POT LUCK DINNER FEBRUARY 5,2010

A welcome back dinner is being held on Friday for Lead Horse. He is scheduled to arrive in Akwesasne at 3 pm. The meal will be held at the Akwesasne Peoples Fire.

The meal is a pot luck and everyone is invited to welcome back our fire keeper. He will be here for a few weeks and is looking forward to helping out in any way that he can,

Bring a dish to share with everyone! Hope to see you there.

TRIBAL REFERENDUM JANUARY 30, 2010

A St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Referendum was voted on January 30, 2010. The unofficial count by the tribal election board was 538 votes for the proposal with 371 votes against it. There were 27 spoiled ballots.

The referendum was in favor of the tribal council's pursuit of a $500 million casino resort in Monticello. The question was "Do you approve the tribe pursuing off-reservation gaming in the Catskills."

More than 3000 jobs would be created, with first preference to Akwesasne Mohawks.

There was a referendum vote in November that was defeated. The vote at that time was 178 to 140. The results were deemed null and void because prior public notice was not made for the required 30 days.

The results will be made official after a five day period provided there are no appeals.

UPDATE GENERAL MEETING MCA KAWENNOKE

A general meeting was held on Kawennoke tonight. Some issues that were discussed were Old Age Security, HST and CBSA.

HST is going to be put into effect on July 1, 2010. A pilot project is being proposed and there is further negotiations for it. The pilot project would be a way to have the pst removed at the point of sale.  More will be coming on this issue as time progresses. There is a possibility of a creative solution to this.

The issues of CBSA are once again in the forefront. There have been difficulties within the community in being able to cross the bridge and return to Kawennoke to pick up children at the day care at a specific time. Many of the attendees are complaining of issues with CBSA that occur on a daily basis. Several stories were shared with the community tonight.

One of the solutions would be to have everyone carry a recording device when crossing through the port of entry. All that is required is a visible notice in the vehicle notifying CBSA that you are recording them.

Meetings and letters are being sent to the new MInister of Public Safety Vic Toews inviting him to visit the territory of Akwesasne so that he can have first hand experience in dealing with the distances traveled and the border crossing issues.

CBSA currently only recognises the Band card as proof of native status. Akwesasne also has a traditional government that issues identification cards and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe also issues id cards. The Customs Border Protection in the US will accept any proof of native status while CBSA will only accept the band card. 

The native status of a person should not be judged by any one card. That is a topic for another day.

I firmly believe that if you are onkwehonwe in your heart and life then you don't need to prove to anyone that is who you are. But the governments that we deal with on a daily basis, require us to have some form of ID to prove that is who we are.

CBSA has had an influence on our lives and we are learning to deal with issues. Yes, we get frustrated and angry at times at what we think are ridiculous questions that are being asked of us when we enter the port of entry in Cornwall. Every one becomes fearful that if they say the wrong thing they could be arrested and possibly manhandled. That is extreme but when you have elders with this fear, it can be terrifying to them.

TIDBITS

WEEK OF JANUARY 22-27, 2010

Just a few items to inform the community of events that occurred this week.

The dam in our neighboring community of Fort Covington, NY was removed last summer. With the rain and the warm conditions, the ice jammed and flooded and caused damage to homes along the Salmon River in Fort Covington.

Having once resided on the Quebec side of the Salmon River, we used to take rides in the different seasons to watch the flow of the river. Spring time always had lots of ice and water to deal with. 

We used to find dead muskrats on the ice. One of our friends would jump out of his car and go after them. He used to skin them and save the fur. It was something to see the excitement in his eyes when he found one. He would have to get lots of rats to be able to sell or trade.

Some of our people reside in Fort Covington. They are also living on the banks of the Salmon River. The Salmon River flows into the mighty St. Lawrence River. Our community is separated in many areas by water. This summer when we had to boat across the St. Lawrence River to see our family members in other areas of Akwesasne, I remembered all of the good times that we had traveling by boat to visit our family, to do our shopping or to stop at a restaurant and enjoy the vistas.

The Fire Department in Akwesasne has assisted Fort Covington in their state of emergency. That is what Akwesasne is all about, we help each other in times of need.

At the Cornwall City Council meeting this week, a motion was brought forth to request that the new Public Safety Minister Toews get involved with the Canada Border Services Agency and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne stalemate.

Hopefully, some one will start getting serious about the situation. It is difficult to be always in limbo and not know what is going to happen next.

Lots of frustration occurs and we are not always understanding of each other and what conditions that we are living under. I have family members that have a fear of going to Cornwall, because they don't know what to expect when they get to CBSA. So if I want to see anyone, I have to go to them.