Feds’ exit raises more questions

There are many concerns that have been voiced with Indigenous Services Canada’s imminent move out of Kahnawake to Montreal, not the least of which are how will elders and people with limited mobility renew their band cards easily?

But, of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. We will look at some of the key angles from our perspective.

Having an Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) building on reserve is inherently problematic at the best of times due to jurisdictional issues – many have asked why they are even here – but there’s other things to tackle since the ISC building has been there for long enough to become convenient for everyone, and many don’t want it to leave.

This week, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced that ISC sent a message to them saying the building was unsafe and, thus, would be closing down “temporarily.”

We wouldn’t be surprised if, like the local library, that temporary designation became permanent, especially since ISC finally admitted it was moving in early 2025 – a story we told you about in February, to try to warn the people it was coming, even though it was very hush hush to that point.

Well, that time might already be here, sped up by neglect of that building by the MCK and the clear disregard of the workers’ health, safety, and rights.

There’s no other way to look at it. Upstairs has been a no-go zone for years and as the days and months passed, it was getting more and more worn out, a building that has been there for many years, that has lived out its life a long time ago.

So, the prudent thing would have been to shut it down long ago and find an alternative location, or the question the MCK is dealing with now, house the services for new status cards at another building (or the Council itself), but there’s a bigger issue at play here.

First off, why did MCK chiefs refuse to answer The Eastern Door about the move when we first reported on it in the winter? Who did that serve? The truth always comes out and we feel if they were upfront about it, it might have changed things, maybe.

They could have come out and said something to the effect that they were looking at solutions, and maybe even tried to get community feedback on the issue, but they didn’t, and that’s concerning.

That’s where we are at with the ISC building issue; it has gotten out of control, and it didn’t have to be neglected like this. Maybe that was part of Council’s plan, to starve them out so they wanted to leave, but it leaves regular community members in the lurch, upset with very few answers.

Until, that is, last week when we spoke directly to MCK chief Iohahiio Delisle, who raised some interesting points about data sovereignty, collection, and security, as well as the growing Kahnawake band list, which will one day in the future be larger than the Kahnawake Kanien’kehá:ka Registry.

That’s another issue for a different time, but it is concerning. A land base that isn’t growing, with fiduciary responsibilities from Canada that turns into a fight at every turn to get more money, as land claims are seemingly going nowhere; it all adds up to Kahnawake being at a crossroads and having to choose which road to go down.

The first path is to continue to allow Canada to dictate the pace of it all, money, land, membership, or, one we prefer, to put a foot down and fight.

That fight must include a variety of battles, including but not limited to court proceedings; garnering more public support from the community and our neighbours to get as much positive momentum going as possible, including the truth about our reality; and a good old-fashioned dig within the Seigneury claim, brought to you by a backhoe, some men, and a ton of media coverage so Canada can no longer ignore the very real crisis we are in.

Steve Bonspiel

The Eastern Door