MONTREAL - Canada's top court has sided with a Quebec lawyer in a $2-million dispute that has lasted for more than two decades, involving a Montreal-area Mohawk community.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a unanimous decision that a debt owed by the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake to lawyer Louis-Victor Sylvestre has not been extinguished.

The decision clarifies the rules around how creditors can collect on debts in Quebec.

Serge Simon, former grand chief of Kanesatake, said Friday he was "devastated" by the decision. He said it could take many years to pay off a debt that is now worth three times its original amount, and to do so would require "cutting services back to the bone."

"It's going to hurt like hell, but we're going to have no choice now," he said.

The matter da

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