National" Borders- Trouble at The Cornwall Crossing

[X-mo-1979]

I support CBSA 100%.However I don't support their policy that governs them.This is the front lines of our country,the men and women at the border should be given the powers to deal with situations that arise.

Getting a threat shouldn't shut down part of our border period IMHO.It seems the people making those decisions are most likely the same people who fought against having weapons in the first place.

If CBSA was forced to walk off by higher,why not send in the military to guard it.
Send a lav and a section down there,VCP.Meet the threats with force.Or the police.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Thanks to most for your support of CBSA.

It was a decision made at the top, noone "abandoned" their post... by the sounds of some people on here, I wonder how they survive in / survived the military running around disobeying orders from brass, and staying in a fight when they are overwhelmed in firepower, manpower, and tactically hopeless... AND there is an alternative that allows for personnel to come out safe, security is not compromised, and you can regroup and come back with the proper resources.

Thanks IC. Some know how the real world works. Unfortunately, others are still looking out of their insular balloon through rose coloured glasses. Karma is a bitch, especially when she comes out of nowhere someday and smacks you so hard you wonder what your doing there.

 

[Haggis]

If CBSA was forced to walk off by higher,why not send in the military to guard it.

Because it's not within our mandate to step in until all other police/law enforecment options have been exhausted. We're nowhere near that yet.

And have you ever been to Akwesasne or Cornwall island? What you propose, "send a LAV and a section down there", would be placing those soldiers at far more risk than the one faced, and dealt with, by CBSA.

Yes, I'm pissed that Cornwall city council has chosen to support the MCA.  There is far more to this issue than what is being reported in the press.

 

[Larkvall]

If the Cornwall crossing is the only point of entry without armed guards would this not increase the amount of 'dodgy' traffic going through there? Does this not deflect the argument of having armed guards is more dangerous to the local community?

 

[2 Cdo]

And something for those who support the CBSA being armed.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/yes_guns_cornwall_island/

 

[Haggis]

If the Cornwall crossing is the only point of entry without armed guards would this not increase the amount of 'dodgy' traffic going through there? Does this not deflect the argument of having armed guards is more dangerous to the local community?

In the minds of the CBSA and government decision makers, it does.  In the eyes of those who oppose the arming of "federal agents' on "Indian territory", it makes no difference.

As stated earlier, Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) have an office adjacent to the port of entry.  But thier responsibility is not solely to provide armed protection to and for CBSA.  They are responsible for policieng the entire canadian portion of Akwesasne.  Would not the arming of CBSA agents alleviate some of the pressure on the AMPS, thereby allowing them to more effectively serve ALL the citizens of Akwesasne?

Kinda makes you wonder if those protesting this move are doing it for "personal gain" rather than for the good of the community as a whole.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Pretty simple fix:  Close the crossing permanently, then remove all access to the reserve from the Canadian side, and increase police patrolling of the river.  Seize and search any boats coming from the reserve.  Done.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Pretty simple fix:  Close the crossing permanently, then remove all access to the reserve from the Canadian side, and increase police patrolling of the river.  Seize and search any boats coming from the reserve.  Done.

Which is a great idea, but you still will be engaging them in fire fights, just on the water.  Somebody in Ottawa needs to decide that if a native is shooting or pointing a firearm at a LEO, they can be shot.  Currently, there isn't enough moral and political fortitude to do that. 
As for the AMPS, do not expect them to side against their own to protect federal employees.  They are not on the same page. 

 

[Haggis]

Which is a great idea, but you still will be engaging them in fire fights, just on the water.  Somebody in Ottawa needs to decide that if a native is shooting or pointing a firearm at a LEO, they can be shot.  Currently, there isn't enough moral and political fortitude to do that.

Like what happens to the rest of Canadians who try that?
 

As for the AMPS, do not expect them to side against their own to protect federal employees.

I know a few AMPS officers.  They have tough row to hoe in a pretty unique and rough neighbourhood.

Perceived motivations or biases aside, my argument wasn't that the AMPS wouldn't or couldn't protect federal employees.  My argument is that they shouldn't have to, at least no more than Windsor Police have to have a permanent presence at that port of entry solely to protect CBSA agents there. 

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Agreed.  That was one of the ideas behind arming them in the first place.  Like it or not, CBSA is a bona fide enforcement entity in Canada now.  They need the same support that the RCMP and regional/local police enjoy. 

 

[Haggis]

Like it or not, CBSA is a bona fide enforcement entity in Canada now.

And, like it or not, the Cornwall Island and Quebec portions Akwesasne are still part of Canada.

So, if the MCA or the Warrior Society want to claim Akwesasne as soveregin territory then they should also fund and provide the services that citizens of all North American "nations" have come to expect.  (Too bad the casinos are on the American side.)

 

[Kat Stevens]

Which is a great idea, but you still will be engaging them in fire fights, just on the water.  Somebody in Ottawa needs to decide that if a native is shooting or pointing a firearm at a LEO, they can be shot.  Currently, there isn't enough moral and political fortitude to do that. 
As for the AMPS, do not expect them to side against their own to protect federal employees.  They are not on the same page.

Mine the river, steel hedgehogs, concrete dragons teeth, and a few thousand miles of bouncy wire on the beaches, then.

 

[Old Sweat]

We really can't mine the river as it is part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

What we have here is a problem with a number of unsatisfactory options. The potential for innocent people to die is never very far away. Frankly some of the players are criminal thugs who expect the Canadian authorities to back down when confronted. As both the Feds and the Ontario government are scared spitless at the possibility of violence and the bad press that would come with it. (I am not trying to be overly dramatic when I add, that a confrontation here could lead to sympathetic risings on other reserves in Ontario the Montral area and perhaps across the country. If we keep that in mind, then the seeming lack of cojones on the part of Canadian officialdom is understandable. That still does not make it laudable, but what are the other options?

It seems to me that the unrest on the reserve dates back to at least 1991 when an outbreak of violence led to the deployment of 1 RCR (-) to Cornwall. I was in the J3 Plans shop with responsibility for the Canus Landop and other defence of North America issues. My American counterpart had a say what moment when I told him we were deploying armed troops on the border in the Cornwall area.

 

[Haggis]

It seems to me that the unrest on the reserve dates back to at least 1991 when an outbreak of violence led to the deployment of 1 RCR (-) to Cornwall.

April 1990, actually, a few months before Oka blew up.  This was a completely different issue.  The mission, named initally "Op FEATHER" was in response to a request by Indian and Northern Affairs and the Solicitor General brought on by "pro" and "anti" gambling factions having nightly gunbattles over control of the (then) illegal casinos on Akwesasne.  Several hundred Akwesasne residents were evacuated to Cornwall and surrounding communites.  Eventually, two persons were killed resulting in a deployment of over 500 RCMP, provincial and municipal police and CF personnel to Akwesasne, some of whom remained in place until well into 1991.

 

[Old Sweat]

You're correct. I had typed 1990 and then convinced myself it was 1991. I recalled the violence but couldn't remember the actual cause. It seems to me that there almost was a parallel government operating on the reserve in opposition to the band council.

 

[Yrys]

Living in Montréal, just IMHO from watching the news :

there almost was a parallel government operating on the reserve in opposition to the band council.

 

[The Bread Guy]

For more on that....

"THE FORGOTTEN FRONT OF THE OKA CRISIS: OPERATION FEATHER/AKWESASNE,"
Timothy C. Winegard, University of Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Fall and Winter 2008/9, Vol. 11, Issues 1 and 2 (.pdf)

Abstract:  "The Oka Crisis is viewed by many as a definitive moment in Native-Canadian relations. However, the deployment of 4,500 personnel of the Canadian Forces (CF) to Kanesatake and Kahnawake during Operation SALON overshadowed the deployment of the CF to Akwesasne over three months earlier under Operation FEATHER/AKWESASNE. Using a variety of sources, the majority of which were secured through the Access to Information Act, and personal interviews, this article examines not only Operation FEATHER/AKWESASNE itself, but its direct relationship to the events at Kahnawake and Kanesatake during the Oka Crisis while highlighting the differences of Canada’s complex internal security legislations. The CF operation at Akwesasne, lasting seven months (1 May to 5 December 1990), has been wholly neglected by scholars in its own context but also in the historiography of the “Indian Summer” of 1990. It is the forgotten front of the Oka Crisis."

 

[Haggis]

"THE FORGOTTEN FRONT OF THE OKA CRISIS: OPERATION FEATHER/AKWESASNE,"
Timothy C. Winegard, University of Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Fall and Winter 2008/9, Vol. 11, Issues 1 and 2 (.pdf)

This paper, while generally accurate, has many gaps.  I referenced it in a service paper last fall.  One discrepancy is the actual dates of CF assistance.  I served in support of or on Akwesasne from 26 April to 17 Dec 90.

An interesting bit of trivia:  the first CF member to accompany the police on Akwesasne in 1990 was a Class A Reserve MP WO who just happened to have a civilian bus licence.  He couldn't be located for about five days and hadn't signed a pay sheet before deploying!

 

[The Bread Guy]

Minister Van Loan's position (CBSA people in the Cornwall area will be armed) is good and it can be sustained through one simple act: move the border post off Cornwall Island to Cornwall, proper. It would be a tight squeeze to get it next to what looks like a water/sewage treatment plant - but not impossible, I hope. It might be done in weeks, maybe months.

Pretty close in your prognostication, ERC, but in a different direction than the options reportedly being considered ...

The federal border agency is considering moving an eastern Ontario border crossing, shut down since Sunday, off a Mohawk reserve to diffuse a standoff over arming guards at the post, the president of the border guard union said Thursday.

Customs and Immigration Union national president Ron Moran said he met with Stephen Rigby, president of the Canada Border Services Agency, on Wednesday evening and pitched the union's long-standing desire to move the post off the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve, which straddles the Ontario-Quebec-New York State borders.

Moran said Rigby indicated the agency was seriously considering the option as a way to settle the current standoff over armed guards at the post and to solve long-standing issues between Akwesasne residents and border guards .... Moran said he believes taking the border post off the island and setting it beside the U.S. border post, which is on the mainland and not on the reserve, may be the only solution at this point. Moran said Canadian and U.S. border posts exist side by side in several locations across the country, including in Coutts, Alta., which is one of the biggest of its kind....

More from CanWest News here.

 

[Old Sweat]

Moving the border post forward to the area of the US post may solve one major problem, but I suspect it will only postpone a confrontation over other issues. The story that Tony has referenced notes that the Mohawks claim they are subject to undue harassment, searches and racial profiling. Whether or not they are, it is only a matter of time before the issues boils over again. Cripes, they may even decide to prevent CBSA officers from crossing Cornwall Island to travel to and from the proposed new border post.