Mohawk Territory

Mohawk territory it may well be, but it exists within a sovereign Canada. The reality is that Mohawk territory is not sovereign in the same sense that the country is. First Nations must still be accountable to the federal government, and must still obey all the laws of the country. Although this is not what we've been witnessing. Rather, small groups of bellicose and angry young men insisting that they act on behalf of all aboriginal Canadians, claiming that Canada has no jurisdiction over 'their territory'.

They may be self-governing as a result of special arrangements with the federal governing, and they may have been granted some degree of autonomy, but in the end, they are meant to be responsive to the same rules and laws that govern the rest of Canadian society. In their defiance they upset law and order, and in presenting as a semi-unified voice of contempt for the federal and provincial governments, defying order, governments respond carefully, unwilling to bring down the greater wrath of all aboriginal Canadians.

But this is clearly unhelpful both to the country at large and to the First Nations people themselves. And clearly, a minority of belligerent toughs claiming to represent the interests of the average native Canadian has used the reluctance of governments to oppose their violence to operate clandestine, illegal gang operations under cover of native rights. The smuggling of weapons, drugs and cigarettes is an ongoing concern.

With young male aboriginals in the Akwasasne and St.Regis Mohawk Reserve areas where purported Mohawk Warriors have confronted agents of Customs and Immigration Canada, threatening and intimidating them, and in effect running them out of the Akwasasne Reserve, the federal government has clearly permitted matters to deteriorate beyond acceptance. Canada Border Services Agency agents have a job to do, and the obduracy of the Akwasasne chief and band council hasn't helped.

It's true that they have a difficult balancing act, trying to placate their angry young men doubling as narcotic, cigarette and weapons-runners for fun and profit, and also come to an agreement with the federal government. But it's clear they can't do both successfully. Customs agents, it has been agreed, and has become law, will henceforth be armed to enable them to safely carry out their duties, safeguarding Canada from criminals.

And the end result of moving the Canada Customs offices from the Akwasasne Reserve to Cornwall has already been demonstrated to have produced fewer incidences of smuggling trafficking. Smuggling routes have been diverted, because of the closure at the Mohawk Reserve, and they are now showing up in other areas, east of Cornwall on the St.Lawrence River. A complete crack-down on all these smuggling operations is long overdue.

Closing off Cornwall Island to the traffickers is just a first step in a process that should be engaged in to bring illegal trafficking to an end. Armed border guards, thanks in part to the illegal and often violent activities of First Nation goons are here to stay. As long as the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne refuses armed border guards on Mohawk territory, there can be no agreement between them and the federal government.

If the residents of Akwasasne are so aggrieved at the prospect of federal agents legally carrying arms in the prosecution of their duties and for their own safety, how is it that they will accept the presence of well-armed Mohawk police, the Mohawk Security Service, and Mohawk 'warrior' thugs?