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Nearly 20% of the athletes and coaches from Kahnàwake who are qualified to take part in the North American Indigenous Games are not permitted to attend because of a continuing strict vaccine mandate in-place for the games. Unvaccinated athletes and coaches have been barred from attending the NAIG games in Halifax this July by the NAIG Council. As reported in Ioriwase and The Eastern Door, there are approximately 150 athletes and coaches from Kahnawake who have met the sporting requirements to attend, however, between 20 and 30 are not vaccinated against COVID-19. Roiatate Horn is the director of sports and recreation at the Mohawk Council of Kahnàwake:

“That’s the thing, they’re not being very clear on what they are considering adequality vaccinated, they’re also not being clear on how they’re actually going to verify ‘being vaccinated.’ We’re asking these questions, we’re not getting any answers from NAIG council apart from them saying that vaccines will be mandated and required for athletes and coaches.” 

For now, Horn and others decided at a meeting on Monday evening that they will continue to push for acceptance for all:

“Right now we’re obviously disappointed. We’ve decided that we’re going full steam ahead in terms of preparing our athletes to compete. All of our athletes, were keeping them in the mindset that they’re competing and ready to go and we’re going to keep fighting for them to ensure that they are able to participate and compete at the highest level.”

There are approximately 150 athletes and coaches from Kahnàwake who have met the sporting requirements to attend, However, between 20 and 30 are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Several school bus drivers in Kahnawake who were still on the road paused at 8:24 am this morning along with their counterparts in the region and observed a minute of silence in honour of the victims of last week’s deadly daycare bus crash. One of those was Carl Gilbert who has been driving a school bus in Kahnawake for 7 years:

“In honour of the little kids. I mean I carry grade 1 to grade 6, plus kindergarten and nursery and, you know, these little guys they don’t know what’s going on in the world and then something like this happens it’s heartbreaking. There’s just so much that you can do and just a little pause, seemed right.”

As a driver, Gilbert says there are a range of emotions felt when something like this occurs:

“From anger to outrage to shock. I really feel bad for the parents of the little kids and the ones who are friends with the little ones. They have a ton of questions now. Yeah, it affects you because we have the most precious cargo you can be carrying.”

Bus operators working for transit agencies in Laval, Montreal and Longueuil stopped  driving at exactly 8:24 a.m. to pay their respects. It was exactly one week to the minute that two 4-year-olds were killed after a city bus was rammed into the Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose, a daycare in Laval’s Ste-Rose district. Six other children were sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Kateri Memorial Hospital Center has announced that the current Director of Nursing and Homecare, Valerie Diabo has accepted the KMHC’s Board of Directors offer to become the Interim Executive Director of the Hospital. Diabo will work closely with current Executive Director, Lisa Westaway to ensure a smooth transition until Westaway’s departure on April 3^rd.

The posting for the Executive Director role will be made this week.

Maintenance work will require the right lane to be closed on the 138 east & west ramps, the 132 east & west ramps (one ramp at a time) and on the portion of the Mercier span over the St. Lawrence Seaway. That work is scheduled to begin, according to the MCK and JCCBI, tonight from 8pm until 4am Thursday morning.

The lane closures are required to effect repairs to the lighting and electrical system.

Justice Services Division has drafted Regulations for the implementation and operation of the Administrative Tribunal pursuant to the Kahnawà:ke Justice Act.  The Technical Drafting Committee (TDC) is comprised of Commissioner of Justice Kevin Fleischer, Ietsénhaienhs Tonya Perron, Ietsénhaienhs Jessica Lazare, and Suzanne Jackson of MCK Legal Services. Community consultation on the Kahnawà:ke Justice Act Regulations having taken place on several occasions since October, 2022. There are additional engagement activities planned in the upcoming weeks.

The Draft Regulations will be available for a 30-day feedback period beginning this Friday, ending on Friday, March 12th.

Due to rising costs and inflation, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke’s Social Assistance Program has announced that more benefits and supplements will be distributed to Social Assistance clients over the next two months. These essentials include: a winter clothing benefit for all active clients and their dependents; heating supplements (to be issued only to heads of households); and the continuation of the inflation benefit (food and household supplies) for all active clients and their dependents. These special benefits and supplements are intended to assist clients with the increased cost of the items being offered and will vary according to the number of clients per file.

Additional information and details will be released for clients in the coming days. If you require further explanations, you are asked to contact the Social Assistance Program at: 450-638-0500.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke Ietsénhaienhs Jessica Lazare is taking part in the First Nation Languages & Education Forum taking place  in Toronto. The event runs until Thursday and is being hosted by the Chiefs of Ontario and the Technical Committee on Languages & Learning. Agenda items include: information sharing sessions; and breakout sessions focused on promising practices and capacity-building support.

Ietsénhaienhs Lazare will be one of the speakers and presenters. She is the Lead on the Heritage Portfolio, of which Language Revitalization is a key component.

Kahnàwake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) says that it is once again at capacity due to the sheer volume of requests for mental health services. As a result, they have re-implemented a waiting list system. According to a release from KSCS, a triage system is in place whereby the individuals on the wait list can expect to receive check-ins to assess and prioritize their situation. Alanna Kane, Manager of Mental Health and Addictions at KSCS:

“It’s never the kind of announcement that we want to make but we also want to be transparent with the community members so that they know what to expect when they come in for services.”

This is the 3^rd time that this situation has occurred since the outset of the pandemic:

“It seems to me like pre-pandemic, sure we would have a lot of requests for services, but we never really needed  to have this ‘wait list’ system, necessarily, it’s not to say that folks never waited, but to actually have this system, like a triage system in-place, yeah, we’ve had to do it a few times now since the pandemic. When I started seeing the number right now of people who are coming in and not being able to put them together with someone right away, I thought it was important to just remind folks that we do actually have a wait list right now.”

Services such as the After-Hours Response (contact through Kahnàwake Peacekeepers 450-632-6505) continues to be available for those who need someone to talk with, until such time as they can be connected with a counselor. Community members are also encouraged to contact Mental Health resources such as Info-Santé at: 811; and the Crisis Text Line (for all ages, Powered by Kids Help Phone) by simply Texting HOME to 686868.