Old Fort Wall partial collapse

08/04/2022

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke would like to advise the community that a portion of the Old Fort Wall has collapsed. During the daily inspection, it was discovered that part of the wall gave way in the Kateri School/Cenotaph parking lot area (see picture below).

Residents are being advised to stay away from the area for safety reasons, while crews clean up and secure the area. Barriers have been erected on both sides of the affected area. Further inspection of the remaining structure will be carried out to determine if additional remediation work on the wall is required. Previously, rehabilitation work took place on an adjacent area that was deemed unsafe at the time.

This is the third similar issue in the past few years. A significant portion near the cenotaph collapsed in 2016 and was demolished, while another section behind the Kahnawà:ke Youth Center collapsed in 2019. Neither of those sections has been rebuilt or restored at this time.

The wall was built in 1725 by the French as part of the construction of Fort Saint Louis. It was formally recognized as a National Historic site of Canada in 1930.