Body retrieved at the Brothers

A body found at the site of the old Sulpician school, also known as the Brothers, is being characterized by police as a suspicious death pending the results of an autopsy.

Police have confirmed that the victim was Ronnie Daniel Beltre Gonzalez, 24 years old, of Valleyfield.

The disturbing discovery was first reported to the Kanesatake Perimeter Security (KPS) team by a community member. The bunker, a curiosity left behind by the Sulpicians, was not a septic tank as has been widely reported, according to Montour, but a large, brick-walled chamber, part of a tunnel system that has been sealed up.

The chamber was once unknown to the community, Montour said, until an erosion about the size of a loonie opened up that somebody widened with a jackhammer at some point until it was big enough to crawl in.

While the Surete du Quebec is still calling the incident a suspicious death, media reports are already confirming what Montour knew instantly: this was no accident.

People have fallen into the hole before since it was bored open, Montour said, but the man’s body looked like it was tossed in, not a natural fall; two cell phones lay scattered around his hand.

“He was laying on his back, and he was looking up and his eyes were still open,” said KPS coordinator Kane Montour. “You could see blood pooling from the left side of his head, quite a bit of blood.”

Montour called the authorities and told his team to secure the area, which would soon be swarming with emergency services and onlookers as news travelled, shocking Kanesatake.

As the community awaits a robust suite of measures promised by the province to confront a wave of organized crime, the disturbing discovery of the body of a young man discarded in a hole is only the latest instance of violence that has chilled the community in recent months and years, including a gangland execution at the Green Room in summer 2021. Lately, a spate of physical attacks, unsolved criminal fires, arrests targeting arson-for-hire, the shooting of a community member, and gunshots fired at buildings - including a home and a casino - have all contributed to a spiraling sense of security in Kanesatake.

“It seems like we’re going downhill with no brakes,” Montour said.

Montour gets calls from elders at night, scared someone will come knocking on their door, he said. Children don’t want to walk on the roads.

“Everybody in the community is just rocked,” said Montour.  “Like what the hell is going on? It’s a shame what’s happening here, and it’s all because of an unregulated cannabis industry.”

There are stores trying to do it the right way, he emphasized, who aren’t getting involved in organized crime, who are just trying to make a living. But problems feel like they’re compounding.

“It’s just getting worse and worse. People need to start asking themselves, when is enough enough? How much longer are we going to have to pay for this?”

Pressed for details on the victim and the circumstances of his death, Surete du Quebec spokesperson Marc Tessier said, “I can only say that there are good indications that it’s a suspicious death.” Major Crimes Unit investigators and forensic technicians evaluated the scene, he said.

Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker council member Brant Etienne said despite hoping against hope it had been an accident, it was no surprise that it seems to have turned out otherwise - not to the council, not to the police, and not to external governments.

“I really truly hope the people of Kanesatake, especially the family members and the people involved with organized crime, look at this and take a second to reconsider their actions,” he said. He believes the entrepreneurs enriching themselves are unlikely to ever change their mind, but that they depend on an ecosystem of supporters to thrive.

Asked about recent references at the National Assembly to the community’s governance issues, he said he objects to the characterization of internal politics as an obstacle to the government taking action, arguing that the caretaker council members are working together well, even with a limited mandate.

“I think it’s very unfair, and I think it’s a bit of a red herring and a tactic used to undermine governance, essentially. It’s a bit of propaganda for the stores and organized crime faction in the community,” he said.

He commended the KPS team, saying the fact a community member reached out to Perimeter Security to report the discovery is a sign of the organization’s value to the community.

“It’s one of the few jewels we have actually helping to change the mood a bit. There’s still a lot of work to do. They’re doing a lot of the hard lifting right now.”

Montour said he emphasized in a video he published on the KPS Facebook page that community members can always contact the team to report something if it feels safer to do so.

“It’s very important we’re here because a lot of community members don’t want to talk to the police. They won’t call the police. But they’ll ask us to call the police,” he said, adding that KPS gets calls to respond to all manner of situations in Kanesatake.

“I think that’s really a testament that something’s working,” he said.

He emphasized that while he’s heard some people dismiss the significance of the suspicious death, that’s still someone’s brother, son, grandson.

“It’s a crime that happened here, and things like this shouldn’t happen in our communities,” he said.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter