Not One More Inch. Protest Over Land Underneath Mercier Bridge
Written by Paul Graif on 4 October 2021
Approximately a dozen people mostly from The Kanien’keha:ka Nation at Kahnawake People of the Longhouse are protecting the land underneath the Mercier Bridge in the community this morning. Following a news release late Sunday, the Longhouse stated they leaned of work to build a concrete slab to support a new electricity room underneath the Highway 132 approach just east of the tunnel.
“We have quite a few people here that are protecting the area where the intention was to build a concrete pad,” Joe Deom of the Kanien’keha:ka Nation told K1037 News. “As far as we’re concerned it encroaches on more territory than is necessary.”
For there part, the (JCCBI) Jacques Cartier, Champlain Bridge Inc., the federal department that manages the Kahnawake portion of the bridge, spoke with K1037 News to clarify what work was on the schedule. Nathalie Lessard is the JCCCBI’s director of communications:
“We have been in contact with the MCK, for sure, MBC probably because they are the contractor in charge of the work for us. So we’ve probably spoken to them as well because the work was scheduled to start today.”
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake told K1037 News that they are looking into the matter. Arnold Boyer is the MCK Lead on Operations, Transportation and Infrastructure saying the MCK were caught off guard:
“It was a surprise for MCK because we weren’t involved, we weren’t notified about this work that was going on this morning.”
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is gathering more information and will be seeking answers at a meeting set for tomorrow.
