Thank you.
We have tried, for so long, to get the government to help us. They make the Mohawks look bad. It's a joke to call G&R “Recycling”, because it's not recycling. There is toxic waste. We tried to help the young farmers living close by, and they are afraid as well.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up and say, in public to you all, that what we are seeing is environmental racism. It is colonization at its “best”. We are meant to see our traditional ways as irrelevant and not current, when our traditional ways are the ones that are guiding the youth and trying to protect the environment and leave a legacy for future generations.
This dump we see in my community.... It will take at least 10,000 years to clean up that mess so future generations can use it. This is totally unacceptable. We tried with government. We tried with every single person we could use, and nobody said.... The band council said it's okay. The band council is a creation of the federal government. They never consult the communities. We are left with their decisions and the garbage they leave behind.
We are left, under the Indian Act, to search for different ways of economic development. This is somebody's version of “economic development” that we are stuck with. The only thing stopping seepage is the clay underneath this. None of the precautions of any waste facilities were taken for this. There were numerous fines that were done and they didn't care, because it was a drop in the bucket for these people.
The invisible hands behind the Mohawks are not indigenous. Those are the invisible hands we are all afraid of. I don't know what's going to happen after I present to you today, but I do know that, if I remain silent, the lawlessness that exists in Kanesatake and other indigenous communities will continue further. The excuse, “Well, they're so divided” is the reason why we are at this point in time. We see criminals coming into our community, exploiting the gaps in the Indian Act and human rights, and saying, “We will buy you this and that, if you allow us to dump in your community.”
I don't know who to go to anymore. Maybe you can help—maybe this law will help—but it has to go further than that, because tomorrow morning, when I wake up, I'm still in the same community. I'm still dealing with the same crap that has been left here by the city of Montreal—all the sewage. This is prime agricultural land that can no longer be used for many generations.
I do appreciate you listening to me. I appreciate so much that you are allowing me to speak, because I don't want this to turn out to be a violent situation. That's why this has been allowed to go on for so long: People don't want violence. However, what are we supposed to do when we stand up and they come to our homes and threaten our lives? They threaten us. What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to just stay quiet and let them, again, ride roughshod over our community?
The Pines that we stood up for are being cut down for marijuana shacks. We are the playground of the people—the youth from Montreal and surrounding communities. It is not a safe community. It's not the community I want. It does not represent Mohawk and indigenous values of caring for the environment.
Thank you very much.