'NARCO-CULTURE' DESTROYS A FIRST NATIONS DREAM

On Nov. 14, an elderly couple died at Akwesasne, Ont. in a terrible
car-van crash after a high-speed police chase with a suspected
tobacco smuggler, who was also killed.

The collision caused one of the vehicles to explode in flames,
killing the couple, who were from Massena, N.Y. The gentleman who
died in the flames was Edward Kassian, 77, my former high-school
science teacher whom I remember as an excellent instructor, gentle in
spirit and gifted with a unique sense of humour. He was very popular.

He did not deserve to die as the latest victim of an activity which
is consuming the Mohawk people and the First Nations communities of
Akwesasne, on the St. Lawrence River at the Quebec-Ontario border.

Smuggling tobacco, narcotics and whatever else commands a profit has
created a "narco-culture" at Akwesasne in which the traditional
values of humility, compassion, simplicity, generosity and communal
service have been replaced by violence, intimidation, greed and death.

It was not supposed to be this way, at least not for those of us who
gave heart, mind, body and soul to the struggle to secure the vague
Nirvana called "native rights" a generation ago.

I was an active participant in virtually every standoff, conflict and
rally as we waged a decades-long campaign to secure what we called
our "indigenous" rights to self-determination.

We not only sought to remove the last vestiges of Canadian and
American colonialism from our territory but to recreate a viable
Mohawk Nation which would be governed by our own laws, enacted by our
administrative agencies, rooted in aboriginal customs. We wanted all
alien law enforcement authorities off Akwesasne. To accomplish this
we revived our traditional rituals, formed international alliances,
reached out to human rights organizations, reinvigorated our language
and created our own media.

We also sought to have the international border between Canada and
the U.S., which dissects Akwesasne, eliminated. We would create our
own peacekeeping service, followed by a broad new economic policy
which would encourage the growth of our community through the
production and marketing of products consistent with our history.

As appealing as this sounded, we grossly underestimated the internal
resistance to Mohawk unity. We were stunned by the vigour with which
our own people fought against these plans.

Already, in those daydreaming months of 1987-88, the smugglers and
gamblers were forging an alliance which would destroy our plans since
they feared, correctly, it would put them out of business.

In a wave of violence unmatched in our history, the weaponry of this
cartel was turned against other Mohawks and in 1990 we degenerated
into civil war.

Mohawks died, and in the resulting administrative anarchy the
smuggling took hold and has not relaxed its grip on our people. Far
from a benign activity, the profit from this vice is so great as to
attract criminal gangs from throughout eastern Canada. And these
gangs take no prisoners. They kill with impunity.

Many Mohawks have paid with their freedom or their lives for taking
part in these midnight smuggling runs. The fast-flowing, frigid
waters of the St. Lawrence have taken more.

The easy money has led to corruption not only at Akwesasne but
throughout the region. The fragile economies of Massena and Cornwall
are now sustained by this narco-culture.

There are solutions, but it means a collective effort by the U.S.,
Canada and the legitimate Mohawk leaders. It means removing the
border and empowering our people to enforce our own laws. It means
those who carry the contraband to our community must be prosecuted.
It means removing the political factionalism which has crippled us
for too long, and restoring a single governing entity to Akwesasne.
It means entering into a Native Free Trade Act so we can transfer
legitimate goods across the river to other native communities without
the gangs. It means legitimizing the tobacco trade.

Otherwise, Akwesasne will become an armed encampment, for Canada will
have no choice but to use its military powers and occupy our
territory. The resulting war which will surely come from such an
action is not what any Mohawk wants. But we cannot carry the burden
of more victims dying in the most terrible ways because we failed to
act as true human beings.