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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 cheap cigarettes 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.
Other cigarettes news and tobacco market events you can find at links bellow:
• Cigarettes & Tobacco News
• Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco News
• Discount Cigarettes Tobacco News
Officials at the University of Memphis have decided to push for a tobacco-free campus by next summer.The move was spurred by a student government petition last year and similar actions by faculty and staff leaders. Maria Alam, who is chief human resources officer for the university, told The Commercial Appeal that she is "reviewing and putting together a policy" for the campus."The idea is not to go around policing," she said. "But we'd address it as complaints come in."In her position with the university, Alam oversees workplace regulations, including smoking...
The role of the online cigarettes grower cooperatives that formerly administered the cigarettes store price support program has changed drastically since 2004.It had to: the price support program was ended after that season, and the cooperatives had to find new services to offer to their members.Perhaps the most drastic changes among the cooperatives has been made by the Burley Stabilization Corporation (BSC), which served Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. In 2010, it moved its headquarters 200 miles to get closer to its primary production area, and it has implemented an aggressive...
After a lengthy period of consideration, Minnesota State University will become a tobacco-free campus on Jan. 1.MSU, however, won’t be the first institution in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system to enact the cheap cigarettes ban.In 2010, the MnSCU Board of Trustees passed a resolution encouraging campuses to adopt such a policy. Shortly after, South Central College became one of the first to do so and has been followed by a number of others, including Winona State and Minnesota State-Moorhead.“This is a movement that’s been endorsed by MnSCU,” said Rick Straka,...
In most parts of the state, Californians appear to be kicking the cigarettes habit.Last year, 11.9% of Californians said they smoked, down one percentage point from 2009. California has the second-lowest smoking cigarettes rate in the country, according to recent reports from the California Department of Public Health and CDC. Utah, where 9.1% of residents are smokers, has the lowest rate.Another recent report paints a picture of a different kind of cheap cigarettes habit in Sacramento. The report -- "Tobacco Money in California Politics" by the American Lung Association in California --...
When apartment tenants light up a cigarette, it's not just their smoking cigarettes-averse neighbors who suffer. Landlords are also sucking it up — in increased cleaning costs. But by implementing complete smoke-free rules throughout their properties, owners of California multi-unit rental buildings could save up to $18 million a year statewide on the cost of cleaning apartments vacated by tenants who smoke, according to a new UCLA study. These policies can also protect their other tenants from the secondhand smoke cigarettes that seeps between units.The study was published online Aug....