Mohawk Councils of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanehsatake Meet

The elected Councils of Akwesasne and Kanehsatake and Kahnawà:ke met on Friday, October 14, 2022. The meeting was held in Kahnawà:ke.

What set this meeting apart from others, is that all members of each council were invited to attend. According to MCK, the agenda was informal, with opening remarks by Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs (Grand Chief) Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, followed by remarks from Akwesasne Grand Chief Abram Benedict and Kanehsatake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille. Introductions of each individual Ratsénhaienhs/Ietsénhaienhs (Council Chief) took place at this time.

“We felt that it was important for the three Councils to gather together and actually meet each other face-to-face,” said Grand Chief Sky-Deer. “We share many of the same concerns and struggle with many of the same problems. It is always better to work together to find solutions, and this meeting will give us the opportunity to personally connect with the people who share similar roles in our sister communities.” 

Sky-Deer stated, “A couple of years ago I had presented the idea to the Iroquois caucus – the idea that we bring all three councils together so that everybody can meet each other. We have elections every three years, every two years and then there’s turnover - and then you don’t even know who’s on the council anymore.

Obviously, with the last couple of years of going through COVID, we haven’t been able to really meet in person. So I felt it was timely, especially for these three communities Akwesasne, Kanehsatake and Kahnawà:ke. Being in the province of Quebec and the issues that we’re facing with Bill 96 and the recent re-election and another four years with Legault. Let’s look at our commonalities and issues on a political level and on a community level. Let’s see what portfolios we have or maybe we could share information – maybe not reinvent the wheel. If another community is maybe further ahead, on whether it’s governance and their development of policies or procedures or different economic development opportunities, maybe we could collaborate and create partnerships. The possibilities are endless.”

Friday’s meeting was informal, it set the stage for more focused meetings in the future such as common issues with the provincial government.

Grand Chief Abram Benedict told MCK PR Unit, “Well, it’s definitely overdue. As Sky-Deer said, and a few of our members have said – it’s overdue for our communities to come together. I think this morning session has been an opportunity for our members and our councils to share who they are – to know some of our political aspirations and some of the files that we want to work on. Listening to all members of the council including the grand chiefs, there are some clear areas that we have commonalities. I mentioned earlier in my opening comments, for our three councils, there is strength in numbers. I think that politically, as elected leadership for our communities, we need to take a better look at how we can work together and support one another.”

He added, “There are a number of files that are happening within Quebec and on the national level, that affect all of our communities in one way or another. Historically, as being Haudenosaunee, we’ve always come together when we need to support one another that still continues to be the same today.”

Kanehsatake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille said, “I want to thank Kahnawake for hosting this. For myself, we’re glad to be here. I’m already past my first year as a new Grand Chief. I mentioned in my opening comments, this is my third mandate. I think it’s important that we all gather our sister communities and work on the struggles and share our strengths. Hopefully, we can work on it together and make it better for all of us. To make things easier, perhaps take some of that weight off knowing we have sister communities to work with.”

Sky-Deer closed with, “You know the possibilities are endless. I think once you create a relationship with someone and you get to know them – then you have more trust and comfort in working together. You’ve laid the foundation for a relationship moving forward. I think it’s a bit challenging if we were to include the other communities in the Ontario region. Maybe that could happen at a later date, but we felt that it was important at least right now to do it with the three communities of Akwesasne, Kanehsatake and Kahnawà:ke.”

Sky-Deer talked about the intent of moving forward together and delve into issues and coming up with strategies and solutions to our common issues.

She said, “The feeling today is, it doesn’t matter what community you come from, you know we’re all Kanieńkehá:ka, all Haudenosaunee people. We have a common sense of pride - the things that we want to see for not only for today’s generation, but our principle of Seven Generations. We’re all striving toward the same things.”