KANEHSATAKE UNDER FIRE AFTER DRUG RAID

A drug raid at Kanehsatake last week led to a hail of accusations and
counter-accusations, gunfire, the firing of Larry Ross acting Chief of the
Kanehsatake Mohawk Police and a reported assault upon Grand Chief James
Gabriel. Reports last Friday suggested there had been trees and powerlines
felled affecting the residents. Other reports suggested that SQ riot police
had been called and roadblocks set up in the community.

Commenting on the situation Friday morning, a distressed Margaret Gabriel,
mother of Grand Chief Gabriel said"The community is in turmoil. the roads
are blocked. I'm scared for James and my daughter (Melanie) who is a
policewoman. The criminal element has taken over the community. I hear my
son got roughed up, but I'd rather not say anymore. I'm more scared now
than I was in 1990.

Trouble erupted after the home of former chief Robert Gabriel was raided
last Wednesday afternoon. A team of officers from Kanehsatake and other
Native bands including Listiguch executed a search warrant for drugs. While
the search of Robert's home was occurring, Robert was apprehended in
Montreal by SQ officers.

"I wasn't there when my house was raided Wednesday. I took my stepson to a
dentist's appointment in Montreal. When my wife and I and my stepson came
out of a store, over 100 SQ officers along with an undercover SWAT team
were waiting for me. They grabbed me and said I was arrested. They said
they were executing a warrant because I was selling Marijuana." Robert
reported.

A fuming Robert accused the just-fired acting Chief of the Kanehsatake
police of being out of control. Calling Ross a "psychotic", an angry Robert
said his doors were kicked down and his house wrecked by Ross and his men.
Robert blamed the raid on a vendetta waged against him by Grand Chief
Gabriel. Robert Gabriel, who was released by police, said that no charges
had been filed against him and that no drugs were seized.

Robert and a group of community members agree that the raid was politically
motivated because Robert had filed a complaint against Grand Chief Gabriel
in May 1999. The complaint accused James Gabriel of knowingly having hired
a known felon (allegedly Richard Walsh) to act as an undercover agent to,
among other things, try to "find anything they could" use against Robert
Gabriel. The latter, said it was an attempt to discredit him if he had run
in last summer's election. robert said the only thing seized from his
residence was a .45 calibre handgun, hunting rifles and a safe.

That safe contained papers and documentation Robert required for a judicial
inquiry against Grand Chief Gabriel, Walsh and former chief of police Ross.
Early Friday morning Robert became involved in a confrontation with the
Grand Chief at the Mohawk Council of Kanehsatake offices. After demanding
the return of his property by 2 p.m., Robert allegedly became physical with
the Grand Chief.

For his part, Grand Chief Gabriel refutes the charge of his having
fabricated the drug problem to further his own ends. "It's bull that I
created the drug problem to go after people for vendettas. I'm not in the
business of smearing people and I don't jump on people just because I don't
agree with them," James said, alluding to the incident with Robert Gabriel
last Friday.

Grand Chief Gabriel has files a complaint against Robert citing assault and
uttering threats. "Robert said that if he didn't get his stuff by 2 p.m.,
he would come after me and my family."

Police spokesman Robert Bonspiel would not elaborate on the items seized in
the raid. However, Grand Chief Gabriel was less sanguine about giving
details. He said that the seizure included $47,000, a scale of the kind
commonly used to weigh drugs, a chopping machine and a number of bags
containing an estimated 100,000 pills of an, as yet, undetermined substance.

Grand Chief Gabriel defended the raid and the warrant against charges that
he had instigated the raid for political reasons. James said that no
warrant could be acquired without demonstrating to a judge that sufficient
investigation had occured. He added that because Kanehsatake's police force
was relatively new, it might even be harder to get a warrant.

While the firing of Ross was unanimous action taken by the MCK, Grand Chief
Gabriel's reasons for opting for this action differed from at least one
other councillor. Chief Crawford Gabriel commented, "We've had problems
with Larry Ross from day one and he's had problems too in Akwesasne and
everywhere he went. Ross' anger stems from years back. What was he angry
about? There are a lot of reasons for people to get angry."

As far as the Grand Chief is concerned, Ross was let go for his own safety
and to stabilize the community. "It was almost a forgone conclusion that
this would happen. Right from the time he was hired, there was a call from
the floor at a meeting to fire him. But we have to follow due process,"
said James.

Late Friday evening, it appeared that stability would remain elusive as
gunshots were directed at the police headquarters in Kanehsatake. According
to KMP spokesman Bonspies, one of the officers was outside of building at
about 11:30 p.m. when shots rang out. He stated that officer was missed by
one of the rounds as two bullets smacked into the building's exterior and
another two pierced the glass lodging in the wall of the station's
boardroom. "There were officers in the room at the time," he added.

According to reports, all police personnel vacated the building and took
refuge at the SQ station in nearby Oka. Constable Melanie Gabriel, sister
of the Grand Chief, was quoted as saying, "We decided to leave for our own
safety." Constable Gabriel claims that the campaign of intimidation is
nothing new. She said this has been going on for about a year now with
things escalating with the latest incident.

While Robert's supporters, are claiming to have no knowledge about who shot
at the police station, Bonspiel stated that the KMP have at least one
suspect in their sights but are choosing not to moveon this until things
calm. Bonspiel's car was fire-bombed in the aftermath of the raid.

Grand Chief Gabriel said that for the time being Listiguch officers will
remain in Kanehsatake until things are sufficiently stabilized. He added
that the MCK was talking to the minister of Public Security's office
regarding additional dollars to cover the overtime costs incurred over the
past week.

For now both camps are holding to their view of the matter. For Robert's
supporters, the problem at Kanehsatake is one of political and police
corruption. For Grand Chief Gabriel, it is about nothing more or less than
the defeat of what he refers to as the drug problem and bringing to justice
those, he says, who are responsible.