Mohawk 'thank-you tour' comes to Edmonton

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A Western Canadian tour by six Mohawk Warriors is a threat to the Indian affairs department, says a Mohawk Indian from the Kahnawake reserve.

Paul Smith, the younger brother of a Warrior, said the 20-day tour, which came to Edmonton Nov. 28 is a threat to Indian affairs "because we speak the truth and people know when they hear the truth. That's all we wanted this summer."

"The word is out," said Smith. "Internationally now the people see that Canada is carrying out a form of genocide, cultural genocide."

In a 78-day standoff, which began July 11 near Oka, Quebec, Mohawk Warriors held off Quebec police officers and the Canadian army before surrendering. The confrontation was sparked by a police assault on a Kanesatake Mohawk blockade, which had been set up to protest expansion of the Oka golf course onto a sacred burial ground.

The Warriors were in Edmonton as part of a "western thank-you tour."

Speaking to a crowd of 100 at the University of Alberta the Warriors expressed their appreciation to Edmontonians who supported them during the 78-day crisis.

Mohawk Susan Oak said the Warriors tried to "get it settled peacefully over and over again."

She said violence is not the Mohawk way. Rather the "violence was brought to us. We weren't the cause of it. It tool a lot to stay calm the night of July 11."

The battle erupted after heavily-armed police stormed a barricade set up by Kanesatake Mohawks four months before.

"The police used tear gas on us that night," said Oak. "We tried to tell them that we didn't recognize their court injunction but they wouldn't listen. The gas hurts your eyes, it hurts your throat, you feel like you're going to pass out. They fired shots at us. But our fired the shots in the air because the women and children were there."

Cpl. Marcel Lemay died after being shot in the face and chest during the gun battle. The standoff finally ended Sept. 26. It's unclear whether the bullet came from one of his colleagues or from a Warrior.

Referring to an Aug. 28 incident to which 400 protesters tried to stop a convoy of men, women and children from leaving Kahnawake, Smith said Quebec provincial police gave the protesters enough time to "organize and arm themselves with stones, bricks, two-by-fours and bottles. As the caravan came along, they attacked it."

He said during the lengthy standoff in Quebec, Mohawks were randomly taken to barns by police where they "were beaten and burned. Then they were arrested for resisting arrest.

"There was a lot of psychological game-playing by the army to intimidate us and try and provoke us into a fight."

The six Warriors face various charges after attempting to bypass soldiers Sept. 26 and walk down the road toward Oka. They were leaving the Kanesatake drug treatment center where they had been surrounded by soldiers since Sept. 1.

Lubicon Lake Chief Bernard Ominayak closed off the evening's panel discussion by saying that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Conservative government "is the worst federal government I have ever faced."

Ominayak said the federal government is "our worst enemy when they are supposed to be our trustees."

It is up to the public to take the next step, he said. "You must now say 'Enough is enough.'"

The Mohawk tour ends Dec. 13 in Vancouver.