POLICING THE PINES
Tensions erupted again on the troubled Mohawk reserve of Kanesetake
this month, in a dispute over the policing of the area.
Kanesetake, the site of a 1990 standoff in which one police officer
was killed and many native people arrested and, some say, tortured,
has continued to be patrolled by the Surete de Quebec. The Surete, as
well as allegedly torturing prisoners in 1990, has demonstrated
considerable racism and insensitivity in dealings with the community.
On August 20, after another incident of police harassment, residents of
Kanesetake erected a barricade. Though it came down the next day
-- after Premier Bourassa made a visit to the reserve -- the elected
band council chief, Jerry Peltier, says he will hold a community
referendum to determine if checkpoints should be set up on the main
road to the Pines area.
If the community decides to erect the checkpoints, they will be used
to bar the Surete from the reserve unless they are invited by a resident.
A native police force would take their place.