verbena-19

1. We must continue to insist that the Governor General meet with us. The agreement was made between the Six Nations and the Crown. As a successor state that remains under the Queen’s sovereignty, Canada has no excuses for avoiding its obligation. The Governor General is appointed to deal with the issues that concern the Crown. She is not just there to cut ribbons. Those agreements have to be upheld.


2. The non-natives affected must get just compensation. Britain, Canada and Ontario are responsible for the wrongs to their own people.


3. This is an international matter, not domestic. It started out as a nation-to-nation issue. It is now a British Commonwealth, Canada and Six Nations matter.


4. That archaeological study is just another stalling tactic, another excuse to drag it on to make us forget about everything again.


5. Canada must show a commitment to peace and learn to “bury their weapons”. They have to proclaim they will not use force to resolve our legitimate land issue. Violence will make it worse. Then it won’t be just the Six Nations. Everybody will become involved, not only in Canada but worldwide.


6. It is not a justice issue. Criminalizing us will not resolve it. They have to pull those illegal charges from our people. How could we be trespassing? We were on our own land! The heavily armed police who attacked us should be charged with assault.


7. We are doing everything in our power so this can be done peacefully. We have not resorted to violence even though we were attacked on our land on April 20th. Our people were beaten up and some were jailed and charged. No weapons have ever been produced by the native people.


8. We want Canada and everyone else in the world to witness our efforts to see the deceitful actions of the government of Canada. If Canada does not want to do this properly they should be afraid. Their own people are watching them. With the recent sponsorship scandal and other corruption, public perception of government’s integrity is declining all the time.


9. After their “pseudo clan mothers” fail, then they'll send in some hard nosed guys, who will also fail. With the hard nosed guys things will probably start to heat up as they'll try to antagonize us.


10. They are presently trying to find an Indian to come in too. So who is it? They probably looked for a guy from Central Casting. Then they found out Grey Owl’s grandson was not available. It might be someone who comes from an unknown people and an unknown place. Of course, we already know what his script is. He will stride in with beads and feathers, try to take over the agenda and mess up the talks. All he has to do is get someone to lose their temper and stir things up a bit. You know, create chaos one way or another. Then the signal will be given. The colonizers will have the excuse they’ve been looking for to bring in the army who will open fire on the people [as they did in 1990 in Kanehsatake/Oka, Ipperwash and Gustafsen Lake]. We can only hope they won’t point their weapons at two year olds on tricycles this time.


11. They want to make the ‘Indians’ look bad. If we get too riled from the hard nosers, the government will love this. That will give the government the license , in their minds, to go in with their big guns, etc. The hard nosers will probably include this “Indian” guy out front (who that would be is for us to figure out).


12. The colonizers want to say, “See, we tried. We offered compromise, a win-win solution. Then we had to send in tough negotiators because the Indians were being stubborn. They wouldn't even listen to one of their own people. It's obvious Six Nations does not want to resolve the situation. They're disrupting everything! What else could we do but use the police and the army to give them and all Indigenous people the “message”?


13. The media must report firsthand what’s going on. Send imbedded reporters in quick! We need witnesses, native and non-native, who will not be stymied. The mainstream media refuses to report on this. These talks should be broadcast so that everyone concerned can see what’s happening and who says what.