Grand chief and chief in Kanehsatà:ke ousted after ethics report released

Turmoil between the former grand chief Victor Bonspille and members of the band council came to a head when he and chief Valerie Bonspille were ousted by a Kanehsatà:ke First Nation Ethics Commission ruling. The Band Council held a press conference in Oka National Park on April 2, providing an opportunity to media to understand why the Ethics Commission had ruled to oust the two. The councillors said three points led to this decision by the commission. “The Commission found that they engaged in multiple acts of misconduct that interfered with the governance of Kanehsatà:ke,” Chief Brant Etienne told reporters at the press conference. He said this includes baselessly requesting third-party financial management by the federal government. He says this is an action that would have stripped Kanehsatà:ke of its financial autonomy. Etienne added that the other incident that led to the Ethics Commission ruling is an altercation that occurred on Aug. 8, 2022, resulting in the physical assault of Chief Denise David by then-chief Valerie Bonspille. Etienne, reading from the Ethics Commission report, said the third reasoning was for Victor and Valerie Bonspille’s “participation in the forced closure of the council building by chaining its doors shut on October 25th, 2024, leading to a court injunction to restore operations.” Former chief Valerie Bonspille told APTN News via Facebook messenger there is no evidence to back allegations of abuse and she would never do such a thing to someone she had respected at the time. The Ethics Commission was called after the positions of grand chief and chief became vacant under code 9.1.5 in the Kanehsatà:ke Custom Electoral Code, which is when the grand chief or any chief misses more than three Mohawk Council or public meetings. Victor Bonspille told APTN News missing meetings was as a result of toxicity between other council members, saying he couldn’t meet them face to face. Leading up to this event, Victor Bonspille had been requesting the federal government to get involved in his allegations against former band council members in Kanehsatà:ke. He brought it up during the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) meeting in December 2024. “It’s been four years now that investigations been going on and it’s with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) who’s leading the investigation, and the Federal government has yet to be involved in that investigation,” Victor Bonspille said at to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau at the meeting. “I have yet to hear from the Federal government what they think on their money being spent.” Bonspille is referring to funds given to Kanehsatà:ke for COVID-19 relief in 2020. Crown-Indigenous Relations responded to APTN News but did not respond to our questions about whether the government will look into Bonspille’s allegations. The current council denies Victor Bonspille’s claims. “Where’s the body? everybody’s looked,” said Etienne. “If there does turn out to be anything, I think the most it might come down to is a possible maybe breach of public trust — but then that’s a whole different matter.” Victor Bonspille provided APTN with a number of financial documents during an interview in December. Unaudited financial records for the 2020 fiscal year appear to show that Chief Patricia Meilleur received close to half a million dollars. In a Facebook message, Meilleur told APTN she has done nothing wrong. Serge Otsi Simon, who was grand chief during the beginning of the pandemic, also denies Bonspille’s claims. “All the funding that was distributed was through proposals, and that went through W8banaki, I believe, at the time, and the Federal government put its stamp of approval,” Simon said to reporters at the press conference. Bonspille says he took this case to the SQ four years ago. “We launched the investigation with the use of the forensic audit outcome and now we’re just waiting for it to hopefully be completed and people will be held responsible for that,” Bonspille told APTN News in December. In a phone call, the SQ confirmed there is an ongoing investigation for fraud. The provincial police spokesperson said the police are not investigating the band council and they are looking into an external agency in Kanehsatà:ke, but could not confirm which agency, as it is an ongoing investigation. The SQ confirmed this investigation was launched in August 2021 and that it is near completion, but could not confirm when it will be done. Victor and Valerie Bonspille say they will both continue acting as Grand Chief and Chief until their community says otherwise. The band council said both could be charged for this. It is asking for the federal and provincial governments to respect first nations law. Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) spokesperson Pascal Laplante told APTN via email ISC is aware of the ethics commission’s ruling and is reviewing the information. Continue Reading