0:01

Campsite media. How's

0:05

it going, How are you right?

0:08

Very nice to meet. I don't usually get

0:11

black jeeves with men I just met, but I'm

0:14

not gay. But ten bucks is ten bucks right. Looks

0:17

like we're off to a good start already, so

0:20

you want to see my reservation. Earlier

0:24

this year, I drove up to upstate New York

0:26

to meet a man we're calling Danny. He's

0:29

a retired New York State Police officer who

0:31

agreed to show me around the aguasas Name Mohawk

0:33

Territory. He has to be anonymous

0:36

because he still investigates and testifies

0:38

on cases in the area. Should we get

0:40

rolled? Absolutely sounds good. Danny's

0:43

a longtime trooper who spent twelve years working

0:46

in this part of New York, just by the Canadian border,

0:48

and back in the day, a big part of Danny's job

0:51

was patrolling the Aguasasna Territory.

0:53

They called it res duty. What

0:56

was the reaction of most

0:58

Brickey cops that had their first year on resduded

1:02

uh deer in the headlights when

1:06

we first take them take them

1:08

down there, They just they couldn't

1:10

believe. They go, well, can they do

1:12

that? And we'd

1:14

go. Yeah, yeah, there

1:17

is For those cops. Res duty

1:19

felt like frat house hazy, but

1:21

Daddy loved it. Early eighties

1:24

to late eighties,

1:26

it was It was the wild West. It

1:30

was nothing back then to have

1:35

yes pursuits

1:38

in a night and you're doing

1:41

a D D and

1:42

ten and the car you're pursuing

1:45

is throwing beer bottles at you. And

1:48

it wasn't their first rodeo. They don't throw them straight

1:50

back, no, no, no, they throw

1:52

them up in the air so they land

1:55

in front of you. But yeah,

1:58

lost a few windshields. But it

2:02

was just a crazy time, crazy

2:04

time. Someone

2:07

nicknamed him res Rockets because

2:10

their cars went fucking fly.

2:17

Aside from car chases and beer bottles,

2:19

this was a turbulent time in Agrasasna. Angry

2:22

residents who believed that the Native police were siding

2:24

with the federal government demanded that

2:26

the police disband and leave the reservation,

2:29

and in the years that followed, that security

2:32

void was filled by folks who had money

2:34

and more importantly, had weapons.

2:37

What would this entrance have looked like thirty years ago, blocked

2:41

with tires stack five

2:43

or six deep, ten high. At

2:46

night, they'd have bonfires and

2:48

they're all standing around it, the natives with

2:50

their faces covered

2:52

with masks, carrying assault

2:55

weapons, shotguns, and

2:59

they had actual shifts that

3:02

people were assigned to roadblocks, and

3:04

they had roving patrols. Danny

3:07

isn't native and he's a law enforcement

3:09

officer, so he doesn't really provide the definitive

3:11

perspective of agassn but the

3:14

picture he paints to the place is compelling

3:16

themtheless and shows just how tense

3:18

things were back then. He was forced

3:20

to work undercover because of the hostility that state

3:22

police faced. I mean, we didn't have,

3:25

you know, the fancy lighting the spoiled

3:27

punks have today. He had fucking

3:29

burn barrels, and it was

3:31

he was medieval here. You go up

3:34

to the burn barrels and you got guys

3:36

standing there with cowboy hats and shotguns

3:38

and spoken big cigars,

3:40

And do you feel like you're in a movie?

3:42

Back then? It could have been. It apps

3:45

to fucking lutly could have been if

3:47

that movie ever got made. There's no doubt

3:49

what the opening shots would be. A

3:52

gigantic warehouse looking building on

3:54

the corner of the main road here in Aguasas. Today

3:58

it's totally abandoned and boarded up. But

4:00

thirty years ago this was a casino

4:03

and in the summer it was

4:05

the scene of one of the most dramatic events

4:08

of Aguasas's history. The

4:10

casino was full of gamblers and security

4:12

guards, the parking lot was full of protesters

4:15

who wanted to shut it all down, and a cavalry

4:17

of police cars were on their way. It was

4:19

a classic Mexican standoff. And

4:24

when we got to the casino, there's probably troop

4:29

cars, probably troopers,

4:33

officers, investigators. We

4:37

were met with two Maudus

4:39

fifty caliber machine guns

4:41

on the roof of that casino. From

4:49

Campside Media and Dan Patrick Productions,

4:52

this is running smoke. Yeah

5:02

right, I'm

5:13

rogi Gola and this is episode

5:15

seven Civil War. When

5:19

Derek turned himself into the police, he knew then

5:21

and there that he was going to fight this case all the way

5:23

to the end. Whether it was bankruptcy,

5:26

jail time, or victory. Derek was

5:28

all in and now he was appealing his

5:30

case on a constitutional basis. This

5:33

was the first time a tobacco case had come this far.

5:35

In every other instance, the case would languish

5:37

and appeals for years before being dismissed

5:39

by a judge. It seemed like Canada

5:42

wasn't interested in addressing the issue head on, But

5:45

this time was different. The judge

5:47

had agreed to hear the case and the stage was

5:49

set for a landmark decision. But

5:51

it's exactly because the stakes were so high

5:53

that the Mohawk Nation had asked Derek and

5:55

Hunter to drop their case. The

5:58

risk of losing was too great and they'd ready

6:00

seen what could happen when things went wrong. They

6:02

were concerned that we're using these agreements

6:05

that were made as a defense, which

6:08

is true Hunter Montur Derek's

6:11

co accused, and they were worried

6:13

that if we lose that it's going to affect

6:15

the Mohawk Nation. I

6:17

said, well, what the hell's the point of having these

6:20

tools if we can't use them,

6:23

when are you going to use them? Well, there's another time

6:25

for this, when this is the time. Right

6:28

now is the time. So

6:30

don't be dumbass. Oh

6:33

well, we know we shouldn't do this right now. You

6:35

should just roll over and

6:38

take it. Not me. I

6:41

have every right to use these laws

6:44

or whatever you want to however you want to phrase it, agreements

6:47

that were made that are binding. So

6:52

why can't I use this to defend

6:55

myself. If I

6:57

can't use it, what the hell good is it? And

7:00

are you going to use it? I don't see any of you

7:02

fighting for land or

7:04

or or pushing for more rights.

7:08

I don't see it. I've dedicated

7:10

myself to whatever I could

7:13

to help our nation,

7:15

and I

7:18

should be able to use my what I'm

7:20

fighting for to help myself

7:23

to get out of whatever. It is. Stupid

7:25

ass predicament I'm in. That's

7:28

what we do this for them

7:31

and c C is basically stating

7:33

that I'm using my rights because of a

7:35

criminal activity. What is

7:38

not criminal in activity? In the eyes

7:40

of the government, it's criminal activity. But

7:43

for us here, it's

7:45

just our our how

7:48

do you put it, It's what we've

7:51

grown up to to do. I mean

7:53

there's not much left. I mean they stole all our

7:55

land. Um,

7:58

they have highways coming truer

8:00

reserve at all

8:03

ends. I mean we have to benefit

8:05

from it somehow. I mean

8:08

we have the gas stations and we have secrets.

8:11

So that's

8:13

what they get for stealing our land. The

8:18

question at the heart of Derek's case boiled down

8:20

to this, the rights belong to an

8:22

individual or do they belong to a community.

8:26

Derek argued that the rights belonged to individuals.

8:28

Mohawk's had a right to trade tax free, and

8:30

he had just as much claim to that right as any

8:32

other Mohawk. But the Council

8:34

of Chiefs, well, they believed that right

8:37

belonged to the community and community institutions.

8:40

The way they saw it, Derek had done his business

8:42

without the permission of the Mohawk government, so

8:45

it wasn't appropriate for him to claim Mohawk rights

8:47

now that he was in trouble. It's a debate

8:50

over what sovereignty actually means,

8:52

and it's one that nearly tore apart one Mohawk

8:55

territory decades ago. To

8:57

understand why it's such a difficult question, we

9:00

have to go back to the nineteen seventies, to

9:02

the birth of the modern Native rights movement.

9:06

We'll get into all that right after the break.

9:15

This was the era when groups like a I AM,

9:17

the American Indian Movement but Native rights

9:20

on the map and staged radical protests

9:22

like reclaiming Wounded need from corrupt leaders.

9:25

Either we forced the federal government

9:27

to kill us all, or else they

9:30

come out and they negotiate and

9:32

meet our demands. They

9:35

occupied Alcatraz and demanded its return

9:37

to Native people. They d a learning

9:39

in peaceful Their sub fishermen's wre was shattered

9:42

suddenly by the ridic mean of Indian

9:44

timetowns, and they even took over the Bureau

9:46

of Indian Affairs in d C. After a

9:48

cross country march they called the Trail of

9:50

Broken Treaties. The Indians came

9:52

from everywhere, and they came with a purpose.

9:55

By the time we start doing something, I think this is

9:57

a test to see how the

9:59

government can uphold the law. Native

10:01

Americans were developing a radical political

10:03

consciousness, and sovereignty became the political

10:06

project of the moment. Sovereignty

10:08

meant writing your own rules, standing on your own

10:10

two feet, and not letting anyone else tell you

10:12

otherwise. An important part

10:14

of that fight for self determination was economic,

10:17

but not everyone agreed on exactly how to build

10:20

up that economy. It became an especially

10:22

contentious issue once some Native community

10:24

started experimenting with gambling and tax

10:26

free tobacco. It was a sort of legal

10:29

gray area that would soon become a battleground.

10:32

Doug George Canendio is a prominent

10:34

Mohawk journalist and advocate who lives

10:36

outside of Agua Sas. Back in the

10:38

day, he reported on how these new ideas

10:40

were changing his community. I was involved

10:43

with this issue when it first

10:45

came to our attention in n when

10:48

individuals from our sister community

10:50

of Gonawaga approached

10:52

us and ask they could secure a

10:55

license to transport tobacco products

10:57

across the international border. And

11:00

they wanted to do this in

11:03

order to form a new economy, UM,

11:05

to introduce wealth

11:08

and to our our

11:11

communities. Tobacco was risk free,

11:13

had high profit margins and a constant

11:15

demand. It seemed like a golden

11:18

ticket. But Doug George

11:20

and the Traditional Leadership Council he sat

11:22

on weren't fully convinced that

11:24

council was concerned at tobacco,

11:27

Uh, something that's extremely sacred

11:30

to the Mohawk people should become a

11:32

commodity. Uh.

11:34

And they knew that there would be serious

11:37

ramifications. You know. Our

11:39

elders told us, they warned us,

11:41

don't do this, and we thought

11:43

we could control it. We

11:46

were wrong. Pretty

11:48

quickly, the tobacco industry swept through the Mohawk

11:51

territories. Before the Nation Council could make a

11:53

decision. The handful of the Native

11:55

entrepreneurs who got into the cigarette game early

11:57

on, became massively wealthy in a

11:59

short amount of time, and Doug George

12:01

was afraid of the implications of that sort of wealth

12:03

gap. Unless we had firm control

12:06

of this, these individuals, we're

12:08

going to grow very powerful. They

12:10

were going to do something that was fairly alien

12:12

to our Mohawk way of life, in that they were going

12:14

to create a handful of very

12:17

rich people who are then going to turn

12:19

around and use their

12:21

wealth to manipulate the community, Uh,

12:24

towards our own ends. Ours

12:27

is not a community that is given to capitalism.

12:30

You know. We were a people who develop

12:32

a system by which all of us

12:34

could prosper, and we were

12:36

adamantly opposed to the

12:39

rise of a wealthy elite who

12:41

would then dictate how that

12:43

society would be to the rest of us.

12:45

That that's something that is so alien to

12:48

to Mohawk tradition. Tobacco

12:51

money started pouring into other lucrative gray

12:53

markets like casinos and Bengo

12:55

halls, even though gambling

12:57

was illegal elsewhere in Canada and the West.

13:01

The smugglers and casino owners claimed

13:03

that the reserves were sovereign territory.

13:05

Federal laws didn't apply. Tobacco

13:08

and gambling were controversial issues within the territory,

13:11

but they were symbols for an even bigger set

13:13

of questions. These people are using

13:15

that and saying, I am sovereign, therefore

13:18

I got a right to do what every what I want on my sovereign

13:20

territory. While it's not your territory. You

13:23

aren't sovereign, You're not Sovereignty

13:27

belongs to the collective. And

13:29

we fought great battles,

13:32

as as Mohawks and as natives

13:34

to in order to secure a certain

13:38

level of self control and

13:41

self determination. But these guys are undermining

13:43

that. They espoused all

13:46

of this rhetoric about

13:48

helping the nation and the people

13:51

and you know, upholding

13:53

traditional values, but they were destroying

13:56

the very thing that they were claiming

13:58

to try to strengthen.

14:00

You know, they were destroying the idea of

14:03

of a stable central government.

14:06

They were undermining the authority of

14:08

traditional law. They were violating um

14:11

our customs and our culture. This

14:16

was the battleground on which the Mohawks

14:18

Civil War would play out. Anti

14:21

tobacco and anti gambling advocates on

14:23

one side trying to preserve their

14:25

traditions against an influx of money earned

14:27

off of vice and exploitation. These

14:30

were known as the antis. On

14:33

the other side were the casino and tobacco

14:35

supporters, tired of playing by

14:37

the old rules. Gambling and cigarettes

14:40

offered a way out, offered a way to build an economy.

14:43

Why should they sit out while everyone

14:45

else moves ahead? How

14:49

did the antis see rights

14:52

differently than you see rights? They

14:55

don't mind being in the arm pit up the

14:57

United States government. Lauren

15:00

Thompson was a traditional leader in Agrasas back

15:03

in the nineteen eighties. He had a reputation

15:05

as a fierce and wily defender who would take radical

15:07

action to protect the community. Once,

15:10

when laggers tried to cut down trees to establish

15:12

a border around agass Lauren

15:14

confiscated their machinery and kicked off

15:16

a month's long standoff with government officials.

15:19

Lauren believed that tobacco and gambling offered

15:22

massive potential for Mohawks to lift themselves

15:24

up. Sure it wasn't exactly

15:26

clean or noble money, but he

15:29

felt that was a reasonable cost to achieve

15:31

true economic independence. He

15:33

clashed with others in the community and ultimately

15:35

lost his leadership position for trying to bring a

15:37

casino to the reserve. He

15:40

felt that the antis were holding the community

15:42

back. They don't mind their

15:45

treaties being secondary Trudeau

15:48

United States law and court

15:51

decisions. They do mind that. In

15:54

other words, they

15:57

accept being American citizens.

16:00

Okay, where's

16:02

the the hardcore

16:04

traditional people will

16:07

stand up and fight for

16:09

the rights in their own land, just

16:13

as the settlers was stand up, grab

16:16

a gun and fight for their

16:18

freedom. Say that's how

16:20

we fight. We we stand

16:22

as equals to the government

16:24

of the United States, the people of the United

16:27

States. But it created

16:29

a problem because there was so much money

16:31

being made that a

16:34

lot of the community wanted

16:36

a part of it because

16:39

they were starting to say, you're using

16:41

my rights to do

16:44

this right. So so there was

16:46

all kinds of conversations going

16:48

on at that time, and that were created

16:50

a different of opinion all

16:53

over the place and from

16:55

there and it just kept growing.

16:58

And then all of a sudden was um uh

17:01

protests from the Longhouse

17:04

people. People we thought

17:06

we were on that were on our side. So

17:09

they did the protests and

17:12

then they came to the point where they

17:14

shut off they closed

17:16

off the toll gate where

17:18

the buses were coming through, so

17:21

that put a halt tool the major

17:23

part of the casino going

17:33

on when they were right back, you're

17:38

listening to running smoke left.

17:42

By the late nineties, tensions between

17:44

the antis and the tobacco gambling

17:46

crowd were growing intense. Cigarettes

17:49

were coming in by the semi truck load, and streets

17:52

were backed up with tour buses full

17:54

of Americans and Canadians coming into

17:56

gamble at the casinos. Money

17:58

was flowing into the reserve like never before.

18:01

Buildings were going up, roads were being paved,

18:03

and smoke shacks were popping up like mushrooms

18:05

after a rain. And just as Doug

18:07

George had predicted, a new class of

18:09

wealthy elites was turning the old way of life in Aguas

18:12

upside down. The casinos

18:14

had become incredibly contentious on the reservation,

18:16

and Tony's Vegas International was at

18:19

the center of the debate. There was a

18:21

federal ban on gambling, but the owner

18:23

of the casino, Tony Laughing, said

18:25

that didn't apply in aguasas it

18:27

was his right as a Mohawks citizen. State

18:30

police beg to differ. What ignited

18:35

really the issue in ninety

18:37

was Tony was running

18:39

an illegal casino out of there. At

18:42

the time in New York State. It

18:45

was illegal run I illegal

18:47

casino, go figure. So

18:51

we had undercover officers

18:53

go into the casino and he had

18:57

I don't know, a hundred D slot

18:59

machines. Well that

19:01

was illegal. So state

19:05

police put a detail together to

19:08

raid the casino and

19:11

somehow the Natives

19:15

were apprized of the oncoming

19:17

rate armed mohawks and casino security

19:19

were standing by ready to defend

19:21

the casino. We were met with two

19:24

Maudus fifty caliber machine

19:27

guns on the roof of that casino. That's

19:30

an impressive site when you're sitting there with

19:32

a magnum and at twelve game jack.

19:36

So discretion being the better part of valor,

19:40

we left and

19:42

as soon as we left, that's

19:45

when the roadblocks went up and the

19:48

fun really started. Once

19:52

the police left the scene, anti gambling

19:54

protesters realized that they were on their own,

19:57

and in the spring of they

19:59

decided to fight this battled themselves. A

20:01

group of people said enough and they

20:03

decided that they were going to stop a lot of these

20:06

uh large buses that were

20:08

coming onto reservation every day and

20:10

to patronize at casinos. And so they

20:12

formed a roadblock and they said, holy

20:15

cal that they had actually done

20:17

this in the people had

20:19

their roadblocks. We were well aware that they

20:21

did this at high risk. That risk

20:24

came from the fact that at the time there

20:26

were no state or Mohawk cops operating

20:28

on the reserve. They'd been kicked out years

20:30

earlier in a different set of protests. The

20:33

only policing force in Agusas now

20:35

was the Mohawks Sovereignty Security Force,

20:38

otherwise known as the Mohawk Warriors.

20:41

The Warrior Society had been around for decades,

20:44

and in the early days it was simply a revival

20:46

of older customs. It was a society

20:49

for young men who wanted to fulfill traditional

20:51

roles. Their symbol was the

20:53

flag of a Mohawk Warrior head on a

20:56

red background. It was the

20:58

same flag that Derek had painted on the hood of his Race

21:00

car Warrior handbook. Who was really

21:02

about the role of the men and it

21:05

channeled that energy and it put it

21:07

in to me in a good way that

21:09

it gave the men direction and

21:12

what to do. Kenneth Dear was a spokesperson

21:14

for the Mohawk Nation during these years, and he

21:16

saw how the Warriors in August Sassy were getting

21:18

drawn into a political battle. It wasn't

21:21

a criminal organization. Wasn't supposed to

21:23

be a criminal organization, you know. It was

21:25

supposed to be a way to teach

21:27

the men are responsibilities and within

21:29

tradition, you know. And

21:31

uh, some unfortunately, some people

21:34

used it like a gang. And

21:36

and I can't support

21:38

that. When anti gambling protesters

21:40

set up roadblocks in the spring of they

21:43

knew that they'd be up against the Mohawk Warriors

21:46

and there was going to be a reaction in the Mohawk

21:48

Sovereignty Security Force, which was supposed

21:51

to provide a protection for the community,

21:54

showed where they're real allegiance slide,

21:56

and that they became deeply

21:58

involved with the casino group

22:01

and trying to break the roadblocks

22:03

in order to resume the smuggling

22:06

and resume the casino

22:08

gambling. And these guys were lazy,

22:10

They weren't trained, they didn't have the discipline,

22:13

they didn't have the psychological background,

22:15

the spiritual background. Uh,

22:18

they didn't know how to control their weapons. They

22:21

would ride around in and the souped

22:23

up cars and trucks and r vs, not

22:26

RVs but SUVs, and and

22:29

with with these weapons whose

22:31

only purpose was to kill other human beings

22:34

and They were fueled by alcohol and drugs,

22:37

and they were employed as goon squads by

22:39

the cigarette smugglers

22:42

who had now become the casino owners. They had

22:44

nothing of the virtues of a real mohawk

22:47

if you want to call a warrior. The

22:52

roadblocks were an escalation in the war between

22:54

antis and casino owners. Each

22:57

side was dug in, accusing the other of

22:59

collaborating with the World government of corrupting

23:01

the community. Mohawk

23:03

warriors would drive around the reservation and pickup

23:05

trucks with automatic weapons and military fatigues.

23:08

They manned checkpoints at the border of the reserve

23:10

and became a vigilante force. They

23:13

had become a flashpoint in this conflict. Their

23:15

supporters saw them as defenders of the community,

23:18

but to the anties they were a marauding

23:20

gang serving the smugglers. Tensions

23:23

rose every day and violence was becoming a

23:25

regular part of life in agrasas arson,

23:28

vandalism, beatings and shootings, even

23:30

a grenade attack. It was, you

23:33

know, automatic gunfire, all sorts of things

23:36

going on there, and that people across

23:38

the river in Ontario would come out in their porch

23:40

and listen to and say what no world has gone on

23:42

over there, but it was it

23:44

was, it was, it was. It was a combat

23:47

situation. Eventually

23:50

two people were killed in the crossfire. Other

23:53

Mohawk nations, which had done their best to stay

23:56

out of Agrasasne, now had

23:58

little option but to intervene. Kenneth

24:00

Dear, the traditional leader in Gonawage,

24:03

was sent to aguas Sasine to see what could be done

24:05

about bringing both sides back together.

24:07

You know, we we tried our best to stay out of

24:09

the the casino war

24:12

over there. We were trying to be pulled into

24:14

that. And our guys went there

24:17

and and looked at what's going on, and they came

24:19

back and said, stay out

24:21

of there. He says, there's no there's

24:24

no middle ground over

24:26

there. Either you're four or against. The situation

24:29

was so bad that if you weren't

24:32

for them, you're against them. If

24:34

you want to build an economy, that's fine, and

24:36

it should be also be a collective, you know,

24:39

but when the collective didn't

24:42

agree with what was going on, and then

24:44

it became uh an individual

24:47

issue. It's hard to

24:49

to make peace when there's no middle ground and

24:53

UH, and that's why you

24:55

know, it ended up with two people being dead. You

24:57

know, it's it's It was unfortunate. But

25:00

then came the Oka crisis. Hear

25:03

firing. I'm not sure if the weapons bard

25:05

that we had the day that they're

25:07

firing at it good evening. It was a bloody

25:09

day at the Mohawk Indian community and Oca

25:12

Quebec near Montreal. Provincial police

25:14

in riot gears stormed the barricades

25:16

the Mohawks had set up. There's an out

25:18

of weapons fire and now is this police

25:20

firing or Mohawk firing here to be coming

25:22

from the police find the Combet Police Force swap

25:25

team moved in. It done and if ever a police

25:27

operation was to go tragically wrong, it

25:29

was this one. What kind of people are you? There's

25:31

children here and you're shooting tear gas at us.

25:34

We're unarmed and you're aiming your weapons

25:36

at us. What kind of people are you? Police

25:38

use gas, then bullets, but they

25:41

weren't prepared for what met them. Dozens

25:43

of heavily armed Mohawk men determined to hold

25:45

what they say is their sacred ground behind

25:47

a tree. There were clouds of tear gas, a hail

25:50

of bullets, and in the midst of the battle

25:52

of policemen was killed. All

25:54

this because of a dispute over a piece of forest.

25:57

The Indians claim is there's

25:59

a forest owned council wants to bulldoze

26:01

to expand the local golf course. Back

26:06

in, the mayor of a small

26:08

village near Montreal called Oka

26:11

was pushing a plan to develop a condominium

26:13

complex and expanded golf course on the outskirts

26:15

of town, but that land

26:17

belonged to the Ghanesstaga Mohawk

26:19

Territory and served as a cemetery

26:22

for the community. The protests

26:24

that followed made international headlines and

26:26

turned into a three month long standoff

26:28

between armed Mohawk warriors and the

26:30

Canadian military. That's

26:33

what's killing our people. These people here

26:35

who don't give a ship about anybody's rights under

26:38

mown Indian has a right on this under this land,

26:41

Well, let's got to tink. It's Mohawk land,

26:43

it's our land. After

26:46

the police retreated, the warriors celebrated,

26:48

but it didn't last long. Tonight, the barricade

26:50

is completely surrounded by the Canadian armies.

26:52

The soldiers have dug themselves in After

26:55

a day of high tension and drama.

26:57

The images from the front lines were icon

27:00

overturned cars barricades made

27:02

out of burning tires and trees. Men

27:04

dressed in camouflage fatigues with bandanas

27:07

over their faces and a K forty seven's

27:09

on their backs, all standing

27:11

against Canadian soldiers in tanks and

27:14

humbies. Again. Today, Native

27:16

leaders in Ottawa demanded the federal government

27:18

do something about the confrontation. In Oka,

27:22

warriors were nearing hysteria the site

27:24

of soldiers near their tribal cemetery. The

27:26

Indians at Oka have said they won't abandoned

27:28

their barricades until they get what they want.

27:30

After such a sudden, violent beginning, this

27:33

could turn out to be a long standoff. And there's

27:35

also trouble on the Conawaga Reserve south

27:37

of Montreal, a sympathy blockade.

27:40

Indigenous territories across the continent

27:42

took part in the protests. Leaders

27:44

in Gnawaga made the decision to shut down

27:46

the Mercy A Bridge, one of the major

27:49

highways that links Montreal with towns

27:51

across the St. Lawrence River. In

27:53

the end, the protests were successful and

27:55

the golf course was never expanded. Nevertin

27:58

calmed down after ninety because

28:01

that was one, you know, we went

28:04

into the court system and all of that stuff,

28:06

But but it was one are

28:09

people were known all over

28:11

the place for defending and so on and so forth.

28:14

Maybe we didn't win in court, or maybe

28:16

some people lost in court, but overall

28:19

we won, we wont, and

28:22

then gambling and cigarettes it didn't seem

28:24

like the biggest issue, and the more the

28:27

victory at Oka was hard one, and months

28:29

of protests had changed the perspective of

28:31

many people in Mohawk territories.

28:34

Of course it was a traumatic

28:37

issue, but also it was an enlightenment

28:39

to a lot of people. They realized those

28:41

people a lot of people who were against cigarettes. Uh,

28:44

all of a sudden, we're surrounded by the by the

28:47

s Q and the army, and

28:49

there's more important things that the series.

28:53

And so when the crisis was over, I

28:55

thought cigarettes would be dead. And then

28:58

it was struggled for a little while, but then it just owned

29:00

and you saw a whole lot of people who were against

29:02

cigarettes who were now bright in there

29:05

because they felt that why be against cigarettes?

29:07

They felt that they didn't matter

29:10

anymore. You know, if the government also treat

29:12

us that way, then that then I have no problem

29:14

with getting involved, no serious. There

29:16

was a change the attitude towards cigarettes.

29:18

It was like night and day. From was

29:22

like night and day. Aguas's

29:24

internal conflict had cooled down completely,

29:28

but it left the debate over individual

29:30

and collective rights unresolved. Danny

29:33

the Company met at the top of the episode, saw

29:36

the entire evolution of the conflict and

29:38

how radically the smoke shops and casinos

29:40

changed again over the following decades.

29:43

I think the biggest lesson in my mind at

29:46

the people down

29:48

here learned from ninety was blockade

29:52

cuts their own throat as well. Nothing

29:55

was moving, Um, you couldn't

29:58

smuggle anything out be because

30:01

the state police had patrols

30:04

at every exit. Just

30:07

I mean, it was kind of like a stare down with the

30:09

mohawks, and so

30:12

the smuggling went downhill. There

30:14

was no civilian traffic. And

30:16

back then they depended tremendously on

30:20

sales from non natives for

30:22

cigarettes, tobacco,

30:25

gasoline, and that was just just

30:27

like somebody through a switch, and so

30:30

economically it was a disaster for

30:33

the people down here. I think that comes

30:35

into play at why it's been

30:37

so calm for so many years. So

30:40

interesting to hear you say that

30:42

those things like the casinos, the gas station

30:44

and uh, tobacco is

30:46

what improved life because in

30:49

a lot of the books that get written about the Mohawks

30:51

Civil War and stuff, it's always the

30:53

cops and the anti is standing together against

30:55

the warriors. And the antis didn't like

30:58

any of what they were seeing with the new

31:00

new businesses. Right, So I

31:03

guess I just didn't expect law

31:05

enforcement to take the side that cigarettes,

31:09

gambling, gas stations were

31:11

actually helping the community. Yeah,

31:15

I agree, Um, I

31:17

wouldn't. I

31:19

don't know if it's fair to classify as taking sides,

31:22

but possibly just being realistic. I

31:25

don't think the

31:27

gambling has been detrimental

31:31

to the reservation in the way the

31:34

antis thought it was gonna be. Um.

31:38

I know they pictured, you know,

31:41

crack on the corner, hookers

31:43

every five ft, um, you

31:46

know, Tony Sopranos sitting in the lobby. But

31:49

I don't think that has come to fruition at

31:52

all. And since

31:55

the gas stations

31:57

came in, and the tobacco and

31:59

then a casino, Um, the

32:02

quality of life really has improved

32:05

tremendously down

32:07

there on the reserve. I mean, it

32:10

provides opportunity.

32:12

I mean it's not all bad. It's

32:15

not all bad. Which

32:18

brings us back to the present day, and

32:20

so the case that Derek is fighting against the Canadian

32:22

government, well, to be more

32:25

precise, the conflict between

32:27

Derek and the Mohawk Nation Council of

32:29

Chiefs, which is trying to get him to drop

32:31

his case. Derek

32:34

is claiming that as a Mohawk, he has the

32:36

right to conduct his business tax free, but

32:39

the Council of Chiefs is claiming that Derek

32:42

was not acting with the permission or authority

32:44

of the Mohawk Nation, so therefore

32:47

he can't claim native rights. It's

32:50

the same question that was at the heart of the Aguasasni

32:52

conflict. Two rights belong to

32:55

the individual or do they belong to

32:57

the community. Kenneth

32:59

Dear believes that those rights are best in the

33:01

community and that Derek's case could

33:03

do more harm than good. What is

33:05

the risk of presenting a case of

33:08

collective france as in the majority, because they

33:11

judges could decide that a

33:14

very bad judgment against them could affect

33:16

all of Lolla Mohawks. You know, the

33:18

judgment could say that the Mohawks do not

33:20

have the collective right to transport

33:23

of cigarettes over the border, and that

33:26

would be you know, disastrous. You know

33:28

if if a judgment said that, and

33:31

particularly since the collective didn't make the

33:34

argument. So if an individual

33:36

uh makes the argument and loses, we

33:39

all lose. If they if they think they

33:42

phoned me guilty, well, you know what,

33:45

the whole nation is going to suffer from this. I

33:47

shouldn't be fighting this. It's it's

33:49

the whole nation. It's the whole community

33:52

of everywhere, every

33:55

community in Canada and

33:58

the United States. Basically, it's

34:01

their fight. It's not mine. But I'm

34:03

the only one that is bringing

34:05

it to Supreme Court and fighting

34:08

this. It

34:10

was plain to see that Derek was not going to drop

34:13

his case. He was going to fight it all

34:15

the way to the end, come hell or high water.

34:18

The Council of Chiefs had no choice but to

34:20

take things further. They were

34:22

going to do something that they've never done before. They

34:25

demanded that the court allow them to intervene

34:27

in the case against Derek. The

34:29

judge agreed. Coming

34:34

up next time on running smoke, I

34:37

have to say the Nation Council's

34:39

involvement in the case right

34:42

from the start was damage control. It

34:46

was how do we minimize the potential damage

34:48

to this This

34:51

court could do not

34:53

our court, not our judge, not our law.

35:03

Running Smokes a production of Campsite Media, Dan

35:05

Patrick Productions and Workhouse Media. The

35:07

series was written and reported by me Roger

35:10

Golan. Our producers are Leah Papes,

35:12

Lane Gerbig and Julie Denachet. Our

35:15

editors are Michelle Lands and Emily Martinez.

35:17

Sound designed and original music by Mark McAdam.

35:20

Additional sound and mixing by Ewen Lyon

35:22

from Ewan. Additional reporting by Susie

35:25

McCarthy. Our executive producers

35:27

are Dan Patrick, Josh Dean of Campsie Media,

35:29

Paul Anderson, Nick Vanella and Andrew Greenwood

35:32

for Workhouse Media. Fact checking

35:34

by Mary Matthis and Angelie Mercado, artwork

35:36

by Polly Adams, and additional thanks to Greg

35:39

Horne, Johnny Kaufman, Sierra Franco, Elizabeth

35:41

van Brocklin and Sean Flynn