(Pictured from Left to Right) Tribal PD Lieutenant Theodore Cook, SRMT Executive Director Tsiorasa Barreiro, National Tribal Affairs Advocate Kelbie Kennedy, Deputy Region 2 Administrator Andrew D’Amora, FEMA Region 2 administrator David Warrington, SRMT Safety Officer Adrian McDonald, SRMT Assistant Executive Director Starr Thomas, SRMT Office of Emergency Management & Services Director Nolan Jacobs and Region 2 Tribal Liaison Lesly Almanzar during the community tour along the St. Lawrence river.
AKWESASNE -- David Warrington, FEMA Region 2 administrator, visited the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe on May 2nd 2023. He was accompanied by Andrew D’Amora, the Deputy Region 2 Administrator, National Tribal Affairs Advocate, Kelbie Kennedy, and Region 2 Tribal Liaison Lesly Almanzar.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss and review the support FEMA provided to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FEMA representatives asked for Tribal Nation feedback regarding FEMA administrative processes and requirements under the federal COVD-19 Emergency
Declaration. Tribal Chief Ron Lafrance, SRMT Executive Director Tsiorasa Barreiro, Tribal Sub-Chief Derek King, Tribal Sub-Chief Benjamin Herne, Assistant Executive Director Starr Thomas, Office of Emergency Management & Services (OEMS) Director Nolan Jacobs, Tribal PD Theodore Cook, Safety Officer Adrian McDonald, OEMS Program Assistant Katrina Jacobs and Senior Accountant Karen Plante-Lanthier all attended the morning session.
Office of Emergency Management & Safety staff also used the visit as an opportunity to educate FEMA representatives on the many facets of Akwesasne culture and history. SRMT Tribal Nation officials thanked FEMA for their assistance and detailed the many ways the funding helped keep Akwesasne, and surrounding communities, safer during the pandemic. FEMA helped SRMT provide several emergency food distributions, supported non-congregate sheltering contracts at local hotels and enabled the SRMT to provide free COVID-19 PCR testing to all community members along with non-member school teachers and employees of local businesses. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); masks, sanitizer and wipes were made available to the community under the FEMA program and was distributed to the community and numerous community groups and organizations. Discussions also focused on improving access to FEMA grant funding to Tribal Nations.
“The assistance FEMA provided to Akwesasne under the Federal Emergency Declaration was tremendous. It was vitally important to our community safety and our team made sure help went to whoever needed it within the community. Our Emergency Management & Safety office, our Finance team and our Tribal Administration team worked closely with our FEMA partners to procure many necessary resources to keep our families safe. Council is very proud of this work and the staff that made it happen” commented Tribal Chief Ron Lafrance Jr.
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe was the first tribal nation in Region 2 tribal nation to declare a disaster directly to the President of the United States, and establish a direct recipient relationship with FEMA. This move gave the SRMT rapid access to needed supplies; much faster than going through New York State. This was one of the reasons the FEMA representatives wanted to visit Akwesasne specifically.
A community tour was provided to the FEMA representatives and a lunch was shared. Discussions focused on the COVID-19 experience in Akwesasne, but also included future opportunities for collaboration before during and after disaster events.
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The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council is the duly elected and federally recognized government of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.