Alvin Delisle is Mohawk. Pauline Labelle is not. They have spent a decade together, but are being forced to separate as their leaders have ordered all non-Aborigines off their lands in eastern Canada.
“Absolutely it’s racist,” said Labelle. “They’re evicting me because I’m white.”
Twenty-five eviction notices were recently sent to non-Aboriginal residents of the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal.
The directives were backed by calls for protecting the Mohawk cultural identity and lineage, amid a swell of intermarriages with non-Aborigines, and complaints the territory is overcrowded, with more than 8,000 people living on 48 km² of land.
Many also lament that non-natives living on the reservation are sharing in benefits meant strictly for indigenous peoples, such as a tax exemption for goods and services.
Delisle and Labelle, both in their 60s, are fighting the eviction, but do not hold out much hope.
The Mohawk people have admittedly been kicked around in the past, Delisle said.
“Now, we’re the ones doing the mistreating of people who are here. It makes no sense,” he said.
Native rights advocates say the expulsions, which are not new in Canada, are justified under Canadian laws and treaties that set up native reservations.
Mohawk chief Martin Leborgne said the people who were asked to leave “are not Aboriginal” and “do not have a right to reside here.”
“It’s not pretty, but it’s your government, your white government that set up reservations for Aboriginals to live, and only us,” he said.
Constitutional law professor Jean Leclair said the residency rules adopted by the Kahnawake band council are “radical,” even “stupid” as they require residents to be at least 50 percent Mohawk.
Asking outsiders to integrate into Mohawk culture would have been more reasonable, he said. But he also says he understands the band’s motivations.
“It’s a racial policy, sure. But natives cannot help but be preoccupied with racial issues, or they risk disappearing. One in two Aboriginals marries a non-Aboriginal,” he said.
“The Mohawks are not the most threatened. There are 6,000 of them, while there are other nations with just 50 to 60 members, out of the 630 bands across Canada,” he said.
At the local post office, the chiefs have organized a survey expected to show broad support for the measure.
Resident Clint Meloche approves of it.
“They do not have a right to live on our territory in order to benefit from our taxation system,” he said.
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