Chaos in Kanesatake

Kanesatake’s general election was cancelled on the eve of election day, with the electoral officer blaming a flawed electoral code for a mountain of irregularities, escalating the community’s governance problems into a full-blown crisis and leaving Kanehsata’kehró:non scrambling to make sense of their new political reality.

The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) election to select a grand chief and six Council chiefs had been scheduled for August 2. On August 1, chief electoral officer Graeme Drew slammed the brakes, writing in a public statement that numerous inadequacies in the code had led to “an inevitably flawed election process.” Nearly 100 votes had already been cast at the advance polls or by mail.

That day’s issue of The Eastern Door revealed that three candidates were likely ineligible due to possible criminal records and had not yet met the requirements to confirm they belonged on the ballot. In his announcement, Drew referred to there being “several” ineligible nominees, telling The Eastern Door this week he believes as many as six names on the ballot should not have been there at the time of the cancellation.

With a total of 15 people running for seven positions, this would represent more than a third of the ballot.

“That tarnishes the integrity of the whole election,” said Drew, who said he continues to be the electoral officer at least until the end of the appeal period, which is 30 days following election day, and because there is a process that is still ongoing.

In his surprise announcement, he wrote that the code lacked provisions to keep electors informed and made it hard to get a ballot, contained inadequate timelines for screening candidates, and handed an unacceptable tie-breaking role to the appeal board. Drew has insisted the incumbent Council remains the community’s de facto leadership, since there must be a government, and proposed a plan to revise the electoral code before proceeding with a new election within six months.

In the days since the cancellation, consensus has not emerged in the community. A faction of community members at a meeting hastily called by grand chief candidate Victor Bonspille made plans to solicit bids for a new electoral officer. Insults and threats have been uttered on the band council lawn. The MCK building was breached Monday by angry community members and staff is working remotely. MCK managerial staff, meanwhile, has revoked incumbent chiefs’ access to Council tools, including official email addresses, and announced Tuesday they will continue their work independently until Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) can provide guidance.

The federal government has repeatedly refused to get involved in Kanesatake governance disputes, however. All levels of government have continued to deal with Victor Bonspille - who was ruled by the MCK Ethics Commission to have vacated his seat as grand chief in March 2025 - as one of two factions alongside the MCK quorum of five chiefs.

Nothing has changed, with ISC confirming to The Eastern Door that, even as Kanehsata’kehró:non wonder if they have a local government, ISC’s only role is to await instruction from Kanesatake, even as the department failed to specify who exactly is empowered to instruct them.

Meanwhile, Bonspille told a gathering of community members on Saturday morning that he had personally text messaged ISC minister Mandy Gull-Masty’s press attache on the night of the cancellation to advise her that Gull-Masty must not accept or extend the mandate of the incumbent Council majority, and had been told in response that she would talk to the minister. ISC declined to comment on whether this is true or if it had any impact on the ministry’s decision to remain silent.

Complicating matters further, addressing concerns about the length of an MCK term and timing of an election, Council chiefs previously assured the community that July 31, the day before the cancellation, marked the end of their mandate, despite the August 2 election date.

Now, in a community hungry for change, where a climate of fear pervades public discourse, Kanehsata’kehró:non don’t agree where to turn for political leadership.

The answer is simple, according to Drew. “My belief is the most eligible body right now to govern, given all circumstances, is the incumbent Council, without question,” he said, saying they have a responsibility to the community to continue whether they like it or not.

“Kanesatake could be facing a stalemate if people don’t accept the fact that, I believe, the incumbents are still the governing body,” he said. “Nobody can prove that to me differently, whether it’s lawyers or whoever. They are still the government. They are the de facto government until they are replaced by a duly convened election, and the election has stopped.”

He said he recommended to Council that they exercise the only section of the election code that contemplates anything resembling this situation.

“ln exceptional circumstances, Mohawk Council may hold a special public meeting for authorization to continue its mandate for a period not exceeding six additional months,” the code reads.

“Section 8.3 does mention ‘authorization to continue,’ which could be interpreted as requiring approval,” said Drew, “but there is no reference to a vote and, again, if that were to be done, there would have to be proof that members/electors were duly informed and invited to participate in the meeting. In my view, Council has the right to proceed with their extended term in the absence of a more reasonable solution based on governance laws in Canada,” he said.

ISC, meanwhile, told The Eastern Door that it has no authority in this situation.

“Kanesatake’s leadership is determined through a custom electoral system rather than by the election rules contained in the Indian Act,” said Eric Head, spokesperson for ISC. “The department has no role in how the community’s leadership is selected, or how governance disputes are resolved.

“The role of the department with respect to custom code/selection processes is to record the changes in leadership when notified by a First Nation.

“Indigenous Services Canada will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the delivery of essential programs and services to band members is not impacted,” he said.

“Any specific questions with respect to a First Nation’s custom process should be directed to the community.”

No clarification was provided when The Eastern Door asked to whom exactly such questions should be directed.

Serge Otsi Simon, one of the incumbent MCK chiefs and a candidate for grand chief, suggested he’s worried about the state of affairs Kanesatake is left with in the current state of uncertainty and political friction.

“Right now, we’re seeing an exact repeat of that time when James Gabriel was there,” he said, referring to the former grand chief whose home was torched. “It’s the same players, and it’s the same motive, money and power. And that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing.”

MCK legal counsel will be seeking guidance from the court, presumably Federal Court, on behalf of MCK staff to determine who constitutes the community’s government at present, according to Brant Etienne, an incumbent chief and candidate for grand chief. “Somebody has to do the work,” said Etienne, who said he, Simon, and incumbent and candidate for chief Amy Beauvais met, one member short of quorum, but that the three don’t agree on how to move forward currently.

“I think waiting on the court to make a decision will cost the community weeks of time, whether it’s demanding an immediate restart on the election or finding a new electoral officer or beginning work on amending the code,” he said.

“My personal feelings are there can’t be a void of government. In order to call for the meeting to decide whether to extend for six months, there has to be a government in place to do it. I don’t think the electoral code at any point endorses, acknowledges, or even countenances the possibility there is no government in place,” said Etienne.

Drew is steadfast in his belief that an immediate revision of the code is for the best.

“Hopefully it’ll be a turning point in the community that they can stop the cycle of dysfunctional governance that seems to be cloaking the community over the years,” he said.

However, it is far from clear if this will be possible given the uncertainty reflected in the announcement by MCK staff, the government’s refusal to weigh in, and vociferous opposition from some community members and candidates, including Bonspille and Amanda Simon.

While Serge said - after initially saying on Saturday he was no longer a chief - that the incumbent Council must be seen as an acting government for now, he said he strongly disagreed with the cancellation and favours calling a new election immediately.

“I would agree with the assessment that even though Graeme made a very terrible decision, I think we have a responsibility to remain as Council chiefs because it’s no doing of ours,” he said.

He believes Drew should have been more assertive about criminal record checks as he said previous electoral officers have been. Drew has told The Eastern Door on multiple occasions that he considers these checks unreliable unless they are fingerprinted.

Serge said Federal Court is always there to deal with dissatisfied candidates or would-be candidates, but that criminal checks should have been demanded.

“That was the next step, that was their option, but Graeme took all that away from us. He didn’t want to take that decision, and now we’re stuck in limbo,” he said.

Serge said as far as he is concerned, Drew is no longer the electoral officer.

Candidate Amanda Simon argued that Drew had no authority to cancel the vote.

“This act was unilateral, unaccountable, and disenfranchised hundreds of community members who were prepared to exercise their right to vote,” Amanda said. “The chief electoral officer’s decision is not only ultra vires - beyond his legal authority - it is entirely contrary to his duties to carry out a fair and impartial election.”

Amanda Simon also endorsed a review of the electoral officer’s contract. “That agreement was for the execution of a lawful and timely election, not for cancelling it and initiating political reforms,” she said.

She believes the current Council has no mandate and that a new electoral officer must be appointed. While she argued there is no legitimate Council in place to do this, she pointed to Section 2.1 of the code: “The participating majority of adult members are the final authority in all matters pertaining to all Kanehsata’kehró:non and their territory.”

Amanda was in attendance at a tense meeting called by Victor Bonspille for Saturday morning but acknowledged it lacked a neutral facilitator, clear agenda, or lawful authority.

“Saturday’s meeting confirmed the deep erosion of trust between community members and the quorum of five Council members,” she said. “It was chaotic and emotionally charged - understandably so, given the last-minute cancellation of the election and the absence of lawful decision-making.”

Drew told The Eastern Door he disagrees that the cancellation of polls was outside his authority and that fundamental flaws in the electoral code had led to the systemic disenfranchisement of the 2,842 electors on the voter list.

He said an exercise of the authority of a “participating majority of adult members” would require that members be duly informed, adding that the vast majority of members were not duly informed about the election that was just cancelled, given a lack of provision for informing voters.

“A small number of local members led by self-serving candidates hardly constitutes a participating majority in the context,” he said.

As for his contract, he said when his services are complete, the stated terms will be reviewed as with all his clients and that a mutually agreeable conclusion would ideally be reached.

As for the cancellation, Drew explained that he had concerns about the code from the beginning, but that it was the snowballing of irregularities arising from it that compelled him to make the tough decision to cancel the election the day before the vote.

“Death by 1,000 cuts. It’s an accumulation,” he said when asked why the appeal board possessing a tie-breaking vote was a pivotal aspect of his decision.

The code tasks the electoral officer with appointing the appeal board, a stipulation Drew said he has never seen before. Nobody replied to his callout for applicants. He then asked people he felt were qualified, he said, all of whom said no.

Finally, he was able to assemble an appeal board, but one of them dropped out the next day after learning that they had to reserve their vote under the code in case of a tie, in which case the appeal board’s votes would be the tiebreaker.

Drew said normally in the event of a tie, a victor is chosen by chance.

“You certainly don’t encumber the appeal board member with that responsibility. You’re literally putting a target on their back,” he said. That was the final straw.

“I just looked at it all and I said that’s it, there’s just been too many flaws,” he said.

In the chaotic moments following the announcement, Bonspille took to his Facebook page to call a meeting the following morning, the day the election would have taken place, presenting it as an invitation for community members and all candidates to come out and give direction.

The week of the election, Bonspille had been warned by Drew that he was in violation of campaign rules for calling his own candidates meeting, and Drew told The Eastern Door this week that Bonspille did not explain why that meeting was being cancelled as required and that there had therefore been grounds to disqualify him.

“This is your election, this is our council, this is your office,” Bonspille told the crowd at his August 2 meeting, where he proposed three names of electoral officers for community members to consider, including the electoral officer from 2021.

“I’m not here to be the spokesperson anymore, but I am here to give you information that you can use and utilize to your benefit,” said Bonspille.

He said he heard about the cancellation around 10 p.m. the night before the vote was meant to take place.

“I thought it was a joke, but then it was confirmed that it wasn’t late last night,” he said.

He accused the incumbent Council chiefs of clinging to power.

“They’ll do anything to stay in power, to dictate to you. This is not a dictatorship. It’s a democracy, and we’re taking it back,” he told the crowd of a few dozen people.

“You guys have got the power. I don’t trust that they’re not going to be here again in control. You guys have the ability, if you want. Because you know what they did last time we chained up the doors,” he said, referring to the chaining of band council to prevent Council chiefs from returning to work after Bonspille held votes of non-confidence without due process. He initially denied taking part in the chaining, but his participation was exposed by The Eastern Door after obtaining security footage.

The first portion of Saturday’s meeting was marked by intense arguing, with Serge, Etienne, and Beauvais present. Etienne repeatedly protested that there were thousands of members not present that morning.

“Everyone has to have a fair chance,” Etienne said at the gathering.

“What about the ones that are here now?” Bonspille said.

Candidate Lynn Cataford Gabriel, who was present that morning, was disappointed by the cancellation.

“It is a setback. Part of me wishes we just went through with the elections to get it over with,” she said.

She said the Saturday morning event was made up of mostly Bonspille supporters, since he had called the meeting.

“We were yelling probably for an hour and it was getting personal. I was asking people to not make it personal so we can resolve what’s going on,” she said.

“I wish I could speak for the community,” she said when asked what the cancellation meant to Kanesatake. “But even seeing how people were, it was unnecessary, all the swearing, the yelling. They couldn’t even speak. We were frightened it was going to get physical.”

The day after the meeting, she said everyone seemed discouraged. “We’re not even sure where this is headed,” she said.

She feels the quorum was not open enough with the community during the term, and she thinks the community would be better off if no one who served in the past couple councils was able to run again, something she saw someone online suggest.

“They all contributed to this,” she said.

Monday, meanwhile, saw more chaos, this time inside the band office.

Coordinator of Kanesatake Perimeter Security, Kane Montour, said concerns about the eruption of violence are not overblown.

“People can sit there and deny it all they want and say that would never happen,” he said. “We lost a grand chief’s house here once. We lost a police station. All the fires we have, the (fire) bombings of stores. It’s a very real reality here.”

Montour was concerned following Saturday’s gathering. “It really left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth,” he said, noting such meetings tend to sew discord.

On Monday morning, he asked KPS staff to be on site after MCK employees, who work downstairs, contacted him for security.

“They were saying listen, we have to come to work. We have to keep this place running. We have nothing to do with anything,” he said.

“They were visibly scared. They didn’t know what to expect. It was almost like PTSD because this happened already when the band office was shut down last time,” he said, referring to the chaining of the Council building in 2023.

Staff that morning referred to that incident, he said, and worried the same thing would happen again. He said KPS’s job that day was to stay neutral, avoid taking sides, and keep everyone out who is not staff. Because keys and key fobs are necessary for access to certain areas, Montour advised staff to change the fobs to secure the building.

Etienne came to work that morning and was initially told by staff he didn’t have a mandate anymore, but Etienne said, according to Montour, that there could not be a lapse in government and that there would be a mandate extension and he was let in.

That’s when others started to arrive, Montour said. He tried to de-escalate the situation, but tensions continued to rise.

Around 9 a.m., there were just six or seven people present, Montour said, and with the access closed, he went to his office to retrieve something. He advised staff not to let anyone in.

Suddenly, an employee from the finance department came flying to his office. “She’s basically shaken and she said Victor’s inside the building and a whole shitload of people are inside the building,” Montour said.

Montour asked how they got in with the doors locked and was told a member of Bonspille’s family opened the doors, a version of events corroborated by Etienne.

“My staff said listen, there was about 10 people that came charging at us,” Montour said.

Among them was Bonspille.

“Once they got in, half of them went upstairs, Victor and them went downstairs. Trying to get into finance.”

When Montour arrived, Bonspille was already out, and Montour cleared out others.

By this time, Beauvais was present, and there was arguing between the two sides.

“My main priority was all the girls downstairs,” Montour said.

He convened an emergency meeting with Human Resources to determine how to move forward, and they decided staff could work from home.

Montour then snuck the employees out the side of the building and escorted them to their vehicles and returned without anyone involved in the confrontation seeing, he said.

De-escalation continued when Montour returned - Etienne had opened the door for the Surete du Quebec liaison officer, and others got in with him. One of his own KPS workers was holding the door open, telling Etienne his mandate was up and that only HR and Montour were in charge now. “We don’t listen to you anymore,” the KPS worker said, someone who was not part of the initial team tasked with securing the building.

Montour said if he’s in charge, then to move away from the door, which the worker did.

Then, Montour asked both sides if his word meant something, and gave his word that everyone would be escorted out. Despite hurdles in doing so, everyone eventually agreed to proceed slowly and that no one would return.

Etienne was sent away with an escort to ensure no harm came to him.

“There’s high tension right now in the community. I don’t know where we’re heading. People are mad, people are upset. Something has to happen. I don’t know what that means. We’re bumping our heads on the wall over and over and over and it’s insanity,” Montour said.

He said he feels had the election proceeded, it would have been the same dysfunction as the previous four years, had even one person from this term been re-elected.

“I get along with both sides,” he said, but he feels they can’t get along with one another.

Asked what he thinks of the system itself, he said a common thing he hears is that "It’s a flawed system. It wasn’t designed for us to succeed. It was designed to work against us." 

"People need to remember, this is an extension of the government,” Montour said. He added that the title of chief can go to people’s heads, that Council chiefs are merely councillors.

“You can’t have one foot in the canoe and one foot out,” he said, but he believes the right people in office can do good for the community.

“Once we start healing as a community, we can start being a community. How to do that, I don’t know. I don’t have those answers.”

[email protected]

Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter