Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mary Arquette [mailto:mfadden at slic.com]
>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 at slic.com