Hon. Jean Chretien
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons, Ottawa

Seh:kon

The members, supporters and friends of the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with the Native Peoples CASNP demand that you issue a statement condemning the Mexican government for its part in the slaying of 45 men, women and children, one a baby, on Monday, December 22nd 1997. The Canadian government must call off its forthcoming trade team visit. In particular, on January 18th 1998 the Canadian government and the Mohawk band council will be signing an agreement with the Mexican government and the Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca to manufacture Iroquois/Mohawk intellectual and cultural symbols for worldwide markets. The Band Council of Kahnawake lacks the consent of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Mohawk Nation whose sybmols are going to be commercialized.

CASNP is asking your government to uphold the International Decade of the Indigenous People proclaimed by theUnited Nations, as well as to uphold the protection provided in 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.

CASNP is requesting that this trade mission be cancelled, that the agreement not be signed, that there be a full investigation of the issue of legitimate representation of the Mohawk Nation, and that a report of your findings be sent to CASNP as soon as possible. Also available is the "Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake Position on the Protection of Intellectual Properties from Commercial Misuse" which was passed and sealed by the People's Council, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory on December 21, 1997.

Kahn-Tineta Horn, President CASNP
Canadian Alliance in Solidarity With the Native Peoples
427 Bloor St. W., Toronto ON M5S 1X7
Tel: 514-635-8696
Fax: 514-635-8693
Email: mohawkns@cyberglobe.net