Kahnawake's controversial membership law, which dictates who can live on the Mohawk reserve south of Montreal, will be changed in the coming year, CBC News has learned.
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced last week that 26 non-natives living in the community had received eviction notices to leave by Thursday.
The band council said on deadline day that it still hadn't heard from about 12 of the 26, and followup letters would be sent to them.
If they don't respond, their names may be publicly posted in the community, said Joe Delaronde, spokesman for the council.
Until now, their names have not been released.
People in Kahnawake have complained that the law hasn't been properly enforced.
Delaronde told CBC that amendments will be made to the law, but couldn't say what the actual changes would be.
The changes will, however, help clarify who can and cannot live on the reserve, he said.
"It's been vague, it's been hard, it's been expensive because there's been consultation going on for years and years. It took years of consultation. I don't even want to think of how much money," Delaronde said.
Kahnawake business owner Brian Goodleaf said the membership law should be enforced, but the council should have waited until the amendments were made before handing out the eviction notices.
"The changes to policy or procedure should all be settled and amendments should be made before any evictions are carried out because that's just not the way you do it," said Goodleaf, who runs a garage in Kahnawake.