Category Archives: Land / Turtle Island

Poison Pine River

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By Thahoketoteh .My history here at Hornings Mills goes back 3 years when I rented a place on the banks of the Pine River (Hornings Mills Tributary) My first summer
here I started to clean the physical pollution out of the river going through my yard. To date I have removed at least 20 tons of physical pollution out of the river.Two and half years ago I contacted the MOE in
Guelph to report an environmental emergency as there was a constant leaching of phosphate in the river. I had to contact them again a few days
later as no one showed up to address my concerns. The guy at MOE said he sent someone out and his guy said “a bit of foam in the river, no problem”
I told him no-one showed up here, the place that lodged the complaint. He started to get defensive and uptight and actually raised his voice and
said “dont tell me I dont care about Mother Earth” and I pointed out that he actually doesnt.

Then I contacted the Niagara Escarpment Commission and reported it to them and they bowed out saying it is not in their jurisdiction. Then I contacted the Nottawasaga Conservation Authority and they actually did come out and have a look but wouldnt even test the water to identify the contaminant. Nevertheless I have continued cleaning the river and have walked up the South Pine and the North Pine to condirm the P.O.P.
(persistent organic pollutant) comes from the Hornings Mills tributary.

The Mills that were here left a huge mess for us to clean up, the evidence is all here. There is at least a metre of concrete looking stuff (from the stone Mill that was here) clogging the river. A piece of it broke off and on the bottom is all of their other garbage (pipes, steel,…) I probably will find a kitchen sink. The POP is what concerns me the most as it is probably from the paper Mill and it is known that the increased incidence of Diabetes 11 is directly related to these POP’s from old Mill towns.

Since none of the “government people” who are supposed to protect the environment are doing their job I give everyone of you reading this the
authority to do your duty for mother earth and start protecting your future generations. It is the duty we all share for our unborn children. As Kahentinetha said in one of her articles “it is time to clean the deadwood out of the Canadian government and then we can clean the environment”

The deadwood in this scenario is the guy at MOE in Guelph who is covering up a huge environmental mess, probably for the perpetrators of the mess.
The solution is simple, get the shit out of the river as mother earth continually pumps clean water through the earth up here only a 1/2 mile from where they hid there mess in a man made lake. She will clean herself as she was designed to do.

Now Enbridge Gas is rushing on over to wreck it some more by putting a pipeline under the contaminated river (that we will clean). Even though our Women Titleholders sent them an objection that by the way, they never responded to.

There is a lot of rotting wood in the artificial society called Canada that needs to be cleaned out. Wake up Canadians. Do it now

Always promoting Peace,

Thahoketoteh

 

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

STOP U.S. Aggression Against Venezuela

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Sign the petition online:
English: http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgn.shtml
Spanish: http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgnsp.shtml

Donate to help with organizing expenses.
International Action Center
Founded by Ramsey Clark
5C – Solidarity Center – 55 West 17th Street – New York, N.Y. 10011
212-633-6646 – iacenter@action-mail.org
http://www.IACenter.org

The United States government and its corporate media’s belligerent campaign against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its leaders must cease at once. Several incidents that occurred during the
session of the United Nations in New York City clearly expose the campaign’s escalation.

On Saturday, September 23, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, who was part of the delegation from Venezuela attending the UN meetings, was detained for 90 minutes in the JFK International Airport as he was ready to board a plane to return to his homeland. Charging that a code in his airplane ticket identified him as “almost a terrorist,” U.S. authorities held him. Mr. Maduro told CNN that he was confined to a small room and told to remove his clothes; he added that when he showed his diplomatic passport, the harassment increased. Then he was threatened, pushed and yelled at by immigration and police officials. He was also stripped of his travel documents.

Venezuelan General Consul in Chicago Martin Sanchez was also searched at LaGuardia airport. “After passing the X-ray control, they told me to open my bags. I showed them my diplomatic card, but they insisted on searching my hand baggage, because they thought it might contain a banned object. I wasn’t able to board my flight and had to wait three more hours for another plane.”

President Hugo Chavez’ personal physician and his chief of security had to remain aboard the plane that brought the delegation to the UN event since their visas were denied, therefore their legal entrance to the country was forbidden.

These incidents are clear violations of international law, the Vienna Convention and the obligation of the U.S. government, as the U.S. is the site where the headquarters of the UN is located.

The UN is supposed to be a neutral place where nations can debate in a safe environment, without external interference. The U.S. government has the obligation to protect and safeguard that environment and all the heads of state, representatives, diplomats and accompanying staff. The U.S. has failed to do this in this case.

This unreasonable hostility from the George W. Bush administration towards the Venezuelan leaders only validates the name “devil” by which President Chavez referred to U.S. President Bush during the Venezuelan president’s address in the UN.

The U.S. media and even some personalities have shown their hypocrisy by attacking President Chavez for using that word. But actions speak louder than words. Those personalities and the media circus gave little thought or consideration to the countless victims, among them many children and civilians, of Bush’s military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon in the name of “democracy”: the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of thousands of lives, the contamination of the world environment, the destabilization of the world through the “antiterrorist” military campaign and threats to countries like Iran, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. They forget the crimes perpetrated against the victims of Katrina, many of who are still without housing or resources to rebuild their lives. Is it not reasonable that many would view the head of this administration as the personification of evil?

It is time to face the danger that the United States represents here and abroad in order to stop the destruction that otherwise will occur.

Signed,
Ramsey Clark

Teresa Gutierrez & Sara Flounders,
Co-Directors IAC

Chris Silvera, Chair
National Teamsters Black Caucus
Sec/Treas. Teamsters Local 808

James Petras
Writer, Professor

Peter Coyote
Actor

Dr. James D. Cockcroft
Writer, Professor

Padre Luis Barrios, PhD
Iglesia San Romero de Las Américas

Judy Wicks Founder/President White Dog Enterprises, Inc.

Charles Barron
NYC Councilmember

Felipe C. Teixeira
Most Reverend OFSJC Bishop
Northeastern Diocese
St Francis of Assisi, CCA

Frantz Mendes, President
USW Local 8751
Boston School Bus Drivers

Leslie Feinberg,
Writer, co-chair LGBT Caucus, National Writers Union/UAW

David Sole,
President UAW Local 2334, Detroit

Berta Joubert-Ceci, MD
Physician

Dorotea Manuela and Tony Vandermeer
Co-Chairs, Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee

Larry Holmes
Troops Out Now Coalition

Pepe Abola, ROSA 7053, Youth Group of Boston Rosa Parks Committee

LeiLani Dowell
Fight Imperialism Stand Together – FIST

Sue Harris
People’s Video Network

Ardeshir Ommani
Stop War On Iran
Iranian American Friendship Committee

John Parker
LeftBooks

Jesse Lakahi Hiawa
Asia Pacific Action

Women’s Fightback Network

Steve Gillis, Vice-President
USW Local 8751
Boston School Bus Drivers

Susan E. Davis, Delegate
National Writers Union
UAW Local 1981

Sign the petition online:
http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgn.shtml

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Reposession of outdoor education centre

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There are no settlers living year round on this part of the Haldimand Tract at the source of the Grand River. So repossessing it is a simple matter. We sent the following notice to the Etobicoke Board of Education who are in the process of selling land that belongs to us.NOTICE OF REPOSSESSION OF KANION’KE:HAKA/MOHAWK LAND KNOWN AS “OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTER” STOLEN BY THE ETOBICOKE BOARD OF EDUCATION – LOT 1 CONCESSION 11 CLEARVIEW TOWNSHIP ON THE “HALDIMAND TRACT”DATE: August 1, 2006.

BY: Women Title Holders of the Kanion?ke:haka Nation

According to Wampum 44 of our law, the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Women are the “progenitors of the soil” of the Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk Nation. Title to our land is vested in the People through the Women. We are the Caretakers of the land, water and air of Turtle Island. We have the duty to safeguard our land for the coming generations. Self-determination is recognized as a universal human right.

RE: The Etobicoke Board of Education has violated our constitutional jurisdiction by stealing our property, in particular that which is within the 6 mile boundary at the source of the Grand River. This theft also violates the specific protection against encroachment provided in the Haldimand Proclamation of October 25, 1784.

TO: Etobicoke Board of Education, also known as Toronto District Board of Education, 5050 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8; Toronto Board of Education; City of Toronto; Province of Ontario; Queen Elizabeth II; Government of Canada; Ministry of Natural Resources; Department of Justice Canada; Attorney General of Canada; Attorney General of Ontario; Department of Finance Canada; Indian Affairs; Six Nations Confederacy; Mohawks of Wahta, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake, Ganienkeh and Kanatiohareke; Stock Exchanges of Toronto, Montreal, New York, Tokyo, London, Australia, Hong Kong, Australia and Zurich.

OBJECTION TO: The theft of property known as “Lot 1 Concession 11 Nottawasaga Township” located on the Noisy River near the source of the Grand River, is Kanion’ke:haka land. The Etobicoke Board of Education never consulted us nor asked us, the Title Holders, for our consent to enter our land and develop your Education Center on it. It is not only unsurrendered land but according to our constitution, it cannot be sold or alienated. The Haldimand Proclamation respects our title to southern Ontario and that there shall never be any encroachment on this tract, as follows:

FREDERICK HALDIMAND, CAPTAIN GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF OF THE PROV OF QUEBEC AND TERRITORIES AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF ‘HIS MAJESTY’S FORCES IN THE SAID PROVINCE AND THE FRONTIERS THEREOF. HADIMAND’S PROCLAMATION OF OCTOBER 25, 1785

“WHEREAS his Majesty having been pleased to direct that in consideration of the early attachment to his cause manifested by the Mohawk Indians, and of the loss of their settlement which they thereby sustained that a convenient tract of land under his protection should be chosen as a safe and comfortable retreat for them and others of Six Nations who have either lost their settlement within the territory of the American state or wish to retire from them to the British. I have at the earnest desire many of these His Majesty’s faithful allies purchased a tract of land from the Indians situated between the Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron and I do hereby in his Majesty’s name hereby authorize and impose the said Mohawk Nation and such others of the Six Nations as wish to settle in that quarter to take possession of and settle upon the banks of the river commonly called Grand River, running into Lake Erie, allotting to them for that purpose six miles deep from each side of the river beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the head of the said river which them and their posterity are to enjoy forever.

Given under my hand and seal at arms at the castle of St. Louis at Quebec, this 25th day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty four and in the twenty fifth year of the reign of our sovereign lord George III by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland. King, defender of the faith and so forth”.

The Board has no right to sell it or conduct any activities or business on it. We are repossessing the said land and demand that the Board vacate its illegal occupation immediately.

In taking our land the Board violated our jurisdiction as respected by the conjunction of our constitution, Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Canadian Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. According to Section 109 of the British North America Act 1867, Indigenous people?s “prior interests” supersede that of Canada and its provinces. According to Section 132 the only way to surrender Indian title is through a treaty made with the sovereign constitutional people of our nation with a clear question and a clear majority.

Our relationship is based on the Guswentha/Two Row Wampum Agreement. Our relationship can only be conducted on a nation-to-nation basis. The band council that the Canadian government has set up under the illegal Indian Act does not represent us. The Canadian constitution does not allow foreign federal, provincial and local laws on unsurrendered Indigenous land.

This invasion by the Board and its affiliates violates international law. It is illegal for the Board to override the rights of the Kanion’ke:haka. Take notice that we are repossessing our property immediately!

Any foreigner wishing to enter our territory, for any reason whatsoever, must get permission from the Governor General of Canada who must then inform us. No one individual or foreign entity can invite outsiders onto our territory to oppress a Kanion’ke:haka or misuse our sovereignty or our property. You need to understand the interests of the Six Nations people on our territory so that you will fully understand our position. Also, we have protocols and procedures you must follow to deal with us on a nation-to-nation basis now and into the future.

In Canada we took an action in the Supreme Court of Canada ? Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh v. Attorney General of Canada and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, Court File: 05-CV-030785.

We brought this constitutional jurisdiction issue before the U.S. Supreme Court. See No. 05-165: 2005. In the Supreme Court of the United States in re: Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh, Non-party, Petitioner/Movant/Appellant, The Canadian St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians, Plaintiffs, Respondents, v. The State of New York, Defendants, Respondents. Petition for Writs of Certiorari and Quo Warranto with Prohibition and Mandamus in Aid to Prevent Genocide. Rules 17.1 and 20.1. (Attached)

FURTHER OBJECTIONS:

Whereas:

1.Constitutional jurisdiction over our territory now called “Southern Ontario” and beyond, belongs to the Roti’noshon:ni/Iroquois Confederacy;

2.The Canadian and U.S. Constitutions respect that relations with us shall be conducted on a nation-to-nation basis. The Etobicoke Board of Education, federal and provincial governments do not supersede this constitution-to-constitution relationship between our nations.

3.Contact with the constitutional Indigenous people must be made only through the Governor General of Canada who must carry out her duty and support this repossession of our stolen land.

Therefore:

4.We demand that the Etobicoke Board of Education and their associates immediately vacate its illegal presence on our land.

5.We demand to know how international, federal and provincial entities can violate international law and the rule of law by superseding our jurisdiction over land that we never surrendered through a treaty or any means whatsoever.

By Kanion’ke:haka Women Title Holders

Katenies /s/ __________________________

Kahentinetha /s/ _____________________________

Iagotalona /s/ ____________________________

Contact: Thahoketoteh, 17A mill St., Hornings Mills, Ontario Canada L0N 1J0, 519-925-9695

Enclosed: Haldimand Proclamation; map; 05-165 Mohawk Manifesto.

Sent to: All Media; Etobicoke Board of Education; Toronto Board of Education; City of Toronto; Premier of Province of Ontario; Queen Elizabeth II; Government of Canada; Prime Minister of Canada; Ministry of Natural Resources; Department of Justice Canada; Attorney General of Canada; Attorney General of Ontario; Department of Finance Canada; Indian Affairs; Six Nations Confederacy; Mohawks of Wahta, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake, Ganienkeh and Kanatiohareke; Stock Exchanges of Toronto, Montreal, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Zurich.

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

“The answer my friend is blowin in the Wind”

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WHAT GOES ‘ROUND COMES AROUND – HOW THE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS SEIZED THE WIND MILLS ON THE HALDIMAND TRACTMNN. July 27, 2006. Last January we were called by a Mohawk resident from the community of Tyendinaga who lives at the source of the Grand River. He told us about a huge business development. The “Melancthon Wind Mill Farm” was being built on Haldimand Tract land without the knowledge of the owners, the Six Nations. They want to use our wind to make energy for sale to non-native people.

Two Women Title Holders from Akwesasne and Kahnawake then sent out an objection to this invasion of Kanien’ke:haka/Mohawk territory by a corporation, the Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. Along with this we attached a map, the Haldimand Proclamation and the “Mohawk Manifesto” with all the laws and precedents to support our objection.

It showed clearly their incursion onto our land is illegal. Canadian Hydro Developers contacted us to “have a chat and a coffee”. On June 20th we sent out another notice to have a formal meeting with an agenda. Beforehand we wanted all the information on this project such as financials, projections, plans and so on. They knew that their publicly traded company was soliciting funds for a project on land they did not own.

We asked them to obey the laws under the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Constitution of Canada and the Charter of the United Nations. We told them to stop this encroachment immediately. Canada must abide by the international law principle that there can be no development on Indigenous land without consulting and getting the consent of the Title Holders.

On July 25th in the Orangeville Banner Canadian Hydro Developers ran a media spin calling it, “Wind Farm phase 2 delayed”. The article states that a longer than expected provincial approval process for phase 2 of the Malancthon Wind Project will push the start-up date for construction back roughly a year [or forever]. They are hoping to build 88 more turbines. The delay they say is the result of the Ministry of Environment, the residents and other “stake holder” complaints [that’s us!].

The company will have to pay out $10 million in capital costs. According to Ann Hughes, Executive Vice President of Canadian Hydro Developers, “It will still be viable. We are very much committed to working through the process”. Is she referring to talking to the Indigenous land owners, the Six Nations, and discussing why they are putting their development on our land without asking us? Thanks Ann. We’ll see you at our table.

This apparently is one of several developments backed by the Ontario government. We say “Thanks for the windmills”. Now we can sit down and talk about what we’re going to give you out of it, if we want to. The windmills are on our property. It’s ours! You’ll just have to keep your hands off them and talk to us about it.

They say they are confident the project will go ahead. They just don’t get it, do they? I’d like to see how they’d react if someone started building windmills in their back yard! They know that they belong to us now. They just want a piece of the action. So we’ll think about it. That’s what we’ll talk about.

They can’t seize anything on Indian territory, which is all of Canada. They should have made a deal with us beforehand. This Johnny-come-lately deal-making is not the proper way to do business with us.

Are they throwing us into their bag of “environmental concerns”. We’re more than that! We’re the landlords! They hope it will be resolved. Nothing is going to change the fact that this is Six Nations land and it is not for sale.

On October 25, 1784, General Frederick Haldimand pledged Britain’s protection for the Roti’noshon:ni people on a tract of land within our traditional domain extending six miles deep on either side of the Grand River running from its mouth in Lake Erie to its source, “to them and their posterity forever”. This promise has not been honored. It’s mostly been breached. Encroachment is just not legal!

Canada has allowed most of our land and resources to be stolen through illegal land transfers and fraud. Dozens of cities and towns have been established on our land without our consent.

We have had enough! Now they’re stealing another of our resources, our wind. They never brought this over from Europe, did they?

We demanded that Canadian Hydro Developers cease and desist immediately. They are trespassing on our territory. We noticed that the Consumers Gas Company has also pulled back its construction of a pipeline near the windmills. As well, a new huge subdivision project has disappeared like the wind. What gives?

Now they have to consult with us to ask for our consent to do anything. No doubt about it, all governments, corporations, their agents, assigns and developers now have to respect the Guswentha/Two Row Wampum Agreement and engage in nation-to-nation dialogue with us. Canada, Ontario and Canadian Hydro Developers do not supersede this constitution-to-constitution relationship between nations. So stop violating our jurisdiction.

In Canada we took an action in the Supreme Court of Canada – Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh v. Attorney General of Canada and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, Court File: 05-CV-030785. That’s the basis of our objection.

There is one good sign. They’ve decided to meet with the traditional Confederacy representatives of Six Nations. Let’s hope they realize that signatures to any agreement are worthless unless they have been ratified by our people as a whole. In the old agreements they always asked if they got the consent of all the people.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

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