Kahnawake invites its community to boycott Chateauguay

Kahnawake Grand Chief Joe Norton is asking his community to boycott Chateauguay businesses in order to put pressure on the dossier of land transfers.

The Grand Chief is attacking the City of Chateauguay because it is one of the four municiipalities that launched legal proceedings against the provincial government in 2013 to stop the transfer of two million square metres of land along Autoroute 30 in Kahnawake. At the time, the cities of Chateauguay, St. Constant, Ste. Catherine and St. Isidore addressed themselves to the courts because they believe that the government did not listen to their requests to negotiate the land transfers.

« There is no consultation to have; that land belongs to us, » affirmed the recently elected Norton. According to him, the current Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, the majority of which is composed of chiefs who were there before the elections, is exasperated by the slow pace and the attitude of the City of Chateauguay.

« We had a partnership with a major client on the south shore of Montreal who was ready to come and install himself here, » Norton said. « That could have brought us 400 jobs. These are people who would have been able to live in Chateauguay. But we lost this client because of the delays created by the lawsuit. He went elsewhere. »

He is asking his community to boycott Chateauguay businesses in order to put pressure on the Chateauguay mayoress. « She doesn't give a darn about Kahnawake. She doesn't seem to realize that the people of Kahnawake spend $30 million in Chateauguay every year. I believe she's a racist, » the Grand Chief charged.

Not against Kahnawake - Mayoress

The Chateauguay Mayoress and prefect of De Roussillon MRC denies being a racist and refuses to go that route. « I believe that Mr. Norton has no racism lesson to give anyone, » she says.

She finds it a shame that the Mohawk politician is calling for a boycott. « Our opposition to the transfer of lands does not target Kahnawake, but the government of Quebec, » she assures. « It's a simplistic reaction. We are trying to have good neighbour relations. We cannot cut off any one of them. »  Simon adds that Chateauguay is not the city which has the most to lose in this land transfer. She says she is still open to dialogue with the native community.

Mohawk against this idea

 This call for a boycott is not unanimous in Kahnawake. A resident from the reserve contacted the Chateauguay Soleil last week and mentioned her opposition to this pressure tactic. « We cannot blame everyone in this political dossier, Tasha Cross said. She would wish that the MCK would protest about the lands in question and not target Chateauguay.

Litigation on a few dates

May 15, 2013:The provincial government adppts a decree confirming the transfer to Kahnawake of two million square metres of land alongside Autoroute30. The dossier was then sent to the federal government, which has the responsibility of managing native territories.

 June 26, 2013:The De Roussillon MRC and the four towns concerned by the land transfer (Chateauguay, St. Isidore, St. Constant and Ste. Catherine), are suing the Quebec government and the MCK. They are asking for the decree to be annulled. They are also demanding that the same environmental rules – those linked to urbanism and fiscality – continue to apply themselves to the lands transferred.