Akwasasne: “No Guns!” – Mohawks vow to resist armed border guards

Canadian Borders Services Agency (CBSA) were due to be armed at the Port of Cornwall crossing on June 1, a policy universally opposed and condemned by the Akwesasne Mohawk Community. Guards abandoned their posts just before midnight, out of fear of reprisals from the community. Protesters have maintained a presence at the site on Cornwall Island in Ontario since then, and vehicle traffic onto the Seaway International Bridge has been shut down by police on both sides of the border. The Mohawk territory of Akwesasne straddles the jurisdictions of Ontario, Quebec and New York State, and is a major international border crossing between Canada and the United States. CBSA guards began arming in 2007, and there are currently more than 800 armed CBSA guards across Canada. The entire CBSA aims to be armed, in stages, by 2016. “[The Canadian Border Service Agency] is a foreign oppressive force who occupies our sovereign community and territory. (They are) unwelcome, uninvited and now carrying firearms. For lack of a different description, that is considered by some an act of war.” – Larry King, member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.