B E S T F R O N T PA G E2009 Q
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RICHARD TARDIFTHE EASTERN DOOR
Tips from local residents tothe RCMP about tobacco traf-ficking in and around the smallQuebec town of Saint-Anicet,near Akwesasne, has led to theseizure of tobacco and chargespressed against nine people, in-cluding five from Kahnawake.
Last Monday, an RCMPEmergency Response Team, policedog services and air servicesswooped down on the town, seiz-ing more than one ton of tobacco.
“The tobacco trade presents aserious and growing threat to pub-lic safety and health in Canada,”said Caroline Letant, Corporal ofmedia relations for the RCMP.
“People need to be awarethey are funding criminal activitywhen they purchase contrabandtobacco products,” she said.
In addition to tobacco, policeseized four vehicles, a trailer andtwo boats allegedly used by thesmugglers.
All nine suspects, ranging inage from 19 to 49, have beencharged with possession of tobac-co products not stamped in accor-dance with the Excise Act, 2001.
The five locals charged arePhillip Jacobs, 49, Cory Diabo,28, Karlie Goodleaf, 36, StuartPhillips, 41, and John Robertson,36. The nine individuals couldalso be charged at a later dateunder the Tobacco Tax Act as partof the concerted action programagainst underground economiesknown as Project ACCESS.
ACCESS is a multi-task forcethat includes the SQ and RCMP aswell as the Quebec FinanceDepartment, Quebec Health andSocial Services Department,Montreal Police, Canada Revenue
Agency and Canada BorderServices Agency (CBSA).
“The RCMP received severaltips from the public a few weeksago about suspicious behaviourin the area and after a short inves-tigation we decided to take ac-tion,” said Letant.
According to the RCMP, thegroup of nine managed to run to-bacco, grown by licensed produc-ers in North and South Carolina,into Canada.
The tobacco was sold tomanufacturers on the U.S. side ofthe Akwesasne territory. The to-bacco was cut and then taken byboat along the St. LawrenceSeaway to towns like St. Anicet.
“There it would be used toproduce illegal cigarettes thatwould be sold all across Canada,”said Sgt. Michael Harvey of theRCMP’s detachment for theCentral St. Lawrence Valley.
According to Harvey, sincethe CBSA set up the border postat the foot of the InternationalSeaway Bridge, tobacco traffick-ers from the U.S. side of theAkwesasne territory are nowusing small towns like SaintAnicet to deliver their products.
“When the CBSA was locat-ed on Cornwall Island the boatsloaded with tobacco just cameacross the island and off loadedand then it was a drive intoCanada,” he said. “But now any-one moving tobacco is stopped inCanada at the new post.”
As a result, boatloads of to-bacco from the U.S. are going toisolated areas along the Quebecand Ontario shore.
“We’ve been f inding largenumbers of empty hockey bagsalong the shores of towns likeSaint Anicet,” said Harvey.
EASTERN DOOR KAHNAWAKE MOHAWK TERRITORY Vol. 18 No. 33
September 4, 2009$1.00
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Ten agreements partdeuxGrand Chief Mike Delislebreaks down each agreementand the progress made afterten years.Page 3
Candidates speakBy-election hopefuls presenttheir platforms, ideas and plansfor the future.Page 6
A truck too highKahnawake Fire Brigade laddertruck delayed four months aftermanufacturing blunder.Page 15
When memories are all you have left
STEVE BONSPIEL THE EASTERN DOORThe only things that were saved from the massive blaze were his DVDs. Nicholas vows to keep on goingafter losing everything in two major arsons in less than two months. See story page 19.
STEVE BONSPIEL THE EASTERN DOORKanesatake�s Phillip Nicholas stands in what is left of his home in thearea where police say the fire was started – a spare bedroom that hadits mattress lit on fire by an arsonist.
Cigarette bust leads to arrests of five locals
Cont’d page 2
I WOVE YOU MOMMY AND THESE ARE THE REASONS WHY PAGE 14
Soccer would have made it even sweeter
Founding Foundation member Q&A Page 11Kick’n, Paddl’n, Peddl’n
Low Down special section Page 15-18
Train trip-up on Trip Two
Cont’d page 12
Cont’d page 2
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By Trevor Greenway
Only its second day back on
track, and the Wakefi eld steam
train is once again off the rails
– literally this time.
Tourists were enjoying an
otherwise relaxing Mother’s
Day ride along the Gatineau
River when one of the Hull-
Chelsea-Wakefi eld Steam Train
cars derailed on the way back to
Gatineau May 10.At about 2 p.m. at the Larri-
mac Golf Course crossing, a few
railway ties gave way, sending
the second last car off-track. The
car then skidded another 100 feet
forward until it came to a halt in
a nearby bush, pulling the last
car behind it.It made for some exciting
viewing for ten-year-old Joseph
Flood.
He was outside watching the
train go past his house when he
heard his brother scream, “Oh
no!”“My brother said that the
train was falling, so I turned
around and the train was just in
the trees,” said Flood.
Flood quickly ran into his
house and told his parents that
there had been an accident.
Flood’s mother said she was wor-
ried about her children’s safety
as they were only feet away from
the train when it derailed.
One day Jimmy went
up to his father and asked
him a question that had
been on his mind for quite
some time.“Daddy, what’s the
highest number in the en-
tire world?”His daddy replied:
“Well, I’m not exactly
sure what the highest num-
ber is, but i think it’s in the
stimulus package.”
Rare bean man
W’fi eld’s chocolatierBy Cynthia Vukets
A former Nabisco food manu-
facturing engineer has changed
gears and is now making fair
trade, organic chocolate in
Wakefi eld. Dave McDonald, owner of Ol-
ivia Chocolat, has a background
in packaging automation.
He says “the packaging is a
big component of food in terms
of being able to get it out to the
customer.”He didn’t go to chef school to
learn the art of chocolate mak-
ing. Instead, he researched the
history of chocolate and now
turns rare Criollo and Trini-
tario cocoa beans into chocolate
bars with equipment he modeled
off that used in 18th century
France.“We’re a bean-to-bar choco-
late maker,” he says.
Cannon to push‘national’ park
Pontiac MP and Foreign Af-
fairs Minister Lawrence Can-
non has come out in support of
changes to the Gatineau Park
that would see it protected by the
federal government.
On May 6, the Senate stopped
debating Independent Senator
Mira Spivak’s park bill because
the Conservative Party indicated
it plans to bring forward legisla-
tion to the same effect.
Spivak’s bill would give the
park the same protection as na-
tional parks across Canada. The
bill would set out legal boundar-
ies for the park to protect against
development by amending the
National Capital Act to include
the park’s boundaries, provide
the NCC with a right of fi rst re-
fusal on private property sales
in the park, and ensure its terri-
tory can only be reduced by an
Act of Parliament.
The Eastern Door has the cleanest look by far, starting with an eye-catching masthead that effectively asserts its identity by artful use of graphic design, color and white space. The headlines are aesthetic and informative. The index is well-placed, clearly demarcated and informative. The two stories on the page -- one told by two side-by-side photos of a suspicious fi re that point to an inside story and the other, of a cigarette traffi cking bust, are of major relevance to the community. The lone ad at the bottom of the page is tasteful and blends in well, complementing, rather than overwhelming, the page. Nevertheless, there are at least two miscues that should be noted. Because we read from left to right, the information in the cutlines should be reversed ( i.e. The fi rst, complete identifi cation of the victimized resident and the outline of the incident should be under the left hand picture.) The second point is a more serious one, involving an egregious error in subject-verb agreement in the lead of the cigarette bust story. Still and all, it is an excellent page.
Judge: Enn Raudsepp, Concordia University, Dept. of Journalism, Montreal, QC • Number of entries in the Best Front Page category: 16
THE EASTERN DOOR 1
The Suburban has a nice clean look to it, (and would be even cleaner, perhaps, if it lost the two ads over the banner). The main story, patently of major interest, is nicely presented with the headline quote inset into the picture of the mayor making his victory speech. However, several details detract from the overall effect. The “docs” headline is too heavy and should fi ll out the lines better. The rule separating the doc story from the election picture is superfl uous. The turn lines for the docs story and the election story do not need to be in a color box (overkill with two such color lines immediately below them). And the pointer for “Wearing the Poppy” needs to be rewritten more cleanly and with more attention to tenses.
General comments would be that more than a few papers are cluttering up their front pages with ads. It’s obviously a money spinner to have ads in such premium spots, but they should be kept to a minimum and done more tastefully. Also, too many papers had weak artwork or photographs, falling back on grip-and-grin or other static pix and overly-large head shots.
Anchored by a dramatic picture of a derailed train car, this page immediately grabs the reader’s attention. It is a little top-heavy with the pointers to inside stories placed above the heavy bold masthead and the fi ve-column picture immediately below it. But there are three articles and a short humor piece, as well as a banner ad across the bottom to counterbalance that, so it works. Small quibbles have to do with a widowed line at the top of the second column in the chocolatier story (speaking of which, the headline is somewhat lame); and the missing capitalization in the joke.
2THE LOW DOWN TO HULL & BACK NEWS
THE SUBURBAN CITY EDITION 3
