Quebec to give land back to Mohawks

[IndigeNews]

Quebec to give land back to Mohawks
By Christopher Curtis, THE GAZETTE May 11, 2013

A group of South Shore mayors are reeling after the Parti Québécois
government announced its decision Friday to give back 300 hectares of
land to the Kahnawake Mohawks.

The farmland was appropriated in 2006 during construction of the
Highway 30 project and will be ceded back to the First Nation in the
near future. It lies along the border of Kahnawake, Châteauguay,
St-Constant, Ste-Isidore and Ste-Catherine.

But the mayors claim they were never consulted throughout the process,
which led them dumbfounded by Friday’s announcement.

“Right now, (the PQ) has been talking and negotiating with Kahnawake
and telling us on one occasion they pass by and say: ‘Listen, we
started to discuss about it with Kahnawake, and we’ll come back and
you’ll be part of the process,’ but that never happened,” Châteauguay
Mayor Nathalie Simon told CTV Montreal.

Mohawk band council spokesperson Joe Delaronde said he doesn’t
understand the source of controversy.

“This has been in the works for years now, where’s the surprise,” he
told The Gazette. “I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Delaronde would not comment further on the matter until it is brought
before the band council Monday. Reports of negotiations over the 300
hectares were widely publicized in The Gazette and other media as early
as July 2012.

Simon told CTV Montreal she believes the land that will be handed over
to the Mohawks belongs to her municipality. Calling the 300 hectares
“our territory,” the statement elicited some reaction over Twitter and
other social media — with observers noting the irony of a
non-aboriginal politician complaining about losing land to an
aboriginal reserve.

This may be the first time since Confederation that land has been given
back to the Kahnawake Mohawks. The First Nation is in the preliminary
stages of filing a 40,000 acre land claim with the federal government
that dates back to the 17th century.

ccu...@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: titocurtis
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

[photo at link] Quebec will cede 300 hectares of farmland to the
Kahnawake Mohawks that was appropriated in 2006 during construction of
the Highway 30 project. It lies along the border of Kahnawake,
Châteauguay, St-Constant, Ste-Isidore and Ste-Catherine. Photograph by:
Scott Linstead , Gazette file photo

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/quebec+give+land+back+mohawks/
8372730/story.html
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