Fort repair work resumes
Olivier Cadotte The Eastern Door
The Capital Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) announced this week that the stabilization and work on the Fort St. Louis Wall would be resuming, after it was paused due to the weather conditions.
“Because of the mortar, we can’t set stones in the winter. We originally wanted to do a bit more work before stopping, but we could not,” said project manager Lance McComber.
He said that, if another cold front were to come, the contractors currently on the project would be forced to pause again, but they would have a lot of time in the summer months to make up for it if it came to that.
This final portion of the project will be to ensure that the walls that are still standing - in the past few years, different portions of the wall have been torn down due to damage, collapse, and safety concerns - will stay up.
According to the MCK, work is scheduled to last another six weeks, with work occurring weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. They also said that “safety measures are in place to minimize dust and noise” around the work area.
According to McComber, the work that is left to do is in the area in the back of the Kahnawake Youth Center, meaning there are no disruptions expected for traffic or parking near Kateri School.
The restoration project was first started in April 2024, but not without controversy. The stone fort was built by the French in the 1700s, to protect them and their allies - along with the original Catholic Church built in Kahnawake - from potential attack.
Due to the colonial nature of the historical site, some argued that the wall should not be restored and preserved, especially not if the MCK would have to pay for it.
Council confirmed that they would not, and instead Parks Canada would be paying for the work. McComber confirmed that that was still the case, and that adequate funding to make up for the extended time on the project had been provided.
Others were also against the restoration for practical reasons. That area of town is notorious for the lack of parking spaces. Portions of the wall site are around parking lots, so there was an argument for its removal to alleviate that issue.
