Who We Are

Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is the Project Manager

Linda Delormier and Chelsea Phillips are the Community Engagement Coordinators

In early 2019, work began on what was then called the MCK Governance Project. The Project was initially oriented toward assisting the MCK Council of Chiefs in revising and updating internal policies and procedures. In December 2021, the MCK Governance Project was renamed to reflect the Project’s broader and more inclusive goals and work was started on a multi-year community education and engagement process, in collaboration with the MyKahnawake project, to share information and facilitate dialogue on the history and future of governance in Kahnawà:ke, with the goal of generating a shared community vision of the pathway forward toward traditional governance in Kahnawà:ke.

* Jessica Teiotsistohkwathe Lazare was the Project Assistant from 2019 to 2021.

Advisory Group

The Kahnawà:ke Governance Project’s Advisory Group provides feedback on the design and conduct of community engagement processes, counsels the Project Manager on issue-specific matters that arise from time to time, participates in processes and events to ensure accountability, provides advice on the interpretation of input from the community, and reviews documents that are produced as part of the project.

The following Kahnawakerò:non are serving as members of the Advisory Group: 

Niioie:ren and Otsi’tsaken:ra Patton
Amelia and Joe McGregor
Brooke Katsitsiio Splicer
Wentahawi Elijah
Katsistokwi:io Jacco
Kwaharani Jacobs
Kanahsohon Deer
Robert Kennedy
Dale Dione Dell
Tonia Jacobs
Kanatase Horn
Russell Diabo

The Advisory Group also includes two advisors who are not themselves Kahnawakerò:non but who have agreed to share their expertise and assist with work of the project:

Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell is a political and cultural leader from the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory with five decades of experience in Rotinonhsón:ni and elected governance systems.

Gerald Reid is a professor of anthropology and sociology at Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Connecticut) whose research focuses on political and cultural development in Kahnawà:ke and other Rotinonhsón:ni communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.