Nicholas elected grand chief

Kanesatake rival may contest results. Candidates for band council sequestered until dawn in Mohawk immersion school

CHARLIE FIDELMAN
The Gazette
Monday, July 14, 2008

Sohenrise Paul Nicholas has been elected grand chief of the troubled Kanesatake community, but the results could be contested.

Vote counting wasn't completed until 4 a.m. yesterday and, according to unofficial results, Nicholas garnered 353 of 676 votes cast, runner-up Clarence Simon had 200 and Veronica Montour 108.

A Mohawk with a commerce degree from Concordia University, Nicholas, 35, was the front-runner from the beginning - touted as someone who could unite a fractious community.

But almost immediately after the results were tabulated, Simon, an elder on the current council, threatened to contest the election's validity.

The record 25 candidates running for seven seats on the band council - including the three for the top position - were sequestered until dawn at the Mohawk immersion school in Kanesatake, the rural community 50 kilometres west of Montreal.

But as Nicholas celebrated his victory in the school parking lot, Simon gathered his supporters to talk about seeking legal recourse.

Simon said Nicholas had benefited from unfair campaign advantages, such as getting hold of the electoral list with names, phone numbers and addresses while Simon's workers had only a list with names.

"At 4:30 a.m., I said to my people, 'I'm not just going to drop this,' " Simon said. "If need be, we'll get ourselves a lawyer to see if we have legal grounds to contest the election."

Nicholas disputed Simon's accusations of wrongdoing.

A rookie candidate who manages the Bank of Montreal in Akwesasne, near Cornwall, Ont., Nicholas campaigned on a platform of change, promising that community voices would be heard.

He had been hand-picked by outgoing grand chief Steven Bonspille and Bonspille's supporters.

"I've passed the torch on to him with 100-per-cent confidence," said Bonspille, who quit politics after three tumultuous years as grand chief.

"It's time to move forward," he said.

A bitter rivalry between Bonspille loyalists and supporters of his predecessor, former grand chief James Gabriel, contributed to tension on council.

Gabriel's house was burned to the ground in 2004 during a dispute over local policing. He fled after organizing a raid with other aboriginal police forces that failed to eliminate the local drug trade and cigarette selling.

The Sûreté du Québec now patrols the area.

Elected to council on Nicholas's slate, chief Gordon Oke said accountability, culture and preserving the Mohawk language now count more in Kanesatake than the issue of policing.

"That's what council vowed to bring," Oke said. "We have a hell of a task ahead of us. This community has been in turmoil for quite a while - crisis, police raid and the aftermath, and the education and language budgets slashed."

Mohawk teachers left the community after the funding cuts, he said. "Language is our future."

Montour could not be reached for comment.