Repeat arsons plague neighbourhood

Early last Friday morning, Kanehsata’kehró:non Celyne Gaspé was lying awake in bed when she heard what she thought was freezing rain tick-tick-ticking outside her window.

But when she got up to have a look, she found in her living room a familiar orange glow. Outside her home, a vulnerable structure over 100 years old, huge flames had taken root on the shed of a nearby lot. Fed up, she took out her phone and went live on Facebook.

It’s the eighth time, she said – seventh according to the fire department – that the same property on Kanesatake Mohawk Territory in Oka Village has been targeted for arson in just a year’s time.

“It pissed me off. How many times can you burn someone out?” said Gaspé.

But, with the debris on the property never cleared, someone has apparently been able to return over and over again to torch the lot, terrorizing the neighbourhood.

“I feel unsafe on my own Native land,” said Gaspé. “It’s always been unsafe here, especially during the crisis. It makes me want to move. Maybe that’s the whole idea, somebody’s trying to get us to give up our land so they can do something with it. I don’t know.

“They took the nicest spots away from us. But there’s a few holdouts here, people that have hung on to their land for a long time. You want to fight for your land. You also don’t want to get burned in your house,” she said.

She contacted the Surete du Quebec, but they had few answers for her, she said, suggesting neighbours put up cameras. With no real solutions in sight, she’s at a loss for what to do.

“How am I supposed to sleep at night now?” she said.

The unrelenting arsons on the lot at 167 St. Jean Baptiste Street have become a flashpoint as Kanesatake, which has long suffered from rampant arsons, has seen that trend soar over the past couple years. Last summer, there had already been 10 suspicious fires in Kanesatake in 2024 alone, The Eastern Door reported at the time, with no arson arrests going back seven years despite the many incidents.

Since 2024, there have now been 17 real estate fires, eight vehicle fires, and five other property fires, according to SQ spokesperson Marc Tessier, although he emphasized not all the fires are criminal in nature.

“In the latest arson, there are no suspects,” said Tessier. “The investigations are still ongoing. The police are aware of the cases and are conducting special surveillance during their patrols. We have some cooperation in certain cases.”

Oka fire chief Sylvain Johnson said he hasn’t seen anything like this in his entire career.

“Usually they come maybe once, or twice if it doesn’t work. Seven times – I never saw that,” he said.

“I don’t know why they come so often to put the fire at this place. I don’t know what the guy did to have so many fires at this house. They can come back anytime to put the fire again.”

He described the lot as a hazard for the community. While he doesn’t believe any neighbours are at direct risk of fire leaping to their property, there is a line of cedar trees nearby that could catch fire and spread the flames.

“It’s a risk for the population,” said Johnson, noting the lot’s proximity to the lake and the potential for environmental problems as well as fire.

He estimated the remnants of the home are stacked 10 or 12 feet high on the lot.

“He didn’t empty all the fridge, so when the building was demolished, it smelled very bad,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of mice over there and rats because he left all the food inside the house.”

Johnson mentioned that the lot has become a focal point for the mayor, noting that Oka has turned to the courts to try and compel the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) to clean up the lot.

The mayor of Oka, Pascal Quevillon, did not reply to a request for comment.

According to MCK chief Serge Otsi Simon, in the aftermath of the latest fire, Quevillon threatened to have the lot cleaned up unilaterally and send MCK a bill.

“He was warned not to set foot on federal property. He has no jurisdiction,” Simon said.

Simon said Council is still working to act with the cooperation of the lot holder.

“It’s a traumatic thing. I mean eight times being firebombed? That’s got to play on your morale,” Simon said.

“I want her to feel comfortable that we’re looking out for her best interests, but we’ve got to look out for the other members that live down that street as well, so we’re not going to wait too long. We’ve been more than patient, and we’re going to be patient just a little bit more, but when the mayor keeps getting on our backs like this, it doesn’t help,” he said.

As for the failure of authorities to identify a suspect, Simon said this is no surprise.

“I hate to speculate, but it’s becoming clear that there’s some kind of an agenda to let Kanesatake destroy itself from inside,” he said.

MCK chief Brant Etienne agrees that it is bewildering not to have identified a suspect after so many instances at the same location.

“It’s so egregious at this point, just the sheer number of arsons on this single property. I’m not even talking about the region, so egregious on this single property that you almost have to come to the conclusion that there is no concern, or it’s just deliberate ignorance at some point.”

As for the debris, Etienne said Council is looking at an option involving loaning the lot holder the money to clean up the property, but said Council has had difficulties reaching the owner directly, saying it’s not as easy as simply going to clean up the mess.

“The imposition would take more time because it’s a legal issue that would require circumventing a member’s rights, and we can’t do that simply or quickly,” he said.

Whatever the solution, Gaspé hopes it comes soon.

“I’m very concerned,” she said. “I’m usually a pretty brave person, but fire’s kind of scary. I worry about everyone else too.”

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter