Six Nations: One Year Anniversary

It has been one year since a small group of people retook the piece of land now known as Kanonhstaton. Here is the press release that came out of the Reclamation on that day.

Media Advisory from Six Nations “Iroquois” Confederacy Grand River Country

Ori:wase
Media Advisory
Communique
For Immediate Release:
February 28, 2007

Six Nations Haudenosaunee mark anniversary

GRAND RIVER TERRITORY SIX NATIONS: On this, the first anniversary of the Six Nations Reclamation, Confederacy chiefs say the past year has been a case of history repeating itself.

From massive subdivision to nuclear power plants, Ontario and Canada have continued their policies of encouraging encroachment and development of Six Nations lands without our consent.

In the 1800s it was early squatters who were enticed onto our lands with promises of purchasing the land if they cleared it.

Today, that policy continues in the form of Ontario’s Green Belt Legislation and “Places to Grow” Act. Both are development policies that continue to encourage encroachment and development of Six Nations lands along the Grand River without our consent, and in spite of our concerns for the environmental impact these massive populations and developments will have on our water shed, said Mohawk Chief Allan MacNaughton.

“The environmental impact that the proposed plans will have on your children, grandchildren, and their grandchildren as well as ours, is deeply concerning,” said Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton. “As responsible Leaders, we must voice our strong concerns to our neighbours, who are also our Allies. We do not agree with these current plans. We believe that our Treaty Territory, which is the Grand River Watershed can not sustain these populations, expansions and developments,” he said. We feel it is important to begin our words today with out utmost concern for our environment, whom we relate to as “Etinoha” – Our Mother.

The Caledonia Reclamation has always been about the land. As a people we are deeply connected to the land and that is why the Reclamation of our lands has taken root.

It is the land that has brought us here today.

On the first anniversary of Six Nations repossession of its lands near Caledonia, we as Confederacy chiefs take issue with an attempt by the federal government to launch a misinformation campaign among Canadians, in particular because that campaign was clearly targeted to take advantage of Six Nations Sacred MidWinter Ceremonies, a time when Six Nations would be devoting itself to giving thanks to the Creator, not reading newspapers or watching newscasts.

The federal justice department report presented in January outlined Ottawa’s legal position saying that it does not believe Six Nations would win a “land claim” case in their courts over the disputed Plank Road (Highway 6) lands.

“It is important to explain how we arrived at the point we are at, on the issue of the approximately 10,000 acres of land encompassing the Plank Road Lands.

“There is no living knowledge on Six Nations of our grandfathers ever changing their minds about leasing the Plank Road Lands,” Chief MacNaughton said.

What Canada did not tell Canadians is that they have failed to produce any proof that would substantiate their claim that Six Nations surrendered its Plank Road lands for sale.

“As of today, we have not seen anything of substance which would support the opinion of the Federal Dept. of Justice,” said Chief MacNaughton.

In fact, Canada’s justice department admits that no single document of surrender exists. They assert the claim that Six Nations agreed in December of 1844 to surrender the Plank Roads for sale. We have carefully reviewed their claim and found the following:

- That the Crown Representatives of the day were actively encouraging squatters to occupy those lands and to help build the Plank Road itself, in exchange for the first right of purchase of said lands.

- We also find proof in the Canadian Records that much land was sold long before they came to the December 1844 Council meetings to ask permission to change from the sanctioned leasing system into the selling of the lands.

- We also provided an in-depth report on the fraudulent financial activities of Crown representatives in those days.

“We have proven that Six Nations never sanctioned the sales, never benefited from any of the sales, and continuously objected to the selling off of our lands,” he said. “And we have proven it with Canada’s own documents.”

Chief MacNaughton said, the Confederacy believes that we are now beyond the point of waiting for proof that doesn’t exist which would support the Department of Justice legal opionion.

“We stand here today, disappointed with the fact, that as of today a year later, a Federal negotiator with a proper mandate has yet to arrive to work towards creating a new, fair way of resolving Haudenosaunee land rights’ issues.

It has been a challenging year, and we believe we are on the thresh-hold of a just resolution of this issue, if Canada’s political will is there. We urge all to be patient and to continue to search for and uphold what is right and just in this world.