Category: Featured

An upcoming project is on the docket for tomorrow, Thursday, May 4^th, to replace the Water and Sanitary Sewer Lines in the Arena Road area. The work is scheduled to take approximately two weeks to complete. The Capital Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake saying that the project will include the removal of existing sewer pipes, while pipes not being removed will be filled with grout according to pipe decommission guidelines.

Most of the work will take place in fields and will not affect the roadway. Drivers can expect proper road signalization warning of the construction limits. The community will also be notified if a road closure might be necessary.

All private properties affected by the work in this area, including driveways, walkways, hedges, and/or fences, will be repaired or replaced prior to the completion of the project.

2 community engagement kiosks are scheduled for Kahnawakeronon. The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) will be hosting the two: the first will be centered on the topic of the Seigneury of Sault St Louis. This information Kiosk will be held on Thursday, May 4^th from 1-4pm where information on the recent developments on the Seigneury of Sault St. Louis (SSSL) Land Grievance and discussions with Canada, will be provided. A public awareness campaign on the history and developments of the grievance  and the Old Mill Site, will be detailed. The second Ratitsénhaienhs Community Engagement Kiosk will be the following day, Friday, May 5^th from 2-5pm. At this kiosk, there will be personal, one-on-one discussions between community members and participating Ratitsénhaienhs, in a lead-up to the Community Meeting on Tuesday, May 16^th.

Both events will take place at the Golden Age Club. Kahnawa’kehró:non are encouraged to bring their questions, comments, or ideas to these sessions in a respectful and courteous manner.

The Kateri Memorial Hospital Center is making some moves. Masks are no longer required when visiting long-term patients. In a joint announcement by the KMHC and KSCS, that the mandate decisions were effective immediately: Valerie Diabo is the Interim executive director of the KMHC:

“In some places our mask mandates are coming down. We’re very excite about that, our mask mandates have been in place for over 2 and half years within the hospital. Affected areas are our long-term care area: so, our residents; The Elder’s Lodge and at Assisted Living. We’ve all been wearing masks in that area for a longtime, and it’s going to be nice that our residents will be able to share a meal with their loved ones once again, have a smile on their face and see our staff smiling at them.”

The decision is in place for the KMHC, The Elder’s lodge and the KSCS Assisted Living Services and was approved by the Public Health Team. Dr Rachel Enoujican. Director professional services:

“This is definitely exciting news and a step towards normalcy and it’s a great time to do it given that a majority of our population have been vaccinated, at least 2 doses, and a good portion of them have the Covid infection at least once which gives them high-rate immunity, which is extremely protective also given the availability of antivirals, this would be a great time to start stepping back and bringing normalcy into the community.”

Policies are based on Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services and Quebec’s Public Health department. Juanita Belanger, Infection Control at the KMHC:

“We’ve derived our policies and updated everything based on that, so we have a lot of information available for staff and also community organizations to help direct them with this change. We know that there are so many benefits to having the masks as we’ve seen throughout the pandemic but we also know that there are detriments in some ways, especially during long-term care environments we know that we have some people who rarely leave and who have being seeing people care for them with masks on for a very long time, so the benefit versus the risk was weighed and there seems to be much greater benefit to removing them at this point.”

The masking policy has also been lifted for the non-clinical areas of the hospital and KSCS, but remain mandatory in clinical areas and short-term care units, even the pharmacy. Anyone interested on wearing a mask, they are welcome to do so with the caveat that if you feel sick, you should avoid visiting those in the hospital until you feel better. Homecare staff will continue to be required to wear their protective masks.

A weather warning is in effect for the region, with a system from the United States affecting Southern Quebec on Saturday. It will bring rain beginning Saturday afternoon, persisting into Monday with a break during the day on Sunday. A total of 30 to 50 millimeters of rain is expected, including 2 rounds of rain, heavy at times, from Saturday evening to Sunday morning and from Sunday evening to Monday morning. This rain could melt the remaining snow cover and also cause a significant increase in the flow and level of some rivers.

Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. Localized flooding in low-lying areas is possible.

Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs  Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer will be participating in the East Coast Business Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday, May 2^nd, saying:

“This is a great opportunity to showcase our community’s successes and challenges in the area of economic development to other indigenous leaders, to network, to discuss issues and experiences with other First Nations.”

Sky-Deer will be participating in the opening Mainstage Panel, Economic Development: Voices of Indigenous Leaders, and will later attend the award dinner to celebrate and honor the recipient of the 2023 Aboriginal Economic Development Corporation Award. Sky-Deer will return to the office on Wednesday, May 3^rd.

Ratsénhaienhs Ross Montour will be participating in this weekend’s 40th Edition of the Association of Quebec Archaeologists Conference in Mont-Tremblant where he will be making a presentation on the Tio’tiá:ke Project. Montour holds the Indigenous Rights & Research Portfolio with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake where he has been working in partnership with the University of Montreal and the Pointe-à-Callière Museum on the Tio’tiá:ke Project, whose purpose is to establish territorial presence along the St. Lawrence River and the site once visited by explorer Jacques Cartier in the 16th century.

Also attending the conference will be MCK’s Archaeology Technicians Katsitsahente Cross-Delisle and Kelly Marquis and Archaeology Consultant Gaetan Nolet. The conference kicked off today and is on until Sunday, April 30^th.

Expect a complete closure of the 138 to the 20 West ramp through the Mercier Bridge corridor this coming weekend. Starting at 11:59 pm tonight and lasting until 5 am on Monday morning, the complete ramp closure will be in place, weather permitting. Then, after the completion of the scheduled work, the ramp will return back only with 1 of 2 lanes available for the following week.

35 amendments to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke Election Law have been proposed and now it’s up to the community to put words into action. The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke’s Election Law Technical Drafting Committee will be conducting a Kiosk to seek feedback from individuals’ proposals, with the committee setting up shop in the Kahnawà:ke Services Complex lobby on Monday, May 1st from 9am until 4pm. The committee is seeking participants for focus groups to collect feedback on these recommendations. Sessions are set for Tuesday evenings from 4pm-6:30pm on May 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd, with the possibility of a fifth session on May 30th.

If you are interested in participating, you must be on the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawà:ke Registry and should contact Sydney Ross at 450-632-7500 or email her at sydney.ross@mck.ca.

Progress is hopeful on the Seigneury file. It’s taken 340 years, but there has been some movement on the file and The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke provided updates for the Seigneury of Sault St. Louis (SSSL) Land Grievance and discussions with Canada. In 2022, at the request of the MCK, the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations Marc Miller appointed a Special Ministerial Representative (SMR), Deborah Corber, to lead Canada’s discussions with the Council to restart joint work on the SSSL and Kahnawà:ke/Canada Relations (KCR). Starting with the initial visit in November of 2022 and discussions with the Portfolio Chiefs for SSSL and KCR, the MCK is optimistic that a renewed mandate to the SSSL file is within reach. Ratsénhaienhs Mike Delisle, Jr, saying that, now that we’re making progress, we’re reviving previous public education materials, and some new, which will be shared with the community. When there is significant movement on discussions, our community will be fully informed to help advance the file even further.

In 1994, the MCK and Canada engaged in a joint process to clarify and resolve the longstanding Grievance. In 2003, Kahnawà:ke accepted a formal offer from Canada to negotiate SSSL. Following a 2014 SSSL Community Consultation on Lands, feedback collected at that time guided how the MCK negotiates with Canada on the Grievance. Shortly after, progress on discussions with Canada began to stall until the SMR appointment. The SSSL technical team and the Ratitsénhaienhs have an open-door policy for community members to learn more about the Seigneury and to provide their important feedback. Additional engagement opportunities and informational activities for Kahnawa’kehró:non to access are upcoming. All information will be posted to the Kahnawà:ke Claims website (www.kahnawakeclaims.com) and posted to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke Facebook page.