Kahnawake members set up protest camp south of Montreal to stop housing project

MONTREAL — Members of the Montreal-area First Nations territory of Kahnawake are occupying a disputed parcel of land beside their community in order to stop a proposed housing project.

The encampment, which has the support of the elected Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, was set up on July 1 in a wooded area bordering the municipality of Chateauguay, Que., on Montreal’s south shore.

The Mohawk council says the land is known as “Parcel E,” which it says was part of a land-transfer agreement with the Quebec government following the 2007 expansion of a major highway just south of Kahnawake.

Chateauguay’s city council adopted a zoning change in the area on March 15, clearing the way for the construction of 290 homes on the land.

Representatives from Chateauguay were not immediately available for comment.

Newly elected Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer said today in an interview the federal and provincial governments should negotiate with her community and transfer control of the land to Kahnawake.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 8, 2021.

The Canadian Press