Category: Featured

In a late afternoon development, Police have recovered two more bodies in Akwesasne, an infant and a woman, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight, pulled from the St. Lawrence River near the Ontario-Quebec border. One person is still missing. Six bodies were recovered from the St. Lawrence River in Snye in Akwesasne, yesterday afternoon. Lee-Ann O’Brien is the Deputy Chief with the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service announcing that Police had located Casey Oakes of Akwesasne’s vessel near the six bodies, after a storm had brought high winds and sleet through the area on Wednesday night. O’Brien was quoted as saying: “It was not a good time to be out on the water.”

Three of the victims are 20, 23 and 49 years old. Among the identification documents retrieved yesterday are two Indian passports, Canadian passports and a driver’s license or proof of Ontario residency. The 6 people rescued from the river are said to be from two different families, two nationals from India and a family of four from Romania.

Meanwhile 30-year-old Casey Oakes of Akwesasne remains missing, police said. Oakes was last seen on Wednesday boarding a small, light blue vessel, leaving Cornwall Island. He was dressed in black, wearing a black face mask and a black tuque.

The Vatican formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today. Kenneth Deer is with the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee. He says this good news is tempered:

“We’re not going to give it up, the fight. I think that we’re going to continue to push the Vatican, if they’re going to repudiate “The Doctrine of Discovery,” then they have to to do more with courts and states to support Indigenous Peoples’ struggle for their land and territory. They can’t just put out a statement and do nothing. They have to do more and we still think they should publicly rescind the ‘Papal Bulls’ that make up “The Doctrine of Discovery.”

A Vatican statement said the 15th-century decrees, “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” and have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.  It said the documents had been “manipulated” for political purposes by colonial powers “to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesial authorities.”

Earth month sounds more interesting than Earth Day. Iotsetehawi Reed from The Waste Management Department in Kahnawake and Julie Delisle from KEPO were on Tetewatharen, the partyline talkshow today on K1037, talking about The Earth Month Clean-up throughout April. This month-long clean-up event is in conjunction with the Call to Action for Earth Month and Delisle says you can check out the new Kahnawà:ke Dumping Tracker designed by The Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office and use it for the clean-up. Delisle on how the tracker app works:

“They can take pictures at those areas and put them on this tracker and that information will be sent to KEPO and we can see what kind of materials are there at the sie through these photos. You can put in there what you notice around the area and you can put in there too, if you cleaned-up the area yourself, you can post the before and after pictures and it will help us get a better picture of what’s happening in the community and areas that we need to pay more attention to. So, for the community clean-up challenge that we’re hosting, you can use the app to participate by posting your before and after pictures and that will enter you into the contest for the clean-up.”

Reed says that Waste Management is inviting the community can get involved by using the tracker:

“After you choose an area and you take care of it, you clean it up, you take your before picture and take your after picture and in order to win you have to post the picture either in the tracker or you can send the photos to our Facebook messenger page @Recyclinginkahnawake or you can email the photos to WasteMangement@mck.ca. Some of the prizes we have this year are: a kayak, we have a water stand-up board we have Shop Kahnawà:ke Gift Certificates and locally and we also have skateboards that were designed by local community members and other communities throughout Mohawk Territories.”

For more information on the clean-up and tracker app, you can reach out to the Waste Management Department at 450-632-4321 or message them on Facebook @Recyclinginkahnawake. All participants will be entered into a draw for a chance to win prizes.

Big changes on the horizon at the MCK. Political Press Attaché Joe Delaronde is retiring. Delaronde began his stellar career at the MCK in 2002 as a member of the Communications Team where he played a key role in the day-to-day communications and sharing of important information to the community, serving later on for the Office of the Council of Chiefs, leading to his long-time position as Political Press Attaché. Joe also worked on many important projects, including two Casino referendums and was instrumental in the creation and development of KTV. Joe served his community as an elected official, sitting on Council from 1988 to 1990, and as a radio personality on K1037, where he also did stints as Program Director and Station Manager. Joe has been a staple at many local social and sporting events, often acting as the Master of Ceremonies and providing play-by-play commentary for the local figure skating club, lacrosse & hockey games. He was even a color commentator on TSN 690 for the short-lived Montreal Express of the National Lacrosse League.  Joe’s last official day of work is Friday, March 31^st.

Heather Jacobs-Whyte  is getting set to call it a career and The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) and Council of Chiefs are both congratulating Jacobs-Whyte, today, for her hard work and dedication as she approaches her retirement date. Heather Jacobs-Whyte began her career at the MCK in 2004 after a long and successful career in Nursing at the Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre. Her first position was as a Research & Policy Analyst at the Lands Unit and moved over to the Strategic & Organizational Development Unit (SOD) in 2015.

In December 2021, Jacobs-Whyte was seconded as the Interim General Manager of Housing Programs & Client Services. Jacobs-Whyte’s skills and experience were evident in the Housing file, as she managed the much-needed updates on policies and processes of the unit over the last several months and worked closely with the Director and other Key Leadership stakeholders, providing updates and information during the Housing Unit’s transformation. In July 2022, she was named General Manager of the aforementioned position and is now happy to head off into the sunset. Heather Jacobs-Whyte’s last official day as an MCK employee is March 31st.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake held a press conference this afternoon where they released the annual budget. The 2pm press event saw the presentation of the MCK 2023-2024 fiscal year operating budget of $67.3 million, approved by consensus at a recent MCK council meeting. The budget features highlight’s such as: developments in Housing (with important, detailed information to be released to the community in April), expected increases in Gaming revenues, and five school bus replacements (totaling $2 million). Ratsénhaienhs Lindsay LeBorgne is the lead on the Administrative Affairs Portfolio:

“This year we’ve managed to up our budget to $67.3 million, that’s $4.3 million dollars more than the last fiscal year budget. The past two annual budgets saw the MCK incur surpluses with the new budget is also projected to be in a $4.8 million surplus after all projected revenues and expenses are considered.”

This budget compares to the current fiscal year’s budget of $63 million. The community has, for the most part, weathered the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic. The past two annual budgets saw the MCK incur surpluses; the new budget is also projected to be in a $4.8 million surplus after all projected revenues and expenses are considered. This surplus is due to increased interest rates, projected revenue increases from Electronic Gaming Devices and additional funds received from Indigenous Services Canada. The surplus will be an amount that will be appropriated to the Operational Reserve to cover future operational needs. Executive Director Onerahtókha Marquis on the surplus and the community:

“While we are still in a healthy financial situation, we can never take anything for granted, with a potential recession on the horizon, we must remain mindful and vigilant in our management of the community’s funds. The new MCK Strategic Plan, which will be shared with the community in the coming weeks, will help guide the financial planning and spending in both the short term and the long term. We will continue to develop and tweak the strategic plan for the organization. We will continue on the path toward self-sufficiency and focus on generating own-source revenue to ensure that we can meet all of the evolving needs of the community.”

The budget will be posted in both Iorí:wase and the Eastern Door newspapers and at www.kahnawake.com. The audited financial statements, including those from previous years, are also available online at: www.kahnawake.com/financials

There was an hold and secure protocol at Kahnawake Survival School, a procedure that is put into action to ensure the safety of students and staff in the event of a possible threat. Students and staff continue their regular activities inside of the building during the protocol and no person was allowed in or out of the building for its duration. The hold and secure was lifted and students and staff were allowed to exit the building.

The Kahnawake Peacekeepers remained at KSS following the issue of the emergency protocol.

A scary incident in Kahnawake along Highway 138 Tuesday afternoon. A 31-year-old non-local woman was trying to forge a lane between the cars on the 138 westbound near the 2^nd set of lights and damaged several of them as she weaved through traffic. According to the Kahnawake Peacekeepers the incident occurred around 4 pm. Once the woman’s car was pulled over it was discovered that she was driving with a 15-month-old baby that was riding unsecured while seated in the drivers lap. The Peacekeepers say the baby sustained superficial cuts and was assessed by paramedics. Emily Vaillancourt of Chateauguay was in the middle of it all. She’s concerned for the baby and the health of the mom:

“We were just driving and I then I heard a loud bang and I see the red car in between my car and the car beside me and then she just kept going, forcing her way in between all the cars. So, she hit like a few, she was just bouncing back and forth from each car and eventually she ended up on the side of the road like in the dirt towards the ditch and I had called the Peacekeepers right away when I saw her keep going.”

The baby was placed in the custody of family services. The mother was deemed unfit and taken to hospital for a mental health assessment.

Martin Morris has been named as Director of the Public Works Unit as part of the MCK. Morris began his career at the MCK in 2003, working at the Sports and Recreation Unit until 2005 as a Zamboni driver at the arena. He will continue to lead both departments until a replacement can be named for Infrastructure, Operations and Maintenance:

“Brendan Montour headed over to Capital and actually became the Director over there. I was an interim, taking his spot and I’ve done it a few times  in the past as well. Brendan left big shoes to fill over here, he did such a great job over here, he actually paved the way so it makes it a little bit, I don’t know if it’s easier, but it helps me out a lot more.”

In in 2010 he was hired as the Assistant Supervisor of Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance and became Supervisor 9 years ago:

“I’ve been fulfilling my role as General Manager of Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance and I still will be involved until we find a replacement for myself. I do have my assistant, Michael Goodleaf, who is learning more in the field but he will have to start learning more office duties as well to help me out.”

Morris officially began work as Director on March 13th.