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There was a scheduled a meeting that was to be open to the community tonight at 6 pm at the green space near the Orville Standup Park with the topic being the future of the Catholic Church in Kahnàwake. Well, the weather has forced the plans to be altered. Timmy Norton is one of the organizers:

“We’re going to change the day t’ill Saturday at 6 pm, the same time on Saturday, but we’re also going to change the location, we’re moving to the fire near the 132 highway. We’re changing the day and the location, so 6 pm Saturday at the Sacred Fire on the 132.”

In the wake of Kamloops, Norton says the Church’s presence serves as a constant reminder of the role it played in Canada’s Residential Schools:

“It’s to discuss the future of the Church here in Kahnàwake. We want to talk to people and see, to get a good idea of the direction that people would like to go, you know we’re going to listen to all sides and see where we can go. We don’t want to go gang-busters into the Church and tear it apart and throw everybody out, that’s not the goal. The goal is to talk, which is what we do as Onkwehonwe we talk about stuff then we decide what can happen, you know what would the next steps be.”

Masks are required and all Covid restrictions will be in place according to organizers. All community members are invited.

There is Mercier Bridge roadwork set for this weekend. It will be one lane open in each direction from Friday at 10 pm to Monday at 5 am. The Airlie street access will also be closed heading towards Kahnawake.

There will also be a complete night closure of the 138 up ramp in Kahnawake towards Montreal  at 9 p.m. Friday until Saturday at 9 a.m. It is scheduled to be closed again Saturday night at 9 p.m. until Sunday at 9 a.m., if necessary.

The deadline (Tuesday June 1 at 12 pm) has come and gone for candidates to accept or decline their nominations for the upcoming Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK)  elections. K1037 News has confirmed that there are five candidates for the position of Grand Chief for the July 3^rd election. They are: Kahsennenhawe Sky Deer, Frankie “Fafa” McComber, Gina Deer, Sterling Deer and Keith Myiow. Tonya Perron said that she has decided to withdraw her name from the nomination for Grand Chief. She will instead run for a second consecutive term as elected council official. “After many discussions with my family, friends and colleagues I have decided to withdraw my name as a candidate for the position of Grand Chief,” Perron told K1037 News. “Although I believe that I possess many of the qualities of a Grand Chief and have aspirations of one day being in that position, I do also believe that more political experience would provide me with what I need to truly embrace the position and represent the community in the way that it deserves to be represented. I received a tremendous amount of support these last few days and would like to thank everyone for that.”

The official nominees list will  be released on Friday according to Electoral Officer Angus Montour.

There will be at least four new faces on the next council, as Deer, McComber and Sky-Deer are all vacating their seats to run for Grand Chief. Clinton Phillips decided to retire at the end of this term.

Quebec’s Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafreniere was in Kahnawake Monday afternoon. He visited the tribute at the foot of the St Francis Xavier Mission Church to the 215 Indigenous remains that were discovered last week at the former Kamloops Residential school in British Columbia. The Minister also spoke with two Mohawk Council  of Kahnawake elected officials about the relationship between Kahnawake and province. Lafreniere posted pictures on his Facebook page of his visit to the memorial made up of more than 500 pairs of shoes, orange shirts and teddy bears, left to commemorate the remains discovered in Kamloops.

Native Court Worker Patricia Eshkabok retired  after many years of stellar service for Indigenous persons throughout the province on May 27th, 2021. She had been working with the Native Para-Judicial Services of Quebec, assisting native people in matters relating to the criminal justice system. Robert Patton Jr. has now assumed the role as the Native Court worker for the area of Kahnawake:

“I was always interested in this job, I worked in the policing part of it with the courts and I always knew Patricia and I always found her position as a court worker very interesting because she’s dealing hands-on with people going to court assisting them, on all levels that she was assisting them. For me, I like working for people and I like helping people and that the best we can do is always keeping our brothers and sisters out of, like they say, ‘the white man’s jail system, law system,’ and try to get them the best help possible where they don’t end up in jail.”

Patton Jr. will continue to work the position for the betterment of his clients, saying it will be an honour to work on behalf of Kahnàwake.

The fallout and reactions continue after the remains of 215 children were discovered last week at the former Kamloops, BC Residential School. The Mohawk Council of Kahnàwake will observe a Moment of Silence at 2:15pm this afternoon, and is asking community members to do the same. Joe Delaronde is the MCK spokesperson:

“The MCK is asking for a community wide moment of silence to commemorate these 215 children. We’re looking at 2:15 pm this afternoon and it’s really just a small token of something we can all do at the same time together as a community, because this has just been an unbelievable few days.”

For an action like this to have occurred during Canada’s lifetime as a country prompts a massive rethinking of the very foundation of the country. At 2:15 pm today K1037 will join with the MCK in a moment of silence, standing united:

“I think in many ways it’s very unifying because I don’t think anybody in the community regardless of their political beliefs or faith or anything, everyone feels the same, it’s just terrible and we need to band together to support each other at this very, very difficult time.”

Every single Kahnawa’kehró:non shares in the grief that has resulted from this horrendous discovery.

The count is already approaching 500 pairs of shoes left in front of the St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Kahnawake. The shoes, a powerful symbol commemorating the 215 souls discovered buried at the former Kamploops, BC residential school. Leaving the shoes in front of the church began after Jessica Oesterreich of Kahnawake made a post on Facebook Saturday morning.

“I saw something similar on Facebook and thought if it can be done at that church, it can be done at ours,” Oesterreich told K1037 News. “It doesn’t matter where the 215 bodies were found. Every Catholic Church is part of a larger body responsible for what happened to those children, as well as those taken from our community. If we don’t remind them of what they’ve done they’ll continue to operate in our communities without any culpability.”

Oesterreich says she has been overwhelmed by the response from the community. “People have been very motivated to follow through with the request. Many feel the same way I do, powerless as an individual to really hold a large entity like the church or government responsible in a meaningful way, but fully able to remind them of what they did.”

A walk is planned for Sunday afternoon in Kahnawake. Organizer Tammy Whitebean says it will begin at the Knights of Columbus, head through the tunnel and end up at the greenspace by Highway 132. A tobacco burning will then take place.

A horrific discovery in British Columbia. The Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation says a survey they conducted found the remains of 215 children buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential school. The first nation says they hired a specialist in ground-penetrating radar to carry out the work. Quebec Liberal MNA Greg Kelley, who represents the Jacques Cartier riding on Montreal’s West Island, is outraged.

“Heartbreaking is the first thing that comes to mind,” Kelley said. “215 children, they just disappeared. We know the sad story across Canada in these cases where children went missing and then either died in institutions or were maybe given away to another family. The families were never told what happened. They were never given any information. Their children just vanished. It’s just so heartbreaking, so sad. Seeing a case like that just brings it to light.”

Since December Kelley says a bi-partisan group in the National Assembly of Quebec has been working on Bill 79, otherwise known as the baby’s law.

“We’ve been working on legislation that would give Indigenous families, here in Quebec, the powers to do inquiries to try to find information on children who went missing in Quebec institutions or religious institutions from the 1920’s and on,” Kelley said. “So, it brought that entire discussion we’ve been having for a bout a month now to light. It also kind of hit home. We heard from those families in public hearings here in Quebec.”

With the Board of Directors elections scheduled for K1037 this coming Saturday, a special advanced poll has been added and will be this afternoon at the radio station. “We realize now that not everybody might be available at that time so we are having an advanced vote poll today from 1 pm to 3 pm this afternoon,” Electoral Officer Sandra Schurman said. “We apologize for the short notice. It was upon request that we have an advance vote open. So we will be inviting people who will not be available this Saturday to come over today between 1 pm and 3 pm.”

Joe Delaronde, Gene Diabo, Mouchie Goodleaf, Keith Leclaire, Timmy Montour and Lou Ann Stacey are the six candidates vying for the five open positions on the Board of Directors. The vote will be held at K1037 on Saturday between 10 am and 12 noon at the radio station.

Due to the high heat and humidity the schools under the Kahnawake Education Center banner are only having a half day of classes today. “We’ll be having a half day due to the high humidity within the school,” Karonhianonhnha School Interim Principal Sarah Kanietahawi Phillips said. “Considering that our students and staff are required to be masked at all times, it’s getting a little unbearable in the building at times. So today we have high humidity, so our nursery and kindergarten students will be picked up 11:15 by the buses, and the grades 1-6 will be at noon. The same procedures apply at Kateri School. While Kahnawake Survival School will be closing at noon and buses are expected at that time.

Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion is also letting out early. The bus is picking the students up at 12:30. However, Avery’s is staying open as they have air conditioning.