Kahnawake Family Homes Law re-enters CDMP

11/13/2019

The Mohawk Council of Kahnaw�:ke wishes to inform the community that the Kahnaw�:ke Family Homes and Matrimonial Interests Law (�the Law�) is reentering the Community Decision Making Process (CDMP) in early 2020. The announcement was made at last evening�s Fall Community Meeting.

The Law was created in response to Canada�s Family Reserves on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights (S-2) legislation that came into force in June 2014. The S-2 law allows for non-Native persons who are spouses/partners with a Native person certain rights on-reserve in the event of the marriage/partnership dissolving, as well as other effects on the community at large.

�The Kahnaw�:ke law was developed to protect and enhance our jurisdiction,� stated Rats�nhaienhs Clinton Phillips, who is the lead on the Lands Portfolio. �The Canadian legislation was very problematic in that certain sections did not mesh with our beliefs and laws. There was an opt-out clause in the law that stated the First Nations who created their own laws would be exempted, which is why we used the CDMP�s Urgent Process to beat the deadline.�

Kahnaw�:ke�s Law was formally repealed on January 24, 2018 due to the requirement that a law enacted through the CDMP �Urgent Process� must re-enter the �Regular� CDMP within a year of passage. For several reasons this requirement was not met.

�Circumstances regarding S-2 have changed,� said Rats�nhaienhs Phillips. �With that, we are confident that this is the right time for our Law to re-enter the CDMP.�

Detailed information will be presented to the community in the weeks to come, with several opportunities for input and suggestions.