CPT works in the US and Canada as an ally to indigenous / aboriginal rights groups.
On February 3, 2008 and at the request of the Algonquin leadership, CPT reestablished a small violence-reduction team in the vicinity of the proposed uranium mine in Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin territory.
In September 2007, the two First Nations originally invited CPT to accompany them in their nonviolent efforts to protect their territory from uranium exploration. At that time, CPT established a small team which was recalled in October 2007 when a mediation process was agreed to between the Algonquins, the Ontario government and the mining company.
The mediation process ended in late January 2008 without resolving the conflict. Ontario's Ministry of Northern Development and Mines' continues to insist that exploratory drilling go on despite the Ministry having earlier given assurances that the question of drilling was subject to negotiation. A court order, suspended during negotiations, called on the First Nations and others not to impede the entrance of any Frontenac Ventures employees to the area under exploration.
In February 2008, Judge Cunningham of the Ontario Superior Court sentenced retired Ardoch Algonquin Chief Bob Lovelace to six months in jail and to heavy fines. Several other Algonquin leaders were either heavily fined or are awaiting sentencing. Three non-Aboriginal persons(including 2 CPTers) are also due to appear in court in March, 2008.
This conflict has occurred because the Ontario government - without consent from the First Nations communities - granted Frontenac Ventures a license under the Ontario Mining Act to carry out exploratory drilling on sixty square kilometers of unceded Algonquin land. The Algonquins have never surrendered title to lands they have inhabited from time immemorial. The Royal Proclamation Act of 1763 and the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 enshrine Aboriginal title in Canadian law.
Neither FV nor the Ontario government consulted with the Algonquin people before FV began its uranium exploration program. Canadian court decisions dating back seventeen years have ruled governments must consult Indigenous peoples and accommodate their concerns before undertaking resource exploitation projects on their territories. This duty to consult exists even when title to the land is in dispute.
Canadian courts have also ruled that where the potential harm to Indigenous rights is serious, governments should proceed only with the consent of the affected peoples. An open-pit uranium mine would release toxic radon gas and polonium and leave behind millions of tonnes of radioactive tailings that will permanently pollute groundwater. Even exploratory drilling alone could bring radioactive materials into contact with the water table, leading to its contamination.
CPT maintains that this land-use dispute is rooted in the Canadian government's historic neglect of legitimate Algonquin land and national sovereignty claims, and the unconstitutionality of the Ontario Mining Act. (The 100 year-old Mining Act makes no provision for consulting First Nations communities.)
In addition to maintaining a violence-reduction team in the area, CPT has organized three short-term delegations to the area, attended negotiations and court proceedings, organized a letter-writing campaign to Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino and organized or participated in public witnesses to call for a nonviolent resolution. CPT believes that a nonviolent resolution to this conflict is possible.
From 3 July - 15 August 2006 CPT maintained a small team at Bear Butte, South Dakota at the invitation of an Intertribal Coalition involving thirty local tribes-- including all of the Lakota tribes with whom CPT worked in 1999 near Pierre, SD. The Coalition organized a six-week encampment to resist nonviolently the continued development and encroachment on territory they consider sacred. Every year, thousands of Native people travel to pray at Bear Butte, located near Sturgis, SD in the Black Hills.
The final week of the encampment, 7-13 August, coincided with the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally which brought an estimated 500,000 bikers to the area, creating an enormous impact on the surrounding economy and ecosystem. Most recently developer Jay Allen built a massive new biker bar and concert venue called the "Sturgis County Line" on 600 acres at the base of Bear Butte.
Tribal groups strongly opposed to this development organized a campaign of nonviolent direct action to raise their voices in opposition, and asked CPT to assist with planning actions and to be on hand to help reduce tensions and document abuses if violence was threatened.
Bear Butte International Alliance
Defend Bear Butte! | Bear Butte is Sacred to Us
For three seasons, 1999-2001, the Mi'kmaq people of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation (Burnt Church) in New Brunswick, Canada, sought to assert their inherent and treaty rights to manage their own lobster fishery. Each season they were met with violence and destruction of their fishing equipment by their neighbours and by Canadian authorities. The Mi'kmaq asked CPT to be present through the 2000 and 2001 fishing seasons to reduce the extent of this violence. When CPT returned to Esgenoôpetitj in 2002, we found the community had little fishing equipment left, and in August they signed an agreement submitting their fishery to Canadian government control in return for fishing licences and money for training and equipment. There was a sense of resignation in the community–part disappointment and part relief. However the agreement was probably better than it would have been without the community's determined assertion of its rights, and everyone in Canada knows that "Burnt Church" was another example of the unresolved issues between Aboriginal peoples and European settlers.
Court cases against the Mi'kmaq continued from charges laid in earlier seasons, and CPTers testified in these proceedings in support of community members. People expressed gratitude for CPT's presence during this conflict. We were told repeatedly, "If you had not been here, there would have been blood in the water."
Kenora is town of 16,000 people located in northwestern Ontario. As with many towns in Canada's north, racism is a significant problem there. Anishnaabe (Ojibway) people must travel there to shop, attend medical appointments and conduct personal business. However, it is not a place where they feel safe or welcome. As one pastor put it, "Kenora is a racist town but it's something nobody wants to talk about. It only comes up when something really bad happens [someone is killed] and it can't be ignored anymore."
On October 4, 2000, someone was killed: a North Spirit man named Max Kakegamic was found beaten to death on the streets of Kenora. Five years later, his murder remains unsolved and his killer is still at large. As of July 2005, two Kenora police officers stand charged under the Police Services Act for suppressing evidence and other misconduct related to the case.
For many of Kenora's Anishinaabe residents, the Kakegamic case is a stark illustration of the consequences of racism. Aboriginal people in Kenora say that they are routinely harassed, intimidated or neglected by Kenora Police Services (KPS). Anishinaabe street people live in fear of police mistreatment. On any given day, 90% of the people in the municipal jail are Aboriginal. But only 10% of KPS officers are of Aboriginal descent, and only one member the current five-member KPS Board is Aboriginal.
CPT maintained a full-time team in Kenora from September 2004 to May 2005. CPT returned to Kenora in October 2005 for two months, and then again for another two months in the Spring of 2006. Our goal is to build awareness in Kenora' s community white community around the problems of racism and to work with the white community to improve its relationship with the Anishinaabe community.
CPT Kenora is partnered with Kenora's Anishinaabe Coalition for Peace and Justice. The Coalition formed in the Spring of 2004 after criminal charges against the man accused of killing Max Kakegamic were dropped due to police misconduct. The Coalition is calling for police and community accountability in relation to Kakegamic's unsolved murder.
Racism, as it targets and affects Aboriginal people in Canada, is inextricably linked to land, control of land and access to the land's resources. In the Kenora area, the relationship between aboriginal people and the land's newcomers is governed by Treaty #3 .
Kenora was founded in the late nineteenth century as a staging ground for the extraction of resources from the undeveloped wilderness of northwestern Ontario. As the gateway to the boating and fishing paradise of Lake of the Woods, Kenora's population almost triples in the summer. Fifteen percent of Kenora's population is aboriginal and it serves as the regional center for thirteen Anishinaabe communities. In addition to tourism and logging-related industries (Abitibi has a paper mill there), Kenora's economy is sustained by Anishinaabe spending and the social service sector that serves Anishinaabe people.
On October 4, 2000, a North Spirit man named Max Kakegamic was found beaten to death on the streets of Kenora. Five years later, his murder remains unsolved and his killer is still at large. As of July, 2005, two Kenora police officers stand charged under the Police Services Act for suppressing evidence and other misconduct related to the case.
Mr. Kakegamic was on his way home to Fort Hope–a remote fly-in Native reserve north of Thunder Bay–after attending the funeral of his cousin in North Spirit, which is 400 km north of Kenora and only accessible by plane as well.
Grieving the loss of his cousin who also died violently, Kakegamic drank heavily during his stop in Kenora. He entered the unlocked apartment of Maria Campanella and passed out on her couch. Campanella called her boyfriend, Justin Carambetsos (age 24), who was working at a nearby bar. Carambetsos evicted Kakegamic.
Kakegamic was killed by a blow to the neck and his body was found in the early morning under a mural honouring Aboriginal culture. A few days later Carambetsos was arrested, charged with second-degree murder and then released without bail, a fact which outraged Native people in Kenora. In June 2001, the charge was stepped down to manslaughter.
When the case finally got to trial in January 2004, charges against Carambetsos were stayed because of irregularities in the investigation. The investigating officers were found to have lied to the court and suppressed evidence that a relative of Sargeant Tom Favreau had been seen near Kakegamic’s body. In his ruling, Justice Hambly wrote, “The evidence of Favreau, [Lloyd] White and [Chris] Ratchford has no credibility in these proceedings. I find with regret that I cannot accept anything that these officers say unless it is corroborated by reliable, independent evidence.”
Favreau and White are facing non-criminal disciplinary charges under the Police Services Act.
Kakegamic is survived by his wife Karen (who was six months pregnant at the time of his murder) and four children. His parents, Isaac and Margaret, continue to press for a resolution to the case.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General of Ontario reported there were 2,004 incarcerations in the Kenora District in 2003, of which 1,562 were of First Nations descent–78 percent of the total. While 2.7 percent of Canada’s population is First Nations, they account for 18.3 percent of all incarcerations in Canada.
What the Kakegamic case seems to illustrate is that when someone in Kenora is stereotyped as a “drunken Indian” it is not only permissible to take matters in your own hands, but you will be protected for doing so.
Kenora’s Anishinaabe Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Grand Council of Treaty 3 have called for a public inquiry into the Kakegamic case.
CPT was invited to send an observer team to Oneida Territory near Syracuse, New York, for two weeks in February 2002, in response to fears surrounding forced evictions. The team met with various Oneida individuals and officials, area pastors, police, city and state officials, local residents and businesspeople. Fears and threats of violence remain.
In August of 2002 a request for peacemakers came from Danielle Shenandoah of the Onedia community (as her house was to be demolished) and CPT responded to this call by sending an emergency team to join dozens of other supporters on the land. The emergency team was present in the community from August to December.
Danielle Shenandoah's house was demolished on November 1, 2002 and since then CPT has sent teams to be present with the community upon their request.
The Oneida, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Seneca nations are autonomous members of the Six Nation Confederacy (the Haudenosaunee). The Oneida are about 1000 people (450 adults) in central New York.
With the influx of white settlers, the Oneidas lost the 6 million acres that they once occupied in what is now central New York. Two groups of Oneidas were displaced to Ontario and Wisconsin. Others went to live with the nearby Onondaga Nation or were acculturated into the surrounding white population. Nevertheless, the Oneidas ceaselessly pursued the return of their land.
In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that the Oneidas were the rightful owners of 872 acres that they had claimed in a test case. The ruling gave legitimacy to the Oneida claim to another 250,000 acres in central New York. But these claims have yet to be resolved.
According to Haudenosaunee tradition, the Oneida clan mothers of the wolf, bear, and turtle clans select the chiefs who represent the Oneida nation on the Grand Council of Chiefs, which oversees the Six Nation Confederacy.
But during much of the 1970s and 1980s, the New York Oneidas were beset by leadership conflicts. In the mid-1980s, in an effort to reestablish a traditional form of government, wolf clan mother Maisie Shenandoah selected three Oneida men as temporary representatives to the Grand Council of Chiefs. By the mid-1990s, two had died, leaving only Ray Halbritter, a talented Oneida businessman trained at Harvard.
In 1993, Mr. Halbritter negotiated a gaming compact for the Oneidas with New York governor Mario Cuomo and consequently built the highly profitable Turning Stone Casino in central New York. This casino became the cornerstone of an expansive Oneida business enterprise that now includes a chain of gas stations, a textile factory, and a luxury hotel. The business is incorporated as the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Inc. with Ray Halbritter as its CEO. The corporation has become one of the largest employers in the area and holds the upper hand in the local economy, a fact which rankles many of its white neighbors.
This business enterprise has brought a long-elusive prosperity to many Oneida people. Casino profits have also built a health center, a recreational gymnasium and swimming pool, and a cultural center and museum. In addition, the profits have provided scholarship programs, job training, day care, legal assistance, and Oneida language classes. Local residents who have objected to the business enterprise controled by Halbritter believe that since Federal financing helped put these facilities in place they deserve fair access.
But Mr. Halbritter's initiatives have been criticized by some Oneidas, who say he has violated the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee by embracing gambling. They also fault him for selecting his own clan mothers and for creating a "men's council," both unheard of practices in Haudenosaunee tradition.
In 1993, the Grand Council of Chiefs removed Mr. Halbritter as the Oneida wolf clan representative and notified the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that he no longer represented the Oneida people. The decision was accepted by the BIA, only to be reversed 24 hours later, reportedly under pressure from Sherwood Boehlert, the U.S. congressional representative for the area and a casino supporter.
Today the U.S. governmentóbut not the Grand Council of Chiefsógives official recognition to the Oneida Indian Nation with Ray Halbritter as its representative.
Ray Halbritter has characterized this conflict as an internal family dispute between himself and his aunt Maisie Schenandoah, the clan mother who originally appointed him to represent Oneidas to the Grand Council. But Maisie Schenandoah sees it as a struggle between two competing ways of governance: the traditional structure advocated by the Grand Council of Chiefs and the corporate structure advocated by Ray Halbritter. She accuses her nephew of operating under self-assumed authority.
Today this struggle is being played out on a 32-acre plot of land, the only undisputed territory held by Oneidas in central New York. Maisie Schenandoah lives on this territory, alongside eight like-minded families. But their continued residence here is in jeopardy. In the past year, building inspectors from the Oneida Indian Nation have declared eleven of their dwellings to be in violation of building code and have evicted the residents and demolished their homes. All but one of the homes that were inspected have been destroyed.
Some people speculate that the corporation wants the 32-acre territory for an "offshore" bank or as a new location for the casino, if environmental and accounting irregularities force it off its present site. They point to recently installed industrial sewer and water lines, which seem to indicate plans for nonresidential development. Or, perhaps the removals are simply further attempts to silence Ray Halbritter's critics. They say he already withholds from them their share of nation monies that are supposed to be distributed to all Oneidas.
In November 2001, Oneida Indian Nation officials arrived at the 32-acre territory to inspect the home of Danielle Patterson, Maisie Shenandoah's daughter. The officials were accompanied by 22 officers from the corporation's police force. Ms. Patterson protested but was roughly forced aside. (Police later attempted to remove her injury records from the hospital where she was treated.)
In the hopes of preventing further violence, native and nonnative observers have been coming to the 32-acre territory since this incident occurred.
CPT was asked to send people because of a chain of connections. Hawk, a Shawnee observer at the 32-acre territory, contacted John Paul Lederach who encouraged Rob and Patty Burdette, peace workers participants in CPT events and delegations to visit. Their visit and CPT involvement with native struggles in South Dakota and New Brunswick led to a request from the traditional Oneidas on the 32 acres that CPT place a two week team in the area.
Anne Herman, Rod Orr, and Cliff Kindy arrived at the 32-acre territory on February 7, 2002. They chose to accept the invitation to live with three separate families on the territory after judging that staying in Syracuse, 30 miles away, would complicate documentation work if a demolition occurred.
The CPT presence for two weeks has been one of observing and listening. A prayer circle each morning and frequent potlucks on the 32-acre territory have provided contacts with 40 to 50 Oneidas and friends connected intimately with this situation.
We visited area pastors and attended three Sunday worship services in different churches. We learned that prayer meetings, dialogue circles, and peacemaking meetings have been part of the recent history.
We contacted city, state, and Oneida Indian Nation police, as well as county and federal district attorneys. These contacts clarified the facts of the initial deputation of Oneida Indian Nation police and then the removal of that deputation by area security jurisdictions. We are troubled by the lack of accountability of these police to anyone other than the Oneida Indian Nation corporate leadership.
We visited with employees of the corporation, and we had a two-hour meeting with Ray Halbritter, four members of the menís council, and one clan mother. These meetings were key opportunities to become human with each other.
CPT has had visits and advice from others who have been on territory and those whose work centers on the larger picture of native issues in the region. The Inter-Religious Council of Central New York and Quakers from the Syracuse Friends Meeting and from the American Friends Service Committee office in Syracuse have provided a framework of understanding for CPT analysis and work.
The concerns and fears of local non-natives are both real and greatly exaggerated by the unknown. They were made worse when what was to be a bingo hall turned into a casino complex and when 20,000 local landholders were made codefendants in the Oneida land claim lawsuits. Traditional Oneidas on the 32 acres have tried to distance themselves from these actions because of their work over the years to be good neighbors.
Oneida City mayor Jim Chappel spoke to us of the 36 percent drop in tax revenues from 2000 to 2001 because most of the gas stations in town are now native-owned and do not charge sales and excise taxes on motor fuels. (The corporation has a monopoly on diesel fuel sales in the stretch from Utica to Syracuse.) He raised concerns about possible increases in the crime rate and about the damages caused to families by compulsive gambling.
Business owners in the area cited the unfair competition of native stores, which do not have to charge tax on gasoline, diesel, and cigarettes. The current proposal for a settlement of the land claims would require the Oneida Indian Nation to charge non-natives the equivalent of sales and excise taxes. But the corporation would keep these revenues and would have to use them for tribal services, not for business purposes. Sovereignty and tax exemption would still be issues even if the traditionals were the bia-recognized government. Traditional people feel as strongly about these matters as does Ray Halbritter’s organization.
Landholders fear they will be forced to sell their homes in the land claim area. But Cynthia Bannis, whose family has had five generations on the land, told the team that such fears are unfounded. No homeowners across the United States have been forced to sell their homes against their will in any native land claim settlements. But some have felt compelled to become "willing sellers" after casino traffic so disrupted their neighborhoods that they didn't want to live there anymore.
Those with the greatest fears seem to be members of the Upstate Citizens for Equality (UCE). Their concern about a disappearing tax base is valid. Again, though, the current settlement proposal includes payments to those affected communities to balance the losses. UCE positions against native sovereignty and a sense that Indians have special privileges under the law seem to point toward an underlying racism, as Ray Halbritter has charged. But UCE expressions of support for Danielle Patterson indicate some of the complexity of their position as they face what they see as a common opponent in Mr. Halbritter.
Pastors told us of the delicate role they play in raising justice issues in congregations that have employees working for the Oneida Indian nation businesses. They also face opposition from conservative Christians who protest ecumenical services in which ìpagansî are allowed to pray and in which other religious traditions participate.
As we talked with people in the Oneida area, we could clearly sense the fear that this powerful business enterprise instills in some of those who are native and/or work for the corporation. All these fears will need resolution before there can be a healthy base for community wholeness.
CPT provided a series of nonviolent trainings for the families on the 32-acre territory. We believe this helped to strengthen and clarify their nonviolent resistance to a forced eviction from their homes and takeover of the land.
As CPT left, the community of families on the 32-acre territory was preparing to meet with their lawyers. They plan to make the following offer to Ray Halbritter:
The CPT Oneida team recommends that CPT remain connected with the situation through the advisors/contacts. Should the need arise, the team urges that an emergency delegation be sent in a fashion similar to our responses to crises in Vieques, Puerto Rico. (See the list of Potential Emergency Delegation members.)
Even in these short two weeks, CPT has been able to build credibility with various players in the drama. This work has parallels to CPT work with indigenous people in Chiapas, the Lakota in South Dakota, and esgenoopetitj First Nation in New Brunswick. Security forces, with their tendencies toward violence, complement the violence of laws, structures, and economics. Together they destroy or remove people who are in the way in order to access resources and land. There are still questions that remain for the work in Oneida. (See list of questions.)
Oneida Nation of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy 1000 year old self-designation of the Oneida people; still existing today
Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Inc. “a business called a nation”
32 acre territory only uncontested Oneida land; home of 8 families facing home demolitions; site of the longhouse ceremonial meeting center that has been locked to the 8 families
Wolf, Bear and Turtle clans primary Oneida social organization that crosses family and nation boundaries
land claim areas that Indian nations claim as rightfully theirs because of treaties signed with the US government
tax base properties and businesses that pay the taxes to support area infrastructure; native sovereignty excludes this foreign taxation
traditional following the old historical practices and customs
BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs; US government program to oversee contacts with American Indian nations; often accused of destroying native culture, language and political autonomy Great Law moral teaching of the Iroquois
traditional Oneida those trying to maintain the historical customs and strengths of the nation
Shenandoah family core family keeping the traditional Oneida nation base viable on the 32 acres
Maisie Shenandoah wolf clan mother and family matriarch
Ray Halbritter CEO of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Inc.
Upstate Citizens for Equality landowners concerned about native claims to their homes and loss of tax base
Oneida Indian Nation Police all non-native enforcement officers of the corporation
George Pataki New York governor willing to deal secretly with nations for casinos
Sherwood Boehlert US Representative who prides himself with trading the deciding vote for NAFTA in exchange for BIA recognition of Halbritter
On March 22, 1999 in Pierre, SD, seven Lakota men established the "First Fire of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) camp on La Framboise Island after more than 200 people demonstrated against the U.S. Congress turning Treaty land over to the state of South Dakota. Spiritual leaders conducted ceremonies and lit a sacred fire at the camp-in site as a reminder that the aboriginal and Treaty rights of the Oceti Sakowin nation are not extinguished. The camp-in participants were committed to a nonviolent presence across from the SD capitol on La Framboise Island, part of the 200,000 acres in question. The intent was to remain there until the congressional decision, called Title VI: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and State of South Dakota Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Restoration Act of 1999, or the "Mitigation Act", was repealed.
CPT was invited to be observers of this nonviolent camp-in calling for the reversal of the Mitigation Act. Various church groups endorsed CPT's presence and local congregations were invited to join and support Lakota people and CPTers on La Framboise Island.
The CPT presence on LaFramboise Island in the Missouri River was designed to help prevent the outbreak of violence of the sort widely associated with the deaths at Wounded Knee in 1973. The presence by committed nonviolent Christians sent a message to local troublemakers and law enforcement bodies that the world is watching.
This was an important opportunity for Christians who want to witness to our nonviolent faith to make a very concrete statement with their lives. Although the presence on LaFramboise Island was peaceful, there had been racist incidents and occasional harassment, and gunshots were fired into the camp. As the deadline to remove the camp approached, the possibility existed that Federal or State Forces might use violent force to remove the Lakota people from the island. CPT was present to document these events and to help prevent an escalation of the violence.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- Dee Brown
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse -- Peter Matthiessen
Lakota Woman -- Mary Crow Dog
Dammed Indians
God is Red -- Vine Deloria
Walking in the Sacred Manner -- Mark St. Pierre & Tilda Long Soldier