MNN.  Jan. 7, 2008.  Eight Mohawks from four communities

were invited by Robert “Too Much Mercy” Lovelace, the

negotiator for the Ardoc Lake Algonquins, to attend a

public meeting in Kingston Ontario.   They were

supposedly hammering out a deal between the

Ardoc/Sharbot Lake Algonquins, Ontario government

and Frontenac Ventures Corporation to “stop” a uranium

mining project that may have never been meant to see the

light of day.  “See you there”, he said.   The meeting was

to start on Sunday, January 6, from 7:00 to 11:00 pm. at

the Holiday Inn.

 

When we arrived in Kingston at 5:30 pm we phoned Randy

Cota, Ontario Provincial Police “chief” of the Ardoc

Algonquins to get directions.  He phoned their ambulance

chaser [lawyer], Chris “The Calf” Reid, who was already at

the hotel.  Reid said he would be waiting for us there at 6:45.  

 

Kingston Ontario is on Mohawk land.  The Algonquins have

been our allies for a long time.  In July 2007 they sent us a

wampum requesting our assistance.  According to the Two

Row Wampum protocol, we must remain a part of this issue

until it is resolved.   

 

We were more than “observers” to this parlay.  We had

questions to ask the “mediators” about the uranium mine

on the Ottawa and St. Lawrence River valleys and water

sheds.  They go right by four of our Mohawk communities –

Tyendinaga, Akwesasne, Kanehsatake and Kahnawake. 

 

Frontenac “Henco INCarnate” Ventures Corporation had a

permit from Ontario to mine for uranium on Algonquin land. 

According to Frontenac Ventures power point presentation,

their 2007 exploration program is finished.  They need

permission to continue.  Frontenac is threatening to start

drilling in 20 days.  

 

What we did not know is that it looks like a deal had already

been made.   This consultation or mediation or whatever

you want to call it was a farce.   It was just a “big show” to

make it look like these “sparring partners” were going to

fight out an agreement.  It was far from that.

 

The “Montello” Room in the Holiday Inn was set up by Chris

Reid, the Ardoc ambulance chaser.    He set up 12 chairs

around a set of tables in a tiny room on the sixth floor.  At

6:00 PM two people working on a documentary showed up

with their cameras. 

 

We sat at the table because there was nowhere else to sit. 

We waited for the mediators to come in and mediate with

each other.  One by one they peeked in and took off for

the restaurant down the hall.  They broke into three camps -

the government “Trainers” sat next to the bar to keep an

eye on the two sparring partners who sat next to the buffet. 

Big Chief Doreen “Wishbone” Davis for Sharbot sat not far

from Robert “Too Much Mercy” Lovelace, the chief

negotiator for Ardoc.  They whispered, sent notes to each

other and spoke constantly to their “handlers” on their cell

phones.  While the Indigenous people remained quiet, the

government trainers were getting louder.

 

At 7:30 one of us did the “ohenton kariwatwen”, the

traditional opening of the meeting, as it was taking place

on Mohawk land. 

 

Three Mohawk scouts decided to go and find out what the

encampments in the restaurant were complaining about. 

The government clique said, “We don’t want cameras in the

room”, meaning, “We don’t want Mohawks in the room”. 

The other two camps didn’t say much.

 

Chris Reid asked us to move from the table, except for

Rarakwiseres, a big man who was sporting a gustowa head

dress.  Where will we go?  On the floor? The photographers

went out and found a few chairs for the silent observers who

were quietly sliding into the room.  About 15 non-natives had

come in carrying chairs and sat against the wall like ghosts. 

We were into a pretty bizarre saga. 

 

A chair was brought in for Robert Lovelace to sit at the corner

of the table on Chris Reid’s left, looking like a bad little boy. 

There were no smiles or friendly greetings for us.  Lovelace

then asked Rarakwiseres to speak.  Since the Mohawk elder

had already opened the meeting, he stared straight ahead and

said nothing.  Is this sounding kind of strange?  What ‘til you

hear what followed. 

 

One of our women went to the restaurant and scolded the

government people about their rudeness.  She ordered them

to come in to the meeting.  Ten minutes later they reluctantly

sauntered in, threw their briefcases on the table like a bunch

of bratty kids.  [What is “This-is-Our-Table-Not-Yours” stuff? 

Our meetings are in a circle where everyone is equal and has

a voice.]  When we refused to sit on the floor or leave the room,

they picked up their briefcases and stomped out in a huff,

followed by their ambulance chasers.  Chris Reid accused us of

“hijacking and sabotaging his meeting” [inferring we’re

terrorists?]   They all disappeared into their fourth floor executive

suites [i.e. 427].   

 

The “meat eaters” [or mediators] were Cam “the Grim Reaper”

Clark, former deputy minister of Natural Resources department

who works for Ontario as a negotiator, particularly on mining

disputes; Ron “Napalm” Ferguson and Andrew “Agent Orange”

McDonald, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines;

Richard “Who-Will-Mediate-Anything-So-Long-As-It-Pays” Moore

of Ottawa, a lawyer, who likes to say no side owns the land.  The

other ambulance chaser, Stevie “No Wonder” Reynolds, sat

against the wall.  

 

Robert Lovelace came back and tried to smooth things out.  With

a straight face, he said, “Ontario must save face.  That’s the kind

of people we are!”  He promised to look at the concerns our

Women Title Holders had presented and to talk with us the next

morning. 

 

We showed up the next morning.  We got off the 6th floor elevator. 

Someone was waiting in the shadows for us.  He might have been

a hotel employee.  He whispered that the meeting had secretly 

been moved to the exclusive “River Mill Restaurant” in the 

Kingston Whig Standard newspaper building a few blocks away

from the Holiday Inn.  He quickly got on the elevator and  

disappeared.  That’s truly what happened!

 

We jumped into our van and drove over to the River Mill

Restaurant.  We found the gang had broken up into two teams

and were meeting in two rooms.  One was the “Voracious Sell-

Out Sharks” and the other was the “Frontenac Ventures &

Government  Parasites”.  Each team had an Indian mascot,

Doreen Davis and Robert Lovelace.

 

It was hard to tell who the Ontario government, Ministry of Natural

Resources, Frontenac Ventures, the Indians or the cops were. 

The ambulance chasers were running back and forth between

the two rooms.  There was a score keeper.  When they saw us,

“Oh!  S--t!  They found us.  Let’s get the h—l out of here away

from these Injuns”.  They snapped their bags shut, jumped up,

grabbed their coats and almost stampeded us in their rush to

get out the door. 

 

We followed them like groupies, taking pictures and cheering. 

They huffed and puffed through their gritted teeth.  “Hey, don’t

run away and have secret meetings behind closed doors”, we

chanted.  “We are the Mohawks and you are on our land”.   They

all bounded into taxis and headed back to the safety of their

executive suites at the Holiday Inn. 

 

We returned to the Holiday Inn, got off the sixth floor elevator and

found two Ontario Provincial Police officers prancing outside the

Montello room.  We posted a sign on the door and then left:

 

“Notice:  Treason and conspiracy prohibited

against our Algonquin allies in Kingston which

is on Mohawk land, as per the Two Row

Wampum Treaty”.

 

Later the CBC called asking what happened.  The reporter said

that the “gang” had gone back into the Montello Room “behind

closed doors”.  The plan for the Algonquins could be one of three

possibilities. 

 

To begin with, Robert Lovelace gave us the impression that

Ontario plans to pull the permit, give Frontenac, the lawyers and

mediators some money and then drop the project? 

          
We don’t think so.  The Ministry of Natural Resources will put the

unsurrendered Algonquin land into a park-like regime [like

Ipperwash].  This will be “co-managed” by Ontario and the

Algonquins for a “cut” of any development.  Chris Reid was

heard saying to Robert Lovelace, “Next time, we should meet

alone with George White of Frontenac Ventures” without a lawyer

to make a deal.  Whichever “Algonquins” are going to carry out

this deal need some kind of “accreditation” recognized by Ontario. 

That must be why Robert Lovelace [a U.S. draft dodger] and

Doreen Davis were so disrespectful to us in front of their

“handlers”.  Were they scared of having any Mohawks or true

Algonquins around who would surely have interfered with their

greedy plans for enriching themselves?       

 

The third scenario is called “Suckling Off the Cash Cow”.  

This is how it works.  The government gives one of their friends

a permit to drill, dam up, dig, mine, blow up, cut down or build

houses on unsurrendered Indigenous land.  The Indigenous

people resist and set up barricades.  Negotiations start.  The

developer sues the Indigenous people for millions.   The

government and developer start to negotiate with the compliant

members of the Indigenous peoples.  Bingo!  It’s settled.  The

developer gets a big gift of tax payers’ dollars from the

government, the development is stopped and the Indigenous

people are left alone, as poor as mice in an abandoned church.     

  

Whichever way you look at it, none is legal.  They’re all scams of

one kind or another on the Algonquins, the Canadian public and

the future generations. 

 

The government “negotiators/mediators”, the developers and the

lawyers representing the Indians move on and keep on suckling. 

Tax payers are told that millions of dollars are being spent on the

Indigenous peoples and there is not enough money left for health

care, schools, roads or infrastructures.  Outsiders like the Mohawks

who ask too many questions are painted as dangerous.  Terrorists

even!  The government toadies and corporate elite grow fat.  This

“blood sucking” scam has got to be stopped.

 

 

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

 

 
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