A joint statement released by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and the Six Nations of the Grand River has a few members asking for more information while others are questioning if these decisions made by the Band Council are valid?
It didn’t take long for a private member bill to make its way to parliament calling for an amendment of the criminal code for the National foot to get into the 17.1 billion dollar market.
Yakowennahskats
Make Laws to Make Money
The first reading of a private members bill C-218 was brought forth by conservative MP Kevin Waugh on February 25, 2020. Its goal was to change the criminal code to legalize sports betting and manage it closely by a provincial regulatory body.
The bill explicitly addresses online betting for racing, MMA Type fights or other single sport or athletic events, except for horse racing.
It received Royal Assent in April 2021, giving provinces the green light to develop their policies. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario or AGCO is the same regulatory body that oversees cannabis, alcohol, and gambling will also handle the Igaming industry in Ontario.
In January of this year, Ontario announced an IGaming portal to go live On April 4 of 2022.
Kahnawake elected administration attempted to work with federal ministers; however, Waugh’s legislative assistant stated that it’s not a national issue.
Instead, the assistant advised the administration to deal directly with the province despite their extensive history and dealings with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
A press release from the elected official Mark Hill addresses his grievances over the new legislation and the failure to consult with First Nations with an established presence within that industry.
At this time, the Six Nations administration is calling for a pause to Ontarios IGaming until all involved nations can amicably resolve things.
A communication was forwarded to the United Nations in July 1948 with a specific direction from Canada.
The request was that any reference to Cultural Genocide be removed from the United Nations Convention on genocide in article three. Otherwise, the delegation must boycott the entire convention according to the memorandum.
The thought being If assimilation were successful, then the by-products of this policy wouldn’t be happening.
It was easy to dismiss the oppressive Indian Act as one promoting the civilization of Onkwehonwe; in fact, it was the exact opposite. However, public access to data and resources for the general public was non-existent, so the narrative took hold.
Despite a Physician, several heads of state and the entire league of Nations/United Nations knowing, It was a time when the only people being listened to about what was happening in Canada were those committing the crimes or those intentionally asking others to ignore it.
You should support or initiate any move fort the deletion of article three on “cultural” genocide.If this move is not succeddful, you should vote against Article three and if necessary, against the convention. The conventions as a whole less article three is acceptable, although naturally legislation will naturally be required to implement the convention.
You will find support in the United States point of view expressed on part 10 of document E/794. You should refer also to resolution 96(1) of the assembly on Decembwer 11, 1946 defining genocide which it should be argued, excludes “cultural” genocide from the terms of reference given by the general assembly to ECOSOC. The matters dealth with by Article three are more properly relevant to the protection of minorities
Secretary of state for External Affairs
The Prevention and Punishment of the crime of genocide
The United Nations began to prepare its draft Convention on “The prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide” in 1946, the following year after World War II had ended. All United Nations members voted to implement the elements of articles under the convention without ever questioning why Canada wanted to remove cultural genocide
The political persona of Canada was relatively untarnished.
It was time for what some would call the beginning of Canada’s Golden era! So naturally, Canadian Politicians placed great importance on establishing strictly Canadian values and morals in the public forum. However, behind the scenes was a much different picture.
A newly elected Prime Minister, Louis St Laurant, launched a vigorous campaign against communism and fought for Canada to have greater independence within the British Commonwealth.
On January 5th, 2022 the Two Row Times newspaper in Six Nations ran a full front page story with the title “Sexual assault allegations rock Land Back Lane and Spokesperson Skyler Williams.” The unfounded and slanderous claims made against Willams in the unsigned editorial are part of a longstanding pattern by editors Jonathan Garlow and Nahnda Garlow to target and discredit those Onkwehon:we who uphold their traditional systems and fight to preserve their lands.
The Two Row Times article was based upon claims made by a non-native TikTok creator named Kristin Helliwell aka Charlie Cruise/thecaptaincanuckofficial and the “Credible” Mohawk Entertainment (CME) in Tyendinaga which is owned and operated by Andrew Brant (Mohawk Turtle Clan) and Renee Brant (Mohawk Wolf Clan).
According to the Two Row Times, Helliwell claimed that “Williams was a sexual predator who used his position as spokesperson for LandBack Lane to coerce them [Helliwell] into a polygamous [sic] encounter.” An investigation of the actual facts of the matter, however, does not bear out the slanders and libel made by the TRT, CME and Helliwell.
It goes unmentioned in the Two Row Times article that the “relationship” between the Toronto-based Helliwell and Williams occurred entirely over the phone while he was in Wet’suwet’en territory and lasted for only a week. Helliwell initiated the contact with Williams and sent him sexually explicit messages. When Williams did not immediately respond to the nudes, Helliwell replied that she felt rejected by his lack of response and prompted him for comment. After further solicitation, Williams said that he wouldn’t be able to sleep with Helliwell unless she joined him and his girlfriend in a threesome. Helliwell then turned on Williams and in text messages told him to “step down” from LandBack Lane and “make it public… and own your shit or I’ll make you wish you had.”
Helliwell then made a Tik Tok video attacking Williams “on behalf of [unnamed] people who have asked me to come forward and speak about it.” In the video, Helliwell claimed that “Skyler uses his position to take advantage of women” and then alleged that Skyler had “love-bombed” her. Helliwell then alleged that Skyer hadn’t disclosed his relationship status until later in their texting exchange and had “tried [i.e. hadn’t] to coerce me into sleeping with a woman.” It is worth repeating that Williams and Helliwell never interacted in person, did not have sex, and that from our review of the text messages, Williamsdid not solicit or initiate anything with Helliwell and nor did he try to coerce her.
After Helliwell’s TikTok started circulating, a number of Indigenous TikTok creators, used their platforms to decry Helliwell’s account as “chasing clout” and stated that Helliwell – who is a Slovakian immigrant with no Indigenous ancestry – has used similar tactics to target and harass other Indigenous men. TikTok user childrenfirstsociety said “I don’t appreciate my name being used to corroborate lies…. I saw the chat logs of yours and Sklyer’s conversation and what you are doing is absolutely wrong and you know it.”
A friend or family member posted a picture of Helliwell modelling on a bodybuilding stage and wrote “Kristin you went from being this, to running away from your family, shaving your head, living in a van making videos for tiktok… To make matters even worse you are also selling sexually explicit pictures and video of yourself on the porn site Only Fans… and you have the nerve to blame it on your family.”
Kristin Helliwell on stage and her alter ego Charlie Cruise living the van life.
The not so credible Mohawk
Helliwell’s TikTok video was the basis for a “Credible” Mohawk Entertainment (CME) Podcast released on January 3, 2022 that heaped slander and innuendo upon Williams and provided fodder for the Two Row Times article. In the hour long podcast, Mohawk Andrew Brant Sha’tekayenton and former white supremacist Nick LaMarsh were joined by Rastafarian rapper Cotreezy, and the three proceeded to opine on Skyler’s “abusive” behaviour as they got high smoking weed.
During the course of the podcast, all three men disclosed that they themselves had been accused of various unspecified forms of misconduct and abuse, but insisted that all allegations against them were unfounded.
The claims made in the rambling CME podcast against Williams were then used by the Two Row Times to paint a dystopic picture of illegal drug use, gang rape, and rampant “toxic masculinity” at #1492LandBackLane.
In the podcast, Brant claimed that he’d been looking at issues related to Skyler Williams “for a couple of years” as he alleged Skyler had long been “approaching women” and “using his fame” to “persuade women into sleeping with him.” For proof of these claims, Brant referred to the screenshots that Helliwell provided. However, those screenshots show that it was Helliwell making the sexual advances to Skyler and not the other way around.
Nick LaMarsh, a co-producer of the CME who describes himself as a ‘reformed’ white supremacist, then recounted a story that supposedly occurred at Kanonhstaton (a different land occupation site in Six Nations several kilometers away from LandBack Lane) in December of 2020. LaMarsh says he came upon two French speaking women who were crying and who seemed upset. When one woman left to go into a tent, LaMarsh said “the other girl looked at me and she just said ‘she [the other woman] was gang-raped last night, and when I woke up from the drugs I ran away.’”
LaMarsh says in the CME Podcast that he mentioned the issue with some unnamed people that he regarded as “deputies” but that he did not raise the issue with Skyler Williams. LaMarsh said that the people he spoke to “got really, really mad, and said “keep your mouth shut and mind your own business. So I did.” LaMarsh indicated that he was physically threatened into silence.
Another claim made in the podcast is by someone first described as “a woman out west” and then later named by Brant as Delee. Brant summarized Delee’s critique of Skyler as being that “He’s acting like one of them white men. One of them white guys, one of them pretendians, one of them hippies that go out there and they’re just there for the glory, womanizing and just love-bombing.” Brant notes in the podcast that these are the exact same charges made by “Charlie.” In a screenshot later released by the CME, Delee wrote to Brant that Sklyer “did the exact same thing to me… exact same” as he did to Helliwell. So in other words, Williams didn’t abuse her either.
Brant is at pains to point out that neither Delee nor Helliwell have been in contact with each other, and that although he was “sure” more women would come out with stories about Skyler, the CME was only reluctantly bringing forth the news because, unlike other Indigenous media companies, “we do real fucking journalism.”
The three men were quite aware of the possible implications of their podcast, as LaMarsh stated on three occasions in the podcast that he thought one likely result of the episode would be to provoke a racist backlash against Onkwehon:we people once the National News Media got ahold of the story and ran with it.
LaMarsh knows his subject matter well, as he freely admits that he “used to be affiliated with people who were part of white supremacist groups, and things like that.” In his biography on the Credible Mohawk Entertainment site, LaMarsh writes that he was “raised in a strict Christian upbringing with racially indifferent ideals.” He was a soldier in the Canadian Military Reserves for 4 years, and was “your typical white guy, covertly racist and a patriotic voter who only cared about himself…. [I] didn’t know anything about Indigenous history or culture – nor did I care.” Nick claims that over a period of three years, [I] “realized my systemic racist ideals and changed my reckless, disrespectful lifestyle.”
Since then, and under the guidance of Andrew Brant, Nick has begun speaking about the Kayenere:kowa – the “Great Law of Peace.” Staying true to his upbringing he told Onkwehon:we women actively participate in their own culture to “sit down,” shut up, and “go heal.”
Hoisted on their own petard
The claims made in the CME podcast do not hold up to scrutiny. In the days since the story broke, the CME has posted dozens of screenshots purporting to implicate their critics as being pro-abuse or “harbouring predators.” Other people have sent screenshots of their own to Real People’s Media and Yakowennahskats. These screenshots prove that the CME and Nick LaMarsh were lying and misleading their viewers.
On the podcast LaMarsh stated that he was threatened into silence and did no further investigation of the alleged “gang rape” at LandBack Lane. However, screenshots of text messages LaMarsh sent to the executive of the group Allies of Onkwehon:we on January 14th, 2021 tell a different story.
In the texts, LaMarsh says he spoke about the alleged gang rape to Jacqueline House (Cayuga Turtle Clan), and that he also contacted Skyler, who “asked me to speak to him directly when I hear shit, so I am.” LaMarsh stated that his interventions had results, and added, “the French girls haven’t been back, the drugs have been removed.”
To be clear on the facts of this situation, nobody has ever directly heard from the victim who was was allegedly raped. LaMarsh is the sole source of the information about the alleged gang rape, and even then, he says he never spoke to the victim, just her friend. No criminal charges were ever laid in the matter, and nobody we interviewed had any recollection of the presence of these “French girls.”
Real People’s Media is also aware that the Haldimand OPP detachment carried out an intensive investigation into the claims of an alleged rape matching LaMarsh’s account in January-February 2021 but were unable to find any evidence that it occurred. Real People’s Media also made its own detailed inquiries into the matter at the time and was unable to find any corroboration of LaMarsh’s claims. We suspect that LaMarsh’s information led to an OPP investigation into a false rape claim.
Did the CME orchestrate the attack on Williams?
In a screenshot conversation with the “Woman out West” (Delee) that is provided in a CME article published on January 7th, Brant says that he assured Helliwell that “I had her back, and everything like I did with you. Said that I was aware of him [Skyler]… and that it was time to expose it.” Brant indicates that Helliwell made the Tik Tok with the original attack on Skyler after he told her it was the time to do so.
So in other words, Brant orchestrated and timed the release of Helliwell’s TikTok as he collaborated with Delee over text messages. This suggests that Helliwell was referring to Brant and Delee when she said in the video that she made it “on behalf of people who have asked me to come forward and speak about it.”
This would also explain why in another TikTok, Helliwell made reference to the CME podcast slandering Williams and showed a screenshot of it before the episode was released. In his podcast, Brant explicitly made clear that neither Delee “the woman out west” or Charlie/Helliwell knew each other, and thus claimed that there was no collusion or staging of the stories.
However, Brant’s texts clearly show that he decided when it was time to release the materials, and that he literally co-ordinated it. There is also a unified demand for the same end goal for Skyler to “own his shit” and “admit to his guilt” and to step down and be gone from LandBack leadership with his position to be replaced by a “two-spirit” person. As Brant put it in a Facebook live, “We can’t have leaders like that. Toxic ones, toxic men or women. It’s time for the two spirit people to start taking over, because this is some bullshit.”
The truth is putting on its boots
As the old saying goes, “a lie can travel halfway around the world, while the truth is putting on its boots, and this was the case with the Two Row Time’s article which has been read over 8000 times since it came out. The editors did have to make some corrections to the online version of their article, changing the allegations against Skyler to ones of “sexual misconduct” rather than “sexual assault.”
A number of Onkwehon:we women reached out to the CME with their concerns over their coverage of the issue. Their comments and messages were then recorded, screenshotted, and re-broadcast by the CME in attacks against the women, telling them to “sit down” and “go heal” and accusing them of being abusers themselves, or of “harbouring abusers.” One of the women, Jacquelyn House (Cayuga, Turtle Clan) wrote in response: “You two men are trying to silence me. You’re like a tornado spiralling back and forth. On one side you are welcoming people’s [comments] to satisfy your ego and on the other side trying to destroy everything in your path when you don’t like our words. You want to talk about “Women abuse”? You and Nick are doing everything [you’re] accusing everyone else of doing.”
In Tyendinaga, the Roskenrakehte:kowa Kanenhariyo issued two video statements on the matter. In the first video, he spoke about the phenomenon of social media influencers “shit-talking other people” and using misleading and untrue allegations to gain clout and social media followers.
In the second video, Kanenhariyo apologized for not having spoken out earlier about the actions of Andrew Brant Sha’tekayenton. Over the course of an hour and half, Kanenhariyo recounted a long history of Brant’s divisive and destructive behaviour.
Since Kanenhariyo’s videos, the CME has removed – without explanation – their original YouTube podcast smearing Skyler Williams, and also taken down the YouTube videos in which they attacked the Onkwehon:we women for responding to them. They have also issued a statement saying that “we’re done speaking on the matters that have been recently released, and everything that has been mentioned will be taken care of within the Nation.”
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Article, coming soon.
Sky Woman quickly tried to keep her balance and pull herself back up through the hole. As she struggled to find a grasp she was only able to pull more of the plants that grew around the base of the tree. She continued to fall, now completely through the hole. She fell deeper into the blackness of outer space. She continued to fall deeper into the blackness…and fall deeper …and fall deeper… and fall deeper…and fall…and fall …and fall…and …and…and…
She continued to fall further and further from the Sky World. The blackness of outer space ever so slowly began to be farther and farther behind her…
…As she continued to tumble something else, also far, far off in the distance, (however this time in front of her) was starting to take form. The sky was no longer complete emptiness. Something was starting to appear. She was heading to something closer and closer and even closer. Sky Woman tumbled and tumbled and tumbled toward a place that we now know as the earth.
She was very afraid; she didn’t know what was about to happen. She finally caught her breath enough and began to yell for help.
“HEEEELP!”
HEEEELP!
HEEEELP!
She continued to fall from the Sky World and kept heading toward earth.
On the planet far below lived many forms of winged creatures. They were busy with their everyday duties when they heard the cries coming from high above where they were flying. Although some storytellers firmly believe they were the winged brothers and sisters called the geese, others say this also included the other birds that lived during the time of creation, quickly agreed to help the being which was headed straight toward them. They flew up to where the woman was falling. They offered to bring her to the water on their wings in order to save her life and break her fall.
When the birds arrived back on the water with the strange guest on their backs, they soon realized that there would be a different concern. The entire surface of the water would be an obstacle, as there was nothing but water everywhere. If they let go of the woman, she would surely drown. They paused not knowing what to do. They asked all the other creatures for suggestions.
Borrowed from Elizabeth Doxstater, Mohawk storyteller and revised by Sakoieta’ Wakathahahión:ni, Mohawk – Wolf Clan Knowledge Keeper
Custom merchandise that includes “Thin Blue Line” symbols intended as “gifts” to OPP officers emerging out of Caledonia, Ontario, has some residents concerned.
White nationalists briefly adopted the phrase itself but what is troubling is the “Us vs Them” mentality that it creates between First Nation, Black communities and Police.
The Back Story
False Narrative
The symbol itself dates back to the Crimean war and, more specifically, a romanticized version of the British success over Russian troops. The Red Coats immortalized as the thin red line in that version. It’s a version that paints a picture of the British acting alone when this was not the case.
Corruption
The Thin blue line was popularized in the 1950s when corruption and Police street justice were a fact of life in marginalized communities. But, unfortunately, violence is a reality that persists within the LAPD today.
“The Los Angeles Police Department – In 1952, a grand jury succeeded in convicting five of the officers involved in several beatings within the Mexican community, and none of them received a sentence amounting to more than a year in prison. Then there was the Rodney King beating of 1991. King was beaten by police officers after a high-speed car chase. Though the beating was captured on camera, the police weren’t charged.”
Repeated attempts to divide people in the already fragile community environment by city officials, including the Police services board, only serve to escalate tensions in the relationships between police and people of colour.
Many Police Services have advised its members against wearing any controversial symbols on their uniforms, including Spokesperson and OPP Sergent Kerry Schmidt.
“Members of the OPP shall not wear any non-issued OPP uniform items. We must remain and demonstrate neutrality and remain non-partisan. There have not been any direct references to ‘the thin blue line’,”
Kerry Schmidt, OPP Sergent
We’ve reached out to the Haldimand OPP detachment to confirm uniform guidelines and await comment.
The Superior Court of Ontario tore a page directly from the colonial playbook and granted yet another injunction in a local Land back case. The Injunction was granted midmonth against Onkwehonwe, asserting the land defence responsibility within their territory.
This Injunction also included several key members of various Friends of Arrowdale support groups who were notified via email. The members have been pivotal in speaking out against the development with the 14-million dollar proceeds going towards the remaining approximately 100-million dollars needed to actually build affordable housing in a mystery location.
Historically this approach had proven to be an effective recourse for cities attempting to sell off what they erroneously perceive as their assets.
Just stopping short of a race-based anti-protest Bylaw, The City of Brantford successfully secured a permanent injunction against Haudenosaunee and Haudenosaunee Development Institute. Granted to prevent intentional interferance or causing irreparable harm to the growth and development of the City.
A 2014 ruling gave developers the confidence to ignore buyer beware warnings on Onkwehonwe land. It has supported Ontario’s Places to Grow Act plan and relased the federal government from having to stop the provincial development before a land claim potentially requires return of unused land parcels.
It is only one way to manipulate the legal system when Onkwehonwe remind the Corporation of the City of Brantford’s attempts to overlook past due accounts.
Brantford has been openly critical of Onkwehonwe actions to halt the unsustainable developments sprawl outright. Yet to turn that critical eye towards themselves other than performative actions like hiring an Indigenous Affairs Officer has been elusive.
Injunctions are granted without representation of any of the named individuals present. Certainly without any legal representation of the accused.-A huge issue within the legal system allows one party’s allegations to effectively silence another party. Potentially even making very public and charatcher damagaing announcments on megaphones like what happened at Arrowdale one source confirmed.
It has an almost arbitrary authority to empower law enforcement to contain and criminalize people by securing vague geographical boundaries and broad powers of removal, often indefinitely.
Mr and Ms Doe of these blanket orders allow anyone to be swept into the parameters of the injunction, thus methodically removing any possible interference in development plans. Its completely favourable for the Municipality and its stakeholders.
Change?
It’s a tactic that has worked in the past but times are changing. Just last week, a judge found in favour of Skyler Williams of 1492 land back lane and dismissed the permanent injunction granted by a judge…. who made it clear that Williams was persona non grata in his courtroom.
The appalling misuse of the legal tools for a country and province that prides itself on the rule of law. Despite bending the same law for financial benefits is the real problem here.
Who will be delivering the customary wampum that will put an end to this madnesss to these renegades municipalities?
