MCK Launches 30 Week Land Campaign

02/21/2017

The Lands Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke is pleased to announce that it is launching an extensive Community information and consultation campaign over the next 30 weeks to address major land-related issues in Kahnawà:ke.

Various meetings, focus groups, surveys, and workshops are set to take place between February and September of this year to go along with educational materials. Cole McComber is leading the campaign and will incorporate all feedback into a land use plan framework that is expected to lead to a land use plan for the next generation.

The key issues will be Certificates of Possession, lack of land, land ownership, Tioweró:ton, land preservation, common lands vs private lands, contaminated sites, zoning, land access and future burial sites.

To start, a historical overview of land issues in Kahnawà:ke has been written by McComber and is now available on Kahnawake.com/lands where all information related to the campaign will be made available after they appear in the Community. Also, the results of a land use survey conducted in April 2016 are available online.

The campaign slogan is, ‘It was once said that we do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Ontionhóntsa, Ohén:ton Ia′tetewaká:nerak: Our Land, Their Future.’

The campaign is expected to culminate in a special Lands Conference, to be held in the Fall, to which the entire Community will be invited.