The
Grass Cage


The Introduction

I'm not writing the story that I wanted to write.

I thought that this was going to be about a Mohawk community banding together to cultivate cannabis and plowshare the rewards into cohesive, proud, and strengthening institutions. With initial reports of one million plants, I also thought the readership would be interested in the techniques, breed, and procedures involved in cultivating a billion dollar crop. Finally, people guarding fields of pot with rifles is a real revolutionary act.

The story, however, is an old one. Pot prohibition is an embarrassment to all concerned.


April - May 1995

In April-May 1995 a CBC radio reporter named Alain Picard was approached by members of the Mohawk community to investigate cannabis growing on a reserve about sixty miles from Montreal.

A woman who complained about the plants to outside media in July had her vehicle window destroyed and has since received several death threats. Picard has been beaten up twice so far, by "unknown assailants".


July 23, Sunday

The story broke when some community traditionalists called in the media and walked with them into the cannabis fields. The camcorders whirring in fields of green came as a complete surprise to all those guarding and taking care of the cannabis. Thirteen of these young guards may face charges.


July 25, Tuesday

On July 25 the story was broken to the general public and area reporters were invited to tour pot fields in and around Kanesatake.

The Montreal Gazette headline read "GROUP IS RAISING 1,000,000 PLANTS". I could do the math. If reports were right, this crop would have been worth about a billion dollars, give or take a few hundred million.


Potential income:

One million plants would yield approximately half a million pounds. At $2000 a pound, this works out to $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars).


The Players


The Admissions

At first there were public admissions of four fields, then seven fields, then eight. In another five days it would be an official fourteen fields. By August 8th I would be convinced of the existence of at least forty different fields of cannabis.


July 26, Wednesday

We had been told by three different sources that if we went down Centre Road we would receive an "unholy beating". It therefore seemed like the right direction to find the pot fields.

In debate: (l to r) David Cliché (Québec's Minister of Native Affairs), Robert Gabriel ("The Mohawk Minister of Justice"), Serge Ménard (Québec's Minister of Public Security) and two SQ officers.

We encountered five men on the road who were "media hunting", including Robert Gabriel. Robert Gabriel is Grand Chief Jerry Peltier's close aide, the Mohawk equivalent of "Minister of Justice and Security". He invited us to a 7AM press conference the next day.


It Looked Good

The Peacekeeper guarding the road agreed with the others there that cannabis should be legal and commercialized to compete with cotton, to make shoes, and to make paper.

It looked good. This group appeared to have a sound scientific background when it came to the potential of cannabis for medicine and other positive uses.

By this time reports and helicopter aerial footage made it appear that some of these fields were five to fifteen acres. At twenty million dollars an acre for quality pot, this was big. Under close scrutiny of the negatives these photos were mainly of apple orchards and tomato plants. But there were big cannabis fields as well. I am certain that at least one field was four acres solid.


July 27, Thursday

We showed up Thursday morning for our scoop. Fifty people were assembled, Peacekeepers, Community Watch Team, Billy Two Rivers, Grand Chief Jerry Peltier of Kanesatake, Grand Chief Joe Norton from Kahnawake, and Russell Roundpoint of Akwesasne. They were meeting to take care of all the fields by cutting them down and burning them.

The Peacekeepers are a sort of police force who are looking for official police status. Part of the tension on this and other reserves is due to white cops enforcing the law among natives. Kanesatake is currently involved in talks which they will hope will lead to the Mohawk Peacekeepers receiving official police status.

The Watch Team is a broadly based group within the community which acts to stop trouble before it reaches the ears and arms of federal authority. They will try and sit someone down and take an interest in their problems before they receive outside attention.

Curiously, no women were present at the 7AM pot burning roundup.

We got out of the car in front of the Band Council office to interview and photograph. End of story. We were told to leave and go away.

Robert Gabriel said the chiefs met the night before and "didn't want it to appear as if they were pro-pot... they just wanted to get rid of it. Cannabis Canada and High Times can't be here. You can't come with us."

At this now exclusive conference for CTV, Québec's Minister of Justice - Serge Ménard - was applauded for his efforts by Grand Chief Jerry Peltier.


The Factory

The pot fields were referred to as "gardens", and cloning was done in at least one quarter acre greenhouse called the "factory" owned by Robert Gabriel's father.

Sources say that individuals could buy clones from one of the factories, but after that they were on their own. Each man was considered responsible for his own field.


The Money

It's hard to believe that this could start out on such a scale without significant practical experience and prior field studies. Yet if this was successfully pulled off last year, where did the money go? Could it be that trickle down economics doesn't work any better on a reserve than it does in our cities?

One noteworthy young man in his mid 20's built a $250,000 house. The whole community takes on a risk, yet only a few took the profit, so creating a dynasty for generations to come.

The money trail would answer many questions about individual behaviour. We leave it to Revenue Canada and the I.R.S. to pursue those questions.

The conclusion is not that cannabis is bad, but rather it that the illegality of cannabis, coupled with potentially huge profits, can greatly influence legitimate authority.


The Past

Meanwhile, negotiations between Mohawk leaders and Québec social control agents remained constant and open, even if they were occasionally lying to one another.

This was a vast improvement over 1990, when a road leading from Oka into Kanesatake was blockaded by members of the Mohawk community. The issue under dispute was the desire of the municipality of Oka to expand its golf course over Mohawk territory and cut down an old pine forest originally planted by ancestors of the people living there.

On July 11th, the blockade was attacked by the Sûreté de Québec, leading to the death of one SQ officer. The raid led to a 78 day standoff which involved 2,500 troops from the Canadian Army, tanks, tear gas, thousands of rounds of machine gun fire, a United Nations Observation team, the public stoning of Mohawk men and children by whites, effigy burnings, and continuous demonstrations in the streets of Montreal in support of the Mohawks.

SQ officers carrying cannabis off to the garbage truck for removal.

Although the disputed land was ultimately purchased by the federal government, the land has never been granted to the Mohawks, nor has their territory received official reserve status, even though they have lived there continuously since the 1960's.

While S.Q. and native leaders were figuring out how to handle the raids to come, the Québec coroner, Guy Gilbert, was about to present his findings on the 1990 S.Q. raid. His August 14th release would say, "There was no urgent need for the S.Q. to move in on the morning of July 11, 1990, and that raid was unjustified..."


The Fields

The cannabis fields are deep inside and around Mohawk land. The band council had to be aware of pot growth. There were media reports of fields growing in that area as early as March 1994.

The Sûreté de Québec, Canadian military, and big media have long been making helicopter reconnaissance flights over Oka and Kanesatake. How could the fields have been missed all these years? These fields are so huge that they are easily visible by air. Helicopters were even shot at there last fall.

If a hundred warriors could hold off the Canadian army for 78 days in 1990, could one shot at a helicopter last fall scare off Southam, Thompson, Conrad Black, and the entire Provincial Police Force?

Why are these men smiling? They're desperate to look like they can govern. (l to r) Serge Ménard (Québec's Minister of Public Security), David Cliché (Québec's Minister of Native Affairs)

The Politics

Gerald Alfred, a Kahnawake and Political Science professor at Concordia University had this to say:

"You don't see the Sûreté de Québec making such a big deal about pot farms elsewhere. It's more of a political manoeuvre than a policing issue. It's all related to the referendum. Everything they do is related to winning the referendum. They're desperate to look like they can govern, and the Mohawks are a natural target for the government."

Mr. Alfred's thoughts are later confirmed by a series of nearby raids elsewhere which received no media attention at all.

On July 16 the S.Q. seized 453 plants in the Parish of Oka. The RCMP also took 500 plants in Shawinigan on July 26th and an additional 1,700 in Abitibi on July 27th.

Provincial seizures of cannabis, according to the S.Q., were 37,000 plants in 1992, 75,000 in 1993, 122,000 in 1994, and about 90,000 as of July this year.

SQ officer carrying bundled plants. Note the cylindrical shape of the packed earth surrounding the roots. This could indicate that the plants were grown indoors and transferred to the outdoor fields.

Courage

"As far as most are concerned it's not a problem to grow for personal use," said one elderly man. "So much media, turning people into stars who maybe don't reflect everyone's view.

"Do you know what it is like to know someone all your life and tell them to burn their crops? Do you know?" We could smell the cannabis fields burning while we spoke.


The Unemployed

The population of Kanesatake is between 1,100 and 1,300. The unemployment rate is officially 80%. It's important to keep this in mind. Much of the growing activity comes from trying to generate income in the face of poverty and depression.

There are one million unemployed people in Québec. It may be that the slash and burn cost saving measures of government are creating an army waiting for a war.


A Healing

The land which was under dispute and directly led to the Oka crises of 1990 has still not been handed over to the Mohawks, even though the Feds purchased the land and set it aside some years ago. Ever since then the Warrior and Traditionalist communities have been going through a "healing"

One woman explained it to me as follows:

"It is not so simple as a split between Warriors and Traditionalists. There are 15 different factions on the reserve, just like your community. Are you all in agreement with the Mayor? Do your city councillors live better than you?"


July 27th, Thursday evening.

Twelve military choppers land at Dorval airport. The huge volume of cannabis, the fields, the busts without charges, the threats and sabre-rattling,all were reaching a high.

A newspaper editorial politely referred to the situation as "a void in law enforcement".


July 28th Fri Aft.
Press Conference.

Billy Two Rivers says police still want to check for remaining plants, but the natives say no. The Mayor of Oka expresses surprise and outrage at there being pot fields. He demands that law and order prevail

In addition he is upset that the Mohawks have continued to bury their dead at the Pines grave site. The Mohawks say they can't pile more than three coffins on top of one another and need more land.


The Situation

There is a consensus in the community that cannabis cultivation has increased significantly over the past three years. Up until 1991, most grow operations remained small scale, with the occasional garage or personal patch.

The increase has been an open secret for a long time. Last year more than one house yielded a hundred thousand loonies from its hydroponic crop.

It's true that over the past five years fear, violence, and censorship have been an occasional part of the deal. Would there have been less tension if the money had been used to build better public institutions and small venture capitalism?

There is strong feeling among traditionalists however, that pursuit of expensive cars and houses is not the route to take.


July 29th, saturday

Garbage trucks take away more plants grown alongside tomatoes in a raid with fifty officers, David Cliché, P.Q. Minister of Native Affairs, and Serge Ménard, P.Q. Minister of Public Security.

At a news conference later that afternoon Minister Ménard says, "Sometimes I have the impression that the federal government has left seeds of trouble in Kanesatake on purpose." He was referring to federal delays in handing land over and the absence of federal officials like Solicitor General Herb Grey and Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin.


A Possibility

Maybe no-one was on the take. This whole show could be the result of a political card game among the police, Feds, and the province of Québec. The game was thrown by the unseen hand of Picard and upset citizens.


July 30th, sunday

We return. More trails, more reserve exploration. Much better housing than most reserves. There was an opportunity to sit and listen to local voices:

"... I'm not gonna let those fucks back ... tearing up my land. I'm tired of this Hawaii Five O shit... he's crying, I'm not, I lost everything too... except for what is buried under slabs and big boulders."

Lots of white guys on Harleys with Québec plates. Lots of ATV trailers.

We explored hours of trail. We found a promising one further down a steep path near some parked ATV's. We proceeded. There was a gun shot. We discontinued.

The deep woods were busy with traffic and hurried, worried men. Cannabis journalists might be expendable, who knew?


July 31st, monday

It is advertised that 20 people will be arrested. Lots of warning and lead time before the warrant.

An eye witness who spent a night in the cannabis fields described "Sitting in a field all night, heavily armed, in the dark, listening to the chatter on scanners. Surrounded by five foot high plants about to flower."

A tractor sits idly at the end of a busy day spent clearing out cannabis plants in Kanesatake.

The Plants

Many of the plants pulled for the media were three to four feet high with one inch stems. The plants and rows looked about two feet apart. A 200 by 400 foot field would yield 20,000 plants.

If fields like these were around last year on a similar scale of this year at least a hundred million dollars could have been involved at wholesale prices. Too much money and way too visible to believe that "the authorities" didn't know. Who got a piece of the action?


August 1st, tuesday

Chief Peltier says there are no more plants.

William Johnson, provocateur typist for the Montreal Gazette, tries to spin the idea of the Warrior Society as "essentially fascist brotherhoods," and generally promotes this story, as many do, to demonize the Mohawk culture.

Marcel Adam of La Presse refers to them as "confreries fascistes". But in my opinion fascism is an S.Q. squad car firing bullets over the top of a woman's head as she pushes a baby carriage on the shoulder of the highway, or the S.Q. throwing a woman out through the plate glass window of her own home, or the Montreal Urban Community Police shooting the back of a shoplifter's head off after he was handcuffed and disabled, or any number of other atrocities that have taken place here in the nineties.


August 2nd, wednesday

A Clanmother meeting denounces Grand Chief Jerry Peltier. Peltier is a 47 year old Ojibway who was at one time an administrator at Indian Affairs. He was elected to the post of Chief after a five-way vote split. He took 13% of the vote and won by about seven ballots.

The Mohawk Clanmothers come from three clans: Turtle, Wolf, and Bear. These are three of the dozen recognized by the Iroquois Confederacy. One of their duties is to elect or dismiss a chief to head the community. This traditional matriarchal system operates on the basis of consensus. They don't believe that freedom, liberty and the pleasure of the Great Creator will come with democracy and materialism.

Max Weber, pre-eminent sociologist, would say that the tension between the Clanmothers and Band Council is one of irrational, traditional magic versus rational economic modernity. Over the past few years it has become clear that both the Clanmothers and the Warriors have considerable charismatic appeal.

The Band Council is an institution imposed on reserves by the indian Affairs Act of 1866-67. This is the body to which the Canadian government gives the most credibility. The Band Council receives its money from Canadian government bodies, and its Grand Chief is elected to office through a one person, one ballot system of voting, open to the status native members of the community.

Many Traditionalists consider Band Council as part of the same junk as Indian Affairs. The last election was boycotted by about 30%.

Peltier's denial of additional fields in face of seizures that came directly after his announcements showed his willingness to go to the wall to defend the existence of the fields.


The Bureau

If it is difficult to understand why the Bureau of Indian Affairs and their agents are seen as antagonistic by many, let me put it another way. What would your reaction be to a Bureau of Negro Affairs, or Bureau of Jewish Affairs, or Bureau of Catholic Affairs? What if we then relegated all of these groups into their own separate camps, and didn't give them the vote until 1966?


August 3rd, thursday

Another Clan Mother meeting, and some Peltier supporters are excluded for reportedly intimidating people coming to the meeting.

Police seize another 3,500 plants in another seven fields. It turns out that six of the fields are currently owned by Public Works Canada.

The Bloq Québecois announce a plan to bill the Feds $250,000 to burn and trash the plants. By this point there has still been no federal intervention, even though federal land, natives, and a federal crime are involved.

This is now being spun by the players into a plot by the feds to drop a lobster into the summer separatiste pot. Meanwhile the First Nations remain under attack from coast to coast.


Five Points.

  1. This situation will affect Native Self Rule.
  2. This was not sponsored by the Mohawk Nation.
  3. The Government and Big Media demand a state of perfection, grace, and enlightenment from the natives that exists nowhere else.
  4. Last year's income was no less than $5,000,000.
  5. Cannabis prohibition leads to national embarrassment and influences geo-politics.


The Blame

Robert Gabriel says, "No one got killed." Robert is right. I don't know who to credit for this affair not escalating to immense and threatening proportions.

Robert is right, the worst didn't happen and perhaps all can share equal credit and blame. With seven hospitals closing in Montreal it's a good thing this hasn't gotten out of hand.


The End?

Cannabis plants found again in the Parish of Oka. Mayor has no comment. No arrests yet. Official plant count on the reserve is about 30,000.


Click here for a Mohawk's look behind the scenes at Oka.


Discussion Fall 1995 TOC