Category: Featured

The 14 day feedback period concerning the 14 people or groups who applied for a Cannabis license in Kahnawake, is coming up on Tuesday, April 2^nd.

During the feedback period, Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawà:ke or Approved Kahnawà:ke Residents may
make written submissions to the Cannabis Control Board (KCCB) raising any questions or concerns about the eligible
applications/applicants.
Written submissions can be emailed to the KCCB: Cannabis.board@mck.ca.

“We’re asking for feedback from the community members. There’s a listing of all the applicants and we just wanted to make the community aware that all of the individuals are not being issued a permit. It’s the pre-eligibility requirement. They’ve been accepted but it’s just pre-eligibility,” Chair of the KCCB Tara Jacobs told K1037 News.

After that the KCCB will conduct its due diligence on the applicants. Then, three licences for the remaining applicants will be awarded through some sort of live lottery. Jacobs says that even though there is no firm deadline, the licenses will likely be awarded within the next year.

The Kateri Memorial Hospital is re-opening its X-Ray services next month on a limited basis. A Medical Imaging Technologist will be on hand for appointments on: Thursday, April 4th from 8am to 12 noon. The service will operate again the next day from 8am until 1pm, with other dates to be announced as they are confirmed. You can consult the KMHC website: at www.kmhc.ca for details.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) says that, effective immediately, it has terminated its Royalty Agreement with Magic Palace for Electronic Gaming Devices (EGDs). The Royalty Agreement was required as a condition to ensure there was a community benefit. The loss of the EGD royalties will cost Kahnawake upwards of $5 million dollars in lost revenue according to Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer:

“We kind of knew, in terms of our location, that it’s successful and the fact that we had 2 of them operating and looking at the potential of in the future potentially other permits, we had given direction for the KGC to explore the potential of others. Of course, it went beyond what we had expected in terms of projections in the early stages.”

Following a review of publicly available Court records that revealed that Magic Palace and the adjoining Mirela’s Restaurant were allegedly being used to commit money laundering and other crimes. The KGC commissioned an independent U.S. consulting group with a specialization in gaming audits and investigations to conduct an investigation. Ratitsénhaienhs Cody Diabo:

“KGC will have all the information; it does have to do with anti-money-laundering, regulations, like beefing up what is already there. It would be, how do we enhance those to make sure that nothing gets past at this moment. With any developing industries, or whatnot, you put in what you feel at the time, obviously as time goes on, you maybe notice where there’s lacking in certain things, so how we improve those going forward as a credible jurisdiction as well. Those are things that as we go forward, the community is going to be updated on, like anything through the CDRMP, regulations are posted, sometimes there’s feedback warranted or needed or input that’s needed, so, all that stuff, as we progress through this situation, is definitely going to be communicated to the community.”

The results of the investigation revealed that there was an undisclosed beneficial owner of Magic Palace, who is a non-Kahnawa’kehró:non, who exercised significant degrees of control over the establishment and received the majority of the benefits. This breached the terms of the Royalty Agreement that was entered into by Magic Palace and the MCK. The KGC has since suspended the Operator’s License for Magic Palace as a result of the findings in the investigation. K1037 News has sent requests to Gaming Commission Chair Frank Phillips for an interview and has agreed to come on air during the Tetawathartha, “Party-Line” talk show, this coming Thursday.

There will be required repairs performed today on part of the water system east of the Mercier Bridge. Due to the repairs, The Public Works Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) says that water services will be interrupted from the traffic lights at Kahnawà:ke Survival School up to and including the Harnois Gas/Host Hotel complex until 4pm. Once water services are restored, you are being advised to run your water for 5 minutes before consuming it. This work coincides with a Hydro Quebec service interruption in the same area.

If you require more information, you are asked to reach out to the Public Works Unit at: 450-632-5825.

Major news released by the Professional Women’s Hockey League for Kahnawake’s own Brooke Stacey who has signed with PWHL Montreal and Wikweminkong Unceded Territory’s Kelly Babstock who signed with PWHL Boston. Both players were inked to reserve contracts. This news coming as the PWHL gets ready, for the first time since the start of its inaugural season in January, to make its debut at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens and the biggest hockey arena in North America. General tickets for the April 20^th game between Montreal and Toronto went on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. and sold out in under 20 minutes, setting the league up to break the world record for largest attendance for a professional women’s hockey match.

In response to inquiries and concerns arising from the release of the list of Dispensary applicants on Tuesday, the Kahnawake Cannabis Control Board (KCCB) is now clarifying the meaning of ‘preliminary eligibility’ and the ‘status of applicants’ within the Kahnawake Cannabis Control Law framework. In the release, the KCCB said that subject to the Law and its Regulations, a person who satisfies the eligibility criteria in Section 16.16 of the Kahnawake Cannabis Control Law is eligible to apply to the Board for a Dispensary License. The preliminary eligibility phase serves as a foundational step in the application process. All applicants listed as preliminarily eligible will now undergo thorough due diligence investigations by the KCCB to assist in the selection process. Those listed are only preliminary eligible applicants and have not been issued dispensary licenses, nor have they been deemed lottery contenders at this time. As per the Regulation Concerning Dispensaries and Dispensary Licenses, only three (3) Dispensary Licenses will be issued within the Territory of Kahnawake.

Sonny Joe Cross has passed away, 1 month shy of his 95^th birthday. Happily married for 74 years to Gladys,  Sonny Joe was a staple on K1037 airwaves for almost 34 years. The couple were married on November 11^th, 1950, with Gladys always being his biggest supporter over the years, staying in with Sonny Joe on Sundays in order to tape his shows for the radio station and listen to his music selection. And what a collection he had to choose from, boasting in an Eastern Door article 15 years ago that he had, at that point, amassed over 40 thousand albums. In that self-written article, the community icon shared his story of his introduction to radio in the community, in his words: “I went to the back door of K103 Radio station at 10 o’clock one night. I had a Hank Williams record with me and asked, “Could I pay you $10 to play two or three songs?” I knew it wouldn’t be allowed if I had asked at the main entrance. They would think I’m crazy. So, I bribed them all – everyone except the manager. Soon the manager got calls from people saying, “Gee, you got a nice program.” It was funny but I got nervous. I didn’t know what to do. The manager had no idea. Next thing you know I was there every day of the week. The people loved it. Sonny Joe admitted openly to his struggles growing up and into his later years. After going through residential school, he drank and he fought. Then when he was about 37 years old, he decided to put the bottle away and along with it, what he declared as ‘the nonsense.’ Sonny Joe would say that the only thing that saved his life was the music, along with my wife and three daughters, his support system. Last October 2023, marked 33 years that he was celebrated on the radio. Sonny Joe Cross, passing away at 94.

There will be controlled blasting at the Kahnawà:ke Multi-Purpose Building worksite all week. The work started today, Tuesday and will continue through Friday. It will be performed by Enterprises QMD Inc. and The National. A rock blast cover will be used to suppress debris and noise, a warning sound will be issued prior to blasting and seismographs will be in place to monitor vibrations in neighboring buildings. For safety, fencing has been installed around the site.