Kanehsata:Ke Land Defence is a group at the forefront of the resistance against looming urban sprawl onto the Homelands of the Rotinonhseshá:ka. Despite repeated requests for agreements that ensure inherent Indigenous rights and the protection of the lands and waters, housing developers of Oka, Quebec are pushing ahead with a desire for unfettered real estate development.

ICA Steering Committee member, Ellen Gabriel shared the following speech on May 22nd, 2021 at a grassroots action in defence of the Rotinonhseshá:ka Homelands and the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke. Click here to get involved and learn more.

Wa’tkwanonwerà:ton – Warm Greetings Everyone

Thank you all for coming today to join us in this long journey of our efforts to protect our Homelands

Once again, we are forced to protest and continue our fight to protect one of the last few traces of our Homelands from encroachment and outright land fraud. This is not a new issue, it is a 3 centuries old conflict that persists because of systemic racism, ignorance and cruelty of colonization.

The struggle to have our rights respected remains ignored by all governments - Canada, Quebec, Oka and the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake manipulate the public into thinking that their way is virtuous, the good way when in fact they are the criminals who meet behind closed doors, have the resources to keep Kanehsata’kehró:non oppressed and divided. It is they who create divisions, to justify their land fraud and dispossess the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke.  Canada and Quebec and the MCK exclude environmental assessments before development begins; thus colluding to defraud the Kanien’kehá:ka of their Homelands, with land speculators like Mr. Gollin.

Our inherent rights are based upon our law under Kaianera’kó:wa, and predates European arrival upon our shores. We are obliged to protect our lands and our people. But the community of Kanehsatà:ke has been living under oppressive colonial conditions for over 300 years. Colonization is insidious and in Canada, low intensity war fare is used to commit heinous acts as those under the Indian Residential School system; they ignore the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous women, girls and men.

When there are no efforts by society to apply access to justice equally to Indigenous peoples, then ‘colonizer’ is every member of the public until they educate themselves as to how their colonial history continues to impact Indigenous peoples.

The rights holders under Kaianera’shera’kó:wa – the Great Shining Peace, are treated with contempt within the mindset of greed, and malice from all levels of government and land developers.

We call upon Prime Minister Trudeau to declare a moratorium upon all development and to sit down with the Rotinonhseshá:ka or Haudenosaunee, Peoples of the Longhouse. The traditional government upon which the women are not only vested as the titleholders of our Homelands, but also have an obligation to protect the land.

From Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Francois Legault, to Mr. Gregoire Gollin, Mayor Pascal Quevillon, and the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, they have disrespected the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke, in particular the women of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. We have tried the peaceful methods to bring resolution to our land conflict but our voices incessantly fall upon deaf ears. The economy trumps the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples. We are constantly squeezed into smaller parcels of land. Our community unable to overcome the impacts of the dysfunction of colonialism which Canada and Quebec benefit from.

The Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke have endured the threats to our safety and well-being from governments and their authorities, along with land speculators whose pockets of money coercively perpetuate the conflict. The Mohawk Council has done nothing to join our fight to protect our lands, it is a sad time for us all.

We therefore Call upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Legault to intervene for the sake of peace. These are the following Calls to Action the community has asked for far too long:

·       To stop land speculator Gregoire Gollin from selling any more land fraudulently on the Homelands of the Rotinonhseshá:ka

·       Call for a moratorium on all development and to sit with the Rotinonhseshá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke and representatives of our sister communities to resolve our land dispossession

·       To call upon the public to STOP purchasing lands on Rotinonhseshá:ka Homelands which include but are not limited to the following municipalities: Oka, St. Joseph, Pointe Calumet, Pointe-aux-Anglais, St. Marthe-sur-le-lac, Deux-Montagnes, St. Benoit and many other municipalities

·       We call upon the public to boycott Oka park until we can resolve the land use issue within as it is the site of our traditional community.

·       We call upon the public to write their members of Parliament and the National Assembly to site with the traditional people – the Longhouse or Rotinonhseshá:ka, to begin a process of restitution, to resolve our 300 year old land conflict; and to call for a moratorium on development in Kanehsatà:ke.

·       We call for an independent investigation into the fraudulent sales of land by Gregoire Gollin, Les Collines d’Oka, on Rotinonhseshá:ka (Peoples of the Longhouse)

·       We call for an independent commission investigating all development taking place on Kanien’kehá:ka Homelands in Kanehsatà:ke, the territory of the Rotinonhseshá:ka of Kaianera’shera’kó:wa (The Great Shining Peace)

We also call upon our community members to join the struggle to protect our Homelands and the Pines our community and our allies fought so hard for in 1990. And to recognized that our land issue is bigger than just the area of Kanehsatà:ke; thinking outside the colonial box. We must decolonize as our desire for peace is for all people living on our Homelands.

We declare our support for our Palestinian relatives whose struggle of land dispossession, like ours, continues. We hope for Peace on their lands for all humans, no matter their affiliations, so that Everyone will join a movement of change in which all persons will be respected and cherished.

Lasting Peace can only happen when there is respect, courage, and compassion.

That is all we are asking for: #LANDBACK

Skén:nen

Kanehsatà:ke Land Defenders

EG

*Ellen Gabriel is a spokesperson for Kanehsata:Ke Land Defence and an member of the ICA Steering Committee

photo credits: Nhattan Nguyen