Kahnawake Family Homes Law nearing completion

08/26/2014

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to inform the community that the proposed Kahnawà:ke Family Homes Law could be passed into legislation as soon as the first week of September.

The final draft of the proposed law will be presented and discussed at the next Community Decision Making Process (CDMP) hearing on Thursday, September 4, 2014. The meeting will take place from 6pm to 8:30pm at the Golden Age Club.

The proposed 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 who do not have their own law will fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal law.

“While it looks like we’ll be able to make the deadline in terms of communal passage of the law, there are still several hurdles we have to overcome,” said Chief Clinton Phillips. “Once our law is in place we’ll still need to engage outside governments to begin the process of having it recognized. We’ll also need to identify and secure resources that we will need, as well as make some modifications to some Kahnawà:ke services.”

The issue will be discussed at length on the K103 Partyline talkshow on Tuesday, September 2nd.

The draft of the law is available for viewing at www.kahnawakemakingdecisions.com.