Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) says they are working towards revising the 36-year-old residency by-law as community members voice their concerns on the matter.

During the Aug. 8 general council meeting, Six Nations resident Rick Clause and his sister Audrey Burning discussed concerns from their personal experiences in relation to an individual that they believe is breaking the residency by-law.

The by-law, which was signed on Dec. 18, 1986 by then Six Nations Chief William K. Montour, states only registered band members of the Six Nations of the Grand River shall be entitled to reside on the reserve.

Clause and Burning are arguing that the individual in question has been living on the reserve on a property against the by-law as they stated the individual is not a Six Nations band member.

Coun. Helen Miller says an eviction notice was submitted to Six Nations Police and, subsequently, submitted to the individual in question. She said SNEC has done all its required to do under the current by-law policies.

"Council's done what we were supposed to do. We followed the residency by-law. He was given an eviction notice and my understanding is that the police delivered the eviction notice to him and we've done what the residency by-law requires," she said. "The residency by-law doesn't say anything about kicking people off or anything. All we have to do is give them an eviction notice and the police deliver the notice."

The by-law states that any individual found residing, trespassing or unlawfully frequenting prohibited purposes on the Six Nations of the Grand River Indian Reserve in violation of any of the provisions of the by-law shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.00 or imprisonment for the term not exceeding 30 days or both.

Clause argued that the eviction notice was not delivered to the individual because they provided Six Nations Police a documented address that is not located on the Six Nations Reserve, qualifying them to stay on the territory as a guest.

Coun. Greg Frazer shared his understanding of the local law and said some people are able to find loopholes in the by-law to refer to their stay on the reserve as a guest.

"The way I understand it is that the residents that are non-members that are on the reserve actually say they come on as guests," he said. "The residency by-law doesn't go as far as picking him up and removing him. We present him with that eviction notice by the police and he's given time to leave. If he says he has an address that is off the reserve, we can only remove them when their [driver's] license says they have an address on the reserve. When they have an address off the reserve, they're guests."

SNEC CEO Darrin Jamieson says the organization is looking to revise the by-law as he believes its flawed.

"I can appreciate the frustration. I think it really goes back to a by-law that is flawed and the flaw is related to enforcement, we have a residency working group that is working revising the by-law because it is insufficient and one of the key elements is the enforcement piece of it," he said.

"We don't have our own court system here, so we have to look at what court systems we have to work with and part of that is if they can prove that they have residency in another area besides Six Nations its really difficult to prove otherwise."

In regards to Clause and Burning’s current circumstances, SNEC have passed a motion to meet again with the community members within two weeks to further discuss the plan of action moving forward.

Jamieson says any amendments or revisions to be made to the residency by-law will be voted on and approved by SNEC before the changes go into affect. 

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