Decision makers appointed 

Two decision makers have been selected to run Kahnawake’s long-awaited Administrative Tribunal. They are Brandon Montour, a local, and Aubrey Charette, a lawyer from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation currently based in Ottawa.

Montour is currently pursuing a doctorate at the law faculty at the University of Toronto and holds a law degree from McGill University. He spent three years working as a researcher at Justice Services, which operates of out the Court of Kahnawake, where he contributed to the creation of the tribunal he’ll now sit on as a decision maker.

“He was involved in some of the early work on the administrative tribunal, and in that way, it’s almost like he’s coming back full circle,” said Kevin Fleisher, commissioner of Justice Services.

He’s also sat on numerous decision-making boards in town, Fleisher said, serving previously as the chair of the Kahnawake Cannabis Control Board, for instance.

“He’s always been very interested in our justice system, and I think it’s great that one of our own community members will be sitting on and supporting the tribunal,” he said. “Anybody sitting on the tribunal needs to approach cases in an impartial, unbiased manner, and with an openness to the ideas and arguments that are made. And I think Brandon has that ability.”

What made Charette stand out meanwhile was her many years serving as legal counsel for the decision makers that sit on the Specific Claims Tribunal in Ottawa. It aims to resolve historic grievances between First Nations and Canada relating to treaties, legislation, and the management of First Nations’ land and finances, among other types of grievances.

She spent over five years there, before going on to found her own law practice in 2017 in Ottawa. The Oxford University graduate, like Montour, holds a law degree from McGill, and is also a member of the New York State Bar Association.

“Our paths have crossed professionally in the past. I knew who she was, and I was pleased that she had applied,” Fleisher said. “I think she brings with her a very, very strong professional and academic background.”

“She’s done a lot of work with First Nations, which I think is good because she’s familiar with a lot of the challenges faced by different First Nations,” he added. “Having worked with the Specific Claims Tribunal, she has a familiarity with how tribunals can be run and the decision-making process.”

The administrative tribunal will have the power to review decisions coming out of other decision-making bodies in town. That could include requests to review rejected requests for alcohol licenses, for instance, decisions made concerning land allotments, requests to be added to Kahnawake Kanien’kehá:ka Registry (KKR), or the granting of residency permits.

Several laws and regulations already refer to the administrative tribunal as a means for redress for those looking to appeal any decision that didn’t go in their favour. A community review board, expected to be dissolved soon, has been dealing with those requests in the interim.

Fleisher had initially hoped for the administrative tribunal to be up and running by this past fall, but that’ll first have to wait on the onboarding and training of the new appointees.

He said much of their job can be done remotely, with exceptions for certain hearings that must be held at the tribunal.

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