Six Nations short on supplies at Caledonia

Lyndenn Behm
The First Perspective: http://www.firstperspective.ca
Friday, May 5, 2006

People camping out at the Six Nations reclamation site say they need medical supplies, personal hygiene products, food and a variety of other products.

"Sometimes there are 50 people there, sometimes there is a few hundred," Hazel Hill, who is with the group, said Thursday (May 4).

The group, which began its non-violent demostration more than two months ago, has sent an e-mail, which is circulating through its network of supporters, identifying products that are needed. Money can also be donated instead of products, Hill said.

Many of the products that are needed are low-value items, which means shipping costs would be significant in relation to the value of the products. Kitchen/food needs include such things as cookies, meat, drink crystals, cheese, ice, milk, cheese and sugar as well as dish soap, large Styrofoam cups, and plastic cutlery. Medical needs include a spinal board, a stethoscope, blankets and bandages. In all about six dozen items are listed. [SISIS note: a list of needed supplies is posted online at http://excoboard.com/exco/forum.php?forumid=91715]

Hill and another supporter at the blockade, Janie Jamieson, say they have been receiving tremendous moral support from across Canada and around the world.

"I am just totally amazed with the e-mails, " Hill said. "In the four directions around the world we are getting support".

People wanting to make donations can call 519-445-0719.

The situation near the southern Ontario town of Calcedonia has also ben marred by ugliness, with reports of pamphlet of the Ku Klux Klan being ciruculated at demonstrations by non-Aboriginal people upset by the blockade set up by Six Nations Mohawks. A public demonstration last week also included signs such as "Where is John Wayne when you need him?" Some of the people with the blockade have speculated that some people are trying to provoke confrontation so that Ontario calls in the military to take down the blockade.