Kanesatake Council eyes summer election

The Custom Electoral Code that governs Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) elections says explicitly that the contests shall be held on the second Saturday of June, meaning the process should have started by now - and it has not.

However, the code also says that terms are four years long and that they begin immediately following the election of chiefs. The current term started on August 1 following a July 31, 2021, election.

In the face of this apparent discrepancy, MCK chiefs say they are erring on the side of the full, four-year term, even as many in the community are calling for the process to begin immediately, with excerpts from the electoral code schedule, dictating a June election, being shared on social media.

The first step in calling an election is for Council to issue a call for tender for the chief electoral officer, which must be done no later than 12 weeks before election day - or by March 22, if the election were to be held Saturday, June 14.

“It’s something we discussed a lot internally and with our legal counsel, what was actually demanded by the code,” said MCK chief Brant Etienne.

“Mainly it’s just figuring out what we’re legally obligated to do. Some of it is we have to serve the full term. We don’t want to err on the side of caution to the point of calling an early election if it’s not warranted.”

In 2021, elections were held late, with then-MCK grand chief, now-MCK chief, Serge Otsi Simon primarily blaming pandemic procedures for the delay at the time.

“The code is a double-edged sword,” said Simon in an interview this week, noting that a term is clearly defined as four years, but that it is also explicit in calling for a June election.

He pointed out that candidates for grand chief, according to the electoral code, “must have completed one (1) full term as a member of the Mohawk Council.”

If a full term is defined as four years, he noted, all first-term chiefs on Council could be interpreted to be ineligible to run for grand chief this year. Of the Council quorum, Etienne, Amy Beauvais, and Denise David are all in their first term.

Etienne acknowledged this reasoning.

“It comes down to interpretation, I think, a little bit of the law,” said Etienne, expressing concern that a lack of clarity could result in uncertainty about who is eligible to run for grand chief.

Victor Bonspille, who still claims the title of grand chief even after an Ethics Commission ruled this week that he has vacated his position, has called for immediate elections on social media, even going as far as to propose potential chief electoral officers in his post.

“As requested by Kanehsata’kehró:non, and to adhere to my duty as elected grand chief, I am calling on the MCK to put aside our differences and begin the process of calling a general election,” he wrote Wednesday morning, the same day the Ethics Commission ruling was handed down.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter