Substation discussed for Tioweró:ton

While many items were on the docket for the fall Tioweró:ton community meeting, it was the topic of the newly announced Peacekeepers’ substation in the territory that took much of the attention during the session.

“Some community members were expressing their opinion that it should not be built up there,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) council chief David Diabo, the lead on the lands and territories portfolio, who was present at the meeting.

In an interview shortly after the announcement of the substation, Peacekeepers’ spokesperson Kyle Zachary stressed the benefits it could bring to Tioweró:ton, namely that having a permanent presence instead of having to send Peacekeepers up every weekend and every time something happens would make things safer for everyone.

“Whatever becomes of it, we can evaluate as we go on, but at least we’ll have an area where our officers can patrol from, a base of operations, where they can complete work that has to be done after certain interventions,” said Zachary.

“This is a good thing, and it’s going to help us serve our community better.”

That point was echoed by Peacekeeper chief Dwayne Zacharie, council chief lead on the community safety portfolio Ryan Montour, and Diabo during the meeting.

“Yes, this is communal land, and yes, people live there year-round now. But people live year-round in this community, and they expect to have emergency medical services, policing services, and fire services,” said Diabo.

“Because there’s more people that are living up there and demanding more services, some of those services are going to have to be first responder services.”

Diabo said that because of the remoteness of Tioweró:ton, those first responder services should be in the territory.

“Somebody breaks a bone, has a heart attack, suffers an epileptic attack, or slips into a diabetic coma, we have trained staff that will be able to do something before an ambulance comes to get you and bring you to a hospital, which is still two hours away,” said Diabo.

That being said, Diabo said that they are open to alternatives, like making it a multi-use building that could provide short-term lodging during storms or house other services than just the Peacekeepers.

But the message was clear: there is no intention of giving the money provided by the government of Quebec through a funding agreement back to the province, so something will be built with the $1.8 million.

There are still assessments that need to be made of the chosen lot for the potential substation, and a callout for contractors has been made. Diabo said it should take at least two years before the installation is built.

Other topics discussed at the meeting included repairs of bridges ongoing in the territory, the resignation of committee member Jesse Jacobs from the Tioweró:ton Committee, the recent assessment of Tioweró:ton by wildfire prevention organization SOPFEU, and winter plowing.

While not as chaotic as the community meeting a few weeks ago, Saturday’s meeting still featured a few shouting matches and airing of general grievances. Diabo said that in the fallout of these incidents at meetings, the idea of having facilitator-led community meetings was advanced during Wednesday’s general community meeting.

“That still has to be fleshed out, but everybody at the meeting agreed that would be a good thing, because things have been getting out of hand,” said Diabo, who added that if a facilitator is brought on, they could also be present for Tioweró:ton meetings.

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