Governance docs to undergo review
Community members are being invited to join an advisory group that’ll be tasked with reviewing the code of conduct elected Mohawk Council chiefs must abide by, in addition to other key governance documents.
Those interested in taking part have until January 24 to submit a letter of intent to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK). Anyone can apply, Council chief Tonya Perron said, as long as they’re registered on the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake registry.
“Those documents have existed for a number of years, but there wasn’t a lot of detail to them. There were a lot of gaps,” said Perron, the lead on the governance file.
A total of five governance-related documents will be up for review by the group, with each speaking to the roles and responsibilities of elected Council chiefs.
They include the code of conduct Council chiefs must abide by, the oath they take upon being elected, and two terms of reference for the Council table, including one that only applies to the MCK grand chief. The advisory group will also be tasked with looking at the administrative guidelines provided to Council chiefs.
These governance documents have routinely been updated over the years, Perron said, but this time around the Council table thought it best to get input from the community before going through a major rewrite of them.
The creation of an assistant to the MCK grand chief is an example of one the more major rewrites that have happened in recent years. That role was created following the sudden passing of the late MCK grand chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton. Council had wanted to call a by-election then to replace him, but not enough time had passed according to the election law back then, Perron said, prompting debate over the need for an assistant grand chief.
How exactly the assistant grand chief should be selected, whether that be through appointment or election, has yet to be laid out in clear terms, however.
“We know that that’s one of the big concerns, and one of the issues that the community would want to have input on,” Perron said.
Each of the five governance-related documents have already been drafted and finalized ahead of seeking input from community members, she said.
“We would like to have an advisory group look at them first, to see if there’s anything else in there that they feel needs to be flagged for engagement,” Perron said.
The community will be consulted about the governance documents once the advisory group is done reviewing them.
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“We want them ratified by the community,” Perron said. “We’re representing the community. The community puts us here, so the community should also be informing us as to what their expectations are regarding our conduct and our roles.”
A handful of other governance documents will also soon be undergoing review, she said, but it’ll only be later on that they’ll be presented to the community for feedback. These documents will be replaced with a disciplinary measures regulation, Perron said, which will lay out how complaints can be filed between MCK staff, Council chiefs, and community members.
Since it’ll become a regulation, it’ll have to go through Kahnawake’s legislative commission, which will trigger the Community Decision Making and Review Process.
