No opening date set for Indigenous Services

The doors to the Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) office are now locked. As of this week, the regional office is no more.

That’s left a void for those seeking in-person services from the federal department. A new ISC office is now anticipated to open in downtown Montreal, but when it will open still remains a mystery. A spokesperson for ISC said they aren’t ready yet to share its opening date.

“Registration and status card services will remain available to members of the Kahnawake community, as it will not be necessary to visit an Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) office in person to access these services,” spokesperson Carolane Gratton shared in a short written comment to The Eastern Door. “Members of the Kahnawake community will also have the option to submit their applications by mail or visit the Quebec (City) office in person for services.”

The problem is it’s nearly impossible to get served except through visiting the office in person, community member Hawi Hemlock has found. She had to renew her daughter’s band card earlier this month. Despite leaving numerous voicemails to ISC requesting someone call her back, no one ever reached out, she said.

“I’m busy, I’m in school, I’m working, and to take 10 minutes out of my time to sit on the phone and dial one, go through this number, go through that channel, and then to not even to get a response? It’s extremely frustrating,” she said. “They want to impose these rules on us, yet they make it impossible for us to work with them.”

It was only after she showed up in person to the office last week that she finally succeeded in securing an appointment for her daughter, who’s now waiting for her card in the mail.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) has yet to announce how it will be stepping up to respond to that gap in services - as debate continues at the council table over the extent to which it should involve itself in aiding Canada in its maintenance of Indian status in the country.

Hemlock says she’s especially concerned about elders in the community. They’re the ones that relied the most on in-person services that no longer exist.

“There’s a huge population that’s out there. The population that has to use these services, they don’t always have people that can help them. They might not have a younger grandchild or someone in their family that can help them,” she said.

Victoria Queenie McComber said she’s angry about the move, especially when she thinks about the elders in the community. She said at the very least, employees from ISC should be willing to visit the community from time to time to ensure those who need in-person services can still receive them.

“Better to have a three-days-a-month option here in town, for people who don’t have cars and especially the elders!” she said.

The website ISC has available to request services is also a challenge to navigate, McComber said. More needs to be done to make the process more accessible, she said.

Word that ISC would be exiting Kahnawake was first revealed by The Eastern Door back in February 2024. For months the MCK held off on announcing the coming move to the community.

There were efforts made to retain the service in town, MCK grand chief Cody Diabo assured.

“ISC is leaving, and there’s nothing that we could have done to prevent that,” he said.

Space was even offered up in the Services Complex building by the post office, but the offer was turned down, he said.

“They’re downsizing, they’re regionalizing, despite our concerns,” Diabo said. “We’ve been trying to figure out a solution for our community members so they can still get services, but none have been accepted by ISC.”

In each instance, little justification has been provided on ISC’s end, he said.

“They just said it wouldn’t work for them,” Diabo said.

The council table has yet to reach a consensus on what to do now that ISC has left the community.

Some ideas that have been floated around include a shuttle-bus service to bring community members over the Mercier Bridge, he said. Another is to employ someone at the MCK to help community members navigate the band card renewal process. 

It’s a touchy topic, Diabo said, considering everyone on the council table is of the opinion that membership shouldn’t be left in Canada’s hands at all.

“At the end of the day, the goal is for us to be out of registration altogether. We shouldn’t be going to Canada to get our cards. We are more than capable of offering that service,” the MCK grand chief said.

“It’s a Catch 22. Do we want a foreign entity in the community determining who can be from the community? Issuing cards to people that we don’t even recognize in our own territory, or do we want to be able to do it ourselves?” he added. “But in the meantime, there is a gap in service delivery.”

ISC’s Montreal office is expected to run out of the Guy Favreau complex by Place des Arts metro. Though a precise opening date has yet to be shared, the federal department has assured it will open sometime over the course of this year.

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