Tyendinaga Land Reclamation
On November 15, 2006, Mohawks from the Tyendinaga reserve in Ontario, Canada, briefly blocked Highway 2 with vehicles to stop a Canadian army convoy during a demonstration against a planned town house and condo development in the nearby town of Deseronto. Three Mohawks, including spokesman Shawn Brant, were later charged criminally by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) with mischief and uttering threats in relation to the blockade. One Mohawk was also charged with two counts of assault.
On March 26, 2007, more than 100 Mohawks re-occupied the land in Deseronto that had been made into a gravel quarry by Thurlow Aggregates for the development.
On April 20, Tyendinaga Mohawks used a school bus to block the Canadian National railway crossing at Deseronto Road, halting passanger and freight trains, with the demand that the provincial government revoke the quarry operators' licence.
The Tyendinaga reserve's Indian Act band council chief, R. Donald Maracle, denounced the blockade. "The council is disappointed in the action of some of our members, who decided to take matters into their own hands by blocking the CN rail line," said Maracle, quoted in the Belleville Intelligencer newspaper.
The blockade was brought down the next day.
Blockade spokesman, Shawn Brant, turned himself over to the OPP on May 3 to face charges of mischief, disobeying a court order and breach of recognizance, after a warrant was issued for his arrest over the blockade. He was released on bail the same day.
The blockade also marked the one year anniversary of the OPP raid on the land reclamation carried out by fellow members of the Six Nations Confederacy at the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Ontario. Tyendinaga Mohawks had responded to the raid the following day by blocking the same railway crossing.
As of May 4, 2007, the land reclamation at the quarry continues.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Illegal Dumping Uncovered at Quarry Situated On Mohawk Land
Thursday, April 5th, 2007: Evidence of extensive illegal dumping - including large amounts of asphalt – has been found by the Mohawks of Tyendinaga. This discovery was made at the Thurlow Aggregates quarry site, occupied by the Mohawks for the past two weeks. The quarry is situated within the Culbertson Tract, land that is currently under Claim and that the Government has acknowledged rightfully belongs to the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga.
Three days ago, Band Council environment officials were alerted to the situation, documented the disturbing findings, and advised the Province of Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources. This Ministry is also responsible for quarry and aggregate licensing, and has until now refused to comment on the demand that Thurlow Aggregates have its licence revoked pending the ongoing land claim negotiations between the Mohawk community and the Canadian government.
The District Manager of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Jane Ireland, of the Peterborough MNR, is expected at the quarry at 12:00 noon today. The Mohawks have said that she will be granted access to the site to view and document the dumping.
"The minister's office cannot claim it didn't know. It would be obvious to any inspector what was going on here, including open burning of hazardous materials like industrial batteries, construction waste and oil filters," said Mohawk Jay Maracle.
"It is now becoming clear why (Minister of Natural Resources) David Ramsay didn't want to revoke the quarry licence. The Province was using it to dump large amounts of Provincial Highway pavement instead of properly disposing of it," said spokesman Shawn Brant. "Now, they are responsible for a local environmental catastrophe."
Press Inquiries, contact: Shawn Brant, Tyendinaga, 613. 391.4055
Quarry Use on Disputed Culbertson Tract:
Mohawk Community Demands End to Stealing of Land
Text from Information Leaflet distributed in Tyendinaga, Mohawk Territory, March 2007 -
The Culbertson is a tract of land, 923 acres in size that runs along the eastern boundary of Tyendinaga. It was stolen by the Feds in 1837. Tyendinaga's Chiefs immediately registered their people's dissent but no formal legal process existed to pursue its return. After the Government finally got around to creating such a process in 1991, Tyendinaga filed a formal land claim.
In November 2003, the Feds acknowledged that the Culberston Tract was never surrendered and is Mohawk Land. They then tried for several years to get Tyendinaga to take a buy-out for the land. The people of Tyendinaga repeatedly refused.
The town of Deseronto falls in the middle of the Culberston claim. The Mayor of Deseronto said that the town's economic viability and survival depends on the development of Culbertson tract lands and began promoting the land for condos and townhouses late last year. Tyendinaga's Rotiskenhrakehte successfully stopped development of these lands and the developer publicly abandoned plans for a 30 million dollar project.
However, Thurlow Aggregates continues to operate a Gravel Quarry on Culberston Tract lands. Despite the fact that Tyendinaga has requested its licence be revoked given ongoing negotiations, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources continues to license the quarry for the removal of 150,000 tons of gravel annually. Federal negotiations are clearly in bad faith as they choose to ignore the 850 plus truckloads of Tyendinaga land that are removed every month. In January 2007, Tyendinaga's Rotiskenhrakehte gave the quarry operator 60 days notice to stop selling off Mohawk land. The time for voluntary closure has lapsed and Tyendinaga has now assumed the burden of closing the gravel pit.
Insurrectionary Anarchists of the Coast Salish Territories