The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) and the Six Nations of the Grand River (SNGR) have signed a Mutual Cooperation Agreement on Gaming, which intends to safeguard indigenous rights to facilitate gaming in Canada, expressing their shared opposition to the present gaming liberalization. 

The Agreement

The deal was signed at Kahnawà:Mohawkke’s Council and takes effect immediately. MCK and SNGR have agreed to collaborate on legal and political methods to protect Indigenous peoples’ rights to govern gaming throughout the country. This, the pact states, includes the struggle to protect indigenous communities’ economic benefits.

Additionally, the deal establishes a national organization of indigenous gaming regulators. MCK and SNGR both expressed disappointment with recent reinterpretations and modifications to the Criminal Code of Canada in a joint statement announcing the agreement. These amendments enabled the Ontario government to launch an online gambling program through its iGaming Ontario subsidiary. According to the tribal governments, this will not assist SNGR or MCK’s online gaming business Mohawk Online economically. Ontario is scheduled to open its online gaming sector on 4 April, having already granted initial licenses to three companies.

Renewal of this long-standing partnership predicated on nationhood is the first step in bolstering their collaborative efforts in defending their interests and establishing a grip in the gaming industry and other crucial sectors identified in the future.

Bolstering Local Gaming Community  

Additionally, the agreement means that both organizations will collaborate with their respective local gaming regulatory agencies to examine online gaming potential that benefit both communities. Today’s agreement marks a watershed moment in the process by which communities come together to solve shared concerns. This type of relationship is the first step toward displaying what they can accomplish as Iroquois communities when they collaborate.