Category: Featured

The post office in town has had to close early. And this is not the 1^st time. Lynda Benwell, Postmaster at the Kahnawake Post Office:

“Today, we’re very short staffed and therefore we’ll have to be closing early, at 4 o’clock and tomorrow we’ll be back to normal.”

 Benwell says there’s a lack of interest in employment at the post office:

“We need to have more people applying. There was a recent contest that was happening, but I don’t think we got a very good response. So, we’re stuck, short staffed and there’s also a shortage of occasional workers throughout the company. So, when we’re in this situation, we have no choice:  have to close early.”

Benwell’s solution that would keep the post office open:

“So, everyone, apply!”

Several months after the body of Father Leon Lajoie was exhumed from the St. Francis Xavier Mission in Kahnawake by the Jesuits of Canada, The King International Advisory Group is continuing their investigation into allegations of abuses by certain members of the clergy over the years, including against former Priest Father Henri. The complaints against others have been brought forth over the past several months. Louise Mayo has been appointed as an independent coordinator/advocate by the Jesuits of Canada. She is meeting with the Jesuits tomorrow:

“It was decided that the MCK would independently contract me to work as the independent coordinator, apart from the MCK, because the MCK clearly wants to ensure that it’s not directly involved with this process and it also wanted to ensure that there was additional support for community members who may not feel comfortable in reaching out directly to King associates for an interview.” 

Mayo will be involved in the process, that is separate from the Indian Day Schools agreement:

“I will be versed on the process of the intake process, interview process, the follow-up the process and compensation process. What we need to make clear to community members is that it has to be separate from the Indian Day Schools Settlement Agreement. It has to be an incident, a sexual assault that occurred in the Church apart from school. What we’ll do is triage the process and ensure that the individual that has the allegation has the opportunity to share his or her story.”

Louise Mayo can be reached at 514-793-0662.

There is some movement on the new cultural center development. The Multi-Purpose Building Project Team announcing today that the Selection Committee has chosen the architects who will be responsible for the design of the new Cultural Center, Museum & Theatre. Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language & Cultural Center (KORLCC) Executive Director Kawennanó:ron Lisa Phillips:

“An architectural firm has been chosen for the project of the ‘Multi-Purpose Building’ and as well we also made the announcement of the project manager for the project, which is Louie John Diabo.”

The two companies include an award-winning architectural firm and a company that has worked with several Indigenous communities/organizations. They joined forces:

“They have worked with Indigenous companies and actually the architecture firm is a combination of firms, they banded together. They saw the importance of this project, they wanted to be a part of it. So it’s Provencher Roy and Brook McIlroy, as a company and they have worked with several Indigenous communities and organizations and so they joined forces to bid on this project and they were the successful candidates.”

Additionally, the Project Team announced that Louie John Diabo of Diabo Consulting has been selected for the position of Project Manager. Diabo will work on all aspects of the project to bring it to fruition as a technical manager, as the principal technical advisor, committee coordinator and internal project manager, in the realization of the new building, which will be built in the wooded property adjacent to the Kahnawà:ke Survival School.

The Splashpad Bathroom Facility Closed due to Vandalism. The Asset Management Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke announcing that the bathroom building at the Splashpad at Orville Park will be closed until further notice. According to the MCK, the building has been repeatedly damaged by vandals over the winter period, with the latest incident occurring last evening when the bathroom was flooded when the the sink faucet was left running with a plastic bag stuffed in the sink drain. A fire was also started in the toilet bowl. Kyle Zachary is the public relations officer with the Kahnawà:ke Peacekeepers:

“The part where the old K1037 building used to be, there’s the lacrosse rink there, a basketball court and the splashpad, the Orville Standup Memorial Park. There’s a structure that houses a few bathrooms for the public to use and there was some damage, some mischief occurred to it, we were alerted to it this morning around 9:30. Officers went to the scene, documented the damage, that’s really all we can do at this moment unless we have – we don’t have any suspects – unless somebody comes forward and informs us that they saw something or they admit to it.”

Previously, the building was closed when vandals kicked holes through the two with the door handles busted. The building’s external video surveillance system is currently being reviewed. Once repairs have been effected, a reopening date will be determined. You are encouraged to report vandalism by contacting the Kahnawà:ke Peacekeepers at 450-632-6505.

Ottawa is providing nearly $1 million in funding over four years to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal to provide better access to justice for vulnerable members of the community. Federal Justice Minister David Lametti confirmed $919,000 in funding.  The money will be used to provide a full-time lawyer to work with the organization and the families who use it. A social worker will also be hired to support the center. Nakuset is the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Shelter:

“Legal aid lawyers are usually not that equipped, don’t have an understanding about Indigenous clientele and sometimes shame them, so, when we decided that when we were going to be creating this clinic, we wanted to add a family lawyer, but it costs money, so I worked with a couple of other lawyers to create this application to Justice Canada and we got the funding for almost 4 years, to have a professional family lawyer, that’s going to be a part of this social-pediatric clinic and anyone who is having issues with youth protection can come to us, we will represent you and will get those children back.”

Some will also be used for training to help clients better understand their rights.

In another sign that the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, most of the early day Covid-19 restrictions have now fallen by the wayside. The latest, Kahnawake’s Emergency Preparedness Law which has reverted to its original form that dates to 2008, the last time it was permanently amended. Lloyd Phillips is the Commissioner of Public Safety:

“All the changes that were made in April of 2021, are no longer in force and a big part of that was the inclusion of a recovery phase, where the goal is to phase out directives or phase out emergency measures until we turned back to a ‘state of normalcy.’ There’s a transition phase which was obviously required during the pandemic and is required throughout any emergency.”

Kahnawà:ke Emergency Preparedness Law and Regulations were amended on April 6^th, 2021, to specifically deal with the pandemic. That version is no longer in force. According to Phillips, the law will be reviewed:

“When it goes back into the CDMP process, there will be some recommended changes made for the community to consider. Some of the changes that were made during the pandemic will be part of that recommended changes, but we’ll do a full law review since we have the opportunity to look at it to make sure that it meets our current needs, because it hasn’t been updated since 2008, so it needs a review regardless.”

Phillips  saying that the law will be reviewed,  but a specific timeline has yet to be announced.

Ohén:ton Í:iente ni Ratitsénhaienhs Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer and Eric Doucet of MCK Legal Services were in Quebec City where they presented on Bill 13 to the National Assembly. That is the Bill proposed for the adoption of the Law respecting the Hertel-New York Interconnection Line. Through the Horizon Kahnawà:ke Hydro-Québec Limited Partnership, the MCK will become joint owners of a 58-KM portion of the transmission line along with Hydro-Québec. Sky-Deer on the purpose of the presentation today:

“It was for Bill13, it’s a law respecting the Hertel-New York Interconnection Line. Basically what I did, I did a presentation to the Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Energy and Natural Resources. So I had a 45-minute timeframe basically to give an overview, introduction of myself, the community the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, who we are in terms of the background and all of the discussions that we’ve had with Hydro-Quebec about this projects since 2018, when it was the late Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton who basically said that if Hydro is going to do any projects that go through our historical land base that it’s going to be required for us to be actual partners.”

The Bill was created to allow Hydro-Quebec to enter into the partnership agreements with the MCK aimed at facilitating the transfer of electricity to New York City through the construction of a cross-border transmission line from Hydro-Québec’s Hertel Substation to Champlain, NY and the Champlain-Hudson Power Express to Astoria in Queens.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke‘s Ietsénhaienhs Jessica Lazare was in Ottawa to make a presentation in front of the federal government’s Standing Committee on Bill C-21. That is the proposed federal legislation to make amendments to the Criminal Code, specifically the Firearms Act.

After the formal portion of her presentation,  Lazare answered questions from the panel.

“My messaging was talking about the lack of consultation with indigenous communities. They were asking for specifics, they were asking for what my thoughts were. I had to tell them that I’m one person,  from one table, and that a more comprehensive consultation process should be considered before even tabling a bill like this, especially since it has such a huge impact on Indigenous  communities.”

According to Chief Lazare she felt she had to keep pushing the idea that there was a lack of consultation. In her words,

“The Canadian government doesn’t always have the patience for consultation engagement with communities, but that is what is needed. And that takes time.”

It is International Women’s Day. Angie Pepper O’Bomsawin of Kahnawake, is a filmmaker, writer, director and producer.

She joined us on Tethewatharen yesterday:

“Everyday is a fantastic day to be  a woman. Especially in this day and age when we are overcoming some major hurdles and finding our place and our voice. I celebrate it (being a woman) every  single day. I celebrate it with my colleagues, my peers, my neice…..anyone I cross paths with.”

We were also joined by Ohendo Iehente ne Ratsisehiens (Grand Chief) Kahsennehawe Sky-Deer who said it is a great day to honor women not just in our community but across Turtle Island and the world:

“There have been women before me who have such vision drive and ambition to see some of the things we have in the community today like the hospital, the youth center, K.S.C.S.  and all these great organizations that provide so much services. There are so many women in our community who are continuing to push boundaries and make a  path for  the up and coming children of today.”

The MCK’s Client Based Services is offering an update to an earlier report regarding community members who have been receiving notices concerning their U.S. Social Security Benefits. ‘CBS’ now saying that anyone who receives U.S. Social Security benefits and who have been receiving notification letters from the U.S. Social Security Administration that they should expect an upcoming change to regular benefit payments. The letters are notifying beneficiaries that payments to Canadian bank accounts associated with a Post Office Box and not a physical address can no longer be processed by direct deposit. According to Social Security’s new process, these payments must now be processed by cheque and mailed out to beneficiaries. Lindsay Leborgne from the Mohawk Council of Kahnàwake saying this situation is not unique to Kahnàwake:

“The woman at the Social Security Administration said that there a lot of very small towns in the U.S. that also don’t have regular house delivery, they use post office boxes. So, apparently this is the system that everyone is going to be using so we’re going to have to adopt the same thing. So, remember whatever your Post Office box is, you write your post office number, don’t put ‘P.O. box’ though, your number and ‘River Road’ Kahnàwake, Quebec, J0L 1B0 and it’ll be delivered to their box.”

To ensure there are no delays to receiving benefits, it is being recommended anyone affected confirm their mailing address by contacting the U.S. Social Security Administration’s regional office in Burlington, Vermont at 1-877-840-5776 on or before March 23^rd. Client Based Services saying that although some individuals have been able to speak to a representative fairly quickly, there have been delays of upwards of 30-minutes for others so patience will be required. For questions or further assistance, please contact the MCK’s Client Based Services at 450-638-0500.