Vandalism frustrating for Sports and Rec
Sports and Recreation Unit director Roiatate Horn and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake released a video on social media informing the community of some of the vandalism that had taken place at the Kahnawake Sports Complex. Courtesy Mohawk Council of Kahnawake
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake’s Sports and Recreation Unit (SRU) has had a lot to celebrate recently.
That includes the opening of phase one of the new outdoor rink, the hanging of the Hunters’ Founder’s Cup banner inside the Sports Complex, and being able to provide a high quality rink for laxers ranging for all ages - even the parking lot has gotten a facelift, with holes patched and lines painted.
Unfortunately, vandalism has come to somewhat cloud their recent successes, with multiple incidents causing frustration and headaches for the SRU staff.
“It’s very unfortunate to take time away from doing other activities and programs that we are hoping to accomplish, and obviously it takes away resources in terms of funding and fixing some of the issues that would arise,” said Roiatate Horn, the SRU’s director.
Horn said those incidents have included graffiti, damage to a privacy wall in a washroom, damage to new security cameras caused by youth launching lacrosse balls at them, and even some of the asphalt patches in the parking lot being ripped up.
“We spent a lot of money to address the issues that the community wanted us to address, in terms of fixing the parking lot and putting the lines in, and it’s unfortunate this is happening,” said Horn, who also said that the cost to replace the broken cameras would be in the thousands of dollars.
While Horn did not want to lay blame on anyone or any group in particular, he did ask for parents to talk to their children about taking care of the facilities.
He also stressed the importance of supervising children while they are at the Sports Complex.
“What happens sometimes, unfortunately, is that we kind of become a babysitting service in the sense that they let the kids run around in the area.
A lot of the kids are being active in the parks and the splash pads and playing on the fields, which is great, but unfortunately, some of them get into mischief, and we want to make sure that they are keeping an eye on their kids,” said Horn.
“Obviously, we know that it comes with the job that some of these things happen sometimes. I was a kid too. You get in a moment where you think it’s fun and it’s funny, and we understand that kids are kids, but our staff works hard to clean the building, to maintain the building, to maintain our outdoor facilities.”
Horn pointed to the Kahnawake Hunters as a good example of what to do, with children having to be accompanied by an adult to come watch a game. The SRU also already has signage indicating that children are the responsibility of their parents while inside the building.
It can become frustrating and draining for the staff to have to redo a repair or cleaning that was done recently, he said, especially if it was caused by vandalism.
“It takes a toll on them mentally and physically,” said Horn.
It takes a toll on the Sports Complex, too.
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“This building is nearly 40 years old, and it’s probably our most important sports and recreation facility that we have in the community. This is where people learn to skate. This is where people learn to cradle a lacrosse ball. It sets them up to go to bigger and better things, and we want to make sure that they have the same opportunity that my generation has had with this building,” said Horn.
“We want to make sure that can have it for a long time and keep it as nice as possible.”
