General

Eviction of non-aboriginals is legal: Minister

Chuck Strahl says Ottawa doesn’t plan to intervene in Mohawk dispute

The Kahnawake Mohawk reserve’s decision to expel non-aboriginal residents may make him “uncomfortable,” but Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says there’s nothing illegal about it. “These are decisions made by First Nations people on their own land,” Strahl told reporters in Ottawa. “It is not for me to make those decisions, or the government, and we are not going to be making those decisions.” Strahl’s statement follows the local band council’s delivery of eviction notices to 26 people living with their Mohawk spouses or partners on the reserve. According to Strahl, Kahnawake has the “constitutional basis” to set its own membership rules and kick out non-members.

National Post

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