Category: Featured

All MCK offices are closed tomorrow for summer holiday, with another closure set for July 10th. No recycling or compost tomorrow, no cardboard drop-off, transfer depot closed. Meanwhile Garbage pick-up will continue as normal. Essential services remain operational.  The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre advising the community that they will be closed on Monday, July 3rd, for the holiday.

Cadaver dogs have identified “evidence of human remains” on the grounds of the Allan Memorial Institute, near the old Royal Victoria Hospital. The search was conducted as part of an agreement between the Kanien’keha:ka Kahnis-tensera, a group, known as the Mohawk Mothers, and McGill University to determine if there are unmarked graves where the school intends to build a new project. Since the ‘discoveries’ were detected, all archeological procedures have been halted and the parties involved have returned to the negotiating table to determine how to handle these latest developments. Julian Falconer, the lawyer for the special interlocutor appointed to oversee the search said that multiple dogs used to comb the site suggested that there are bodies on the site. The search dogs’ findings were presented to the Quebec Superior Court today. The Mohawk Mothers argued that McGill wasn’t providing sufficient security to the site, given the possible presence of human remains there.

Kahentinetha Horn, a Mohawk Mother, was elated with the day’s events. With a sense of adulation and when asked by K1037 News how she felt, Horn responded emphatically: “How do you think we feel!”

PlanIt Consulting releasing the survey results on a proposed leisure pathway in Kahnawake being proposed by Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI). The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) and JCCBI entered into discussions regarding potential upgrades to this area in 2009. Consultations ran from January to March. A total of 367 responses from community members and the survey revealed that 76 % of respondents are in favor of the project. Maris Jacobs is a projects coordinator with PlanIT Consulting. She says there were old drawings about what the area could look like:

“Back in the fall, they decided to, instead of using those like they had originally planned, they decide to go back to the community to seek further consultation form them, first. So, what we did was we used those images as a kind of ‘food for thought’ with our focus groups and interviews just to give people an idea of what could be some of the ideas that were discussed earlier on. But, no there’s real drawings or renderings for what’s exactly going there, because we don’t really know that yet.”

Jacobs says that they are working on the steps for phase 2:

“We can move to a phase 2, which is kind of narrowing down some of the ideas that were shared with us from phase 1. So, it’s not like anything is going to happen tomorrow, but we’re progressing so that we can continue with more consultation to make sure that whatever happens with that space, that we still continue to consult the community, that the ideas are narrowed down and we get a more of a solid picture of what can happen there.”

They hope to have all that completed before the end of this year.

Ontario Junior B Lacrosse league playoffs: A best 3 out of 5 first round features the Kahnawake Hunters hosting the Halton Hills Bulldogs this Saturday at 7 pm and again on Sunday at 2 pm, for the 1^st 2 games of the series. Game 3 is on next Friday, June 30^th, at Halton Hills. Game’s 4 and 5, if necessary, will also be at Halton Hills on July 1st and July 2nd.

An Open Letter has been sent to Justice Minister David Lametti regarding Canada’s draft federal action plan for the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) saying that the letter, which was sent to Minister Lametti on June 2nd, 2023, contained information, comments and feedback from community members who attended two special meetings hosted by the MCK on May 23^rd and 24^th. Ratsénhaienhs Ross Montour declaring that:

“The letter contained key findings, recommendations and suggested changes to the wording contained within Canada’s draft UNDRIP plan and while the MCK was forced to work under extremely tight ‘consultation’ timelines to gather this information, we made every effort to ensure the community’s voice was heard.”

The comments and suggested changes listed in the open letter were gathered from those two special meetings and were compiled into a report. That report will be made public at a later date. This past Wednesday, Ottawa unveiled its UNDRIP action plan in the House of Commons and the MCK is in the process of reviewing the revised document to ensure Kahnawà:ke’s comments and concerns were included. To date, the MCK has yet to receive a formal response from Minister Lametti’s office.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke’s Special Community Meeting on Housing will take place this coming Thursday, June 22^nd at the Knights of Columbus Hall from 6pm to 8pm. All Kahnawa’kehró:non are welcome to discuss the various agenda items, including: the Housing Study Executive Summary; the Financial Reconciliation Plan Development; Upcoming Financial Literacy Workshops; Major Development Updates; Housing Unit Restructuring; and Long-Term Planning. This will be followed by an open, respectful discussion, with questions offered in advance to: feedback@mck.ca

As part of National Indigenous History Month, the City of Montreal will unveil an urban trail that highlights the encounter between Indigenous cultures and newcomers to the island of Montreal. Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs Kahsenahawe Sky-Deer and Ratsénhaienhs Ross Montour, of The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke were joined by Montréal Mayoress, Valérie Plante, Minister of Culture and Communications of Quebec, Mathieu Lacombe and the Minister responsible for Relations with the First Nations and Inuit of Quebec, Ian Lafrenière.

Together, the collaborating with the City of Montreal on the installation of a series of sculptures on Peel Street entitled (Tsi niionkwarihò:ten)/Our Stories, Our Way: Peel Trail highlighting archaeological discoveries on Peel and Sherbrooke streets. A series of bronze works were unveiled and others will appear in public spaces throughout the city. When completed this fall, they will form a route of eleven (11) stations, each consisting of two spheres: one representing the indigenous experience and the other representing the non-native perspective. Passers-by can sit and listen to the story of the encounter and cohabitation between the Iroquoian peoples and the first European settlers. The first work is by Kyra Revenko and MC Snow.

Between 2016 and 2019, archaeological excavations carried out at the corner of Sherbrooke and Peel streets revealed traces of the presence of an Iroquoian village dating from the period 1300-1400 AD, long before the arrival of the first Europeans. Eventually, in the fall, the work will be unveiled at 11 stations from the Lachine Canal to Mount Royal.

A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered the bodies of two Innu children exhumed to shed light on their deaths over 50 years ago. The exhumations are the first to be authorized under a 2021 Quebec law intended to help Indigenous families learn more about the deaths and disappearances of their children in Quebec healthcare institutions. The children in question, aged four months and one month, died in May, 1970 at a hospital in Baie-Comeau (around 413 kilometers northeast of Quebec City), after they were admitted for whooping cough.

In a first in Quebec, the families’ requests have been granted under the recent law, allows Indigenous families to access information about children who went missing or died while hospitalized away from their communities. Once exhumed, the bodies will be transported from a cemetery in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region to a morgue in Montreal, where DNA tests will be conducted to confirm the children’s identities.

According to a Senate committee, they say that the federal health minister should amend the 2018 Cannabis Act to recognize First Nations’ right to govern the possession, sale and distribution of cannabis on their lands. In a report tabled yesterday afternoon, the standing Senate committee on Indigenous Peoples says that many problems identified before legalization remain unaddressed, with some First Nations still blocked from the lucrative industry. The legislative gaps have fueled the rise of what some call a “red market” operating under First Nations sovereignty but in defiance of federal-provincial regulations, sparking jurisdictional confusion and potential conflicts with authorities.

The report is titled: “On the Outside Looking In,” with the committee stating that for the last 150 years, First Nations have been excluded from economic opportunities on their lands.

Representatives from the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) and the Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission (KGC) are in attendance at the Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto. Ratsénhaienhs Michael Delisle, Jr. and Ashley Stacey, KGC Legal Counsel, are on there today. In a statement, Delisle says that The MCK and KGC were recently made aware of the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition, which intends to advocate for Quebec to adopt an online gaming framework like Ontario’s iGaming scheme. Delisle wants all parties face to face at the table for discussions:

“Other people like part of the Quebec Coalitions who have come to sit at tables with us, say we should have come to you first. There are issues at hand that we wanted to try and deal with Quebec on our own and they obviously got their response from Loto-Quebec that was less than agreeable. So, they understand the mistakes that were made and are continuing to work forward with us in tryin to get Quebec, Ontario and Canada back to the table.”

The MCK has made several attempts to engage in meaningful discussions with Canada and Justice Minister David Lametti to create meaningful space for First Nation-led gaming in Canada. Delisle says that Minister Lametti has failed to act on previous discussions or on the open letter his department sent to all First Nations in April, 2021.