While a deal is reached to decontaminate the illegal Kanesatake landfill, five dissident Band Council bosses are refusing to turn over an essential letter Ottawa needs to start work, La Presse learned. The group also passed a motion to strip Grand Boss Victor Bonspille of many of his powers.
Posted at 1:39pm. Updated at 5:00 p.m.
“The dissident leaders are holding the letter hostage. They work together to prevent the file from progressing. It’s an attempt to divert attention,” Grand Chief Bonspille said.
The letter in question, dubbed the “Oka Letter,” is the equivalent of a title deed to the Mohawk Territory, governed by a land regime unique to Canada. It officially grants brothers Robert and Gary Gabriel the right to occupy the land in Kanesatake where their company G&R Recyclage’s illegal landfill site is located.
This landfill, which is contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals and hydrocarbons dangerous to aquatic life, has been the subject of numerous orders from Quebec and Canada’s environment departments since 2017, obliging the Gabriel brothers to better secure the site. Twice this spring, La Presse found that contaminated water was flowing from one of the most polluted sections of the site towards streams that feed into Lac des Deux Montagnes.
Before Ottawa and Quebec launched bids to complete the groundwork and fund the site’s decontamination, they required the Gabriel brothers to submit their “oka letter” to the Band Council for the site to become an “orphan” again .
Quebec estimates that decontamination could cost around 100 million. “It was clear from the start that the sine qua non for the site to be decontaminated is that the land no longer belongs to them,” said First Nations and Inuit Relations Minister Ian Lafrenière, who took part in the negotiations . .
We will not accept money from Quebecers and Canadians to decontaminate land belonging to people who have contaminated it in a questionable way.
Ian Lafrenière, Minister for First Nations and Inuit Relations
However, the “Oka-Brief” is now physically in the hands of a group of five dissident leaders who control the Bandrat. Politically isolated, Grand Chief Victor Bonspille and his twin sister Valerie Bonspille are unable to pass a resolution that would negate their worth.
Fronde at the Band Council
“These dissident leaders believe the federal government will go back on its word and leave the community on contaminated ground. That’s far-fetched,” says Victor Bonspille. His opponents on Thursday accepted a motion that Mr Bonspille said is “completely illegal”, stripping him of all his offices and his title as community spokesman.
Dissident leader Serge Otsi Simon explains this move by accusing Grand Chief Bonspille of negotiating an agreement behind closed doors with Ottawa and Quebec to decontaminate the site without informing the rest of the council.
He wants several guarantees from the two governments before returning the “Oka letter” to the Band Council, most notably assurances that the Mohawk community will not be prosecuted for the environmental damage caused by the illegal landfill. “We still have many more questions. The total cost of decontamination is not known. Can moving pollutants cause even more contamination? We have no idea of the details. We want meetings with Minister for Indigenous Affairs Patty Hajdu, Minister for Crown Indigenous Relations Marc Miller and Minister Lafrenière with the people who are in a position to make decisions,” says Mr Simon.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Dissident leader Serge Otsi Simon
We want guarantees for the future to prevent another catastrophe like this one.
Dissident leader Serge Otsi Simon
The Gabriel brothers, who both have heavy criminal histories, particularly for being involved in the kidnapping of 67 Peacekeepers police officers during the 2004 riots, would also try to negotiate protection from possible prosecution. La Presse could not reach her.
Minister Lafrenière says he is in contact with the two factions of the Band Council to try and resolve the impasse. “The political situation in Kanesatake is far from improving. I have asked the federal government to estimate how we will react to this. Who do we recognize in it? asks the minister.
“I have written to the Grand Chief and the rest of the band council to let them know that the transmission of the ‘Oka letter’ will in no way change the responsibility of the Gabriel brothers. This is a very clear position on the part of both the federal and Quebec governments,” emphasizes Mr. Lafrenière.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVE LA PRESSE
Minister for First Nations and Inuit Relations, Ian Lafrenière
Minister Patty Hajdu’s office, in turn, noted in a statement sent to La Presse that “all parties have recognized the urgency of the situation” and that “the priority [est] to find a long-term solution for the rehabilitation of the site”.
context of tense police operations
This new political crisis within the Band Council comes amid tensions after the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) conducted two searches on the territory in a month.
On Tuesday, a hundred SQ officers from the National Organized Crime Squad (ENRCO) landed in Kanesatake, specifically with an armored vehicle, to conduct searches against Sharon Simon, a Hells Angels-affiliated drug trafficker who runs a cannabis sales business in the territory. Mrs. Simon is the cousin of Chef Serge Simon.
“We had an excellent cooperation from everyone. “The community wants the police to do their job, it’s important that people know that,” said SQ communications coordinator Benoît Richard.
On May 25, the SQ also conducted a series of searches at the Band Council and Kanesatake Community Health Center as part of an investigation into alleged fraud related to a nearly $5 million relief fund awarded by Indigenous Services Canada for COVID-19 -Dollar. Mr Simon was Grand Chief when these amounts were spent but he accuses Grand Chief Victor Bonspille of trying to smear him with false documents.
Mr. Simon assures that the uprising led by the dissident leaders has absolutely nothing to do with these two police operations.
The story so far
- Since 2017, brothers Robert and Gary Gabriel have illegally operated a landfill in the Mohawk Territory of Kanesatake, whose toxic waters flow into Lac des Deux Montagnes.
- After discovering numerous irregularities, Quebec and Ottawa tried to calm the owners, but in vain.
- The two governments are now willing to pay for the site to be decontaminated, but are demanding that the Gabriel brothers return their ownership of the land to the Band Council.
- A dissident faction of the Bandrat obtained the title deeds but refuses to return them to the council.