months the men and women who were at Oka will be taken up with court trials and fundraising for their defense Now, the accountants tally up the bill for the crisis, over $200 million. The final cost may never be known. The Mohawk Warrior flag also flies at The Hague, where they have a permanent delegation. They have made representations to the UN in Geneva and await a report from the European Parliament. I don't know. A couple of A's? Three, four? There's a few. And there's guys 24 hours a day at these checkpoints? Yep, 24 hours a day. And they're doing a really good job, these guys. Because we wouldn't be sleeping, a lot of us are not even sleeping good at night right now. You think this would have been over a long time ago. All the discussions and everything that was told that were going to be done, apparently haven't been done. Because you could see for yourself that you're traveling along these highways, the SQ are all over the place. and a lot of people in the community have been harassed, even so, police little things, low pressure in tires, light, little things, you know, they're just provoking us. They're, I don't know what to say, agitating us? The Oka Golf Course, where the summer of violence began. Ottawa has now purchased some land from the town of Oka and claims the dispute is over. The problem is solved. Mohawks claim... Ottawa bought the wrong land. The very piece of land that was at the real heart of the struggle, what we were here all summer for, this very place where the battle is not ours according to their law and their governments. And they have recently, I don't know, they have plans for this town now to make it a tourist haven. They used to play Super Bingo here. It is now a flea market. We thought we'd start another business, something that's maybe a little less political, which is the Mohawk Super Flea Market. The Mohawk Super Bingo has been abolished temporarily. It doesn't mean to say it's not ever going to be. restarted it will be but in the meantime we want to get a super flea market really a lucrative flea market going in some instances when people are coming here vendors especially as they're getting here to come to set up in the mornings they're being harassed as they come here we have approached actually the police themselves and they have said yes their orders are really to harass people so it's like no matter what we do It's like they're going to harass us and bother us. They don't want us to develop our own economy. They don't want us to create jobs. They don't want us to circulate money within the community. They want us to go be spending our money back in Chattaghee. And I can tell you that no one is spending money in Chattaghee. People in Chattaghee business people are dying and crying. And unfortunately, they're going to have to live with that. We aren't responsible for what they did this summer. We are the victims there as well. On behalf of the members of my group, I'd like to thank you all very much for your kindness and your world welcome here today. Behind you on the wall, you see one of the symbols of the European community, whose people we try to represent. Twelve stars representing the 12 states of the European community. representing our peoples in their independence, in their autonomy, in their unique way of doing business. Separate, but united, and that is the symbol of the circle. A symbol of fullness, a symbol of harmony. And it is only by respecting that uniqueness of each human being and of each nation that peace can reign in the world, that harmony can be attained.