MCK to reject KCSC January 28th vote - announces new plan of action being developed

01/24/2013

In regard to the issue in which the Kahnawake Combined Schools Committee (KCSC) has called for a vote to take place on January 28th, 2013, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) is informing the community of its position that the vote should NOT take place or be recognized. Under MCED #32/2012-2013, the MCK and KCSC are mandated to work jointly to resolve education issues. The January 28th vote as presented by the KCSC is not a joint activity and is not considered a valid undertaking.

The MCK made it clear in a community notice issued last week that it had, in fact, agreed that a decision should be made by parents only after the parents are provided with proper information and adequate notice to make an informed decision before a vote takes place. Additionally, the MCK deems it highly inappropriate that the same problematic ‘confirmations and elections procedures’ used at the Annual General Assembly be applied to this particular voting process as indicated in the KCSC press release on January 18, 2013.

Conditions and requirements that would have allowed the vote to move forward were disregarded by the KCSC, and meeting to discuss these issues was cancelled by the KCSC.

As problems remain unresolved, the MCK announced it is developing a plan of action on steps to move forward within the next few days. Once the plan is presented, the MCK will be looking for community feedback on the plan before implementation.

“The MCK has exhausted every avenue in its efforts to work together with the KCSC,” said Grand Chief Michael Ahríhron Delisle, Jr. “We have an obligation to assure the integrity of the processes used to make important decisions. At this time the KCSC has not acted in a manner that gives parents and community confidence that the much-needed work to address the actual issues that face our education system will take place at any time soon. We no longer have a choice but to move forward to safeguard this precious resource.”