About 200 people living on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve are being pressured to move out because they are in violation of a ban on non-natives living in the territory.
“Back in ’81, people were really having huge problems with the Indian Act and its policies, which were really designed to assimilate us and the community really had enough and said we’re gonna create our own set of laws to deal with membership”, said Joe Delaronde of the Mohawk Council Of Kahnawake in an interview with CTV News.
The ban is designed to protect cultural identity, but some say it’s racist.
“The people here have created the law and wanted it a certain way and it’s really about keeping your identity, especially here surrounded by every conceivable culture mostly Canadian and American and the fear is that we’ll wake up one day and not know who we are”, added Delaronde.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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