SIX NATIONS — Tuesday’s Elected Council heard a group of Haudenosaunee women request that the man who confessed to shooting and killing Jonathan Styres be banned from Six Nations territory.
A group of about ten women from Haudenosaunee communities have been actively meeting and discussing how to support the call for an appeal to the acquittal of Peter Khill – and how to press for justice for indigenous victims in cases going through the courts.
Three requests were made: the first being to ban Peter Khill from Six Nations of the Grand River for the remainder of his life. SNEC put forward a motion to ban Khill and it was passed unanimously.
A second request was made to ask the council pass a resolution to prevent a Six Nations man who killed a Six Nations woman from working with children in the community.
Clint Doolittle struck and killed Joleen Styres with his car in 2016. The case was tried and Doolittle, as part of sentencing, was recommended by a Brantford judge to work with autistic children on Six Nations.
Styres’ sister, Jill Styres, said that is an action that would put Doolittle in direct relationship with Styres surviving children.
Doolittle has been involved in coaching minor lacrosse. The Six Nations Elected Council said they wanted more information on the judge’s ruling and referred the women to gather parents to speak to the minor lacrosse association about their concerns.
An additional request was made to put together a committee to develop a bylaw for the banishment of band members who have killed a person or prevent convicted sex offenders from residing on the territory.
The group was invited to meet with the justice committee to share their concerns there.Six Nations Elected Council heard an appeal by a family, challenging an eviction letter to the wife and mother – ordering her to stop residing at Six Nations.
RESIDENCY BYLAW CONCERNS
Six Nations Elected Council heard an appeal by a family, challenging an eviction letter to the wife and mother – ordering her to stop residing at Six Nations.
A letter from SNEC went out to the family after a complaint letter informed the council of the woman, a non Six Nations band member but Mohawk citizen, that she had to cease residing on the reserve.
The complainants family was in attendance and allegations between the two families and their children were raised and disputed for over an hour at Tuesday’s council meeting.
SNEC debated their authority to change the eviction. A motion was put on the floor to allow the family to remain on the territory but elected councillors stated they did not have an authority to decide to overrule an eviction bylaw ruling and amended the motion – ultimately upholding the eviction.
The complainant, a mother, alleges the woman evicted had been bullying her children to the point of one youth becoming suicidal.
The family of the woman evicted approached the HCCC for a letter of support allowing her to remain in Six Nations, which they received and presented to the SNEC.
SNEC asked the complainant family if they had been consulted and allowed to tell their side of the story to the HCCC while the letter of support was being drafted and they confirmed they did not.
