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Draft tobacco law clarifies ~audenosaunee ancestry By Donna Durie Writer Any person who can trace his or her lineage back to Six Nations of the Grand River will be protected under the Haudenosaunee Confeder- acy Chiefs Council's (HCCC) new tobacco law. The clarification came at a meeting held last Wednes- day at Six Nations Polytech- nic, where Haudenosaunee lawyer Kim Thomas ex- plained that a person doesn't have to be " I 00 per cent Haudenosaunee" in order to be eligible for a li- cense and protection under the new law that is cur- refltly being drafted. She said the requirement that the local tobacco in- dustry is " I 00 per cent Hau- denosaunee-owned and operated" under the new law does not refer to a per- son's so-called "blood quantum." "It doesn't mean you have to be I 00 per cent Hau- denosaunee by both your mom and your dad," said Thomas. She said as long as the per- son can trace his or her an- cestry back to Six Nations Grand River, he or she is protected under the new Haudenosaunee tobacco law. Thomas said the reason for the stipulation is because there are non-natives profit- ing from the industry here on Six Nations. Thomas represents the Haudensaunee Trade Collec- tive, (HTC) a group of local tobacco manufcturers at Six Nations. The Confederacy council established the Hau- denosaunee Trade Delega- tion, a committee made up of tobacco industry repre- sentatives and Confederacy Representatives, to oversee the develpment of a tobacco "law". A draft of that doc- ument is now being pre- sented for community input. The draft law is in response to Bill C-1 o. -.- Bill C-10, or the Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act, is a new federal law that car- ries minimum prison sen- tences for anyone caught trafficking in so-called "con- traband tobacco" - that is, tobacco that is not licensed by the federal government. The law has already received royal assent and could come into force at any time, said Thomas. "Bill C-10 is seeking to reg- ulate tobacco for our people and to criminalize our peo- ple that are involved in the tobacco industry," she said. "It's a threat to our eco- nomic rights and our secu- rity." The HCCC has provided the Haudenosaunee Confederacy legal adviser Jlaron Detlor, one of two Confedraey ap- pointees to the Trade Delegation explains the .. ,aw". (Photo by Donna Durie) delegation with a terms of reference to come up with a draft tobacco law. The delegation is in the midst of its consultation process with the commu- nity on the draft law. The group is gathering feed- back from a series of com- munity meetings currently taking place and will tweak the draft law before bringing it back to the community again for further input in the next few weeks. "This is by no means a done deal," said Thomas. Kris Green, a Six Nations to- bacco manufacturer and in- dustry representative on the delegation, said the group wants as much feedback from the community as pos- (Continued on page 4)