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.