Forces' manual says radical natives potential military threat

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Radical natives are listed in the Canadian army's counterinsurgency manual as a potential military opponent, lumping aboriginals in with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad, according to a report in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

The military is putting the finishing touches on the manual, but a draft version of the document obtained by the Globe outlines a host of measures the military might use to fight insurgents at home and abroad. They include ambushes, deception and killing.

The draft manual was produced in September 2005 and was recently released through an access-to-information request. A final edited version of the army manual is expected to be complete within months, but a cover letter states that the draft version was immediately circulated in 2005 to army units for military training.

Its inclusion of "radical Native American Organizations" as a potential target of military action comes at a time of heightened tensions between aboriginals and Ottawa.

"The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims," the manual states.

"Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve ('First Nation') level, through the threat of, or use of, violence," the manual states.

The Mohawk Warrior Society was involved in the 1990 Oka crisis in Quebec, which spawned a 78-day confrontation with police and the military that left a police officer dead. The society normally describes more militant natives from the traditional Mohawk territory, covering parts of Quebec, Ontario, Vermont and New York State.

Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs who predicted "a summer of aboriginal protest" in response to the perceived lack of action on native poverty in the federal budget, said he is "absolutely outraged" by the manual.

References To Radical Indian Groups Removed From Canadian Anti-Insurgency Manual

Apr 2 2007 12:00AM

OTTAWA—References to radical natives in the Canadian army's counterinsurgency manual will not appear in the final version of the document, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has announced.

The use of "radical Native American organizations" as an example of insurgents in a draft version of the manual has incensed native leaders, who viewed the wording as a threat to their political rights to protest.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine said yesterday the inclusion of natives in the manual could threaten the ability of Canadian natives to travel internationally.

But in a written statement, Mr. O'Connor explained that the document was simply making reference to past examples of insurgencies and was not meant to suggest that natives in Canada are a potential military target.