IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEORVARY 24, 1996
CONTACT: ROSS L. JOHN, SR.
(718) 0342300 (Radisson Hotel - February 24th)
(716) 5324449 (Home~ February 25th)
(716) 549-0090 (Native Business Association)
NATIVE PEOPLE UNITE AGAINST NEW YORK TAXATION
Buffalo, New York (February 24, 1996) --Native people have formed the
First Nations Business League to defend the sovereignty of Indian Nations
and Territories in the face of New York State's recent taxation regulations.
The group will begin meeting weekly with the next meeting
scheduled on Saturday, March 2, 1996, hosted by ths Unkechaugs on
Long Island.
The historic two-day symposium drew more than 200 participants
from tribes including Seneca, Mohawk, Dio Wan Do Onondaga Nation of
People, Oneida, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Unkechaug, and Shinnecock.
Independent business people and tribal representatives attended. Robert
Perry, a Chickasaw from Oklahoma, also participated.
Among organizations represented are the Native Business
Association, Seneca Nation Tribal Council/Task Force, St. Regis Mohawk
Tribe, Mohawk Anti-Tax Steering Committee, Ganiengeh Territory,
Kahnawake Mohawk Chamber of Commerce, Unkechaug Businesses,
Iroquois Business Association, Shinnecock Outpost Retail Businesses,
Akwesasne Mohawk Council, Akwesasne Petroleum Cooperative, Mohawk
Chamber of Commerce Akwesasne, Kanienkehaka Warrior Society,
(Akwesasne, Kahnawake and Ganiengeh Territories, Concerned Citizens
of Tonawanda, and Onondaga Nation Dic Wan Do Territory.
Ross L. John, Sr., a Seneca from the Cattaraugus Territory,
Chairman of the NatIve Business Association, which sponsored the
symposium, said, "We speak in one equal voice when we say that we will
not be treated as other than sovereign nations."
New York State Tax Commissioner, MIchael Urbach on February 20,
1996 adopted regulations regarding the collection of taxes from sales to
non-Native Americans on Indian territories, which will be implemented
within 120 days.
Page 2
Participants pointed to President Clinton's April, 1994 remarks: "In
every relationship between our people, our first principle must be to
respect your right to remain who you are, and to live the way you wish to
live... I reaffirm our commitment to self-determination for tribal
governments."
Kakwirakeron, a Mohawk, said:, "We have come to the point where
we have learned our lessons from mistakes we have made in the past. We
have never relinquished our sovereignty nor given any foreign government
authority to tax our Nations. We will continue to be sovereign forever.
Our people have lived side by side for seven generations with the
formalized union called the United States of America and have never
submitted to their jurisdiction," he continued.
"We are not going to be the generation that will sign a taxing
compact with the State of New York."
The gathering called upon Governor George E. Pataki to rescind the
Tax Commissioner's decision.
The First Nations Business League encouraged consumers to write
to Governor Pataki about the negative economic impact the New York
State tax regulations would cause them.
Full Statement Adopted Follows on Next Page.
At a meeting of the First Nations Business League on February 23, 1996,
the following was adopted as the statement of the meeting:
The Federal Government of the United States (and other states) do
not have the authority to impose taxation upon any other sovereign nation
in the world. They cannot legally nor constItutionally impose taxation upon
a foreign government without that nation's expressed consent.
The IroquoIs Confederacy and the individual nations of the
Confederacy and the Algonquin Nations have never relinquished our
sovereignty. We have never
consented to give anv foreign nation the authority to tax our people.
The United States and New York State have been in existence for
220 years. Canada has been in existence for only 129 years. In all of that
time, the Iroquois Confederacy, the individual nations and other sister
nations have never given those foreign nations the authority to tax our
nations.
Whether our governments have been at their greatest strength nor
at their weakest point, no government body has ever signed any
document, nor given any expressed consent to authorize any foreign
government to tax us.
We, the present generation, enjoy our tax free benefits because of
the wisdom and strength of our forefathers. We have an obligation to the
unborn generation that they will continue to enjoy those same benefits.
It is up to us, the present living generation, to ensure that no
present government official or officials, of any Band Council, Tribal
Council, Nation Council or Confederacy Council or any other person or
persons claiming to be an official give any foreign government the
authority to tax us. To do so would invite extreme shame upon our
generation by all the unborn generatIons to come.
Our Nations will always meet and discuss with any other sovereign
any matter of mutual interest. But any such discussion must be only a
sovereign to sovereign utilizing appropriate diplomatic channels utilizing
acceptable inter-nation protocol.
FIRST NATIONS BUSINESS LEAGUE
Immediate Release: March 10, 1996
NATIVE ORGANIZATION ADOPTS MISSION STATEMENT
Jamesville, New York -- (March 10, 1996) -- The First Nations
Business League adopted a mission statement that reaffirms
solidarity on the issue of sovereignty, during a weekend conference
in Jamesvilie, near Syracuse, New York.
The First Nations Business League is a coalition of
independent native businessmen and women and participants from
Indian Nations and Territories, The organization was established
to defend the sovereignty of Native Nations, especially in the face
of taxation regulations recently adopted by New York State.
First Nations Business League delegates are meeting weekly,
with the next session scheduled for Saturday, March 16, 1996, on
the Oneida Territory.
The mission statement follows on Page Two.
Further information:
Ross L. John, Sr., Chairman, Seneca Territories (716) 549-0090
Harry WalLace, Unkechaug Territory (516) 281-4143
Philip Tarbell, Mohawk Territory (515) 358-3044
--more--
Page Two
First Nations Business League
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the First Nations Business League is to express
the sovereignty position of the original nations on this part of
Mother Earth, and to promote, defend, and exercise our sovereign
right to conduct trade and commerce.
This expression of sovereignty by the First Nations Business
League is consistent with the universal definition of sovereignty
accepted by the United Nations and the international Community.
We have valid treaties with the United States and Canada.
Those nations continually violate virtually all articles of those
treaties and principles of Sovereignty as defined by the
international community.
The First Nations Business League is actively working to unify
the original nations in the common struggle to protect the inherent
powers of our people to assert our sovereignty.
Currently, both Canada and the United States are attempting to
impose illegal tax collecting schemes on the First Nations and
their people. To accomplish this, they are threatening to use
miiitary force to crush any resistance.
The First Nations Business League, in consultation with the
people, leaders, and legal counsel are working to develop the
necessary strategies to resist this unlawful imposition on our
sovereignty.
David Goyette
Co-director
First Nations Resource Network, Inc/Red Sticks Press
PO Box 59
St Petersburg, Fl 33731
813-821-6604
813-821-8804 fax/bbs
sfuwki@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us
90:3603/264
1:3603/390