CORNWALL - A Federal Bridge Corporation official said Wednesday that discussions with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne to sign an agreement that would allow work to start on a new international bridge between Cornwall and Cornwall Island look to be on the cusp of a breakthrough.
Andre Girard, vice-president of communication for the Federal Bridge Corporation (FBC) told the Standard-Freeholder that they are in progressive talks with Akwesasne leaders, who are currently reviewing a draft of a partnership agreement to get construction of a new low-level bridge going.
"It's going very, very, very well," Girard said. "We finally have some progress after all these years."
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) Grand Chief Mike Mitchell said on Tuesday the council could quite likely approve the new partnership agreement worked out with the FBC for the construction of a new low-level bridge near the existing bridge.
Mitchell said the MCA is looking over the agreement and aiming to approve it soon.
Girard said the two parties are not interested in waiting for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to decide where the Canadian port of entry (POE) will be located permanently considering the Cornwall Island POE has been closed for more than 14 months.
"If we wait for them, the bridge will never get built," Girard said. "The money is there, so we'll go ahead as soon as we can."
He said the $75-million bridge project really has "nothing to do" with the dispute over arming border guards between the Akwesasne community and the CBSA, which led to the Cornwall Island POE closing on May 31, 2009. A temporary POE opened six weeks later in Cornwall at the base of the bridge's north span and remains open to this day.
However, Girard said the design of the new bridge could accommodate a POE should the CBSA decide to take up permanent residence in Cornwall.
Girard shied away from providing a date to announce the beginning of construction, but instead emphasized the positive discussions with the MCA.
It seems the only thing that could potentially derail the agreement is a legal action filed by the FBC against the Akwesasne Peoples Fire (APF) to remove a building constructed on the "International Corridor" in the fall of 2009.
The International Corridor is a strip of land owned by the FBC between the North Channel bridge due to be replaced and the South Channel bridge connecting Cornwall Island to the U.S. The corridor includes Highway 138 - International Road - the closed Cornwall Island Canada Customs and Immigrations building and the grasslands on either side of the highway and customs building.
The APF building was funded and constructed by the grassroots Mohawk group to enable its protest of the CBSA's arming policy throughout the winter.
The FBC's legal claim seeks the Superior Court of Justice to order members of the APF to remove the building at the southwest corner of International Road and Island Road beside the old customs building and a permanent injunction to keep APF members from placing any buildings in the International Corridor.
The claim also asks that each member named pay $5,000 in damages.
The claim provides the alternative option for the APF to pay for the FBC's cost to remove the buildings and the restoration of the land.
APF member Nona Benedict, a former MCA chief, called the legal action "a bunch of crap" because the group is not a formal organization, but a group of concerned community members and elders fighting to keep guns off their land and champion their civil rights.
"They talk about safety and accessibility to the land, but I look at this more as intimidation," said Benedict, who pointed out that the community protest has always been peaceful.
The legal claim states that the APF building was built too close to a natural gas line contrary to the National Energy Board Act, but Benedict points out that the conceptual drawings for that spot found on the FBC's website show that an MCA police substation was going to be built there.
Benedict scoffed at the idea the FBC could go ahead with construction of a new bridge without knowing where the border crossing will be located permanently.
"Customs and the bridge are a package deal," she said. "They have no choice. The CBSA is the Federal Bridge Corporation's client."
Benedict couldn't say what the APF's next course of action regarding the FBC's legal claim will be until the group meets and comes to a consensus.
She said the MCA needs to speak to the community about the future of the International Corridor and show the APF more support, which she finds has been lacking over the past year.
Mitchell says he hopes to talk with the FBC's Glenn Hewus, senior vice-president of engineering and construction, to find a way of resolving the dispute with Akwesasne Peoples Fire outside of the courts.