$1,000 fine for trying to buy cigarettes in Kahnawake

Trying to buy cigarettes in Kahnawake can cost non-residents. Translation Dan Rosenburg All the businesses on the reserve are forbidden access to people from outside in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Law on the civic protection of Kahnawake foresees a $1,000 fine for physical people who do not respect the order and $10,000 in the case of an entreprise, reminds the COVID-19 Task Force of Kahnawake. In spite of the closing of points of sale of tobacco for the past four weeks, several non-residents still go to the aboriginal territory in the hope of procuring tobacco. On the first weekend of April, the Peacekeepers indicate having delivered 12 tickets citations of $1,000 to non-residents who tried to buy cigarettes in Kahnawake. “The decision to close the stores to non-residents was taken in order to reduce the number of people accessing Kahnawake from outside the reserve, in order to protect the community in this way against an increased risk of transmission of the virus. There is no exception to this directive,” explains the tactical group. “As we are a close community, we are more vulnerable,” said Kahnawake public security commissioner Lloyd Phillips in a capsule video.