Eastern Door Volume 4 Number 44

Volume 4 Number 44

December 8, 1995

A Christmas Carol Opening Night a Success
By: Tom Deerhouse

The Kahnawake Performing Arts Company, director by Kevin John Saylor and produced by Community Services, presented it's opening night showing of "A Christmas Carol" at the United Church Hall, on Wednesday night, December 6. The play, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, has shows for the general public on Thursday and Friday night, 7th and 8th, at 7:30 p.m. Next week, there will be matinee showings for the schools.

This play is a joint effort featuring students from Kateri and Karonhianonha schools. The show on Wednesday featured Joshua Jacobs as a mean, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who's a cheap boss and doesn't hesitate to kick out people asking for donations. John Dee Delormier is the alternate Scrooge. Mark Stacey holds the role of Bob Kratchit, watch his facial expressions as he adds emotion to his part. A crowd favorite is Alyssa Montour in the part of Tiny Tim.

Everything about the play is great, the costumes, scenery, the songs sand the dialogue. Listen carefully to the funny parts, its possible to miss them.

One of the songs sends a message out, even Scrooge has a change of heart; the audience will hear "there's no Christmas like a home Christmas."

The audience reaction brought out comments like "excellent, very enjoyable, the kids were fantastic, " said Joanie Montour. Louise Rice said, "This is something to bring out their personalities."

There was at least one visitor from Montreal, John Juster, who commented the play was "delightful, fresh, the kids are excited...all had the guts (on stage), you could see they were having fun." That's what it's all about.

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Ironwork is there if you want it
By: Kenneth Deer

Are you an ironworker looking for work? Local 711 is looking for a few good men. Randolph Loft, the district steward for Kahnawake, says, "Anyone who wants to work can work." Loft states that there is a construction boom going on and that jobs will open up many parts of Quebec.

There are major projects starting up in places such as in the Hull/Gatineau region where a large hospital is being built. Also in the near future is a new casino in the area. Further north, there are large mills being built. A large new steel mill is being built near Becancour which should employ ironworkers for some time.

There are many financial attractions to working away from the Montreal area. For instance, an allowance of $310 per week is given for travel, room and board. This is over and above the hourly wage paid to ironworkers. In some cases, a worker can put in 12 hour days for seven days a week. In this instance, an extra $65 a day is added to the paycheque. All told, an ironworker can make over $1,900.00 a week.

The one catch to all this employment is that an ironworker must have an O.C.Q. Card to work in Quebec. Of the 375 men from Kahnawake in local 711 only about 60 have O.C.Q. cards.

Jacques Dubois of Local 711, details the requirements to get a card. "For the men of Kahnawake who have worked for many years in the United States, it is necessary to prove that they have worked for mare than 4000 hours," said Dubois. "Proof could be provided by a printout of pension fund deposits and/or paystubs. Also a letter from the company describing the type of work performed such as structural ironworker," added Dubois.

After presenting this information to the Local, a journeyman's test must be taken. This is a 50 question, multiple choice test. After successful completion of the test, the applicant must take a 30 hour safety course, consisting mostly of films.

Loft says that if all the paper work is in order and the applicant passes his test, he can go to work the same day. However, the applicant must be paid at apprentice level until the safety course is taken. They are offered in English at various times of the year.

The position of district steward of Local 711 for Kahnawake came about as a result of complaints by Kahnawake men who were not being called by the union hall for work. Every time Kahnawake men phoned in they were told that there was no work. But witnesses in the union hall noticed that other people were being given work. A complaint of discrimination was made to the headquarters of the Ironworkers Union and an official came down to correct the situation. As a result, Kahnawake has its own District Steward in Randolph Loft for the last two years. His job is to see that Kahnawake men get their fair share of work. If workers feel they are unjustly treated, they can bring their complaint to Loft for action.

"I think we have been successful in getting more men to work locally. We has 12 men on the new International Aviation Building near Place Bonaventure," said Loft. "More men could be working if only they would go through the process of getting their O.C.Q. Cards I encourage them to get the paperwork done and start working," stated Loft.

The working language in Quebec is French but that does not seem to be a problem. "Our guys get along real well with the other workers. There is no tension or anything like that. These guys from Quebec are amazed that we are still around," said Loft.

Anyone interested in more information can contact Randolph Loft at 638-2866 or fax him at 638 - 0076.

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There's Order in the Court
By: Tom Deerhouse

Ronald Sky has been full-time as the Court Administrator for the Court of Kahnawake. A selection committee consisting of Tom Morris, Marsha Delisle, and James Jacobs conducted the hiring process. Ronald will have completed one full week on the job as of Friday the 7th.

The major responsibilities of the position are to supervise and direct administrative requirements of the court and its personnel. There are four full time employees to handle the workload which seems to be increasing steadily. Ronald said "we're understaffed with the workload, (there's possibility) for expansion."

Another responsibility is to exercise authority over the finances of the Court within prescribed limits. This means approving budgets and court expenditures, and ensuring collection of unpaid tickets and fines.

Another responsibility is to participate and act as a liaison in negotiations towards the development and growth of the court system. Ronald said, "I would like to change the adversarial manner of justice. I would like to see the Court go to a mediation process... which may entail more civil matters. Also, restitution instead of a fine, for young offenders. (We) need to work on the structure."

Ronald brings a background of police work, investigative and management, and a thorough knowledge of the Justice system to the job. He started in 1976, put three years in, had time away from the force and was hired again in 1982. In 1986, he was Chief of Police for two years, and has worked on the Justice Committee and has experience dealing in Federal funding negotiations.

Kahnawake's justice system will be redefining its structure, conducting negotiations within the Mohawk Roundtable. The purpose is to show the Federal and Quebec government we can develop policy for administration of justice. Ronald hopes that the Court will be "community-initiated for community acceptance."

Ronald Sky brings discipline, experience, knowledge and commitment to the Court to help make positive change in the justice aspect of our community.

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Editorial

Time for traditional people to meet
By: Kenneth Deer - The Eastern Door

The band councils from all the Iroquois communities were supposed to meet in Tyendenaga this weekend, but the meeting was postponed until after the holidays; it is just as well.

These meetings are a continuation of a process that began in the early 80's by the Land Rights Committee of the Haudenosaunee. The original intent of these gatherings was to educate the elected councils on the traditional system of government with the objective of eventually rebuilding the Confederacy.

Over the years, with the dissolution of the Land Rights Committee, the meetings were continued by the band councils. The last meeting of band councils and traditional people of the Confederacy was in the winter of 1993 at a training facility in Morrisburg, Ontario.

This meeting, like many other, ended with the usual divisions being very evident. Some band councils were in favour of at least looking into the possibility of traditional government in their communities, others were not sure.

The traditional people, however, showed the widest divisions.

The differences were most evident among the Kanien'kehaka and Akwesasne presenting their particular view on traditional government. The meeting ended like many other meetings. The band councils, although they had differences among themselves, were able to express common concerns and ask hard questions on how traditional government would work. The traditional people, because of internal differences, could not respond to these questions in a consistent manner.

It became very clear that before another meeting took place, the traditional people should meet among themselves first.

There are many reasons for the Indian Act band councils and the traditional councils to become better organized, such as self-govenments, tri-partite agreements, land claims, Quebec separation, and lately, Prime Minister Jean Chretien's offer to grant Quebec distinct society status. Each day that we remain fragmented, the more difficult it will to fight the Canadian and Quebec governments.

The band councils have delayed their next meeting until after the new year. The the meeting, they will again discuss the very powerful, historical argument the Confederacy has for the inherent right to self-determination. They will be looking to tradition for guidance and leadership. Will the traditional people be ready?

The traditional councils and people should take advantage of this delay to begin to meet among themselves. Differences have to be settled before any joint meeting. They must show how tradition works not why it doesn't. If there is to be no 'marriage' between band councils and traditional councils, then traditional councils most show that they can function and stand alone.

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