Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 17, 2025

Canada's Supreme Court Rejects Mohawk Mothers Case in Search for Unmarked Graves at CIA Torture Site

"We will never give you permission to do anything on our land -- never," Kahentinetha responds to Canada's Supreme Court rejection of the Mohawk Mothers case in the search for unmarked graves at CIA torture site in Montreal. Video by Montreal Gazette:
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article682456.html


Today in Montreal: Protest over Canada's Supreme Court rejection of Mohawk Mothers case in search for unmarked graves at CIA torture site at McGill University. Video interview with Kahentinetha at Montreal Gazette https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article682456.html



Canada's Supreme Court Rejects Mohawk Mothers Case in Search for Unmarked Graves at CIA Torture Site

The Canadian Press, January 16, 2025

MONTREAL - The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal from Indigenous elders who were seeking greater oversight over a university construction site in Montreal where they suspect unmarked graves of children are located.

An application for leave to appeal was dismissed Thursday by the country's highest court, which gave no reason for its decision, as is custom.

The group called Mohawk Mothers alleges there are bodies of Indigenous child patients buried on and around the grounds of the former Royal Victoria Hospital, which has been vacant since 2015 and which McGill University is renovating to transform into a new research and teaching hub.

The group said their claims stem from interviews with survivors of mind-control experiments that took place in the 1950s and 1960s at a psychiatric clinic called the Allan Memorial Institute, which was affiliated with the hospital. Canada and the United States funded abusive psychological experiments on vulnerable patients under the MK-ULTRA program, which included experimental drugs, rounds of electroshocks and sleep deprivation.

The Mohawk Mothers said they weren't surprised with the dismissal. "This announcement stemming from the very same colonial legal system that enabled our genocide comes as no surprise to us as Indigenous people," they said in a written statement.

Today in Montreal: Mohawk Mothers respond to rejection of case in search for unmarked graves at CIA torture site. Video at Montreal Gazette:
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article682456.html

"Even though Canada and Quebec promised us truth and reconciliation, we are still unable to have their courts acknowledge our most basic rights, including the right to investigate crimes committed against our ancestors."

McGill University has said that no unmarked graves or human remains have been discovered on the site.

The Mohawk Mothers group said they will consider their options.

In 2022 the group sued McGill and the provincial body that supports infrastructure projects — Société québécoise des infrastructures, or SQI — and obtained an injunction ordering a pause on the university expansion. As a result, the parties negotiated an agreement in 2023 for a panel of archeologists to oversee the renovations and monitor for the possibility of graves. Cultural monitors were also present in the event graves were found.

But following a conflict on the terms of the deal, the Mohawk Mothers group returned to court and obtained a safeguard order in November 2023 forcing the parties to abide by the agreement. However, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in August 2024, calling the agreement unenforceable and vague, a decision that led the Mohawk group to seek leave to appeal at the Supreme Court.

The Mohawk Mothers said a limited part of the site has been investigated and dogs have detected the scent of human remains in three areas. They said one of those areas has been destroyed by construction equipment.

"We are extremely concerned that the same will happen with the two remaining areas of concern if there is no legal recourse to prevent McGill and the SQI from further destruction of evidence," the Mohawk Mothers said.

APTN video interview https://www.aptnnews.ca/videos/supreme-court-rejects-mohawk-mothers-appeal-over-mcgill-expansion/


In a statement, the public infrastructure body said it has always acted in good faith.

"The SQI has always expressed its desire to shed light, in a spirit of collaboration, on allegations of the presence of graves," said Anne-Marie Gagnon, a spokeswoman for the agency. "The SQI and its partners are committed, in good faith and rigorously, to conducting and continuing archaeological research accompanied by experts in the field."

McGill University did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2025.

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/quebec/unmarked-graves-supreme-court-wont-hear-mohawk-mothers-appeal-over-mcgill-expansion/article_9958b696-2af6-51b6-af83-2fab9dd627bb.html


Breaking news: Search finds 114 unmarked burials at McIntosh Indian Residential School, by CBC

An investigation has detected 114 "unmarked burial features" on the former property of McIntosh Indian Residential School (IRS) in the Kenora district of northwestern Ontario, the Wiikwogaming Tiinahtiisiiwin Project Team said Thursday.

It's one of multiple searches underway for missing children and unmarked burials at former residential school sites across Canada.

According to the Paths to Reconciliation map of unmarked burial sites on Canadian Geographic, there are an additional five sites in northwestern Ontario with active investigations.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/mcintosh-indian-residential-school-search-unmarked-burial-features-detected-1.7433302

Biden Awards Pope 'Medal of Freedom' -- Both Biden and Pope Responsible for Genocide


Priests and Native boys at St Michaels Indian Industrial School, Duck Lake, Canada 1900.


Biden Awards Pope 'Medal of Freedom' Both Biden and Pope Responsible for Genocide

Biden, responsible for genocide in Palestine, awards Pope Francis the Medal of Freedom, after Pope admits Catholic Church is responsible for genocide of Native children

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, January 17, 2025

President Biden awarded Pope Francis the Medal of Freedom with Distinction, with no mention of the genocide that the Catholic Church committed in residential schools and boarding schools.

January 12, 2025

U.S. Interior Fails to Report Thousands of Deaths of Native Children in 'Prison Camps' -- U.S. Boarding Schools

 

Chemawa Indian School, Oregon


U.S. Interior Report Fails to Report Thousands of Deaths of Native Children in 'Prison Camps' -- U.S. Boarding Schools

'Run, run as fast as you can'

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 13, 2025

Thousands of Native children died in U.S. boarding schools that were not reported by the U.S. Interior Department in its report, the Washington Post reveals. Suffering from malnutrition, diseases and abuse, the largest number of unreported children's deaths were at Chemawa Indian Training School in Oregon, followed by Haskell Indian Industrial School in Kansas. The largest total number of deaths were at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

January 9, 2025

Zapatistas 'Rebellion and Resistance' Forty-six Countries Present


Photo Cuartoscuro


Echoes of the First Session of the Meetings of Resistance and Rebellion. December 2024 and 1-2 January 2025. Attendance: some parts of the whole?

Enlace Zapatista, January 8, 2025

Deutsch Übersetzung (German)
Espanol Enlace Zapatista


People registered until January 2, 2025:

- 1079 attendees signed the Declaration for Life.

- 245 groups, collectives, movements or organizations.

- 35 free, autonomous, independent media, or whatever they are called.

Zapatistas 'Resistance and Rebellion' Audios and Videos




Echoes of the First Session of the Meetings of Resistance and Rebellion. December 2024 and January 1-2, 2025. Zapatista Participation: Audios and Videos for Download

Enlace Zapatista, January 9, 2025

Echoes of the First Session of the Meetings of Resistance and Rebellion.
December 2024 and January 1-2, 2025.

Zapatista Participation: Audios and Videos for Download
For signatories of the Declaration for Life, Zapatista compas and party brothers and sisters