[NYTr] Spectators Shout Down Judge as Quebec Mohawks Sentenced Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:12:44 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by mart CBC News - Jan 20, 2006 http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/01/20/mohawk-sentence060120.html Spectators shout down judge as Quebec Mohawks sentenced The sentencing of Quebec Mohawks convicted for their roles in a 2004 riot temporarily ground to a halt on Friday as spectators shouted insults and slurs at the judge. Quebec Judge Nicole Duval-Hesler had to stop reading the jail sentence of Kanesatake Mohawk Robert Gabriel, considered the riot's ringleader, amid shouts that included use of the word "racist." The judge eventually restored order and finished reading the sentence. A total of 13 Mohawks were convicted of confinement and participating in a riot. They received jail sentences from one year to 15 months, or fines. In January 2004, rioters torched the home of the community's former grand chief, James Gabriel, and surrounded the police station after Gabriel fired the police chief and created an aboriginal police force to fight crime. Grand Chief Steven Bonspille says all the facts surrounding the incident aren't yet known. He is calling for a public inquiry. "We are working for a new beginning in Kanesatake, a new time of hope and prosperity, a time of peace," Bonspille said. "However, the issue of those dramatic events keep resurfacing and causing turmoil. My community has suffered greatly from the incident." *** Background: CBC 0 JAN. 15, 2004: Deal to end Kanesatake standoff Deal to end Kanesatake standoff Written by CBC News Online staff KANESATAKE, QUEBEC - Quebec Public Security Minister Jacques Chagnon has struck a deal ending the standoff on the Kanesatake Mohawk reserve. But it hasn't resolved the dispute that has split the community. The Mohawk community remains divided over actions taken by Grand Chief James Gabriel, who has vowed to get tough on crime - especially illegal tobacco sales. Over the last two years, illegal cigarette sales to non-native people has been a boost to a community facing high unemployment and debt. But in that time, police chief Tracy Cross has not made a single arrest. "The cigarette shacks are responsible for helping this community," said Cross, "for, in fact, lowering crime." But not according to Gabriel. On Monday he fired the police chief and brought in a special squad of about 60 peacekeepers from reserves across the province. But an angry crowd surrounded the building where they were. And then things got violent. First the crowd targeted the chief's home burning it to the ground. Gabriel's dog also died in the fire and his car and tractor were damaged. Gabriel says he was forced to hold a news conference in Montreal. He fled his community, he says, after receiving death threats. "When I heard that my home had been torched I was devastated," he said. On Tuesday evening Chagnon worked out a deal allowing the peacekeepers to leave the police station on the reserve. Other peacekeepers from two other Mohawk communities will be brought in to police the Kanesatake reserve. Some community members believe the unrest was a response to the "invasion" of an outside police force. Others say it was due to fears police, under Isaac's leadership, would curtail the thriving cigarette trade. Image: "Native police officers inside their police compound" (CP photo) http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/photos/kanesatake_cp_040113.jpg * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================