Category Archives: History

How the British came to Ontario

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There is so much said about the British granting us the Haldimand tract. The truth is we granted them Ontario under Gushwenta. The British were never here until we defeated the French and Huron in a 92 year war. We participated in the 1701 treaty of Peace in Montreal with France and her remaining allies. In that same year we agreed to split the territory won by right of conquest with the British. Our chiefs were invited to London as guests of Queen Anne and were promoted as “The Romans of the New World” to the courts of Europe. We still have the silver Queen Anne presented to our chiefs we keep it at Tyendinaga. That is how the British came to live in Ontario. Following is a copy of the Original Nanfan Treaty, our gift to the British

A DEED FROM THE FIVE NATIONS TO THE KING, OF THEIR BEAVER HUNTINGGROUND, MADE AT ALBANY, NEW YORK, JULY 19, 1701

To all Christian & Indian people in this parte of the world and in Europe over the great salt waters, to whom the presents shall come
– Wee the Sachims Chief men, Captns and representatives of the Five nations or Cantons of Indians called the Maquase Oneydes Onnandages and Sinnekes living in the Government of New York in America, to the north west of Albany on this side the Lake Cadarachqui sendeth greeting – Bee it known unto you that our ancestors to our certain knowledge have had, time out of mind a fierce and bloody warr with seaven nations of Indians called the Aragaritkas whose Chief c?d was called successively Chohahise –
The land is scituate lyeing and being northwest and by west from Albany beginning on the south west side of Cadarachqui lake and includes all that waste Tract of Land lyeing between the great lake off Ottowawa and the lake called by the natives Sahiquage and by the Christians the lake of Swege and runns till it butts upon the Twichtwichs and is bounded on the right hand by a place called Quadoge conteigning in length about eight hundred miles and in bredth four hundred miles including the country where the bevers the deers, Elks and such beasts keep and the place called Tieugsachrondio, alias Fort de Tret or Wawyachtenok and so runs round the lake of Swege till you come to place called Oniadarondaquat which is about twenty miles from the Sinnekes Castles which said seaven nations our predecessors did four score years agoe totally conquer and subdue and drove them out of that country and had peaceable and quiet possession of the same to hunt beavers (which was the motive caused us to war for the same) for three score years it being the only chief place for hunting in this parte of the world that ever wee heard of and after that wee had been sixty years sole masters and owners of the said land enjoying peaceable hunting without any internegation, a remnant of one of the seaven nations called Tionondade whom wee had expelled and drove away came and settled there twenty years agoe disturbed our beaver hunting against which nation wee have warred ever since and would have subdued them long ere now had not them been assisted and succoured by the French of Canada, and whereas the Governour of Canada aforesaid hath lately sent a considerable force to a place called Tjeughsaghronde the principall passe that commands said land to build a Forte there without our leave and consent, by which means they will possess themselves of that excellent country where there is not only a very good soile but great plenty of all maner of wild beasts in such quantities that there is no maner of trouble in killing of them and also will be sole masters of the Boar hunting whereby wee shall be deprived of our livelyhood and subsistance and brought to perpetual bondage and slavery, and wee having subjected ourselves and lands on this side of Cadarachqui lake wholy to the Crown of England wee the said Sachims chief men Captns and representatives of the Five nations after mature deliberation out of a deep sence of the many Royall favours extended to us by the present great Monarch of England King William the third, and in consideration also that wee have lived peaceably and quietly with the people of albany our fellow subjects above eighty years when wee first made a firm league and covenant chain with these Christians that first came to settle Albany on this river which covenant chain hath been yearly renewed and kept bright and clear by all the governours successively and many neighbouring Governmts of English and nations of Indians have since upon their request been admitted into the same. Wee say upon these and many other good motives us hereunto moveing have freely and voluntary surrendered delivered up and for ever quit claimed, and by these presents doe for us our heires and successors absolutely surrender, deliver up and for ever quit claime unto our great Lord and Master the King of England called by us Corachkoo and by the Christians William the third and to his heires and successors Kings and Queens of England for ever all the right title and interest and all the claime and demand whatsoever which wee the said five nations of Indians called the Maquase, Oneydes, Onnondages, Cayouges and Sinnekes now have or which wee ever had or that our heirs or successors at any time hereafter may or ought to have of, in or to all that vast Tract of land or Colony called Canagariarchio beginning on the northwest side of Cadarachqui lake and includes all that vast tract of land lyeing between the great lake of Ottawawa and the lake called by the natives Cahiquage and by the Christians the lake of Swege and runns till it butts upon the Twichtwichs and is bounded on the westward by the Twichtwichs by a place called Quadoge conteining in length about eight hundred miles and in breath four hundred miles including the Country where Beavers and all sorts of wild game keeps and the place called Tjeughsaghrondie alias Fort de tret or Wawyachtenock and so runns round the lake of Swege till you come to a place called Oniadarundaquat which is about twenty miles from the Sinnekes castles including likewise the great falls Oakinagaro, all which [was] formerly posest by seaven nations of Indians called the Aragaritka whom by a fair warr wee subdued and drove from thence four score years agoe bringing many of them captives to our country and soe became to be the true owners of the same by conquest which said land is scituate lyeing and being as is above expressed with the whole soyle the lakes the rivers and all things pertaining to the said tract of land or colony with power to erect Forts and castles there, soe that wee the said Five nations nor our heires nor any other person or persons for us by any ways or meanes hereafter have claime challenge and demand of in or to the premises or any parte thereof alwayes provided
and it is hereby expected that wee are to have free hunting for us and the heires and descendants from us the Five nations for ever and that free of disturbances expecting to be protected therein by the Crown of England but from all the action right title interest and demand of in or to the premises or every of them shall and will be uterly excluded and debarred for every by these presents and wee the said Sachims of the Five Nations of Indians called the Maquase, Oneydes, Onnandages, Cayouges and Sinnekes and our heires the said tract of land or Colony, lakes and rivers and premises and every part and parcell thereof with their and every of their appurtenances unto our souveraigne Lord the King William the third & his heires and successors Kings of England to his and their proper use and uses against us our heires and all and every other person lawfully claiming by from or under us the said Five nations shall and will warrant and forever defend by these presents–In Witness whereof wee the Sachims of the Five nations above mentioned in behalf of ourselves and the Five nations have signed and sealed this present Instrument and delivered the same as an Act and deed to the Honble John Nanfan Esqr Lieut to our Great King in this province whom wee call Corlaer in the presence of all the Magistrates officers and other inhabitants of Albany praying our Brother Corlaer to send it over to Carachkoo our dread souveraigne Lord and that he would be graciously pleased to accept of the same Actum in Albany in the middle of the high street this nineteenth day of July in the thirteenth year of His Majty’s reign Annoque Domini 1701.

Source: “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875” U. S. Serial Set, Number 4015 begining at page 552. Available “on line” from the American Library of Congress (alc.gov)

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Dekanawida and the formation of the Great Peace: Part 1

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This work was from an oral translation of John Arthur Gibson an Onondaga Chief who lived when the stories were told always. Thanks to my brother Tehonikonrathe for transcribing this most important part of our history.
This is Part 1

 

This is what happened when it originated, the Great Law. This is what happened in ancient times: There was warfare, and they habitually killed each other, the Indians of the several nations. This is what was going on: They scalped one another at the various settlements, that is, the warriors were roaming about across the bush, scalping the inhabitants. Moreover, this was happening where the Mohawks resided, at the lake shore on the northerly side of the lake, Lake Ontario, which is where a mother lived with her daughter.

The old woman was called Kaheto?ktha? (End of the Field) her daughter, as to her she was named Kah,etehsu,k (She Walks Ahead). These two left the place where they lived going far away into the bush, where they set up camp and lit a fire, at a place where no one travels; a place where the river forks, called (?); they lived there for a long time, and for several years never did any man come to visit them.

Just about then it started: She noticed, the old woman, that it was evident her daughter was going to have a child. Then the old woman was surprised at how it could be possible that her daughter was going to have a child; she was surprised at where in fact she might have gotten it, since she had never seen a man. Thereupon she questioned her daughter, saying ?Who then, is the father of the child you are going to have?? Then Kah,etehsu,k said, ?Mother I do not know what happened nor how it is,? but the old woman did not believe what she said, her daughter. Thereupon the old woman began to get angry, and said, ?Probably it is not true what she said, Kah,etehsu,k. This is how it was, every day and every night the old woman got angry, it seems, she was questioning her daughter, saying, ?Now I will question you. Moreover you will tell the truth, the real truth and nothing else, only this very true matter, that is, who is the father of the child you are going to have? Now you shall tell the truth.? Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k said, ?Mother, I will tell you that actually I do not know.?

Thereafter Kaheto?ktha? became depressed and she got angry saying, ?It is not true what she said, Kah,etehsu,k.? Thereafter the old woman, getting angry, said, ?Surely you must know who is the father of the child you are going to have.? Then her daughter became unhappy and cried , and that is the way it was for quite some time: Both the old woman and her daughter were unhappy.

This, then, is what happened when it was night and they were asleep: The old woman dreamed and she saw a man arrive where they had their house, and he said, ?I have a message along which I shall tell you: you should stop the kinds of thoughts you are having. Indeed, your thinking is that probably it is not true what she says, your daughter. This, indeed, is the reason why it is not wholesome, your preoccupation with her confinement and her saying, ?Indeed I don?t know where it came from nor how it is.? Now I will tell you what happened to your daughters life, for it is true that she does not know what happened.

This is the reason why you should now stop; don?t cause your daughter to worry. Moreover, you should ease her mind by apologizing to her. Actually a great thing has happened, for he is appointing your daughter to be the instrument of a male child?s birth. He is sending him, the one you all believe is the Ruler, and he is coming from the sky above the earth; and he will be born of Kah,etehsu,k herself. Moreover, when he is born, the boy, I will give him a name; you will say, Tekanawita?. And when you see him the two of you will be kind to him, and don?t bother him when, in the course of time, he becomes a man. In fact, he is going to be working here beneath and on the other side of the sun. Moreover, once he is born, Tekanawita?, he will grow rapidly, and it will not be long before you two will see many unusual things: He will reveal his powers, and all of the people will acknowledge them when they see Tekanawita?.

Actually, he will travel to different villages all over the bush; to small settlements of families, and there he is going to work to stop what is going on, and, indeed, what is going on is that they are killing one another, specifically they are scalping one another; in fact, they are shedding each other?s blood, people of their own kind living here on earth.

That is why he decided it, the Maker, as you say, the Ruler, who has created the world and the sun which gives light all over the earth and the islands; also the moon which gives light at night; also the rivers which keep flowing; also the lakes and the great bodies of water; and he also planted the many kinds of vegetation; also the shrubs and the forests and there, moreover he created them; that is, their shedding each others blood, just pools and flowing streams of peoples blood. This is why Haweniyo? decided to send Tekanawita? here, and his mission will be to end their killing one anther.?

As to the old woman Kaheto?ktha and her daughter Kah,etehsu,k, now another day has dawned for them. Then the old woman said, ?My daughter, I understand now that it is true, indeed, you don?t know where you got the child you are about to have, for a man I saw when I dreamed last night, told me everything, everything about where it comes from, the child you are about to have. And indeed this: It is you, especially, whom he chose and it is there from your person that Tekanawita? will be born.

This, then, is how it was and in a short time a boy was born. Thereupon the old woman said, Now, indeed, Tekanawita had arrived.? ?And it was evident that he was very healthy. Everyday he grew, and In a short while he began to walk around, and when, quite soon, he started to talk, this is what he began to speak about: It is not good for people to be unkind to one another. Every day it was evident that he was growing rapidly. Eventually it came abut that the old woman said, ?This is what I think, it is time to go to the village of our relatives.? Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k said to her son, ?My son, what will you say to your grandmother, who wants us to go to the village now?? Thereupon Tekanawita said, ?That is what I want, to see people of our own kind.? Thereupon the old woman said, ? In three days? time we will depart.? Then Tekanawita said, ? This is what will happen when I see our people: we shall converse, and I will tell them that they are now arriving, the Power and the Good Message and Peace.?

Thereupon they went home, returning to where the women had come from. When they got back to the village, one of them sent a message notifying the leading chief of the village. When he was notified, the leader, then he circulated the news and everybody gathered. Then the chief spoke, thanking them and greeting the old woman and also her daughter and also their child, and when he had completed his welcome he said, ?Now then, we will listen well to the message you two have brought along.?

Thereupon Kaheto?ktha?(?) said, ?The truth is that it is of great importance, the message we all are bringing along. This is a matter of fact, is it: For many winters we have been gone, I and my daughter, Kah,etehsu,k, and the reason we went from here was that, indeed it was too dangerous because of their killing one another. So I began to think, ?It might be possible for me and my daughter to survive somewhere by kindling a fire at a place where no one roams about.? At the place where the river forks we erected our shelter. There, moreover, an important event occurred concerning my daughter, Kah,etehsu,k , for when she had grown up, it was not long before it came to be evident that she was going to have a child. I had not seen any man, and this was the reason that I questioned her, saying, ?Who is the father of the child you are going to have?? Then she spoke saying, ?I do not know what happened.? Thereupon I, an old person, became angry, and my mind was troubled, and I was disappointed, thinking, ?It is not true what my daughter is telling me about how, then, it is happened.? This, then, is what happened: When night approached us, I dreamt I saw a man entering the place where we have our shelter. This is what he said. ? I have come to tell you to stop it, that is , indeed, your anger, your uneasiness, your disappointment at what it is like, your daughters life, in fact that she is going to have a child; it is true that she does not know where it came from and what it is that happened. This is what I came to tell you: You should repent, more specifically, you should apologize to your daughter. Actually what is happening is that a great event is taking place in that Tehaehyawa?ki, as you call the Ruler, chose your daughter Kah,etehsu,k. it is there, of her body, that he will be born, the one he sent, the one you will all see here on earth. Moreover, when he is born, you will call him Tekanawita? and he is going to work beneath the sun where the earth is located, and it will stop, the persistent matter of their slaughtering one another, their own people.? So therefore you are now seeing this one, our child, Tekanawita?, and this is the reason we came back home: we thought that you ought to hear the wonderful and important message, the message that came to us. In relation to that, you will all now see Tekanawita?.?

Thereupon the chief stood up saying, ?Truly, all of us together have heard it, every one living here. This, certainly, is true: An amazing event has taken place. It is a long time that mother and daughter have been gone, Kaheto?ktha?, that is, and her daughter, Kah,etehsu,k. Moreover, today, they have returned home; they have come back with our child. Indeed, we have been notified about how everything came about: It is from the sky that he came with his mission, an important one, for he came to work for peace to come about among the people living here on earth and for it to let up, the mutual slaughter, for it to and among us who dwell here. Now this is what will happen: We will greet them, shaking hands with Kaheto?ktha and Kah,etehsu,k and also their son, Tekanawita? — welcoming him back —which means we will thank him for visiting us and for seeking out our village first, so that we can hear the message with which he will travel to other places and different groups of people.

Now then we who live here are gathered with the one who has great power, Tekanawita?, and shortly, after he has grown to manhood here on earth, we will observe his work. So I beseech all of you to be kind to Tekanawita?. Now therefore you will stand up, now all of us living here will stand up , and furthermore we will be the first to welcome him, the children, shaking hands with Tekanawita? and also with his mother and also with his grandmother. There the whole group of old people and young people, now we will all welcome him by shaking hands with Tekanawita? and also with his mother and his grandmother.? Thereupon they all stood up, and as to Tekanawita?, all of the children welcomed him, shaking his hand and greeting him. The whole crowd came to welcome him, shaking his hand and greeting him. Thereupon their chief said, ?Now we have completed the matter,? and then they dispersed, the crowd.

Thereupon, as to Tekanawita?, this is what happened: When the children began walking around and more especially, when they played, some of the children repeatedly quarreled, and they wanted to fight. Thereupon Tekanawita? prevented them, saying, ?You will stop it because it is sinful for people to hurt one another; you especially, for you are all relatives, and so it is necessary for you to be kind to one another, as well as to other people, those you know, and those people you do not know; and you should respect them equally — all of the people ? you should be kind to everyone.?

Thereupon the children were amazed at what Tekanawita? was saying. When they got back to where they had their homes, they repeated what he had said, Tekanawita?. Thereupon the elders said, ?Now, indeed, they are beginning, the surprising events we heard about that he foretold,

Tekanawita?, for, never, in fact, has it been the case that we might hear someone say, ?It is sinful for people to hurt one another,? nor has anyone ever said, ?You should all respect one another,? nor has anyone said, ?you should be kind to the people you know as well as those you don?t know.? Now, indeed, it is coming true, the kind of thing we have heard about. As to the children, the ones with Tekanawita?, when he gathered them together, he spoke to the children, saying, ?Now you will listen well: Now it is arriving, the Good Message, also the Power and the Peace. Moreover, now it will stop, the way in which matters are proceeding here on earth beneath the sky, such that they cause pools and streams of human blood to flow. Moreover, when it stops, and when all the people are kind to one another, then all are relatives, they becoming brothers, the men, and all the women becoming sisters in future days to come, so that families will continue on.? Thereupon the children were surprised at what they heard him say, Tekanawita?.

Thereupon the children went home and when they arrived at their destination, they repeated the things he had spoken about, Tekanawita?. When the old people were informed, they said, ?Now, indeed, we hear them with amazement, these kinds of words. This we have never heard about, that someone might say, ?Good Message?, nor for someone to say ?Power?, nor for someone to say, ?Peace?, nor for someone to say, ?they are relatives, all of the people?, nor for someone to say, ? the men, all of them are brothers?, nor for someone to say, ?the women, they are all sisters?, also ?the children, they are all siblings?, nor for someone to say, ?pools and flowing streams of human blood will now cease to exist; from now on there will be peace and in the future days to come families will be ongoing?. Also there was great amazement at the kinds of words he used to speak in front of the children.

After the elders called a meeting, they invited Tekanawita?, and he joined in at the meeting when the elders decided to question Tekanawita?, saying, ?What should we do so that we might know what it means, Good Message, and also Power, and also Peace.? Thereupon Tekanawita said, ?Indeed, so be it, you shall hear about what you must do. As to that, first, as to the mothers, that is to say, the women, these will bake bread, corn bread, which they will collect. Thereupon as to you, you people, you will collect the flesh of game animals. These, then, will supply provisions of bread and meat. Then they should assemble, everyone, at the place provided; the inhabitants, all of them, will gather in the same place, and everyone will hear me tell about the matter you wish to know about.?

The older women spread the news, and everyone at the village was notified of the specific day they had chosen for them to assemble. Thereupon the inhabitants collected the corn bread and also the meat of game animals, and then they assembled. Then he joined them, Tekanawita?, who by now was a young man.

Then the older people said, ?Now then, we will ask questions about what it means for you to say ?Now it is arriving, the Good Message and this, specifically, Power and this, specifically, Peace,? so that now they will hear it, the entire crowd, when you explain what you mean.?

Thereupon Tekanawita? stood up in the center of the gathering place, and then he said, ? First I will answer what it means to say ? now it is arriving, the Good Message.? This indeed, is what it means: When it stops, the slaughter of your own people who live here on earth, then everywhere peace will come about, by day and also by night, and it will come about that as one travels around, everyone will be related. Then, indeed, (?) in future days to come.

Now again (?), secondly, I say ?now it is arriving, the Power,? and this means that the different nations, all the nations, will become just a single one, and the Great Law will come into being, so that now all will be related to each other, and there will come to be just a single family, and in the future, in days to come, this family will continue on.

Now in turn, the other, my third saying, ?now it is arriving, the Peace?, this means that everyone will become related, men and also women, and also the young people and the children, and when all are relatives, every nation, there will be peace as they roam about by day and also by night. Now, also, it will become possible for them to assemble in meetings. Then there will be truthfulness, and they will uphold hope and charity, so that it is peace that will unite all the people, indeed, it will be as though they have but one mind, and they are a single person with only one body and one head and one life, which means that there will be unity.

PART 1…. (to be continued)

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Forgotten arguments of Deskaheh. (Speech)

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YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND
Conference McGill University
Speech by Kahn-Tineta Horn

MNN. Nov. 10th 2002

HOW CANADA VIOLATED THE BNA ACT TO STEAL NATIVE LAND: THE FORGOTTEN ARGUMENTS OF
DESKAHEH

Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples now admits that the relationship between the First Nations and the European colonizers began with the Two Row Wampum Treaty. We agreed to live side by side with each other – with us in our canoe and they in their ships. This is an agreement that allowed our peoples to share the river. The Two Row recognized that the Indigenous Peoples and the newcomers belonged to different families with different languages, culture, laws and ways of life. Back in the days of first contact, Europe’s monarchs recognized that we were not their subjects and they agreed to leave us alone to live according to our laws and customs. We agreed to share the land as separate social groups, not as one political entity.

As time went on the colonizers started to look at things differently. They forgot about the Two Row Wampum and adopted a geographic description of themselves. They had battles with their European cousins over who could come to North America. Then they started to impose their laws and ways on everyone over here based on the treaties they made to end their wars with each other. They never consulted the Indigenous nations who had been taking care of the land since time immemorial. Instead of staying in their own ship they decided to take over the whole river.

Some of Britain’s North American colonies confederated in 1867 to form Canada. The new political organization was called a “dominion” because the colonial visitors started thinking they had a right to dominate the land and all the people on it. They changed the way they defined their political identity. Instead of basing it on the allegiance they owed to their king or queen, they based it on the land they claimed. They changed from sharing to dominating.

There was no legal basis for this change. Canada was a British colony and Britain could not give her subjects here more than she had to give. All the British had was an agreement to share. Maybe Canadians forgot about the Two Row Wampum, but Britain could not give Canada the right to make laws for our people because we were never British subjects.

The Indigenous peoples never agreed to change the terms of the Two Row Wampum treaty. Our ancestors were not consulted. They would never agree to such a serious change because that takes the land away from our future generations. And they had no right to do that. The whole concept violates our law. We are the caretakers. We hold the land for the future generations. Britain’s Canadian subjects had no right to force Indigenous peoples into their territorial concepts of nationality and property. They have no right to continue to disregard the original agreements by imposing their new geographic definition retroactively.

When Europeans first came to Turtle Island everybody knew they were subjects to their kings, and that Indigenous people were not. The way of life of the Indigenous peoples was a revelation to Europeans. We were free. We treated everyone equally. We were all citizens of our own nations.

The European peoples were influenced by the freedom we had. They didn’t want to be subjects anymore and so there has been a change in the colonizer’s way of thinking about law and international relations. Europeans have formally embraced equality along with the rest of the world. Britain does not have subject status anymore. Canadians define “nationality” in territorial terms now. They have citizenship based on place of birth. But they have not fully grasped the meaning of equality. Their institutions don’t give their citizens much of a voice. And their new First Nations Governance Act shows that they don’t respect our voice at all. They are ignoring their obligations under the Two Row Wampum.

As far as we are concerned, the colonizers are free to change the way they think of themselves….but this does not give them the right to define our identity and appropriate our resources. They made many changes in themselves during the 19th and 20th centuries. But, especially since Confederation, Britain’s Canadian subjects have been violating Britain’s agreements with the Indigenous nations.

Confederation and the British North America Act did not give Britain the right to let Canadians violate the Two Row Wampum. Britain recognized that its people could only come onto our land as a separate social group that would share the river with us. But Britain’s Canadian subjects fell into the erroneous habit of thinking that they owned the land. This lie is taught in your education system. Canada draws its maps to perpetuate the propaganda that justifies the theft of our resources.

The Six Nations Confederacy knew this back in 1920. In desperation they sent Levi General Deskaheh to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to stop the Department of Indian Affairs from violating the British North America Act. That piece of British legislation only gave Canada the right to negotiate with us in place of Britain. It did not give Canadians the right to impose their laws on us. But Canadian officials would not let Deskaheh have his day in court. Maybe they were afraid of losing their jobs.

After all, if Deskaheh had proven that what they were doing was illegal, these bureaucrats would have been out of a job. So they sent troops, the RCMP, to invade the small piece of the Six Nations`Grand River territory that was left after a century of theft and fraud. In the end they deposed the traditional government, one of the oldest governments in North America. This is the model the Americans copied rather poorly for their constitution. Since that time Canada has refused to recognize or deal with our real leaders. They will only deal with councils imposed under Canadian laws.

Six Nations diplomats had been honoured guests in Britain’s courts. But by the 1920’s Britain was refusing to deal with the problems that had befallen her old allies. This is why Deskaheh went to the League of Nations to appeal for justice. The Six Nations wanted membership in this new international organization so they could present our arguments and protect our legal rights. The Netherlands, Persia, Estonia, Panama and Ireland all agreed that the Six Nations complaints should be examined by the international court. But Deskaheh was ambushed again by Canadian officials skulking behind the scenes to make sure the case never got a formal public hearing.

Today, whether Canada wants to admit it or not, our people still maintain our right to independence. We were allies, not subjects of Britain and so we are not part of Canada – the colony that became a successor state. Canada imposed Canadian laws on us unlawfully, in violation of both the Two Row Wampum and modern International law. This is outrageous. As Deskaheh put it in his last address before he died in 1924, it’s as if Mexico tried to apply its laws in the United States. Canadians know how it feels when the United States tries to impose its laws on them. So why are they doing this to us?

The root of this problem is the failure of European colonists to fully understand the meaning of equal rights. Besides, they refuse to look at their own history and acknowledge that they have changed the way they define themselves. When we made the Two Row Wampum Treaty with Britain we both defined ourselves in terms of personal relationships. Our nations were based on our clans. The European nations were based on subject status and the allegiance they owed to their sovereigns. Their decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves does not give them the right to impose their laws on us or to take our resources. As a successor state, Canada is still bound by Britain’s treaty obligations. The settlers and their descendants are still a guests on our land…even though Canada has presumed to take over our whole house. Canada has not worked out fair and valid agreements with the First Peoples.

When the colonizers celebrate “Canada Day” they forget that Canada was not an independent nation at Confederation. In 1867 there was no such thing as Canadian nationality. Nationality is tied to idea of having shared ancestry and culture. Being Canadian is not a nationality. The settlers and their ancestors have only the shared experience of fleeing oppressive regimes and immigrating onto someone else’s land.

Canada is a “dominion” that was produced by Britian’s will to dominate. The concept of a “dominion” has its origin in feudal customs carried to Britain by foreign lords who conquered the land and the people on it. It is based in deeply rooted cultural habits that violate the egalitarian respect represented by the Two Row Wampum concept.

As a consequence, the whole existence of Canada is illegal. There is no legal foundation for the present territorial description of Canada – even by the European’s own rules which say that treaties continue to bind successor states. Canada’s self-definition that appropriates both our political identity and our resources violates the initial treaties made by Britain with the Indigenous peoples.

It violates both the European version of international law and our Indigenous law. It violates the principle of human equality that Canadians finally recognized in a formal way in the middle of the twentieth century – after the atrocities of World War II – when they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Deskaheh tried to present this argument way back in the 1920’s but Canadians didn’t get the message. Even today Canadians and their institutions continue to close their ears to our demands for political and economic equality. They have not thought things through. When Americans had their revolution they threw off their subject status. But they went crazy, grabbing land, killing people and destroying resources. They called the people of the First Nations “Indians” and treated us as vermin. In Canada people accepted this idea of the Americans that might makes right and that Europeans had a god-given right to grab lands, possessions, resources and lives. Canada thinks it was more honourable, but they bought into the sleazy American dream.

What happened was unthinkable. In the subsequent treaties on the prairies there was no meeting of the minds of the people who signed. The Anglo-Canadians imagined those people agreed to give up everything they had. The First Nations thought there was just an agreement to co-exist. It was not like the time of the Two Row Wampum treaty when there was a real meeting of minds. Back then the British knew they were British and recognized that Indians had nations. There was mutual agreement to live side by side.

The anglo-Canadian decision to shift to a territorial definition of themselves does not give them the right to take over our land and resources. All this has to be done through treaties and agreements. Canada needs our consent and we do not have to consent just because they lust after our resources and crave the right to ransack the land.

If Canada believes that all people are equal, Canada has no right to impose its laws and beliefs on us. We are the original caretakers of the land and resources. As a successor state Canada is still bound by the limitations of Britain’s treaty obligations, which were agreements to live as a separate social group on our land. This is according to international law which Canada has agreed to. The colonizers are obliged to share the land. They do not own it. They have no legal right to claim dominion over us, or to take our lands and possessions. They are visitors still. They have not worked out fair and valid agreements with us that consider the needs of seven generations to come among our people or among their own. Canada’s current attempts to force Aboriginal peoples to prove to their courts that we have a claim to our own lands is ridiculously backwards. They are the ones who are robbing us and their own future generations. They are the ones who must prove to us and to their descendants what right they have to be on this land, to ransack our resources and to leave a trail of pollution behind. If Canadians own this land, where is their receipt?

poster: Thahoketoteh