the Mohawk Kahnawake government may adopt policies it deems necessary to ensure the survival of its people. In February 2010, the issue was renewed when the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake elected to evict 35 non-Natives from the reserve. While the action was legal according to the membership laws, critics believed the council was acting specifically against some individuals. These persons had lived on the reserve for 10 years or more and contributed to the community. The council said they were responding to complaints from residents about limited housing and land being occupied by non-Natives. The eviction resolution, endorsed by all 12 chiefs of the MCK, caused an uproar within and beyond the community, attracting national press attention. Steve Bonspiel, publisher and editor of Kahnawake newspaper The Eastern Door, said that the issue dated back to 1973. At that time, when non-Native people with no ties in the community were asked to leave, they were harassed and even physically attacked. Bonspiel thought the council's 2010 threat to publish the names of people ineligible to live on the reserve was inappropriate as a means to use public pressure and potentially physical threat against them. Coverage of this issue by the Eastern Door that year resulted in the council reversing their decision. The Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said there was nothing illegal about the band's eviction of non-members: Ellen Gabriel, the head of the Quebec Native Women's Association and a Mohawk resident at Kanesatake, criticized the MCK. She said their actions did not represent the traditional inclusiveness of Mohawk communities, which had historically assimilated adoptees and marriage partners. She criticized the council for interfering in the private lives of persons who had chosen non-Native partners. She noted the Mohawk had long been successful at integrating people within their communities, and have still preserved their language and culture over the centuries. Some residents who received eviction notices agreed to leave; others proved they spend only limited time in the community, so were permitted as visitors. The council said it would send second notices to people who did not respond, and then would publish their names. The governing band council defended its right to ask non-Natives to leave the small community: In September 2014, the council revived the issue of non-Native residents, announcing community meetings for discussion and plans to issue a new regulation. It barred non-Kahnawake residents from the meeting. Restorative justice