MCK submits Specific Claim on the building of CP railway line through Kahnawake

08/20/2013

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) would like to inform the community that it has submitted a claim to the Federal Specific Claims Process for historical grievances related to the construction of the Canadian Pacific railroad line through the Territory.

The claim, submitted earlier this month, is based on ‘Breaches of Lawful Obligation’ by the crown in regard to the building of the line through Reserve Lands. According to the Specific Claims Process, Canada has up to three (3) years to review the claim for minimum standard and conduct assessment before it must render a decision on whether or not it will accept the claim for negotiation.

“The deeper we go into our history the clearer it becomes that Canada did little to uphold the Honor of the Crown, which it was (and is) obliged to do,” said Grand Chief Michael Ahríhron Delisle, Jr.  “The MCK will continue to do everything in our power to address these issues and will focus our efforts on the completion and submission of remaining claims.”

This is the second of eight specific claims that the MCK is preparing for submission. In April 2012, a claim concerning ‘Breach of Lawful Obligation’ associated with the construction of the Mercier Bridge was submitted and is currently in the Federal assessment phase.