OPEN LETTER TO THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AND SOLIDARITY MESSAGE TO THE HAUDENAUSAUNEE WOMEN OF AKWESASNE, TYENDINAGA AND SISTER COMMUNITIES

We, women of the Montreal-based, March 8th Coordination and Action Committee of Women of Diverse Origins (WDO)  express our profound solidarity with the Haudenausaunee women and their communities as they struggle to stop the ongoing annexation and illegal occupation of their un-surrendered lands. We extend our deepest respect to the Haudenausaunee people of Akwesasne who have courageously defied the Harper government's plan to arm the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) border guards at the Kahwehnoke border crossing (Cornwall Island).

We ardently denounce the brutal attack and vicious arrests of members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk community on June 12, 2009, who were standing in solidarity with the community of Akwesasne by blocking access to the local Skyway bridge in Southern Ontario to demand that the Federal Government enter into meaningful discussions with the community of Akwesasne.

The Canadian state has been built on violence against Onkwehonwe women and their families -- sexual violence, genocide and on-going colonial repression. Harassment by border guards against Akwesasne community members is only a recent form of aggression in a long history of colonialism. Hundreds of complaints have been filed against the CBSA for incidents like conducting a cavity search on a teenager, subjecting a pregnant woman to repeated x-rays and interrogating children after forcibly removing them from the care of adult family members. The position of the Federal Government that it refuses any discussion with the community of Akwesasne is ludicrous and will only engender further mistrust and frustration.

We, Women of Diverse Origins, support the call for the Federal Government to enter into meaningful discussions with the community of Akwesasne. Moreover, we, insist that the Canadian government respect the people of Akwesasne’s demand to NOT arm the CBSA border guards at the Kahwehnoke border crossing. We demand that the Canadian government respect Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous people's right to self-determination.

We demand that the community members of Tyendinaga, who face criminalization for standing in solidarity with their sister community be released immediately and that all charges be dropped.

WDO brings together feminist, migrant justice and women's groups, and individuals as to organise International Women's day events celebrated on March 8th, from an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonial and anti-racist perspective. We are women who are committed to a peace that brings genuine justice and freedom for all, and a peace that flourishes in a world without interpersonal or state violence. Solidarity is paramount to this commitment. We believe that solidarity transcends borders, and that mutual respect in the struggle for justice brings about a society without violence against women and our communities. As women of diverse origins, many of us, our families and communities have faced the brutality of border guards when attempting to migrate with dignity, after being forced off our lands by governments and corporate interests that cater to the global free-market economies. We acknowledge that the struggle, for our dignity, as (im)migrants, second-generation immigrants and as non-Native women, must be built in solidarity with Indigenous struggles for justice. We believe that these ties make us stronger and reinforce the struggle against the colonisation of your lands. We therefore extend our solidarity and support to the Haudenausaunee women, who have for years, courageously been risking their lives in self-defence of their land and communities. We understand that these decisions are not taken lightly, but that a stand must be taken for your communities and the generations to come.

We stand with Akwesasne, in your struggle against the arming of CBSA border guards and with Tyendinaga in your solidarity with sister communities and your struggle for self-determination. We recognise that a stand made by Indigenous communities against racism and colonial violence is a stand made for humanity.

In solidarity and sisterhood,

The March 8th Coordination and Action Committee, Women of Diverse Origins
Montreal, 14 June 2009

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