The grand chief of the Mohawks of Kanesatake says he has reached a deal with Quebec to partially reopen a provincial park near the community after meeting on Monday. The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake has agreed to the partial reopening of Oka provincial park as long as people from the epicenter of Canada’s pandemic, Montreal – is kept out.

The intention is to lift the blockade on Wednesday once the Mohawks receive a copy of the contingency plan.

Last week, Kanesatake blocked entrance to the park due to fears that reopening the park to the public would trigger a second wave of COVID-19.

According to Simon’s statement, the agreement will see only one access road to the park open, restricting access to those living in the Lower Laurentians and keeping the number of people at any time to half of maximum capacity.

According to Simon, his council agreed to take down checkpoints at the entrance to the park and stop telling people to leave the park.

In a statement released late Tuesday that provincial representatives listened to the council’s concerns about the possible spread of COVID-19 to the Mohawk community adjacent to the park. Simon thanked them for “making the accommodations through understanding and compassion.”

Government officials will reopen the park, but at 50 per cent capacity until the end of the summer, the Mohawk council’s statement says.

It says only visitors from communities in the vicinity of the park, in the lower Laurentians, will be permitted access to the park, and access to Kanesatake itself will be restricted.

Only the entrance to the park off Highway 640 will be open, the statement says, and the park’s washrooms will all be fully open and regularly cleaned.

SEPAQ, which manages provincial parks, had originally said no buildings, including bathrooms, would be accessible in the park.

The Kanesatake Mohawk Council’s statement says the bike path will be blocked between the nearby town of Oka and the park, and visitors will be advised that they must stay in the park once they arrive.

Provincial health authorities also agreed to test both symptomatic and asymptomatic people in Kanesatake, in an effort to get a better picture of COVID-19’s effects on the community.

Simon said all results obtained from those tests will be kept confidential.

Simon said, “We want to make sure the community stays safe.”

Oka’s Mayor Pascal Quévillon said last week that he sees no problem with the park partially reopening, as long as people respect physical-distancing rules.

Quévillon said last week, “COVID-19 is here to stay. We have to learn to live with the virus.”