The most serious imposition began with the Indian Advancement Act of
1884, passed by the Government of Canada to allow native people to elect
chiefs "with a view to training them for the exercise of municipal
powers." The wording was peculiar: "The object of the department is to
endeavor to promote their [the Indians'] advancement in civilization and
intelligence with a view to eventually attaining to an equality in those
respects with the white portion of the population." Though we had long
governed ourselves under a constitution on which the Americans modelled
theirs, we were not, according to this act, intelligent!
Almost immediately in Akwesasne, the Indian agent began to meddle in the
election, declaring that he would reserve to himself "the right to allow
or disallow" the election of one nominated candidate, who he did not,
apparently, approve of. As I will show later, Indian Affairs has been
active in "disallowing" our wishes, right up to the present day.
All of the Mohawk people in Canada declared their preference for our
traditional system and, in petitions to the government, recalled ancient
obligations undertaken by the British Crown that "each side would remain
in its own vessel," that the British would not make compulsory laws for
us, and that, as promised in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the land
held by us would be secured free from molestation.
"What is your power and authority to rule our people?" asked one
petition to the governor general.
Another Akwesasne petition read:
The Indian Act breeds only sorrow, contention, hatred,
disrespect of family ties, spite against one another,
and absence of unity among us Indians. It also creates
two distinct parties at the elections. The law was
never authorized in its adaptation among Indians... There
is only one way to recover brotherly feelings, that of
substituting the seven lords appointed by each of the
seven totems according to the ancient customs which we
know gave us peace, prosperity, friendship and brotherly
feelings in every cause, either for personal good, or to
the benefit of the whole community.
This petition was signed by more than 1,000 people from Akwesasne,
Kanesatake (Oka), and Kahnawake. It is as true today as it was a hundred
years ago, when it was written.
When all such appeals were rjected, the Clan Mothers of Akwesasne
declared their intention to elect their chiefs by traditional methods in
a letter to the governor general:
The ancient custom of creating life Chiefs is that they are
selected according to the different clans, there being
three from each clan, also three women who each selects her
special chief from among her clan. Of these chiefs, one is
considered the Head Chief, the second is the "big man" and
the third is the "crier". As there are four distinct clans,
there are twelve life chiefs.
...But if any misdemeanour shall offend their clans, these
women first hold Council with the women of their own clan,
and if they find his offence of sufficient strength to
warrant his resignation, these women will call upon the men
members of their clan and they meet and select another member
to represent them. They turn the newly selected member to the
twelve life chiefs for their confirmation and ratification.
The women concillors each watch over their special charge and
inform them of the rules of their chieftainship.
The women went ahead with their own meeting, appointed and confirmed
their chiefs, set up their government, and advised Ottawa of the names.
This took place in 1898, and the department's response was predictable:
"The department is determined not to allow any of the Indians to set its
authority at defiance."
A police force was sent to Akwesasne to enforce the election, but the
people forcibly prevented the election from being held. "They [the
Indians] might as well look for the falling of the sky," reported a
police officer who had tried to impose the new law, "as to expect
recognition of their claim to hold the position of a practically
independent state." We are still waiting for the sky to fall, but we
have not ceased the battle taken up by these Clan Mothers.
Nine months later, the Canadian authorities tried again, but two hundred
people surrounded the schoolhouse where the election was to take place,
locked up the Indian agent, and drove the police away.
Two months later, at 4:00 A.M. on May 1, 1899, Colonel Sherwood,
commissioner of the RCMP, came to Akwesasne, leading a contigent of
police across the St. Lawrence River. They occupied the Council Hall,
where they sent a message to the chiefs to attend a special meeting
regarding the buying of stone to build the collapsed piers at the
Cornwall Bridge. As the chiefs walked into the council office, they were
thrown to the floor and handcuffed. One of the women notified the Head
Chief, Jake Fire, and as he came through the door demanding the release
of his fellow chiefs he was shot twice, the second shot being fatal. The
police marched their prisoners to the tugboat and left the village. Jake
Fire was shot down in cold blood while fighting for Mohawk Indian
government.
Later the government issued warrants for the arrest of more of the
chiefs. The seven chiefs who went voluntarily were imprisoned. Five of
them were kept in jail for more than a year. Fiftenn Akwesasne men were
eventually charged and then released.
Immediately after this affair, the representatives of the government
took fifteen Indians over to Cornwall and provided them with alcohol.
The Indian agents told them each to nominate one of the others present.
This is how the elective government under the Indian Act system was
implemented at Akwesasne.
This is the way Canada introduced our people to the principles of their
democracy. It is little wonder that we found the institution meaningless
and completely ignored it for many years. For some twenty years the
traditional council continued to be our government, but Canada would not
recognize or deal with them. Then, when money started coming our of
Ottawa, they gave it to members of the elective system. This continued
until the late 1940's or early 1950's. People didn't vote in those
elections; sometimes only twenty votes would elect a man to the St.
Regis Band Council, as it was known then. Naturally, such a system had
no moral stature in the community. Moral leadership continued to flow
from our traditional chiefs, who have our continued respect. In 1986,
"in honour of Jake Fire and his gallant efforts to preserve the Mohawk
government, our Chiefs declared a national holiday which we now observe
May 1st. of each year.
===
Grand Chief Michael Mitchell, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (Reprinted by
permission from "DRUMBEAT - Anger & Renewal in Indian Country, ISBN
0-929091-03-5, Published by Summerhill Press Ltd., Ontario. Copyright
1989, Assembly of First Nations. pp116-119)
--
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