Great article.  It reminds me of home.  I'm from Plattsburgh, NY, about an hour from there.  That conflict has been going on for some time now.  An old buddy of mine named Gar was the one who shot at the NY State Police helicopter back in the late 80s or early 90s.  He went to prison for a good stretch over that one. 

This is all about money, as it always is.  The Rez lies on the international border, with a portion of it in the U.S. and a portion of it in Canada.  For years the Akwesasne Mohawks have traded Tax-Free tobacco pretty much unchecked between the border, mainly by using Cornwall Island as a legal path.  NY and ONT have made it abundantly clear that they want their piece of that action.  If you don't do their bidding, they make you comply at the business end of a gun, like they always have to the Native peoples here and everywhere else for that matter.