Who are the criminals?

Page 4

The Canadian government is up to its old tricks.

And it's doing a masterful job.

But then it has decades of experience in deception to draw on.

In the heat of the standoffs in Quebec, a high-ranking Indian affairs' official accused Mohawk Warriors of being nothing less than a "gang of criminals."

Harry Swain (he's referred to rather unlovingly by some Natives as Swine), of course when making his comments didn't know they were going to be made public.

He didn't have the courage to go on the record with them and was seeking to smear Mohawks and Warriors in a background session with journalists.

What crimes then are the Mohawks guilty of?

Toting guns?

Well, Mr. Swain, trustee of Indian people, it is an internally accepted right of sovereign nations to arm and defend themselves.

The Mohawks you call criminal aren't in the streets striking terror in the hearts of citizens. They aren't bombing nightclubs. They aren't kidnapping or assassinating politicians. They aren't venturing beyond their land firing bullets willy-nilly like the Surete du Quebec did when it stormed the Oka blockade, a venture that threatened to take the lives of journalists, children and non-Natives, who were also behind the barricade.

What then are the Mohawks guilty of?

Cigarette smuggling - apparently a crime which threatens to topple the country.

Oh, and they're also apparently guilty of sponsoring huge bingo halls and casinos not sanctioned by the white governments.

So, who are the real criminals?

We need only look at the record of this government, which has refused to bargain in good faith to settle the legitimate grievances of Natives coast-to-coast. Ottawa lives by one word: delay, delay, delay.

Now that's criminal.

History has yet to show whether the Warriors deserve to be ranked with Louis Riel, who of course was branded as a traitor by the white governments, convicted and hung.

But history does have a way of repeating itself. Mohawks are already regarded as treasonous. It's just a matter of time before they're convicted. They can thank Parliament for one thing - capital punishment is no longer on the books.