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n.s .,: Marlene Occupancy and Supreme Court

n.s .,: As well, the band pointed out in court there are 25 band members on a waiting list for housing, according to The Chronicle Herald. Justice Gregory Warner of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, in a decision released Thursday, concluded Toney can stay in the home west of Kentville, N.S., mainly because a 2013 federal statute recognizes the equality rights of spouses in such situations, regardless of gender, race or ethnic origin. Marlene Toney's occupancy became an issue for the Annapolis Valley First Nation because, under the Indian Act, reserve lands are held by the federal Crown in trust for the exclusive benefit of First Nation bands. Warner said the Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act was introduced to fill a legislative gap with respect to property rights between spouses living on reserves when they separate or one of them dies. The home in question was built in 1979 for former chief Lawrence Toney and his first wife with a 23,000 federal grant. Clearly, when Parliament passed the act and recognized the matrimonial status of both partners, irrespective of whether both were First Nation members or Indians, it was an intentional modification to ... the Indian Act, Warner wrote in his decision. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.