Author: Jeremy Zafran

Three significant developments in the delivery of Housing services has been announced by The Housing Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK), passed by consensus at the recent Council meeting. The MCK will finance the construction of the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation On-Reserve program Section 95 Project #9 through the CMHC Direct Lending Program – or another lender, if required – in the amount of $491,422 dollars. This translates into four to six new rental units that can be built. To meet current market price increases (in the cost of construction, inflation, and other factors), there will be an increase to the On-Reserve Loan Guarantee limit to $400,000 dollars, enabling individual access to needed financing in securing their homes from the ‘Caisse Populaire Kahnawake.’ A 5% down-payment and meeting specific criteria are still required by the ‘Caisse.’ The Council of Chiefs also approved authorizing the financial subcommittee of the Client Based Services Committee (CBSC) the ability to approve write-offs for mortgage accounts that are in good standing, following a reconciliation of accounts for elders and special cases. The decision will be based on criteria from the enforcement policy, which includes the ability to pay, financial impacts, and special situations. The total amount for possible write-offs will not exceed $500K. Housing Portfolio Lead Ratsénhaienhs Ryan Montour on the Housing Unit’s commitment to the community:

“The MCK is committed to improving the quality of life for our community members by ensuring that our people have access to affordable, safe, and sustainable housing, these new developments represent a significant step forward in securing the future of our people and are a reflection of our continued dedication to building a strong, self-sufficient community.”

Executive Operations Officer Alan-John Rice on needs addressed by the 3 decisions taken:

“By increasing the loan guarantee limit and providing affordable housing units, we are addressing the immediate needs of our community while laying the groundwork for long-term growth, our team remains focused on meeting the community’s housing needs and creating opportunities for homeownership, with financial solutions tailored to the unique needs of Kahnawa’kehró:non.”

A woman from Kahnawake had her SUV stolen while shopping last night at the Fairview Mall on the West Island. Wahienhawi Horn says she parked her 2023 Grey Honda CRV just 3 spots away from the entrance at about 5:30 pm. She says she had a VinLock tracking system and she contacted the company right away, and she hasn’t heard back:

“It was close to the door, so we didn’t think anything. We came out around 830 p.m., we didn’t see my car, we were pressing the buttons, I thought maybe we just didn’t remember where we had parked. Then my cousin noticed that where I had parked, there was all glass. Yeah, the car, my car was gone.”

A report was made with Mall security and Montreal Police. Horn says she is most upset that 2 of her daughter’s expensive hockey sticks were in the car. She has contacted her insurance company.

This weekend three fencers from Kahnawake’s Ardimento Fencing Academy will be traveling to Norwich University in Vermont for the King of the Green Mountain tournament. Uncle Machete, Tiohnekote Swamp and Jérémi Mercier will compete in longsword.

Uncle Machete will also compete in the Rapier and Sword and Dagger categories.

There will be a complete closure of the access and exit ramps to the Mercier Bridge, from Saturday, December 14^th at 10 p.m. until Sunday, December 15^th at 5 a.m.; and again, from Sunday, December 15^th at 10 p.m. until Monday, December 16^th at 5 a.m. The ramps affected are from the-132 westbound, towards Montréal and the exit ramp from the bridge to the 132 eastbound, towards La Prairie. The closures are required for planned maintenance work.

Essa-Tech will be conducting a CCTV Inspection of the drainage network along Old Chateauguay Road (the OCR), Kirby and Mohawk Beach Roads from Monday, December 16^th to Friday, December 20^th, weather permitting. The MCK says that the work is part of preparatory efforts to rehabilitate the OCR and Kirby Roads. MCK staff will be present on-site throughout the process to oversee the operations. During the CCTV inspection, there might be a required lane-width  reduction in one direction. If this occurs, flagmen will be present to direct traffic. Drivers are asked to use caution while the work is being carried out.

Records smashed as the Kateri Memorial Foundation announcing that more than a quarter-million dollars was raised through the 10^th annual Karonhiaráhstha’s Winter Wonderland. The final tally, just over $260 000 for the week-long event. Lisa Skye is a Board Member and Treasurer with the Foundation:

“It’s an amazing amount of money that was raised, and really the Kateri Memorial Foundation can’t do this without the continued support of the community. The backbone of the community is our committee members and our generous sponsors who help us get to those funds, those large funds: that’s a lot of money! Every year were growing and every year were getting bigger and more support. It’s just astounding!”

On the final day of the event over $48 000 was sold in half and half tickets alone. Funds going towards: Karonhiarahstha’s Memorial Scholarship program for students pursuing studies in the health sciences and medical fields; Addictions and Parent Bereavement; A $20 000 donation to the Kateri Food Basket, a bi-annual grant in the amount of $1,000 per each 1st & 2nd year student enrolled in Ratiwennahni:rats; and $20,000 to the Sharing Our Stories program to support honorariums for the Elders and Story keepers.

The Kahnawake Peacekeepers have issued a vigilance warning as they have received numerous complaints from towns residents of unsolicited scam phone calls. The PK’s saying that the caller requests a money transfer from the person who answers the phone call so they can be released from jail. If you receive a fake call such as this one, you are asked to remain alert, do not send any money and contact the Peacekeepers.

2 and a half weeks after an initial threat, a second shooting threat was called in to the Kateri Memorial Hospital Center. The hospital went into immediate lockdown after the call came in around 2:40 pm on Saturday afternoon. The Kahnawake Peacekeepers quickly secured the building and were able to trace the origin of the call using cell phone data tracing. By Sunday morning at 11:20 the Peacekeepers arrested a local male at a residence on North Creek Road. 29-year-old Joseph So:se Montour has appeared before a judge and been formally charged with the following offences: Two counts of uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm; intimidation; intimidation impeding health services; and assaulting a police officer. Additionally, Montour faces another charge of uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm related to threats made to the Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre on November 19^th, 2024.

From March 11-13, 2025, the first edition of the Indigenous Connections Summit will take place at the Palais des Congrès in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). It is organized by the Ashukan Institute in collaboration with KWE! Meet with Indigenous Peoples Festival. The Summit will foster discussions to understand, act, and measure progress in reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canadian society. Reconciliation with Indigenous communities has become much more of a priority in recent years. But Melanie Vincent, the Executive of  ‘Kwe’ wonders if that’s enough?

“Everybody wants to do reconciliation, but are we actually making any progress and how do you measure that. Even with us at the festival, I was asking myself too – we’ve been doing the festival for 8 years – are we making any progress, are we reaching our goals to create some better relationships with our partners, with citizens at large.”

Hydro CEO Michael Sabia is chairing the event

Hydro-Québec announced its Strategy for Economic Reconciliation and to Strengthen Relations with First Nations and Inuit. The Strategy aims to define more concretely the organization’s commitments to Indigenous communities and ensure that they have the chance to participate fully in major projects of the energy transition. It’s part of Hydro’s 2035 plan. This past spring Hydro-Québec launched discussions with First Nations and Inuit across Québec. Over 30 meetings were held with more than 100 representatives. Those talks have led to them to focus on four main topics:

1. Participation and economic benefits 

Examples: Invite First Nations and Inuit to participate as equity partners in our new large-scale infrastructure projects to generate autonomous revenues for their communities; facilitate their access to different means of private funding or government financing or, when such options are unavailable, propose financial support from Hydro-Québec.

2. Environment, land and resources 

Examples: Support initiatives to enhance and restore the natural environments affected by our projects; initiate or continue the dialogue about the repercussions of the past.

3. Labour and employment 

Examples: Support the establishment of training programs tailored to Indigenous peoples across all areas of activity of the organization; continue to improve our hiring, onboarding and advancement processes for Indigenous employees.

4. Ongoing relations and customer services

Example: Deploy a specialized Indigenous customer services team to ensure the coordination and delivery of services tailored to the needs of this clientele.

Emilie Senechal is the First Nations and Inuit relations Manager at Hydro Quebec:

“We really acknowledge that the relations with First Nations and Inuit have at times been difficult and complex and that’s what we wanted to address in this process and in those meetings. That’s why the discussions were really open discussions, the community could talk about whatever they wanted to and we wanted to make sure as well that they had space where they could talk about the repercussions of the past, because we had in some situations, some repercussions that still go on today and see how we can go forward with those ones and finding concrete solutions for the future.”

In a release from Hydro it says: “Our Strategy for Economic Reconciliation and to Strengthen Relations  will serve as a demonstration of our commitment to First Nations and Inuit in all our spheres of activity.”