Kahnawake Family Homes Law receives community thumbs up; formal approval next

09/05/2014

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) would like to announce that the Kahnawà:ke Family Homes Law received community support last evening and will now move toward formal and final approval. 

The draft of the proposed law was presented and discussed at last evening’s Community Decision Making Process (CDMP) hearing at the Golden Age Club. Several minor amendments being proposed to the draft law were accepted and consensus was reached to proceed with the final draft. One person preferred to not support the draft, with a small number abstaining – one on ‘principle,’ the rest stating they weren’t familiar enough with the law to provide their acceptance. Since the law was first proposed last September, community support has been almost unanimous.

The Kahnawà:ke Family Homes Law, which is the first to use the Urgent Process of the CDMP, is Kahnawà:ke’s response to Canada’s S-2 ‘Matrimonial Real Interests’ legislation. S-2 comes into effect in December of this year; First Nations that do not have their own law on the matter of matrimonial interests (more specifically, the division of property when a marriage or common law relationship ends) will fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal law which, for all intents, gives provincial courts the jurisdiction to hear such matters.

“It was certainly an interesting and lively meeting,” said Chief Clinton Phillips. “At the end of the day we were able to move forward. We will now have to prepare for the next challenge, which will be to engage governments on this issue.”