Harvest Summit comes to Kahnawake
Harvesting of moose in other territories will be one of many discussions at next week’s Harvest Summit. courtesy Unsplash
Discussions about traditional harvesting and navigating a path forward will be centre stage at the 2026 Kahnawake Harvest Summit, set to take place at the Legion next week.
The four-day event will run daily from Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., bringing together community members and guests to share knowledge and build connections.
“We want to jump-start conversations,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief David Diabo, who is the lead portfolio chief on the lands and territories file. “We want to talk about our rights and get everyone in one space to understand what exactly it is we’re doing, and what we’re supposed to be doing out there when it comes to harvesting.”
The event was originally scheduled to take place in Montreal in March, but was postponed due to inclement weather.
Though the date and venue have changed, Diabo said many of the originally invited guests are still planning to attend, including representatives from the Quebec environment ministry (MELCCFP) and from the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario.
Diabo hopes that game wardens and leadership from those organizations can be a part of open discussions about harvesting moose and other animals.
He hopes to particularly focus on how to responsibly harvest moose in other communities, acknowledging that there’s been issues in the past voiced by representatives from Mi’kmaq communities that Kahnawa’kehró:non have hunted without following proper protocols.
By having game wardens from government organizations and invited guests from other communities present, Diabo hopes harvesters from town will leave the summit with a better understanding of what’s required of them when hunting in other territories.
“We don’t need those kinds of engagements getting out of hand, we want everybody to be as calm as possible. We don’t want anyone to get arrested, we don’t want anyone to have their rifles taken away,” he said.
Beyond discussing hunting, the Harvest Summit will also be a space to talk about the harvesting of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as fishing and food sovereignty.
Community harvesters from various communities are expected to join the event, including W8banaki and Blackfoot representatives.
Diabo is looking forward to welcoming guests from near and far, having first discussed the idea of a Harvest Summit at the Iroquois Caucus, where he is a co-chair on the Harvest Working Group.
While the idea was initially going to be a collaborative effort by Caucus members, Diabo ultimately moved forward with planning the summit as a Kahnawake-specific affair, after other community leadership didn’t express interest in co-leading an event.
All of the Caucus communities, as well as other communities, have been invited to the event.
“We really want to talk about what your role, your responsibility, your rights are, and also what your restraint is when it comes to harvesting,” Diabo said.
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“There’s traditional ways that we’re supposed to be following that aren’t necessarily being followed, and the idea behind the summit is to really talk about all these areas that require a really accurate and clear understanding.”
