Mature trees cut near power lines

Community members were incensed to learn that planned maintenance around power lines in the so-called “ecological gift” area of the Pines resulted in the felling of mature pine trees, with leaders suggesting changes are needed to Hydro Quebec’s communications protocol.

“I get that 100 percent you have to do the maintenance,” said Kanesatake Perimeter Security (KPS) coordinator Kane Montour. “Was it a little excessive? I think so.”

Calls started pouring in last week for Montour, first from community members and then the mayor of Oka, Patrick Hardy, who expressed surprise about the nature of the work being done and asked Montour to send members of his team.

By the time KPS arrived, Hydro Quebec was already packing up to leave, after having been confronted by angry community members and Oka residents.

The KPS supervisor dispatched by Montour reported back about the scene. “They told us everybody was gone now, but he says there were a lot of big trees that were cut down,” Montour remembered. “He said, ‘As far as I can see those trees were big and healthy.’”

The next day, Montour made a Facebook reel showing the extent of the cutting, which was viewed more than 20,000 times.

Since the cutting, the consequences have been clear, Montour said.

“I’ve received calls from Oka residents and community members that people are now parking there because it’s all cleared off. They’re essentially just pulling off to the side where it’s cleared and just parking there,” Montour said.

“They widened the trail by cutting the vegetation, so actually going into the foot trail, people are parking their cars in the woods, and I’ve probably received close to a dozen calls from both Oka residents and community members from Kanesatake pissed off, saying no cars should be parked there like that. It kind of created a mess.”

The cutting prompted an outcry but also stoked calls for accountability and even intersected with concerns about an urbanization plan passed by Oka, the subject of another article in this week’s issue of The Pines Reporter.

Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker chief Brant Etienne said that according to his knowledge, Hydro Quebec did not reach out to the caretaker council.

“That is our unceded territory, so we have to remind Hydro on this and other matters that they have to take us into consideration and not assume they tell Oka something, and they automatically inform us,” he said. “That’s not how their responsibility to the rightsholder of the lands works. They have to deal directly with us.”

Hydro Quebec told The Pines Reporter that the MCK was informed ahead of the work, but did not specify when asked whether it was staff or the caretaker council who was consulted.

“They have to reach out to council itself and not just to a random person. I don’t believe we authorized anybody to work with Hydro to this or to do site visits,” said Etienne.

However, Montour was contacted by a Hydro Quebec employee tasked with Indigenous relations who had seen his video and confirmed it was MCK staff who were contacted.

In a comment on Montour’s video, one community member said they alerted the MCK that more than 30 trees had been marked for cutting and that she was told there would be followup.

Etienne acknowledged this. He said the response acknowledged that the caretaker council had not been contacted by Hydro on what was planned or when, and that this email coincided with a busy time for council, including the Iroquois Caucus, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador general assembly, and the ecological gift seminars.

These were followed by the discovery of the body, he said, and the trees were cut shortly thereafter.

Hardy, meanwhile, told The Pines Reporter that when someone knocked on his office door to let him know what was going on, he drove straight to the site and told them to stop cutting trees.

“The notice didn’t get to my office,” said Hardy, saying he believed Hydro Quebec dropped the ball on communications in this instance. “Logically, when you cut down pine trees on that land to avoid power outages, the mayor of Oka needs to know. The band council needs to be aware. We need to make public awareness to both our citizens. There needs to be some sort of, at minimum, Mohawk members working that trimming or cutting of trees.”

A spokesperson for Hydro Quebec, Lynn St-Laurent, said the company is aware of the sensitivity of the area for Kanesatake and takes community concerns seriously.

“The work carried out in this area is part of routine vegetation maintenance near distribution lines,” said St-Laurent. “These interventions are intended to help prevent outages and equipment damage, and to support the safety and reliability of the electrical system for customers. Recent events also highlight the importance of this preventive work: two outages occurred in this sector in early May following major failures.”

She said outreach for this maintenance began in December 2025 and that Hydro Quebec visited the site with a local representative, and that the Oka fire department had requested the clearing of vegetation close to electrical lines for safety reasons.

“We understand that there may be varying perceptions of how these exchanges unfolded, which is why we are currently reviewing the situation in more detail and continuing discussions with the appropriate representatives to ensure clarity going forward,” St-Laurent said.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter