Environment advisory group in works

The Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) wants to do more to engage with community members from all walks of life. With that it’ll soon be forming an advisory group to ensure it has a better grasp on what issues the community wants to see prioritized.

“By having this community committee, we hope to attract expertise from a number of different fields who can help us make regulations or laws that actually make sense, and that will be helpful and productive and beneficial,” said Benjamin Green-Stacey, KEPO’s director. “We want to include those different voices that we’re not necessarily hearing from on a regular basis right now.”

A call-out for participants is expected to go out soon, with the deadline to be set sometime this March. The hope is to have it up and running by April, Green-Stacey said.

Many advisory groups formed through the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) ask that candidates be listed on its membership registry. That’s excluded those who stand by the community’s traditional government. This committee will be different, with representatives from the two Longhouses in town encouraged to join too, Green-Stacey said.

“We want to make sure that everybody is on the same page, and that we’re being collaborative, and that everybody’s voice is being heard, and that we can all collectively work toward the same ends,” he said.

The advisory group will also lead the creation of an environmental protection visioning statement, Green-Stacey said, while also providing input on environmental legislation the office hopes to see come to fruition.

There’s yet to be a dedicated environmental protection law passed in the community. The office is also pushing for similar law that’ll target the St. Lawrence River. The laws have yet to be drafted - but a framework noting the priorities laid out in each has been submitted to Kahnawake’s legislative commission. 

“There’s a lot of new things happening in the community, new types of businesses, new risks to our community, and we have to be able to protect our lands, protect our people,” said Council chief Jeremiah Johnson, also the lead on legislation.

A dedicated environment protection law could create a mechanism to fine people over certain types of infractions, like illegal dumping, for instance.

“We need to have the enforcement ability to fine people and to hold them to account,” Johnson said. “We have to have the enforcement ability here in the community to protect ourselves. Like I said, we’re being exploited, and if we don’t have the protections in place, then we’re just going to continue to be exploited.”

An environment law could also lay out how the community or KEPO should be consulted over development in the territory.

“We need to make sure that people can do the things that they need to do, housing and business wise, while not destroying critical habitats for endangered species, migratory species, or culturally-significant species,” Green-Stacey said.

“There’s lots of things that people have been frustrated about, and that is the result of ad hoc processes, because there is no legislation in place to make sure that people are doing things in a consistent and proper manner,” he added, saying that extends to MCK-led projects too.

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