CPTnet
11 March 2011
ABORIGINAL JUSTICE: CPTers Julián Gutiérrez Castaño and Peter Haresnape join Six Nations in response to “Lies and Violence” rally

 On 27 February 2011, Christian Peacemaker Teams, a member of the Six Nations Solidarity Network participated in the Caledonia rally supporting the people of Six Nations against Gary McHale’s so-called “Truth and Reconciliation” Rally.

Gary McHale's organisation, CANCE (Canadians for Charter Equality) holds the position that the 2006 reclamation of Caledonia's Douglas Creek Estate (DCE, now known as Kanonhstaton, meaning “the protected place”) was permitted by a racist policy of “two-tier” policing.  CANCE criticizes the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the provincial government, and the leadership of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation for not enforcing the law on the Six Nations activists who were involved in the reclamation.

Caledonia and the surrounding area are situated on the Haldimand Tract, a land area granted to the Six Nations in recognition of the alliance between the Six Nations and the British Crown during the U.S. War of Independence, in which the Six Nations were forced to leave their lands located in what is now the US.

Today, around 5% of the Haldimand Tract is still held by the Six Nations, and much of the other 95% has never been surrendered, according to the Six Nations.  Twenty-nine land claims are in complicated legal processes that take into account historical ownership, current use, and inherent Aboriginal title.  During these processes, developers kept building houses in Douglas Creek Estate.

The system in Caledonia is comparable to that in other colonial spaces where “facts on the ground” alter the geography even as it is subject to political negotiation.  Seen in this light, the reclamation was an act of resistance to continuous land loss as well as a protest against a system that was ignoring Aboriginal title in favour of land use for financial profit.

Gary McHale and his organisation persist in ignoring the hundreds of years of colonial occupation and focus on the suffering of the nearby white community.  They tend to frame their rhetoric as working against racism, and frequently quote Dr Martin Luther King Junior in their publications and releases.

The recent rally appropriated the name “Truth and Reconciliation” which in Canada commonly refers to the process of healing from the government and church-run residential schools designed to destroy Indigenous identity and families.  For McHale, the white community's suffering is apparently comparable.  The rally was to feature the placement of a monument on the reclamation site that would feature apologies from the OPP, province, and the Six Nations.

Gary McHale also issued a call for Christian Leaders to be active in their commitment to justice and to support his rally.  In response to McHale’s letter, Julián Gutiérrez Castaño and Peter Haresnape had the following to say at the counter rally supporting the Six Nations.

Julián Gutiérrez Castaño:

My name is Julián Gutiérrez Castaño.  I have come here from Colombia and I work for Christian Peacemaker Teams.  I was invited to a rally responding to McHale’s so-called “Rally for Truth and Reconciliation” in Caledonia.  I also see that he and some of his people are trying to inaugurate a monument of apologies for the rightful reclamation of Kahnonstaton.  When I first (mis)heard about the apology, I thought, “good, finally we are going to apologize to the people from Six Nations,” because they are the people who deserve an apology and the reasons can be easily found in the history of this place.  If the apologies are not being made to them, this cannot be a rally for Truth and Reconciliation.  Rather, it would be a rally for “Lies and Violence.”

That monument, there, demanding apologies from the people from Six Nations, is an invitation to do more violence to people of Six Nations.

I would like to start offering my own apologies, I am myself a Mestizo from Latin America.  I should be able to speak Quimbaya, the language of the Indigenous people that populated the land where I was born.  I also should be able to speak an African language from the west cost of that continent.  But these parts of my identity have been lost many generations ago.  I feel deeply sorry for this.

I offer my apologies for the many ways that my people and I have forgotten our indigenous ancestry and have internalized racism, sometimes becoming complicit in colonialism, rather than standing in solidarity with our indigenous sisters and brothers.

But today I am here to do the right thing as a Mestizo and a newcomer or settler to this land.  I am here to stand in support with the people of Six Nations and to advocate for honest truth and reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous peoples.

En solidaridad,

Julián Gutiérrez Castaño

Aboriginal Justice Team – Christian Peacemaker Teams

Peter Haresnape:

When I look at the conflict, historical and ongoing, in Caledonia, I don’t see it as a matter of 5-year police indifference, but as the result of a historical and ongoing system called “Colonialism.”  My understanding of Colonialism is that people from one place travel to another place and remove wealth from it.  Sometimes they establish permanent residences, sometimes they just take what they can and leave.  One of the justifications attempted for this behaviour is the belief that the people who are extracting the resources are entitled to them because they are more advanced or favoured in one respect or another.

Today, of course, this is not the case.  Our societies are built on equal dignity and equal opportunity… officially.  Yet, building projects go on even though land claims, which are intended to rectify historical wrongs, remain unsettled.  Canada’s capital is built on land that was never legally Canada’s.  For most people, the fact that it is there is apparently the same as a right to be there.  With such disregard for the law, no wonder Six Nations people took action to stop more houses being built on the Haldimand Tract—if the law recognises  “I built a house here” as the same as “I have the right to build a house here.”

*****

A rich young ruler came to see Jesus.  He said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus told him about the Ten Commandments.  “Yeah,” said the guy, “I’ve already done those all my life.”  Jesus looked at him and said, “One more thing, you have to sell all you have and give it to the poor.  Then you can come with me.”  And the man went away sad, because he was very rich.  (Recounted in Luke 18.18-23, paralleled in Mark 10 and Matthew 19)

This account is a good model for an approach to reconciliation.  The man approaches Jesus with a question, asking what he needs to do.  He does not demand, but asks respectfully.  The account also acknowledges that it can be difficult, too difficult in this case.

Change is a difficult process.  Truth is often disturbing.  For white males like me, it is disturbing to learn that we benefit from privileges that we aren’t even aware of.  For many, this truth is too hard, and it is easier to locate blame with another individual, society, race, or organisation.  It is also very difficult to learn and acknowledge alone.  This is why it is important to ask, “What must I do” rather than demand “this is what you must do for me.”

People experience the unprivileged life all the time, in many places around the world.  They know what it is to live in fear, to live betrayed or ignored by their leaders.  They know what it is to be vulnerable.  It’s not right, but it is very, very normal.

I don’t wish to minimise anyone’s suffering, hardship, or fear.  These things are all real, wherever they are experienced, whoever experiences them.  This is part of the problem.  For some reason we white folks in the dominant culture think that matters of truth, reconciliation and justice can be resolved without suffering, hardship or fear being experienced.  This is not the case.

Jesus cleansed the temple by chasing out the moneychangers, who probably experienced suffering, hardship, and fear.  Jesus caused a whole herd of pigs to stampede over a cliff, which didn’t make him any friends among their owners.  Setting things right is painful, difficult, costly, but it is right.

When the rich young ruler was told that his wealth, his privilege, was an obstacle, he was unwilling or unable to listen.  The challenge is to do better.

(For more information, see https://6nsolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/christians-supporting-six-...)