Lawyer Weighs In On Band’s Bid For Reinstatement
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 13:05
A lawyer that’s trying to help Green Lake’s Kenomatay band get reinstated isn’t sure what kind of case they have.
Peter Abrametz, Sr. says almost no research has been done on this potential claim.
However, he notes the research that has been done on this file has raised a question that hasn’t been dealt with before by the Indian Claims Commission.
Abrametz says, based on some government records, it appears the Kenomatay band was disenfranchised in the late 1800s because of ties to the Riel Rebellion.
He says there’s only one other band that has been disenfranchised for that reason — and they haven’t tried to be re-instated.
Abrametz believes it’s probably worth seeing how the claims commission deals with this — but he doesn’t foresee court proceedings getting started before 2009.
He has asked descendants of the Kenomotay band to come up with a membership list, while he works on preparing a claim for federal court and the claims commission.
Kenomotay representative Rodney Laliberte hopes the end result will be a land base for his people.