/* Written 11:59 pm Nov 3, 1993 by act in web:gen.newsletters */
/* ---------- "The ACTivist vol9#11, November 93" ---------- */
U.N. OFFICE FAILS
The attempt of the Warrior-backed Mohawk Nation Office at Kahnawake
to establish a permanent delegation at the United Nations has collapsed,
with their representative disappearing and leaving behind at least
$200,000 in personal debts.
Richard LaFrance, who used the name Okwaoraken and claimed to be
a Mohawk never, it now appears, even visited Kahnawake, and had
no indigenous Canadian ancestry at all.
The Nation Office had cooperated with the elected band council
at Kahnawake in setting up the delegation, which seems, however,
to have had no authorization from the Iroquois Confederacy, the
traditional governing body of the Mohawks.
LaFrance's main activities were apparently attending conferences
and speaking in schools.
After increasing pressure to pay back debts, LaFrance vanished in
July. "It is extremely embarrassing," says Nation Office member
Kenneth Deer.