Indian Act Chief James Gabriel. by risa
I have quoted what were for me the key bits of new information below. I think looking closely at the way we’ve conducted out communications and relationships with the other Nations who are here, and at what we’ve missed out on because of how people on both “sides” have behaved, might help us open up to seek healthy balance for all our systems. And maybe even to build happy interfaces between us. We could start by offering apologies.
“The Kanien’keháka population of Kanehsatake has had many confrontations with Gabriel, leading to the ejection of him from the territory last year, de facto firing him.”
In Montreal for the past number of months (and years) we have watched the news coverage of events in our Mohawk neighbors’ community with frustration. It has been impossible to understand from the information given what exactly is going on there at any time, maybe because the reports never seem to include interviews or in-depth information from any of the people involved aside from the run-out-of-town Chief Gabriel. In our home we have never felt satisfied with the coverage, as it’s never explained what the community’s beef with Gabriel actually is. Also, having studied some history of Native-White relations in Canada, we are aware that the post of “Indian Act Chief” is not a traditional one, not one that fits naturally within the functionning political system of the people, but one which was imposed by colonial legislators attempting to “fix” a system they hadn’t taken much time to try and understand. So, following this long while of confusion and frustration I was happy to come across this explanation of the political tensions in the area and of the role Gabriel has played.
“Gabriel has been accommodating the Canadian and Québec governments attempts to change the legal nature of Kanehsatake from a territory to a mere municipality. Bill S24, which states a desire to “harmonize the territory with the municipality of Oka”, would render any remaining legal recognition of the difference between Indian land and Québec cosmetic. He has systematically shut out popular participation for the entire negotiation process, refusing to cooperate even with Mohawks who also work for the Indian Act structures, flying in the face of traditional consensus models of governance. Acting on behalf of the colonial state, Gabriel has attempted to use a “Kanehsatake Mohawk Police (KMP)” force of his choosing to crush his political opponents. This force, trained and paid for by the RCMP, has been in operation since the mid-nineties when they were created ostensibly to bolster security for a casino that was later rejected. It operates de facto at the behest of Indian Act chiefs, and by the end of 2003 was the best power left to Gabriel in his attempts to remove the independent economy of tobacco and streamline the end of territory status for Kanehsatake. Attempting to use the KMP to raid and shut down various tobacco producers, Gabriel has announced his attempts are to “cut off the head of the opposition”, who conveniently happen to also be opposed by Canada and Québec.
On January 12, 2004 the community had enough, and surrounded the police inside their station instead of allowing further Gabriel-led political raids. With the KMP holed up inside and neutralized, community members maintained watch out front—and up the hill the good chief had his home torched to the ground, long after he fled the territory. The nearby Kahnawake Reserve offered a compromise, and set up an Indian police force until the end of April, when a “security vacuum” set in after the Kahnawake agreement expired. The community from the territory put together their own security patrol, while Gabriel directed his force to attempt to reassert themselves several times, each one failing. The last attempt for Gabriel to send in his force, ended with Mohawk warriors using rocks, vehicles and blunt force to evict all these colonial police from their territory. Pursuing the police to make very clear they were not welcome back, residents from Kanehsatake chased them clear into the next town.
In the context of all of this are the Montréal and Québec media’s reactions. There has been a general martyrdom complex offered on a full-platter to the “embattled” chief who was “only trying to establish law and order”. Full, two page spreads have been written about his (and his family’s) plight. The “entire community” is said to “live in fear and intimidation” because they are “run by a mafia/drug dealers/grow ops/bikers” or other thugs and undesirables. The KMP who normally used to work through exactly that fashion are noticeably absent (though still paid by the Federal Government), as is the word “Police” from the now-empty facility that used to be their home. While the SQ continues to have access here, they seem reluctant to test it.
The KMP and the Gabriel clique remain powerless, the community remains strong, and an election to the band council of a new Indian Act chief has been postponed and delayed several times. Gabriel continues to ask the Federal government for any help possible returning proper authority to him. Meanwhile solidarity activists have pointed out that many who have said “no elections can be democratic under occupation” have drawn this point out to counter the “civilizing discourse” of those who want to “bring democracy” to Iraq, Palestine or Kanehsatake.
Many of the political traditions of the Mohawk people involve practice that today’s activists often think are innovations to organizing: A belief in consensus decision making, along with the right to dissent and be respected. The use of matriarchal, non-hierarchical organizing models; the delegation of power through respect rather than through institutionalized authority. A respect for the earth as the giver of life, not the provider of money.
There are tapes of the actual police footage shot while the SQ and the KMP were chased into the next town. You see defiant pride for one, but you also hear the comments made by the police to one another as they were run out. There is a sound in their voice. For a settler nation where the issue of Indian Nation sovereignty is supposed to have been “extinguished” long ago, the sound in their voices is fear of something very real, strong and prepared to struggle for the right to exist. A reflection of these values— traditional and forward thinking— that cannot be ignored.”
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