Kahnawake excludes students on basis of blood content

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There was a new twist in the debate over Mohawk ancestry in Kahnawake when the local school authority moved to bar students not on the Mohawk

Registry from the community's schools.

The directive affects 39 out of the 850 students now enrolled in Kahnawake who are considered to have less than 50-per-cent Mohawk blood.

The Kahnawake Education Centre issued the directive on instructions from the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. The education centre isn't taking sides in the debate, reported the Eastern Door, a Kahnawake weekly. The centre's director, Mike Diabo, said the directive was motivated by political and not financial considerations. Essentially, the directive said students presently in school may finish the year but can't come back next year.

Privately, band officials say all students already in the system will be allowed to stay, but that no new non-registered students will be allowed to enter.

Students not on the community's Mohawk Registry were allowed to enter the Kahnawake school system after the 1990 Oka Crisis. There was concern for the children's safety if they were to go to an out-of-town school, but at the time the move was seen as being temporary. Not all of these students are still in the system.

The move by the school's authority comes in the midst of a long-standing debate within Kahnawake over membership in the band. At issue are both concerns over assimilation and financial questions. The debate has been fueled by Bill C-31, which reinstated Native women who had lost their rights, putting pressure on the Band Council to integrate new band members with the community's limited resources. Like many First Nations communities, Kahnawake is struggling to accommodate a ballooning population with inadequate federal funds for housing.

The membership debate was further fueled when Kahnawake Peacekeeper Kyle Cross Brisebois was fired by the community's police force after he was ruled to have only 47-per-cent Mohawk blood less than the required 50-per-cent. Brisebois' ancestry was checked for seven generations to come up with his blood quotient.

In a letter to The Eastern Door, Brisebois quote, "Being a Mohawk is not about how much blood percentage you have. It is in your heart, it's a way of life and something you are born with or into. It is who you are, MOHAWK."