Proposed Justice Act Deadlines Approach

07/21/2009

The Kahnawà:ke Justice Commission and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke announced today that they have set the date of Wednesday, 30 Seskehkó:wa/September to officially seek the community mandate to proceed with a Kahnawà:ke Justice Act.

Because of this, there will be a renewed effort to inform the community about the work that has been done to assess the need to proceed with this potentially historic piece of legislation. More important, Kahnawa’kehró:non are being asked to answer a brief survey regarding their thoughts on the issue.

“Community consultation has been ongoing since early this year,” said Justice Portfolio Chief Mike Bush. “While the preliminary results have been overwhelmingly supportive, we cannot be satisfied until we reach an acceptable number of community members.”

Among the activities planned are rebroadcasts of the presentation given by Director of Justice Ron Skye, which will be available on Paul’s Cable and www.kahnawake.com. The deadline to submit surveys is Friday, 4 Seskehkó:wa/September. This will allow final compilation of the results and preparation for the request for a community mandate.

“As recent events have shown, we need to build better foundations for our own laws – and a Kahnawà:ke Justice Act would give us that and allow us a stronger base to build and defend our jurisdiction,” concluded Chief Bush.