"Mohawk Rd stand-off over"

SIX NATIONS - The "Native crisis" at 180 Mohawk Rd is over, although the fall-out from the short-lived confrontation may not be.

Last week Six Nations Housing officials changed the locks on the council-owned house on the grounds of the Woodland Cultural Centre. They say the tenant, Karen McNaughton, was seriously behind in her rent.

Later that day, representatives of the Mohawk Nation changed the locks back and let it be known that they would protect McNaughton from any further attempts to evict her.

Last Friday, 3 days after housing changed the locks, McNaughton started packing. By Sunday, she and her 5 children were in a privately owned home on the reserve, her mother Lorna McNaughton told the TEKA.

Lorna said Karen, a Mother's Allowance recipient, was able to access emergency funding to relocate after a story in the Brantford Expositor, headlined "Eviction sparks native crisis" prompted her case-worker to take action to get the children away from the danger of a possible confrontation.

Karen McNaughton could not be reached for comment but her mother agreed to answer questions on her behalf.

"The house was worse than I ever expected," said Lorna. "There were so many things wrong with it."

She said her daughter withheld her $400 a month rent payment for 2 reasons. She says she used her rent money to pay for repairs to the house and, when the Mohawk Nation occupied the Glebe lands, she wasn't sure who her landlord was.

"She quit paying her rent when the Mohawks took over the Glebe. After that she wondered who she was supposed to be paying," said Lorna. "She also thought, if council won't fix it up they must have condemned it. So why pay rent?"

"I feel she’s justified," Lorna added.

The McNaughtons claim the electrical wiring in the house was unsafe. They claim the septic system is old and dangerous.

"At first, Housing didn't even know the house had a septic tank. They thought it was booked up to the Brantford sewer system, said Lorna. It was so old and unsafe Housing told her to keep the kids away from it."

Housing Director Shelda Johnson tells a different story. She says McNaughton last paid her rent in November of 1994.

"Council's been very patient, said Johnson. "We try our best. We don't just evict people on a whim."

Johnson says the only time she ever heard from McNaughton was when a request for Housing to replace kitchen cabinets was received. "It was the only request and we replaced them," she said.

"Withholding rent payments is not proper," the Housing director added. "When you agree to something you should carry out your side."

Johnson agreed that political forces have entered into the dispute. She said that people who don't support band council shouldn't rent band council properties if they don't intend to keep the lease agreements. Johnson remarked that a woman who said she was a traditional person thinking traditional thoughts who used that as a reason for not living up to her legal obligations was dishonoring all traditional people.

But Lorna McNaughton says Housing has a hidden agenda. She claims Housing employees told her daughter that council wanted to renovate the house and convert it to office space. She believes council intentionally let the house fall into disrepair so that Karen and her family would leave.

Johnson admitted that the possibility of converting the house to office space has been discussed but denied that any attempt was made to force the family out of the house.

Karen McNaughton was on Barry Hill's radio talk show on CKRZ, Monday night. She was on the same night as Councillors Ted Martin and Nona Johnson who were talking about council's recently adopted election guidelines.

Hill challenged Martin, who is not on the housing committee, to get answers to McNaughton's complaints about housing.

I asked her for a letter documenting all the actions she's taken, Martin told the TEKA. "Then I'll go over to Housing and find out what's going on."