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Quebec Bill 96's Passage Is A 'Deliberate Attack' On Mohawk Nationhood: Kahnawake Council
"We are not going to lay down while the Quebec government takes another stab at pulling our futures out from under us."
Quebec National Assembly Building tower.
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) says it's "engaging with the community in developing plans to fight the implementation" of Quebec Bill 96 on its members after the legislation passed overwhelmingly in the National Assembly.
The bill overhauls the province's Charter of the French Language, imposing, among other things, new French course requirements on students in English-language colleges and restrictions on the use of languages other than French in some public employees' communications.
In a May 25 statement, the MCK said the government failed to meaningfully consult Indigenous communities and address concerns about how the bill could affect them, especially in the areas of "education, health and social services, and access to government and business services."
The council called this "lack of engagement" a "deliberate attack on our nationhood as Onkwehón:we (original people)."
Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs (Elected Grand Chief of the MCK) Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer said Quebec government employees have already privately expressed uncertainty "about what the newly passed legislation means for government-to-government relations."
She committed to fighting the legislation.
"We are not going to lay down while the Quebec government takes another stab at pulling our futures out from under us."
"Quebec's actions to proceed with the passage of this Bill despite our noted concerns have placed our relations into an extremely strained state and forced us to consider whether discussions to date were in good faith."
"At this point, we have no choice left but to take pause in our relations until Quebec at its highest levels proposes substantive solutions to rectify the situation."