Chateauguay and Kahnawake may be side by side, but they stand on opposite sides of a land dispute that will be heard in court on Monday.
“This lawsuit has been a huge thorn in the side of Kahnawake,” said Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton in a statement.
Chateauguay, Ste-Catherine, St-Constant and St-Isidore are suing the province over its pledge to return about 500 acres of land to Kahnawake.
It had been appropriated to build the extension to highway 30. The land is part of the original territory ceded to Mohawks to create Kahnawake nearly 400 years ago and has been part of ongoing negotiations between the Kahnawake band council and the federal government.
In 2013, the Marois government signed an agreement to hand the land that borders Highway 30 over to Kahnawake.
The mayors of the four South Shore communities say they were never consulted on returning the land to the Mohawks, or compensated.
Kahnawake is not listed as a defendant but will have community members including a former Grand Chief testify. Norton says he won't give up claim to the land easily.
“We didn’t start this lawsuit but I’ll be damned if we aren’t going to have our say in this matter," he pledged. “We have been robbed of several economic development opportunities because the land has not been formally returned to reserve status. We have been frustrated because, once again, we acted in good faith while others haven’t.”
Of the 40,000 acres ceded by the King of France to create Kahnawake in 1680, only about 13,000 acres remain. Unlike other parts of the country, the title and rights to the Mohawk's traditional territory surrounding the St. Lawrence River were never acquired via treaty by European colonial powers or the government of Canada.