Justice Hearing (Wednesday) tomorrow afternoon

02/02/2010

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke would like to remind Kahnawa’kehró:non that the sixth Justice Hearing will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon at the Kahnawake Moose Lodge from 1 to 4pm.

The Justice Commission is seeking to formalize a mandate to proceed to develop a Kahnawà:ke justice system. At the previous hearing on 16, Tsothóhrha/December, there was an unofficial agreement to proceed, as the two remaining questions posed to the community were answered:

• “Should judgments, orders and decisions from a (Kahnawà:ke) justice system be recognized outside the Territory?”

Community response: “Yes, we want our judgments, orders and decisions to be recognized by every jurisdictional authority.”

• “Does the Justice Commission have a mandate to develop a justice system, and do you have any further concerns of qualifications?

Community response: “Yes, we agree to have the Justice Commission move forward with the following qualifications:”

1. Seek more community participation

2. Justice Commission will develop a draft

3. Community to be given 30 days to review and provide feedback on the draft

4. Determine if a community member needs to be present in order to be a Community Representative

5. Formalization to occur in January

As such, the community will have the opportunity to formalize the mandate and choose the three (3) Community Representatives as indicated in the Community decision Making Process.