# Tell CN Rail to drop their racist lawsuit against the Mohawk Nation.



## roadbike (Apr 6, 2009)

So, appologies for just posting up this email out rather than condensing it a little. Figured ya folks might be interested in the issue and possibly down with signing some petitions (little good that petitions may do, but I figure any action we could take might be helpful).

Tell CN Rail to drop the lawsuit! against Tyendinaga Mohawks
<http://intercontinentalcry.org/tell-cn-rail-to-drop-the-lawsuit-against-tyendinaga-mohawks/>


Tell CN Rail to drop the lawsuit! against Tyendinaga Mohawks
n517049683_98425_9064-128x96
<http://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/n517049683_98425_9064.jpg>

The Tyendinaga Support Committee is putting together a month-long
campaign to pressure Canadian National Railway (CNR) to drop their
recently announced lawsuit against members of the Mohawk Community
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090327.BRANT27ART2242/TPStory/National>
of Tyendinaga.

They are asking individuals and groups interested in supporting the
campaign to take on three tasks:

* To send a call out to their contacts at the beginning of April
with a sample letter and background information (included below).
* To send a reminder call out just before the April 7th court date.
* To send another call out before April 21st, asking supporters to
call and fax CN again before their shareholders meeting.


CN: Drop your racist lawsuit!

*Support the Mohawks of Tyendinaga*

Call out for a month-long phone and fax campaign

Canadian National Railway is suing Shawn Brant, Jason Maracle, and Tara
Green as well as their families and community (Jane and John Doe, also
named in the suit). CN’s lawsuit is a response to a blockade on CN
tracks during April 2007, and another lawsuit against Shawn Brant for a
blockade on June 29, 2007. CN has not yet specified the amount in
damages they are seeking.

Statements of defence and counterclaims have been filed against CN,
claiming that CN pollutes Tyendinaga lands, creates a nuisance by the
noise their operations cause, and scares away game. CN has filed a
motion asking the courts to strike much of these counterclaims.

That motion will be argued in open court on April 7.

Supporters of the ongoing resistance in Tyendinaga are being asked to
demonstrate their solidarity by faxing (preferable) or emailing letters
to CN during this critical court case. Below is background information
and a sample form letter that can be modified and emailed or faxed to CN
headquarters.

We are holding the phone and fax campaign from April 1st to 31st.
We are encouraging supporters to fax or phone because these are more
effective ways to pressure CN, but if you interested in sending an email
please also BCC [email protected] so we can track
the campaign.

There are two important dates we are asking supporters to focus their
faxes and phone calls around:

The first is *April 7th*, the first day of court in the injunction
process mentioned above. The second date is *April 21st*, date of CN’s
shareholder meeting in Calgary.

In solidarity,
/The Montreal Tyendinaga Support Committee/
[email protected]
514-848-7583
Bloc AMP-Montréal | AMP - Montréal


Sample form letter

E. Hunter Harrison, President and CEO
CN Railway
935 De La Gauchetiere Street? West
16th floor Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2M9

March 31, 2009

Mr. Harrison,

I am writing to encourage you to drop CN’s lawsuits against three
activists, Shawn Brant, Jason Maracle and Tara Green, of the Tyendinaga
First Nation.

In April and in June of 2007, some of the Tyendinaga Mohawks blockaded a
CN rail line between Toronto and Montreal in protest against the
injustices suffered by their First Nation. Specific issues included
their impoverishment and the lack of action with respect to the
pollution of their water so that it is not fit to drink or even to bathe
in and with respect to the return of lands that were unlawfully taken
from them. Shawn Brant has spent months in jail as a result of his
participation in those blockades.

It is my opinion that CN (and the previous railroad companies that
became part of CN) played a significant role in creating the
impoverishment of First Nations people, and that CN continues to
unjustly profit from its so called “rights of way” through First nations
territories. I feel that it is completely inappropriate for CN to pursue
these lawsuits in these circumstances.

Your website claims that “CN seeks to promote a harmonious working
relationship with the many Aboriginal communities along its
rights-of-way across Canada… through a climate of mutual trust and
understanding”.

Your continuation of these lawsuits is not an act of mutual trust.

I understand that lawyers representing CN will be arguing in a Toronto
court on April 7, 2009 that much of the statements of defence and
counterclaims of the Defendants should be struck out. I urge you to
reconsider and to instruct your lawyers to simply drop the lawsuits.

Sincerely,

__________

*Please fax to: 514-399-5985*

Email Robert Noorigan (Vice-President) or Janet Drysdale (Investor
Relations) from the link:
CN - Stock / Shareholder Info - Contacts

*Mail to: *
E. Hunter Harrison, President and CEO?
CN Railway?
935 De La Gauchetiere Street? West
16th floor Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2M9

*Or call in your dissent at:*
514-399-6450 (you will reach the office of Bryan Tucker, the Senior
Manager of Public Affairs and Media Relations)
514-708-6450 (Bryan Tucker’s cell phone)


Background

Tyendinaga is a Mohawk community located on the shore of the Bay of
Quinte between Toronto and Montreal, in eastern Ontario. The Mohawk
Nation is one of the five original nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

As part of long-standing struggles for land and self-determination –
including unresolved land claims, poverty, suicides and polluted water —
members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk community have organized to defend
their territory. In particular, several actions, including blockades,
have taken place to expedite the slow negotiation process over the
Culbertson Tract, a piece of land the government has long acknowledged
was taken illegally from the Mohawks. A quarry on the land was reclaimed
in March 2007, and Mohawks have maintained a fulltime presence on-site
ever since.

CN is seeking damages for lost revenue as a result of the blockades.
Though CN has not yet named the amount of money it will seek in the
suit, we understand this threatening process as a blatant form of
financial persecution against Jason Maracle, Tara Green and Shawn Brant
as well as their families and community (Jane and John Doe, also named
in the suit). We also see it as an attack on the struggles of Native
peoples to obtain justice in the face of ongoing neo-colonial attacks on
their sovereignty and lands.


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## dirtyfacedan (Apr 6, 2009)

I read about this on Mostly Water | "Canadian" and International alternative news the other day. The Mohawk Nation needs our support on this one.


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## roadbike (Apr 7, 2009)

Definitely. I'm attempting to organize some type of action in Calgary surrounding the CN Shareholder's meeting, but, with it being at 9 a.m., a lot of the stationary punks I'd draw on are either in classes or working some shitty job or another at that time. Kind of short notice, but I really want to get something together. If anyone's in the Calgary region and wants to come in on this, feel free to message me here.


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## wokofshame (Apr 7, 2009)

yeah, every year the Mohawks build a big fire on the tracks and effectively stop trains for a day or 2. i actually know a guy ,. john from spook now odf montreal, who ran into the blockade not once but twice and abandoned his train (or so he claims)


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## Geoff (Apr 7, 2009)

how hard would it be to just destroy the tracks???


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## wartomods (Apr 16, 2009)

federal hard


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