Mohawk peacekeepers to escort Olympic flame

The RCMP has agreed to allow native officers to supervise the Olympic torch relay as it travels through the Mohawk community of Kahnawake south of Montreal on Tuesday

The move comes after a group of Mohawk traditionalists threatened to disrupt the relay in the Mohawk community if the RCMP –officially escorting the flame across Canada –were part of the caravan.

Instead, the torch will be escorted by Mohawk peacekeepers as it is carried by former Olympic medallist and Kahnawake resident Alwyn Morris.

Mohawk Longhouse secretary Kenneth Deer said allowing the RCMP to escort the flame through the community would have sent the wrong message.

"We used to have the RCMP in our community and we asked them to leave many, many years ago,"Deer said. "The RCMP is an extention of Canadian oppresive policies –they enforced the residential school systems, they removed our traditional governments and put in place the Indian Act."

Following negotiations among all the parties involved, the organizing committee released a statement Monday evening confirming the change.

"We have worked in close collaboration with our many partners to plan and deliver a positive experience that respects the wishes of the community,"said relay director Jim Richards. "We have had several discussions to evaluate options to ensure an enjoyable and memorable experience is organized for all involved."

Officials confirmed the length of the relay had been reduced to just 300 metres from 1.5 kilometres, and that Morris would be the only torch bearer.

Mohawk band council spokesman Joe Delaronde said the agreement required some compromise from all sides.

"For us in Kahnawake it would be nice for us to have a full-blown Olympic torch relay coming through the town,"Delaronde said. "It will be a bit of a shorter route –that is one of the things that has happened –and again, we’re not going to have all of the pageantry that goes along with it. There will be a couple of speeches that will go on afterwards."

Delaronde said many members of the community are excited about the relay.

"It is an opportunity to show our pride –we have two Olympians here, and not every community can boast that,"Delaronde said.

In addition to Morris, a sprint canoer who won a gold and a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Kahnawake is also home to former Canadian Olympic water polo team member Waneek Horn-Miller.

Despite the compromise, Deer said some members of the Kahnawake community still intend to boycott the relay in solidarity with aboriginal communities in B.C.

"The traditional owners of that land did not really have much choice in this whole issue and so we’re sympathetic to them and show our support for that,"Deer said. "We’re not going to block the flame –we’re just not going to take part in the ceremonies."

The torch is expected to pass through Kahnawake about midday Tuesday.