Caretaker council admits comms problems
Caretaker Council chief Brant Etienne at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake office. Hadassah Alencar The Eastern Door
The scarcity of public communications from the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake’s (MCK) caretaker council dissatisfies many in the community.
“It’s lacking, it’s very, very minimal,” said Clifton Nicholas, a community member. “For myself, I’m in the dark as to what’s going on, as are a lot of people.”
Caretaker council members have suggested they’re hesitant to share communiques for fear it could jeopardize projects and elicit more backlash, but scarce public notifications have also inflamed distrust in the caretaker council.
“If I had to grade our communications with this council, I would have to give it a D-minus,” said caretaker council member Serge Otsi Simon.
The issue of lack of communication from the MCK has been a long-standing problem in the community, said Nicholas.
But the current atmosphere would make it difficult to even hold a public hearing because of the anger and frustration many feel, said Nicholas.
“This council has yet to hold any public hearings,” he said, referring to the caretaker council. “They have an impossibility to do so because of the situation they’ve created in this community.”
For caretaker council member Brant Etienne, one of the reasons the council has taken a more conservative stance on communiques is that they do not want to appear as though they are campaigning ahead of an election.
“If you’re an incumbent chief, you’re limited on what you can actually talk about because it can be construed as you’re sort of using your incumbent position and the outcomes of the work you do in order to promote yourself in the election,” said Etienne. “I think that was something we were keenly aware of.”
Also, it is difficult for some members of the caretaker council to craft a communique in a timely manner alongside completing their daily work, said Etienne.
He said council needs a designated communications department to improve communications in the long-term, an ongoing project of caretaker council member Amy Beauvais.
Beauvais did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
Simon said it is not difficult for him to make public communiques; however, he said he is not the caretaker council spokesperson, and he will not be taking on this role unless he is mandated by his team to do so.
Meanwhile, criticisms from community members appear on nearly every social media post published by the caretaker council.
This is the norm in Kanesatake, said Myrna Gabriel, a community member whose stepfather, John Canatonquin, is on the caretaker council. This happens because many people in the community have a distrusting attitude towards the council due to many decades of turbulent political and social issues, she said.
“There’s always going to be something to raise their fists and have something to criticize, which is the nature of the beast in Kanesatake,” said Gabriel.
“Our community has been left out. We’ve been left out in the dark, if you will. There’s not been much information coming down from the council level to let us know what’s going on,” said Gabriel.
“And then when there is something, there’s more complaints.”
Some community members criticize the council because they believe some of the work they do to be outside of the mandate of the caretaker council ruled by a Federal Court judge last year.
“Now you don’t have the power. All you are is a check signer for the federal government. You’re not a national representative. You’re not anything other than a check signer,” said Nicholas, referring to the caretaker council. “This inflated sense of who they are, it’s really annoying and sickening.”
Others have criticized the caretaker council for personal motives, said Etienne.
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“We’re going to have people, certain people in the community, with a vested interest in undermining the incumbent council, that no matter what we put out, they’re going to say, ‘It’s against the caretaker rule,’” he said. “That we just dismiss out of hand. We know why they’re doing it. It’s for political self-interest.”
The caretaker council, which has an administrative mandate, according to a Federal Court ruling, is in place until judicial review can determine the next steps to restart the MCK elections, which were abruptly suspended the day before the August 2, 2025, vote was set to take place.
Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
