Kahnawake protesters halt small construction project on unceded land near Mercier Bridge
Global News
"We want to know what's going on."
“Not one more inch.”
That’s the message some residents of Kahnawake say they have for the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated, as they occupied a construction site next to the Mercier Bridge Monday morning.
“We had heard that they were going to start construction in that area,” said Joe Deom, pointing to an area is a few metres west of the bridge next to Old Malone highway in Kahnawake where members of the community’s traditional leadership, the Longhouse, and supporters occupied.
“We want to know what’s going on,” Deom told Global News.
The bridge corporation wants to build a shed as part of work which started on the bridge this summer. This new phase, explained spokesperson Nathalie Lessard, includes new electronics systems for the bridge.
“The purpose of the shed is basically to house the electrical equipment,” she said.
The Longhouse objects to the construction, saying the location of the shed is outside the bridge’s territory.
“We’re concerned about the bridge taking more territory than they are allowed,” Deom pointed out.