MCA to hold Focus Meeting on CRA

At the Nov. 10 quarterly General Meeting of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne one agenda item had been to discuss a drafted Memorandum of Understanding between the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the Canada Revenue Agency with respect to issuance of licenses to manufacture tobacco products. According to documents handed out at the meeting, a Judicial Review had begun in the Canadian Federal Court back in July 2008, and as of July 2011 Draft #20 was finalized by both parties in the presence of Justice Lemieux.

During the course of the community discussion, a request was made to allow the community to review the document before it is signed between the two parties. Due to requirements within the Judicial Review process to keep the draft document private until signed, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne will be hosting a Focus Meeting to provide the community with a chance to review the document. This Focus Meeting will be held tonight, Thursday Dec. 1 at 7:00pm at the Kawehno:ke Recreation Center and is open only to the enrolled Members and Probationary Members with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and is not open to the general public.

The MOU in question establishes the administrative framework for the exchange of information between the MCA and CRA, as it pertains to the CRA’s administrative role in the issuance of licenses to manufacture tobacco products in Akwesasne.

“This MOU is about the sharing of information,” said Kana:takon District Chief Rachel Roundpoint in her presentation to the community on Nov. 10. “The MOU says that CRA can’t come into the territory without MCA knowing about it.”

History of the Judicial Review Process

In July 2008 the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne had submitted an application for Judicial Review of the decision to issue a tobacco-manufacturing license without their knowledge. The MCA legal counsel in this case moved to have this application designated as a Specifically Managed Proceeding with a Case Management Judge, and to have it moved into the Dispute Resolution Process of the Federal Court. This is the same process that occurred with the Application on the Elders issue with OAS; and Justice Lemieux was again assigned to Akwesasne’s case file.

In October 2008, the Court ordered that these legal proceedings be a specially managed proceedings before Justice Lemieux, and ordered that the CRA participate in Court-supervised dispute resolution conference with the MCA. Over the course of three-years the MOU was negotiated to remind Revenue Canada that Akwesasne also has jurisdiction, and that it has responsibility of its own laws, which are exercised for the protection of the community.