All Haudenosaunee, Indigenous People and Supporters:

We are asking you to write letters like the following voicing your outrage and opposition to the massacre of 45 Indigenous men, women and children in Acteal, Chiapas on the 22nd of December and to the Canadian Trade Mission to Mexico when an Agreement will be signed to manufacture sacred symbols of the Iroquois in Mexico.

Nia:wen (Thankyou) Your support is greatly appreciated.

ADDRESSES

Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada
Jean_Chretien@16139416900.iddd.tpc.int

Lic. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Presidente de la Republica, Mexico
webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx

Jessica Hill, Kahnawake Economic Development Authority
P.O. Box 1110, Kahnawake PQ J0L 1B0
Fax 514/638-3276
Email: keda@axess.com

Joseph Norton, Grand Chief
Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council
P.O. Box 720, Kahnawake PQ J0L 1B0
Fax 514/638-5958

December 28, 1997

Shekon,

The Canadian Government must call off its forthcoming Trade Mission to Mexico in light of the massacre of Indigenous People in Mexico on the 22nd of December. We have been made aware that a trade agreement is to be signed January 18, 1998 between Mexico, Canada and the Kahnawake Band Council, falsely representing the Mohawk Nation. All negotiations have been done behind closed doors. The Oaxaca/Kahnawake Trade Agreement will be using Haudenosaunee symbols and sacred Wampum belts which will be mass-produced by Mexico and sold worldwide. This Agreement is illegal. This intellectual property belongs to all Haudenosaunee and any trade negotiations regarding their manufacture and use must be negotiated by all Haudenosaunee as a collective. This Agreement violates the Six Nations Iroquois Position Regarding the Cultural Patrimony and National Cultural Treasures of the Haudenosaunee, issued February 2, 1986, which is in conformity with the UNESCO "Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property" which was adopted on November 14, 1970. Canada is a signatory to this Convention.

We are asking your government to uphold the International Decade of the Indigenous People proclaimed by the United Nations, as well as to uphold the protection provided in the UNESCO convention of 1970.

We are also outraged that the Kahnawake Band Council and the Canadian Government choose to sign agreements with the Mexican Government that had a part in the massacre of innocent Indigenous men, women, and children in Acteal, Chiapas. We are requesting that Canada condemn this massacre, that this trade mission be canceled and that the Oaxaca/Kahnawake Agreement not be signed. We also want an investigation into the lack of consultation of and consent by the Mohawk Nation and the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy into any international agreement regarding the manufacture and marketing of our sacred symbols.

Certainly you are aware that the purpose of making such international agreements is to force Indigenous People off their lands into 'refugee camps' where they have no choice but to work as cheap labor. Mr. Chretien, are resisters going to be massacred?

You will find attached the "Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake Position on the Protection of Intellectual Properties From Commercial Misuse." We would like a written confirmation of receipt of this letter.

Righteousness for Indigenous People

Signed the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake
Mohawk Nation Office - Kahnawake Branch

Cultural or Intellectual Property refers to a design, product or technical process, such as wampum belts, which is protected by means of copyright, trademark or patent. This protection grants the inventor, an individual or corporation, the exclusive right to use the property or to earn royalties by renting or selling its use. Exclusive rights to intellectual property are legally granted as a reward for developing it. The preamble of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) "Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property" adopted at its sixteenth session in Paris on November 14, 1970 reads as follows:

"Considering that cultural property constitutes one of the basic elements of civilization and national culture, and that its true value can be appreciated only in relation to the fullest possible information regarding its origin, history, and traditional setting."

This Agreement is "to establish necessary agreements and support structures to market and sell primary and manufactured products (both from Oaxaca and Canada) throughout North America and eventually to European and other markets under an 'Indians of the Americas' Label." Essentially, this is supposed to curb the flow of non-Indian imitation arts and crafts manufactured elsewhere and sold around the world, except that it has the effect of limiting ownership of Iroquois symbols and their use. Within three months of the signing, an Indigenous Trade and Commerce Commission will be set up to mediate and arbitrate all matters relating making and marketing of Iroquois arts and crafts.

This Commission will oversee the research, negotiation and completion of all trade-mark, patent and other intellectual property right protection systems not only regarding Mohawks but other indigenous trade in products or services. In effect, this agreement subordinates ancient Mohawk sovereignty under Canada and Mexico and sets up a non-Indigenous commission to certify and regulate the use of Mohawk/Iroquois cultural property which belongs to all Haudenosaunee Peoples.

This Agreement will decide who can and cannot manufacture Mohawk/Iroquois goods in trade and commerce between Canada and Mexico or "other markets" and involves the regulation of all labels, trade-marks, patents or other intellectual property protection by the Commission. Those who wish to be included under the Agreement have to agree to be regulated by the Commission.

The Haudenosaunee Council of Chiefs have already taken steps to protect the Haudenosaunee People against such violations and theft of cultural property as set out in a February 2, 1986 Communiqué:

"The Haudenosaunee(also known as the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy), and, each member nation (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora) separately and collectively claim all sacred objects, human remains, and traditional territory as our cultural patrimony, and our national cultural treasures...The chiefs, clanmothers, faithkeepers, and members of our contemporary traditional medicine societies and the people that they serve are the rightful owners and authorities of our cultural patrimony and our national cultural treasures...It is the obligation and trust responsibility of each succeeding generation of chiefs, clanmothers, faithkeepers, and members of the Haudenosaunee to preserve our patrimony and national cultural treasures for the seventh generation to come...Therefore, the disturbance, destruction, and theft of our patrimony is a violation of our human rights; a violation of our group rights; and a violation of the religious and spiritual welfare of our people...Therefore, all other entities are secondary and must give way to the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee and our people as the ultimate and final title holder of our patrimony."

The main result of the Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council entering into any international agreement is the subordination of national Mohawk sovereignty which the Haudenosaunee Peoples as a collective have been defending for centuries. Also because the Agreement will be regulated by foreign entities this will result in a change in the jurisdiction of the Mohawk Nation which will ultimately affect basic Mohawk rights in self-determination, return of lands and resources which make up our identity. Patenting of our intellectual property by outsiders is being promoted by the Kahnawake Mohawk Band Council's entry into an agreement with the Mexican and Canadian governments and is not supported by the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake.

Passed and Sealed by the People's Council, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory
December 21, 1997

Mohawk Nation Office - Kahnawake Branch
http://www.cyberglobe.net/users/mnation