Kanesatake Mohawks stopping people from entering Quebec's Oka park

The grand chief of Kanesatake Serge Otsi Simon sent a letter earlier in the week to Quebec Premier Francois Legault urging him to keep the park closed until his community is consulted. Chief Simon said in the letter that many trails in the park lead directly to his community, and his members are worried about visitors bringing in the virus. He added that SEPAQ, the agency that operates Quebec’s provincial parks has not properly consulted with Kanesatake about reopening the park in a manner that takes into account the public health of the nearby Mohawk territory.

The park is about three kilometers from Kanesatake territory.

Oka’s Mayor Pascal Quevillon said Mohawks began blocking access around 8:30 a.m. to the provincial park, which along with other provincial parks had been closed for weeks to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“We’ve been telling people they can’t come in,” Otsi told CTV News Wednesday morning. “We can’t allow the park to reopen until we complete our safety protocols.”

Otsi said about half of the Kanesatake community has underlying conditions that make them at-risk of COVID and he needs to protect his community.

“I’ve got 300 (Mohawk) people living right in Oka, most of them elderly,” Otsi added.

This is a developing story.