Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Letter to the editor:

WE ALL NEED TO PITCH IN TO SAVE OUR CITIES!

Did you know that the implementation date to arm all border guards in Canada is

2016?

This is 2009! The Mohawks and CBSA have 7 years to work this out.

Closing this bridge has caused over 200 job losses (36 lay-offs at one company alone), a drop in revenue to businesses by 30% in Canton, Rooseveltown & Massena NY, a drop of 15% in Cornwall Ontario and a drop of 25% in Akwesasne and businesses are already closing their doors!

Minister Van Loan who lives 650km away and doesn’t really give a hoot, is

the person responsible for this.

All he has to say is “the new implementation date for arming the guards at

Cornwall has been postponed to June 1, 2013” and voila - why is he drawing

an unnecessary line in the sand?

And remember one thing:  the crossing is not closed because there are a

few elders under a tent manning the 24/7 protest (a few days ago it was 1

elder wrapped in a blanket playing a guitar), it is closed because the

Canada Border Services Agency guards walked off the job - period!

They are welcome to return anytime...the Mohawks are not saying NO GUNS

despite popular belief - they are saying no guns until we can discuss the

issues we have with said guns.

But no one is listening and Peter Van Loan refuses to meet with them!

Be heard!  Call or Email Peter Van Loan NOW and demand that the implementation

date be delayed !

Call him at 1-877-738-3748

vanloan.p@parl.gc.ca

We need our bridge back and our friends from the US and Akwesasne back!

Todd & Josée Sauve

Cornwall, Ontario

____________________

PS - Todd has also sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper which asks 4 questions and we hope to get answers or at the very least, promote some awareness.  Yesterday it was emailed, faxed and mailed to Harper, Lauzon and Van Loan.  Tonight, I plan on sending it out to the remaining 306 MPs in the hopes of getting them talking about this and making Van Loan accountable.

I beg that these four questions be answered as no one here can understand why Minister Van Loan is being allowed to shut our cities down:

1. Is the fact that we are very small cities (Cornwall: 45,000, Akwesasne: 8,000, Massena: 13,000) and a tiny port of entry that sees an average of about 8,000 travellers a day, the reason that we don’t matter? Would the same actions be taken if this were let’s say, the Detroit/Windsor bridge and tunnel that sees 100,000 travellers a day?  Would it be kept shut for weeks, months and as it now appears....years?

2. Is there a reason, that Minister Van Loan is not delaying the arming of the border guards at the Cornwall/Massena port of entry when the implementation date for the arming of all guards across Canada is 2016 and this is 2009?

3. Can Canadian laws be changed so that a Minister of a riding 650km away cannot have the power to cripple three cities, without any say from said cities’ own Minister or American counter-parts?

4. Can you please provide me with further information for the steps I must take, as a business owner, to apply for financial compensation? If there is a form that I need to complete,  I will need an extra 700 copies to pass on to all the affected businesses in Cornwall, ON and Akwesasne, ON and I also ask where my American neighbours can apply for financial compensation from Canada…the US should not pay for this as this is a crisis caused entirely by the Canadian government, and more specifically, the Minister of Public Safety & Security.

As everyday cripples us more, a timely answer to my queries would be greatly appreciated.