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The document alleges the CBSA and the Attorney General were negligent and breached their duties in allowing border guards to treat island residents travelling within Canada like foreign visitors.

“The situation has become intolerable for the people of Akwesasne,” said Cameron Fiske of Milosevic Fiske LLP, one of the firms involved in the suit.

“Nowhere else in Canada are people treated like this. Nowhere else in Canada do Canadians have to go through an international border when they are going from one part of Canada to another part of Canada.”

The allegations have not been proven in court and the government has not yet filed a statement of defence.

“Cornwall Island has a unique and complex set of challenges related to border management,” said Border Services Agency spokeswoman Jacqueline Callin.

“To address these, the (agency) and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne are working in a Nation-to-Nation approach.”

Callin said a process to bring the two sides together began in April.

The situation has become intolerable

Fiske said Cornwall Island residents have to go through a border crossing to attend schools, doctors’ appointments or to eat in restaurants.

“Each time there is the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen at the border and the possibility of being sent to secondary inspection,” he said.

The lawsuit is seeking $100 million in damages and another $50 million in punitive damages, as well as a declaration that the defendants have violated the charter rights of the proposed class members.