Opinion

All the dumping going on in Kanesatake for so many years has created a horrible and unhealthy situation and has divided families and broken up the firm social tenet we all used to feel of “at least we protect the land.” That isn’t the case anymore for too many community members, who welcome dumping because they benefit from it.

There are many concerns that have been voiced with Indigenous Services Canada’s imminent move out of Kahnawake to Montreal, not the least of which are how will elders and people with limited mobility renew their band cards easily?

We’ve used the term “Every Child Matters” in different contexts in The Eastern Door, and I wanted to talk a little bit more about it in what is the freest form of journalism - my own column.

Orange Shirt Day, or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, is a time to reflect on our residential school survivors and the ones who never made it home, but it’s also a good time to look within ourselves as Onkwehón:we to figure out ways to better protect our children and demonstrate more of that love we all sorely need.

In 2015, the Liberal Party of Canada’s election platform included the promise to implement all Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action and to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).  Once in power, the Trudeau Liberal government advanced a domestic interpretation of UNDRIP through Bill C-15, the United Nations Declaration Act and a government-wide National Action Plan that applies to First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, with a list of 181 federal measures/actions in five chapters.  In the First Nations chapter, the plan gives public notice that for “Canada’s laws to fulfill the UN Declaration, the Indian Act must be repealed.”  For the past nine years, the Trudeau government has already started the process to end the Indian Act band/reserve system by transitioning all First Nations into municipal self-government with the legal status of a “natural person” (this is the same legal definition that applies to corporations)

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake began touting residency permits years ago to “know who’s living here,” but that reasoning alone is hollow.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this editorial was published on Facebook on Monday. It has since been updated to reflect subsequent events.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) is spending more time and money in the courts than they are on building trust and exercising true transparency.

When we think of what producing our own food means, with the food sovereignty movement and everything that kind of economic power entails, we immediately think of the things that sustained us for so many years.

This Sunday, May 5, marks the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) – better known as Red Dress Day. With Red Dress Day coming up on the calendar, the government devoted dollars to the long-awaited, urgently needed Red Dress alert – the MMIWG2S equivalent of an Amber Alert – but don’t expect it to be operational anytime soon.