{"id":107265,"date":"2026-07-27T09:21:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107265"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:21:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:21:43","slug":"caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\/","title":{"rendered":"Caretaker chief\u2019s presence questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker council member Brant Etienne attended the annual general assembly of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) last week, but some Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non have criticized his presence and participation at the meeting. Etienne said he attended the three-day general meeting to vote on resolutions as a council chief, advance ongoing community projects, and meet with other chiefs. From July 14 to 16, he participated in smaller meetings and in some of the plenaries and focused on the community\u2019s security needs as well as general interests at the assembly. For example, on the first day, Etienne addressed the assembly to remind other chiefs that Kanesatake\u2019s need for improved security is shared by many other Indigenous communities, and&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F27%2Fcaretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker council member Brant Etienne attended the annual general assembly of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) last week, but some Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non have criticized his presence and participation at the meeting. Etienne said he attended the three-day general meeting to vote on resolutions as a council chief, advance ongoing community projects, and meet with other chiefs. From July 14 to 16, he participated in smaller meetings and in some of the plenaries and focused on the community\u2019s security needs as well as general interests at the assembly. For example, on the first day, Etienne addressed the assembly to remind other chiefs that Kanesatake\u2019s need for improved security is shared by many other Indigenous communities, and... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F27%2Fcaretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Caretaker chief\u2019s presence questioned - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caretaker chief\u2019s presence questioned - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker council member Brant Etienne attended the annual general assembly of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) last week, but some Kanehsata\u2019kehr\u00f3:non have criticized his presence and participation at the meeting. Etienne said he attended the three-day general meeting to vote on resolutions as a council chief, advance ongoing community projects, and meet with other chiefs. From July 14 to 16, he participated in smaller meetings and in some of the plenaries and focused on the community\u2019s security needs as well as general interests at the assembly. For example, on the first day, Etienne addressed the assembly to remind other chiefs that Kanesatake\u2019s need for improved security is shared by many other Indigenous communities, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T13:21:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Caretaker chief\u2019s presence questioned\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T13:21:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":862,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/caretaker-chiefs-presence-questioned\\\/\",\"name\":\"Caretaker chief\u2019s presence questioned - 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