Next steps announced for proposed Kahnawake Tobacco Law

09/22/2022

The Mohawk Council of Kahnaw�:ke (MCK) wishes to inform the community that community engagement will resume on the draft Kahnaw�:ke Tobacco Law. Although the draft law was reviewed in its entirety and consensus was reached for each original section during the Community Decision Making Process (CDMP) hearings in 2015-2016, it is important to clarify that the law was not enacted due to legal issues with several sections of the draft law. Discussions have been ongoing within the technical drafting working group since that time to find ways to address these issues in order to move forward. The working group consists of Portfolio Chiefs, an MCK technician and Kahnaw�:ke Tobacco Association (KTA) representatives.

The request for a Law was formally submitted by the Kahnaw�:ke Tobacco Association in 2014. At the suggestion of the proponents it was agreed that, in this instance only, a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed by both MCK and the KTA working group that would allow for a special process (pilot project) to be used to facilitate the creation of such a law, which was seen as controversial at the time. The Community Consultation meeting was held in February 2014 to gain approval to move the law forward using the special version of the CDMP.

�It�s taken a great deal of time and effort by the MCK and representatives from the industry to get to this point,� said Rats�nhaienhs Cody Diabo, who is the lead on this file on behalf of the MCK. �At this point we feel that the revised draft is ready to be reintroduced to the community in the hope that a fair and just law can be implemented that will both regulate and protect the industry and � more important � assert and protect our jurisdiction. The Law has to be solid in order to provide proper defensibility.� 

There are several sections that needed to be addressed in terms of legal issues, and to provide the necessary consistency with other laws. Therefore, an updated draft of the proposed Law is being made available to the community in order to resume community engagement. This updated draft will focus solely on the highlighted sections of the draft Law (which can be viewed on the Kahnaw�:ke Tobacco Law page on the KLCC website at www.kahnawakemakingdecisions.com). Information sessions and kiosks will be scheduled to gain feedback. The first engagement session takes place at the Golden Age Club on Wednesday, October 5th, from 2pm to 6pm. Additional dates will be announced shortly.

For further information, please contact Rats�nhaienhs Cody Diabo at cody.diabo@mck.ca, or Peggy Mayo-Standup (representing the KTA) at 450-632-9253.