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'Canadian' gangs behind smuggling Let Mohawks regulate sales

The Gazette stories on tobacco, Mohawks and organized crime were interesting reading. They gave some factual information and quotes from various sources. However, they did not tell the whole story. The first article highlighted the presence of organized crime in the tobacco industry in Kahnawake but failed to describe in detail how it came to be, who is involved, which stores or factories are involved.

In fact, the story strangely described organized crime in ethnic terms: Russian, Asian, Italian, and Irish. It did not call these crime syndicates "Canadian." The article seemed to distance Canadians from the activities of these organizations.

But these gangs are Canadian and they come from Canadian society. It is Canadians who have criminalized the cigarette industry in Kahnawake and other territories.

If the SQ and the RCMP would do their jobs, organized crime would not be infiltrating Mohawk businesses. Organized crime does not originate on Indian reserves. Organized crime flourishes in Canadian society and eventually will infect First Nations communities.

So if Canadians are complaining about organized crime and tobacco, you should get rid of organized crime in your society and that will help all of us.

Mohawks, on the other hand, are trying to maintain an economy to sustain a quality of life that approaches that of other North Americans. Wearing beads and feathers and dancing for tourists does not generate the kind of income that makes for a comfortable living for all the people in Kahnawake. Other sources are needed to take advantage of our location and heritage.

Tobacco offers that opportunity. While a lack of regulations and accountability has led to certain abuses of the cigarette trade, Mohawks are quite capable of exercising jurisdiction inside the boundaries of our communities and combatting these abuses.

Controls inside our communities can regulate the industry to stabilize pricing, and co-operation from other entities can assure a supply of quality tobacco to reduce the influence of criminal organizations.

Benefits of a stable and regulated tobacco industry inside Mohawk communities and run by by Mohawks can be shared for the greater good of our society.

Dialogue and creative problem solving between Mohawks and the federal and provincial entities can result in a criminal-free tobacco industry inside our boundaries.

That way there would not be any need for the use of force that could lead to another Oka crisis.

Kenneth Deer, former editor of the Eastern Door, is a freelance journalist.