Investigators from the economic division of the Sûreté du Québec carried out searches on Tuesday in Kanesatake, in the premises of the band council and the health center. The warrants relate to the misuse of millions of dollars the federal government has given to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t know if they confiscated anything, but I know they arrived around 9:30 in the morning [mardi]that they asked everyone to leave, and that they were still there at the start of the evening, ”explained to the Duty the current Grand Chief Victor Bonspille.
It was he who filed a complaint with the SQ in the summer of 2021. He denounced the improper use of the more than three million dollars that the federal government paid to the community during the pandemic.
In his complaint, Victor Bonspille says he is targeting nine people linked to the Emergency Response Unit set up in Kanesatake during the pandemic, including former members of the band council. Speaking of an “investigation for fraud”, the Grand Chief maintains that people in the community, close to former members of the band council, would have benefited from sums without adequate justification.
Chief Serge Otsi Simon was the grand chief of the band council during the period of the facts investigated by the SQ. At Duty, he says he perceives the SQ operation as one more element in the political confrontation between members of the community: “I am sure that at the end of all that, it is they – Victor Bonspille and certain will be held responsible. »
Serge Otsi Simon assures that no fraud has taken place in the management of the amounts granted by the federal government during the pandemic. He does not hide the fact that at the very beginning of COVID-19, transactions outside the usual procedures could have been made: “Before the federal money was sent, people from the Emergency Response Unit bought food and equipment with their credit cards because we were in an exceptional and emergency situation. We had to feed people, buy them food and refrigerators. And there, we blame them for that. »
Tuesday’s raids come amid rising tensions in Kanesatake. An internal struggle between two factions, which openly clash within the Mohawk band council, is currently paralyzing the functioning of the organization, as reported The duty in April.
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 many of their decisions. The latter explain their opposition by the fact that the decisions taken are not for the good of the community.