Charles Kader: Politicians must respect Two Row Wampum

Upon hearing the announcement that Representative William Owens will not seek re-election, I was gratified. Besides wishing him well in his retirement, I will also recount where his political shortcomings have aggravated the formal relationship between his federal government and the people of the Akwesasne reserve.

The relationship between Onkwehon:weh (original people, aka Mohawk) and Europeans was originally forged through trade agreements that were mutually beneficial. The settling of violations of those agreements had to be accounted for in some way. Onkwehon:weh relied upon the Two Row Wampum (Kaswentha) to mediate differences between their own peoples prior to the European contact. After the 1492 Encounter, the Two Row Wampum was adapted to account for the vastly different cultural ways. In essence, the Two Row Wampum relies upon Onkwehon:weh staying in their canoe while the Europeans stay in their own ships, relatively speaking. In other words, stay out of each other’s business to maintain the peace. In the case of agreement violators, the offenders, when caught, were turned back over to their own people. Owens’ statements gloss over his understanding of this tradition.

Take for instance this statement by Representative Owens, concerning the relocation of the Canadian Security Border Services (CBSA) inspection point to the Massena Port of Entry of the International Bridge. “It eliminates the potential for us to have another shutdown at the border,” Mr. Owens said. “The Mohawk community likes this idea as well. We really have all three groups behind this idea."

Excuse me Representative Owens. You never checked with anyone in Akwesasne before you said this. It was a patently false statement and could have led to an increase of tension at this port of entry. Even former U.S. Customs officials have expressed to me the fallacy of the reasoning. The CBSA will have no jurisdiction to prosecute anyone from that geographical position; neither their own citizens nor American citizens nor Onkwehon:weh. In short, that is pretty far out to think that way.