Of course it is delicate to intervene on indigenous territories. Both in Quebec and in Ottawa, we advocate “nation to nation” relations with these communities.
And a nation, in principle, it does not intervene in the affairs of another.
However, there are limits to this principle.
These limits are blatantly exposed in the articles by our colleague Tristan Péloquin on what is happening in Kanesatake. The toxic juice of a dump managed by people with a heavy criminal past flows in the middle of Lac des Deux Montagnes. And when the fire takes place in the mountains of hazardous materials, the firefighters of the neighboring municipality of Oka often cannot even intervene. (1)
Add to this that Kanesatake has been without a police force for nearly a decade and the band council is dysfunctional, and you have a recipe for both environmental and social disaster unfolding before our eyes.
A disaster, too, which is unfolding before the eyes of our governments. Because both in Quebec and in Ottawa, no one fell out of his chair while reading the reports. The problems have been known for a long time and are closely monitored by the authorities. Some members of the governments know the inner workings of the conflicts that divide Kanesatake.
So we have to give that to our elected officials: they are well informed. The problem is when the time comes to take action. The evidence of laxity is obvious: the illegal dump continues to poison the environment… and the social climate of Kanesatake.
This is all the more troubling because something fundamental is happening: tongues are loosening in indigenous communities. Residents of Kanesatake now dare to denounce the small clique that reigns terror in their homes. They open up to journalists and demand government intervention.
We see the same thing in Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, a community on the North Shore where organized crime has created a major cocaine consumption problem. Our journalist Fanny Lévesque collected testimonies from community members and Indigenous police officers who have had enough. (2)
“It’s the end of the omerta”, notes a source to whom we spoke to the Quebec government.
This profoundly changes the situation.
Until now, our governments have been obsessed with the risks of intervening in Aboriginal territory. They must now ask themselves what are the risks of not intervening, in particular on the trust of communities who demand change at the cost of great courage.
We are told in Quebec that we can expect action soon in Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, on the North Shore. The fact that there is an aboriginal police force makes things easier. Quebec can act in concert. So much the better.
Kanesatake’s case is more complex. However, there are some obvious facts. The first is that urgent action is needed to contain toxic leaks from the dump into waterways.
Even if it hurts the heart, it will probably also be necessary to resolve to invest public funds to decontaminate the premises. The bill will be salty – the Ministry of the Environment of Quebec evokes 100 million dollars. But the longer we wait, the greater the damage will be.
The other evidence is that the Gabriel brothers, who created this environmental fiasco, must be removed from the scene for good. It would be laughable to decontaminate the dump and then hand it over to them. The Government of Quebec has already revoked the certificate allowing them to operate the dump. It is now their property title that must be tackled, a federal responsibility.
More generally, both Quebec and Ottawa have a responsibility not to let Kanesatake sink into chaos. As is often the case, they will need to coordinate their actions rather than pass the buck.
Governments should never have waited so long to intervene in problematic indigenous communities, but the end of the omerta now gives them a golden opportunity to do so with the support of local populations.
The time for apologies is over.