A meeting should take place next week between members of the Kanesatake band council and Canadian and Quebec ministers to find solutions to the governance crisis that is rocking Kanesatake, says Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, who does not oppose an initiative aimed at better understanding what is going on there.
“The question I always ask myself is what would this commission be used for? If it’s for sensationalism, I think the first people who would be badly served by that would be the people, the members of the community,” said Marc Miller, in an interview with the Duty.
On Tuesday, masked residents of Kanesatake demonstrated outside his office in Montreal. Denouncing Ottawa’s inaction with regard to intimidation in the community and its passivity with regard to a dump that accumulates environmental shortcomings, the demonstrators demanded an investigation, in which a rapporteur from the UN, to shed light on the crisis that is rocking Kanesatake.
Mr. Miller ensures that the federal government would not oppose an initiative to better understand what is happening in Kanesatake. “If we can help, we’ll do it. And if this usefulness translates into investigations, whether by the UN or a parliamentary investigation, we will accept and support the appropriate choice. »
Moreover, he recalls that the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry is not the responsibility of the government, but of the parliamentary committees. “We are in a minority situation, so it will be the members who will choose their schedule if they want to do so on this issue,” he said. As for a UN initiative, it obviously depends on the organization.
” Next week “
Minister Miller mentions that a meeting will be held “next week” between representatives of the Kanesatake Band Council and ministers from the governments of Canada and Quebec, including the Canadian Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, and Ian Lafrennière , Minister Responsible for Relations with First Nations. Marc Miller has not yet confirmed his attendance.
“If I remember correctly, it’s June 1,” he said, adding that the discussions will not take place in the public square and that the place has not yet been determined. The objective: to find solutions to social and environmental issues, of course, but also to governance problems that paralyze the functioning of the community’s Band Council.
Currently, two factions are openly clashing there. On the one hand, Grand Chief Victor Bonspille and his twin sister — Chief Valerie Bonspille — denounce a revolt on the part of the other chiefs who sit on the council, who strongly oppose several of their decisions which, according to them, do not not taken for the good of the community.
Could the government play a role of mediator between the different factions? “The answer is yes, but with a downside,” he says, without detailing specific solutions. “The instrument that the federal government uses from time to time, especially when there are financial issues, is to put the community under trusteeship. The problem with that is that most of the time the result is worse than letting go,” he says.
Regarding the searches of the Sûreté du Québec (QS), carried out on Thursday, Marc Miller argues that it “would be very frowned upon to interfere in the process which must be carried out independently by the SQ”. He adds, however, that “there is credible evidence to support that there was, perhaps, an abuse, so we will let the investigation take place”.