Environment committee  Do you know what? Nobody wants to touch us with a 10-foot pole.

Environment committee  I'm telling you that nobody wants to touch us with a 10-foot pole. Nobody wants to get involved—nobody.

Environment committee  Are you talking about AFNQL?

Environment committee  Not really. It is very difficult to understand the situation in a community if you are not there. I have to switch to English.

Environment committee  I wish I had a crystal ball to really give you a good answer on that, but I think the first thing we need to do is to remember that human rights are interrelated and interdependent. We need to bring in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples along with human rights

Environment committee  My first thought is not a good thought, so I won't say it. What you could do to help me is perhaps have a commission to investigate the corruption in Kanesatake by the federal and provincial governments, the police and the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, past and present. Help us

Environment committee  I think there needs to be an independent investigation with international observers, because I think that, if we are asking the corrupted to investigate themselves, we won't get anywhere. If there is a commission that investigates the corruption that's happening in the community

Environment committee  The actors who we are talking about today are the same ones who have ridden roughshod over the community for the last 32 years with impunity. They are the untouchables. It's not for lack of trying on our part to do that. The government has made the Longhouse, the Haudenosaunee, i

Environment committee  I can only speak for my community. I know that there is raw sewage. There are old refrigerators and old air conditioners with the components that have now been declared toxic. These are waste products coming from the city of Montreal and surrounding suburbs. These people, if yo

Environment committee  According to the Great Law of Peace, Gayanashagowa, women hold title to the land, and we are the land protectors and the men must protect the women who are protecting the land. We don't have anything like that anymore. The women are at the forefront, and a few men, in trying to p

Environment committee  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. I

Environment committee  That's a good question. It's a small community. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody's related in some way. There is a letter that I submitted to the committee that explains the situation. The federal and provincial governments apply the law when it's convenient for them. I compl

Environment committee  I did, because now—

Environment committee  Okay, so in respect of the community, there are people who live near the dump who keep their windows closed in the summer because of the smell. This was allowed to go on.

Environment committee  [Witness spoke in Mohawk and provided the following text]: Wa’tkwanoweron Katsi’tsakwas ne iontiáts tánon Wakeniáhton, Kanehsatà:ke akenàkere. [Witness provided the following translation]: Warm greetings. My name is Katsi’tsakwas. I am turtle clan, and I am from Kanesatake