Kanesatake, a community located in the beautiful Laurentians region, is surrounded by farmlands, orchards and beautiful sceneries. Therefore, the Economic development team would like to develop projects that will allow the community to build on these advantages.

In the course of the past year, an economic development strategic plan exercise was conducted by the economic development department. This exercise led to the identification of a number of economic opportunities in the vicinity of the community, along with projects that would help grasp these opportunities. At the time the team of the FNQLEDC visited the community, the only step left was to hold engagement sessions on building their Mohawk Economy with the population. The aim of these sessions is to seek the vision of the community members about the future of Kanesatake Mohawk Economy, but above all, to integrate their vision to the content of the strategic plan, a fundamental component of success. This strategic plan is structured around key areas, which include cultural tourism, green energy technologies and agriculture. Following, is an overview of two of these projects.

A Collaboration with the Oka National Park

The community of Kanesatake is located in close proximity to the Oka National Park, which is managed by the Société des établissements de plein-air du Québec (SÉPAQ). Every year, close to 750 000 people come to visit the park. The tourists, being already on site, all that remains, is to find a way to take advantage of it, and this is what Tracey Bonspiel’s team wants to do. Given the fact that cultural tourism has been growing in popularity over the past several years, one of the envisioned projects would consist in establishing a good collaboration with the national park and see which projects could be developed jointly.

Agricultural Project

Another project which could be carried out in the Mohawk community is the cultivation of vegetables and fruits in greenhouses installed in containers. The growing would be done according to a technology developed in Saskatchewan, with the aid of community members who have the necessary expertise to supervise the project. As mentioned previously, Kanesatake is located in a very productive agricultural sector, therefore, a project of fruit and vegetable farming right in the fields is also under consideration.

This is only a brief overview of selected projects that are part of the strategic plan for the economic development of the community, but in the light of this information, it can be envisioned that very interesting projects will be developed in Kanesatake in the coming years!

Further information on the Mohawk community of Kanesatake can be found at kanesatake.ca.

To discover other local economic development projects and initiatives, we invite you to visit our local economic development section.