-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Arquette [mailto:mfadden@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 7:26 AM
Subject: Help need
She:kon:
I hope you are all well.
I just wanted to alert you to a protest that is coming up soon being
organized by our Environmental Task Force in Akwesasne and ask for
your help. If you know of any active student organizations on
campuses (Native Students, Environmental Coalitions, faculty groups)
and are willing, please help us get the word out to appropriate
student contacts. We will be starting a letter writing campaign and
could also use help getting information into college and local
newspapers (esp. SUNY Schools) via editorials, contacts with local
media etc.
It seems the New York Power Authority is planning to give (they are
not required to do so) a local non-profit organization (consisting
mostly of Massena Economic development folks and local colleges in
the area - St. Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson and SUNY
Canton) $20 million dollars plus land to build an aquarium on
traditional lands that are used by elders and others in the
community to pick medicine, berries and sweet grass. At the same
time, the Power Authority has said that the dam does not and has not
affected areas downstream (ie. Akwesasne) and as a result, are
dragging their feet regarding a settlement for outstanding damages
that have resulted due to the dam. They are giving land away to the
Universities at the same time the Power Authority and the State of
New York refuses to settle outstanding land claims with the Mohawks
(and others). It is a clear case of environmental injustice.
Unfortunately, the local universities have convinced the St. Regis
Mohawk Tribal Council that this aquarium is in their best interest
(increased tourism for the casino I guess; the Tribal Council is
planning to sign an agreement with the aquarium but they have not
shared any of their thinking or the agreement with the community -
everything is being negotiated outside of a public process). The
aquarium board is saying that the Tribal Council speaks for all
Mohawks and that no one (including the Mohawk Nation or the Mohawk
Council of Akwesasne, or the other Mohawk communities or the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy) has any say in what they do with the
power authority, local universities or aquarium. It is very sad.
Not only is this area a beautiful place (it is one of the few areas
that the river remains in its original course, without being
disturbed by the dam and seaway) with lots of medicines, old trees,
sweetgrass, a nesting eagle in the area, lots of waterfowl and
wildlife - there is also an archaeological site that is protected by
the US National Historic Preservation Act. The Tribe apparently
wants to work with the Universities to put materials that are to be
repatriated on behalf of all the Mohawks on display in the SUNY
Potsdam Museum. For this is reason and others, I consider this an
issue that affects all of the Mohawks and the Confederacy in
general. I thought the whole purpose of repatriation was to put
sacred materials and remains in the hands of those people who can
treat them with the respect they deserve. As a result, this issue
affects all of the SUNY system and may reflect badly on many of the
colleges/universities in the state of New York. One of the aquarium
board members went so far as to say at a public meeting that human
remains could be put on display at the aquarium to teach the public
about the Mohawks. This is how outrageously out of date their
thinking is. Anyway, we need to the help of knowledgeable faculty
members and active student groups to convince the aquarium board to
site this development project elsewhere (they have a second location
upstream but the local town of Massena wants the tourist $ it will
bring. St. Lawrence University's President - who chairs the
aquarium board - promised at a community meeting in Akwesasne that
if the community said no, they would move the aquarium upstream. He
has, however, apparently forgotten his promise.
We will be putting together more information in the next few days,
including a letter writing campaign targeting the aquarium board
(perhaps the universities and their trustees) as well as the
aquariums funders: the State of New York and the Federal Government
(HUD is providing $, the Seaway (a Federal Agency) is planning to
donate the land where the aquarium will actually sit! Note: the
Seaway is giving land away to local universities at the same time
the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has a claim for outstanding
grievances with them)
We will get more information out soon. We are looking for support
from anyone willing to help.
Onen, Mary
Mary Arquette, DVM/PhD
Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment
PO Box 992
Hogansburg, NY 13655
Phone: 518-358-9607 FAX: 518-358-2857
E-mail: mfadden@xxxxxxxx