Oka, February 25st 2020 – During a historic first meeting, on September 16th 2019, that brought together the Grand-Chief and all the Chiefs of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake and all of the elected representatives of the Deux-Montagnes MRC, the two parties agreed to form a permanent liaison committee. The main objective of this committee is was to facilitate communications between the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, the MRC Deux-Montagnes and with different stakeholders, as well as to increase dialogue and mutual understanding.
It is in this context that three representatives of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake as well as three elected representatives of the Deux-Montagnes MRC met for the first time on February 13 in Oka in order to lay the foundations for a new collaboration.
Several important topics were discussed by representatives, among others :
– the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake’s governance structure ; – the competences of the MRC as well as the governance structures which are, among others, the provincial authorities, the municipalities and the CMM ; – the context of Kanesatake’s historical territory and current management of its lands and estates ; – the opportunities of building positive identification of Kanesatake and increasing awareness of the challenges faced by the First Nations community ; – partnership possibilities aimed at promoting projects with a cultural flavor as well as other economic development opportunities. Another meeting is to be set-up in the future in order to pursue these fruitful discussions.
