Kanawaki Lease Finally Finalized

The final 25-year lease extension agreement has now been signed between the community, with the Kanawaki Golf Club and Indigenous Services Canada.

Last year, the Golf Club exercised its option to renew the lease through 2046 – which was part of the original 1914 lease agreement.

“I would say a grueling process,” said Ratsénhaienhs Cody Diabo of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. “I don’t know if a sign of relief or not to say finally signed. For me it’s the last extension. That’s it after this. Since 1914 community lands and people’s private lands have been held up in this lease that they weren’t able to access or utilize for their own personal reasons. in 25 years that won’t be the case anymore.”

Kahnawake holds an interest in the common lands totaling approximately 8.2 acres, as well as privately-held land. The lease calls for annual payments beginning next year at $5,833 and increasing every five years to $6,773 in year 20. That amounts to approximately a four-fold increase from the previous lease.

Diabo says it’s wrong that is more than a century old. “This lease heavily favoured Kanawaki,” Diabo said. “I mean look at the time it was signed, 1914 the Indian Agent was still in Kahnawake. There was a lot of different things at that time. So to even have a lease signed for almost 150 years that’s unheard of now. But not all across Canada, this was something that was done to many First Nations.”