State of Emergency ends, Recovery Period begins

02/21/2022

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke wishes to advise the community that it has passed a Mohawk Council Executive Directive (MCED) at today’s duly-convened Council meeting that concludes the current State of Emergency that has been in effect since December 21, 2021.

A previous State of Emergency existed April 21, 2020, to June 14, 2021. Both were instituted as measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 within the community during particularly difficult and dangerous times of the pandemic. The MCED was passed by consensus after Kahnawà:ke’s Public Safety and Public Health had determined that the situation no longer warranted the stricter measures a State of Emergency entails. With this change, the mandate of the COVID-19 Task Force will also expire. Until a full return to normalcy is declared, the authorities granted by the Law establish that the Mandate will continue to be carried out by the Commissioner of Public Safety, in collaboration with the Council of Chiefs, in order to maintain consistency and direction.

In accordance of the Kahnawà:ke Emergency Preparedness Law, and as a result of today’s decision, the community now automatically moves to a Recovery Phase, effective February 22, 2022. This could be implemented for a period of up to 120 days, and subject to extension should it be deemed necessary, or ended if the Council of Chiefs declares a State of Normalcy has been achieved before June 21, 2022.

“As a community, we have endured the seemingly-endless challenges brought forth by the pandemic,” stated Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs (Grand Chief) Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer. “In some ways, the past two months have been even more difficult and frustrating, as we had become confident that things were winding down. But we have come through in a better state than many other places, including our sister communities of Akwesasne and Six Nations, which suffered through a substantial number of deaths due to COVID-19. While they had difficult – and sometimes unpopular – choices to make, the Task Force, Public Health and Public Safety all worked together to ensure our vulnerable population remained safe and healthy since this virus arrived nearly two years ago. And let us not for one minute forget the contributions of our front-line workers and vast majority of our community who did their collective part in keeping the virus at bay. For that they have our sincerest gratitude.”

“Things are definitely looking up as we begin a careful return towards normalcy, but the pandemic has not yet ended,” she concluded. “So please remain careful. People are still dying, so we shouldn’t let our guard down. We owe it to our children, our elders, and ourselves.”