The conflict between the chiefs of the Kanesatake band council escalates. Following a motion adopted the previous evening by supporters of Grand Chief Victor Bonspille, the doors of the establishment were chained on Wednesday morning, blocking access to other chiefs and paralyzing the political life of the community. . A situation that could lead to guardianship of the Mohawk territory.
It was the Grand Chief of Kanesatake himself, Victor Bonspille, who asked the employees present in the band council premises on Wednesday to leave the premises. In a brief email sent to her fellow citizens, the band’s land manager, Amanda Simon, apologized for the inconvenience caused and the “lack of professionalism.”
She said she was not informed of when the offices reopened or why employees were asked to leave.
When passing the Duty, the doors of the building where the council sits were chained. The nearby high school had also been closed. With the exception of a security guard, the parking lot shared by the two establishments was empty.
The current paralysis takes place in a context where two factions have been openly clashing within the Mohawk Council for more than a year. On one side, Grand Chief Victor Bonspille and his twin sister — Chief Valerie Bonspille — denounce a revolt on the part of the four other chiefs sitting on the council, who, on the other side, firmly oppose several of their decisions.
Mr. Bonspille did not call back The duty. Last May, during an interview he gave us, he described the positions of the different leaders of the band as irreconcilable. He then planned to “launch a new general election” by the end of 2023 so “that unity can return to the community and to the band council”.
Last July, this situation led Victor Bonspille to ask the Department of Indigenous Services Canada to entrust the management of the Mohawk community to a third party, which Ottawa refused. Established for financial reasons, Kanesatake’s last supervision lasted from 2003 to 2006.
During an interview with the APTN News channel, the great chief explained the request made to the federal government as follows: “It was not something that I had decided to do. We had to think about it. The only way I saw to prevent [les autres chefs] to micromanage every department, including, and especially, finances, is to ask this of the federal government. »
The other chiefs, for their part, maintain that the Bonspilles’ decisions are not taken for the good of the community. Last summer, they strongly opposed the guardianship requested by the great chief. As a reaction, they have also called for his resignation in recent weeks.
“Explosive” situation
Joined by The duty, Serge Simon explains that the four leaders who oppose Victor Bonspille, a group of which he is part, met in a “safe place”. They want to establish a strategy to “reassure the population and employees”. He describes the situation as “explosive”.
By imposing the paralysis of the band council, the grand chief “uses an indirect means to force” the guardianship of the community, believes Mr. Simon: “It gives the impression that it could be a plan that could lead to this that Kanesatake be managed by a third party. »
In Canada, third-party management is generally implemented when a First Nation does not meet certain financial obligations. A situation that this paralysis could cause, believes Mr. Simon.
“And it is our community that will pay the price,” he said, denouncing in the same breath the democratic process which led to the adoption of the motion adopted Tuesday evening which justifies the closure of the council. Mr. Simon indicates that only around thirty people were present during the vote, which could not be confirmed. The duty.
At the time these lines were written, Indigenous Services Canada indicated that it was not aware of the current paralysis of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake. Ditto for Crown-Indigenous Relations. “I have no further information here and we will not comment on the internal politics of the matter,” a ministerial spokesperson responded briefly.
In addition to the clashes between the chiefs, remember that investigators from the economic division of the Sûreté du Québec carried out searches in Kanesatake at the end of May, in the premises of the band council and the health center. The mandates were related to the improper use of millions of dollars the federal government provided to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.