interesting situation
In 1984 the Mohawk community of Kahnawake came up with a controversial membership law that bans all “mixed race” couples from living on its Montreal-area territory. Violation of the policy may result in eviction and/or the cutting off of benefits. The Supreme Court of Canada is to rule on whether or not Mohawk woman Waneek Horn-Miller and six other plaintiffs were deprived of their Charter rights in the last year after being ordered to leave Kahnawake because they are married/partnered to whites.
In Canada, in 2015, a couple is forced to leave their home because their relationship is interracial.
Amanda Deer is native. Her boyfriend is not. Most places in Canada, their relationship wouldn’t attract a second glance. But it was enough to provoke an angry mob in Kahnawake, Que., over the weekend, who drove the pair from their home on the Mohawk reserve near Montreal. “They were trying to break my front door down. They started handling the handle, banging on the door, banging on the porch,” Deer told CBC News.
Deer said she wasn’t sure whether the mob wanted her boyfriend to leave because he is not native, or because he has a criminal record; some Kahnawake residents, including Deer’s neighbour, have cited the latter reason. There would be more ambiguity about the mob’s motivation, were it not for the case of Cheryl Diabo, from the same reserve, whose home and car were vandalized last year — her garbage bin affixed with a sign that read “Kwe! My name is Cheryl and I live with a WHITE MAN” — because she was living with her white boyfriend.
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Amongst other observers, the National Post editorial board is appalled by the policy. Inspired by a new incident, that of native Amanda Deer and her white boyfriend being driven from the reserve, their May 21 editorial stated that “in 2015, consenting adults should be able to take up residence with whomever they please, even if that residence happens to be on reserve.”
The policy is indeed race-based. But it is not inspired by racism, which implies hatred or contempt for others. The Mohawks are not denouncing intermarriage in itself (so the title for the editorial, “The town that bans interracial marriage” is therefore misleading). They do not hate white people or consider them inferior. They have no problem with Mohawks married to white people living elsewhere.