The Kluane First Nation (KFN) is attempting to evict two citizens convicted of a crime that caused tension and divisions in the small community of Burwash Landing.

According to documents filed in territorial court last month, the First Nation is seeking to evict brothers Wilfred Sheldon and Derek Johnson from their Burwash homes.

It argues the houses have been abandoned.

But Sheldon, who served as Kluane chief from 2007 to 2010, says that’s not true.

Sheldon and Johnson are on court orders not to live in the community for 18 months – part of the sentence they received for unlawfully confining Collin Johnson inside Derek’s Burwash home one night in the summer of 2013.

A witness testified they pulled the teen inside and locked the door. What happened after that is unknown.

Collin committed suicide five months later.

Burwash residents – many of them related – crowded a Whitehorse courtroom for both the trial last fall and the sentencing in January.

A judge had ordered the proceedings be moved to the capital, citing “past retaliation in this small community where violence has become common-place and is fuelled by alcohol and a long-standing family feud.”

During the sentencing hearing, the Crown relayed a recommendation from Kluane Chief Mathieya Alatini and council that Sheldon and Derek stay away from Burwash, for their own safety and for that of the community.

By that point, both men had already left. Sheldon moved to Teslin and Derek to Atlin.

But, in court on March 11 to face the attempted eviction, Sheldon said he intends to return to Burwash once he is legally permitted to.

The First Nation knows his stepfather, a former KFN housing manager, is looking after the property in his absence, he said.

Many of his belongings, including his company’s files, are still inside the house and he’s still paying the electric bill, Sheldon said.

“The home was not abandoned,” he said. “My life is still there.”

If it wasn’t for “other legal reasons,” he’d be living there now.

Kluane lawyer Graham Lang said the issue is how long the homes have been vacant.

Derek was not present at the March court date. Lang said he’d had difficulty contacting him to notify him of the court action.

Derek could not be reached by the Star for comment.

Sheldon did not respond to numerous interview requests.

Last December, KFN staff entered the two homes, both in Burwash’s Copper Joe subdivision, and changed the locks, Lang said.

He said Sheldon had no idea this had happened until Lang told him, two months after the fact.

“That’s the level of occupancy,” he said.

Sheldon said the First Nation’s actions lacked due diligence.

“Without me knowing ... they just went into my home and changed the locks,” he said. “As far as I know, I have rights to my own home. I feel violated. I feel they’ve crossed a boundary here.”

Sheldon said in court he was participating in the KFN’s home ownership program, and plans to one day own the home and retire there.

“I am 100 per cent Kluane First Nation citizen, living on category A land. As far as I know, that’s my home through home ownership.”

Category A settlement land means the First Nation owns the surface and subsurface, including minerals.

Chief Alatini told the Star in a brief interview last week Derek and Sheldon haven’t lived in the homes for “numerous” years.

“We need housing allocations,” she said. “They’re KFN’s houses. (Sheldon and Derek) don’t pay rent.”

She refused to comment further.

Lang said in court this would be “somewhat of a novel situation.

“This will be the first time, I think, a First Nation that has passed its own Lands Act is moving to evict a citizen from a home,” he said. “There’s potential for this to be a little complicated.”

A copy of the KFN’s current housing policy is inaccessible to members of the public online.

But a 2012 draft policy states that a tenant leaving a KFN-owned home for more than one month must notify the Public Works and Municipal Services department in advance and arrange for someone to care for the home during his or her absence.

Once this occurs, the First Nation will winterize the home.

If a tenant doesn’t inform the department in advance, the rental unit will be considered abandoned, the draft policy states.

In a letter published in the Star last week, a Burwash resident wrote that both men – whom she didn’t identify – did what was required of them as outlined in the housing policy.

“Both houses have been winterized and are under the supervision of a designated person for the duration of their absence,” she wrote.

“I have seen houses that were in the possession of other KFN citizens that had been frozen up numerous times over the years and no action was taken on them. It makes you wonder: why this is happening?”

According to court documents, Sheldon and Derek moved into their homes in 2009.

They have not paid rent during that time, and KFN has paid property taxes and insurance, the documents say.

The KFN’s website says some housing units in the Copper Joe subdivision are not eligible for purchase, but the First Nation is working on a rent-to-own arrangement.

The KFN’s 2014 strategic plan notes a need for housing in Burwash.

A full hearing in territorial court has been scheduled for April 21.