More Charges Laid: Clampdown Intensifies, Support Tyendinaga Mohawks!

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This from the Tyendinaga Support Committee:

More Charges Laid: Clampdown Intensifies, Support Tyendinaga Mohawks!

(MAY 20, 2008) In the wake of recent road closures, OPP intimidation, and jailing of Mohawk community members, charges have now been laid by the OPP against at least 9 additional Tyendinaga Mohawks. These charges, according to police, stem from "events that occurred in and around Deseronto," between April 21 and 26. According to the OPP, the investigations are ongoing and additional charges may be laid against other Mohawks. While none of the 9 people recently charged were forced to remain in police custody, and are free to go home to their families, all carry conditions of 'no protests' and 'not to be present at the quarry site'.

Three men remain in custody at this time, awaiting trial - Clint Brant, Matt Kunkel, and Shawn Brant. Shawn Brant's trial date has been set for mid-June.

The current situation in Tyendinaga is developing into a sweeping crack-down on community members, the stifling of resistance to increased policing and further development of the Culbertson Tract, while federal monies are being poured into the Territory for policing matters and an RCMP report is released, citing federal government intentions to dedicate police "to fighting contraband, which he [Stockwell Day] said is funding organized crime and possibly even terrorists" in three Mohawk communities, including Tyendinaga.

It is important to remember that the feds' concern with Native-made smokes and sales go much deeper than their own pocket book. It is not simply the lost tax revenue that they suffer, but the fact that the lost dollars go to sustain Mohawk families and other services and allows for the Mohawk Nation to stand, as it always has, as a clear and organized force of resistance against the Canadian government's practices of assimilation and control of First Nations peoples.

It is the efforts to strengthen Mohawk Nations' economies and sovereignty that threatens the implementation of Canada's colonial agenda. The policing agendas of the Canadian government aim to crack down on this assertion of self-sufficiency and strength, not, as they claim, "organized crime".

- Tyendinaga Support Committee
** NEW WEBSITE: http://ocap.ca/supporttmt/
support.tmt@gmail.com

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WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Please send letters to the men in jail:

Shawn Brant
Clint Brant
Matt Kunkel
c/o
Quinte Detention Centre
89 Richmond Blvd
Napanee, ON K7R 3S1

2. Donate money to the Tyendinega Legal Defence Fund, which divides funds raised between legal costs and maintaining the quarry reclamation site. Cheques can be made out to "Tyendinaga Legal Defence Fund" and mailed to the address below.

3. Host a facilitated workshop or information session with a member of the Tyendinaga Support Committee. Contact us at support.tmt@gmail.com

4. Put forward a resolution in your local or organization in support of Shawn Brant and the struggle of the Tyendinaga Mohawk community to reclaim their land.

5. Officially endorse the TSC campaign to support Shawn Brant's legal defence and the quarry reclamation site by contacting us at supporttmt@gmail.com

6. In Toronto, contact us to become actively involved in the work of the TSC and come to one of our meetings.

7. Visit our website to sign an online petition or to join our mailing list: http://ocap.ca/supporttmt/

Tyendinaga Support Committee
c/o 10 Britain St. Toronto ON
M5A 1R6
support.tmt@gmail.com
http://ocap.ca/supporttmt/