Madam, – I refer to your coverage of the Akwesasne Kanienkehaka Territory (“Smuggling trails make a bustling nightlife on the reservation”, April 23rd). As a member of the Kanienkehaka (People of the Flint), I was struck with the apparent naivety of Lorraine Mallinder in describing my home territory. Among Ms Mallinder’s striking observations was noting the amount of “mangy, stray dogs” on the roads and the red beard of one interviewee.
The article did not highlight the high level of cohesion that the Kanienkehaka share for their allodial (original title) homelands (Kanienke), the great pride in never having been defeated in battle with Europeans and their descendants (non-trust land status), and the remarkable demographic of a continually growing community in a region of shrinking population, birth rate and economic opportunity. The very nature of the 45th Parallel as a misguided and alcohol-fuelled geographic aberration has created the tension over native trade practices described in the article.
The article begins describing the territory as “the Akwesasne Native American reservation”. The Kanienkehaka who describe themselves as such, do not consider themselves citizens of either the US or Canada, but as free, sovereign people. These are the same people who once were described by British monarch Queen Anne as “the queen’s special forces” due to their prowess and specialised skill set. Recognition does not require subjugation.
It is the desire of many Kanienkehaka to break free of both Canada and the US and function as a sovereign border state, à la Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or Swiss Confederation.
International legal contestation of the 45th Parallel as an inconsistent boundary will be the next step in this process. Port and power authorities to control adjacent resources are now being developed to assist in resource management. These trends bear witness to Kanienkehaka as vital contemporary people, in addition to Original People status. – Yours, etc,