In 2003, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development stated that the land claim would be negotiated through the Specific Claim Policy in regard to financial compensation instead of negotiating for the land itself.[2] In 2013, after ten years of negotiations this was appealed on the basis that the Specific Claim Policy does not support a strict financially based negotiations for land claims.[2] The Honourable Mr. Justice Rennie states the following in his decision:
[6] The Minister has publicly stated that the Policy does not permit a land-based settlement, only financial compensation. This is incorrect. The Policy explicitly contemplates the acquisition and return of land. The Minister’s comments insinuate that he either refused to recognize the settlement's options or simply misunderstood altogether.[2]
Due to the continued infrastructure development on treaty signified land tensions have risen during negotiations but the return on the land continues to be the main issue.[3]
As of 2014, the Culbertson Tract Land Claim is currently designated as “in the negotiation process” with the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.[3]
On October 18, 2021 the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory announced a ratification, by vote, or a partial settlement of the land claim[4]
Background
History
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, established in the early 1500s and consisting of the five Iroquoian nations of the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk (and later in 1722, adopting the Tuscarora) were a significant military force that maintained neutrality during the coming American Revolutionary War.[5] During this period British Army Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe signed the Simcoe Deed, otherwise referred to as Treaty 3 1/2.[6] This treaty ensured that the People of the Six Nations Confederacy would have the right to land in the Bay of Quinte.[6] This would continue to be occupied and settled by Loyalist people after this treaty was signed, making the land ensured in the Simcoe Treaty was largely taken by non-aboriginal communities.[1]
Legal
The right for aboriginal communities to claim heritage land has been a troubled process through Canadian history. The legal foundation for Aboriginal rights to claim heritage land was founded in 1973.[7] The case of Calder et al. v. Attorney-General of British Columbia that the Supreme Court decision allowed Canadian aboriginal communities legal rights to claim land.[7] The Canadian government later created an official process of land reclamation that is negotiated between the claiming community and the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.[8] This process has four stages; submission of claim, assessment, negotiations as well as settlement and implementation.[9]
Impact
Mohawks of the Bay of Qunite Flag.
There has been growing academic literature based on the continuation of settler colonial attitudes through the land reclamation process.[10]:68 Since the Culbertson Tract Land Claim has taken over twenty years, this is seen as the foundation of colonial attitudes on Indigenous populations.[10]:66
Protests
As one of the largest First Nations Territories in Ontario, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte have protested in the past in solidarity with other smaller first nations communities to create awareness.[11]
Highway 401 blockade - June 2007
On June 29, 2007, Mohawk protestors constructed a blockade on Ontario highway 401.[12] The blockade spanned 30 kilometres in length to bring attention and recognition to the land that the highway was built on. This protest lasted only one day in hopes to bring attention to the Culbertson land claim.[12]
Gravel quarry occupation - March 2007
In March 2007, a local group of Mohawk protestors gathered at the Gravel Quarry located in the Culbertson tract.[13] This group was not supported by the community council but protested the continued profit from land that was in negotiation under this community land claim.[13] This protest only lasted one day and the Gravel Quarry is still in use.
Community backlash
In 2008 Band Chief of the Tyendinaga Mohawks, Donald Maracle, criticized these protests based on the community's policy of decision-making through council decisions.[14] The protests were not supported by the community council which wished for continued peaceful negotiations.[14]
In 2011, Amnesty International released a report on the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) response to these protests.[15] The report outlines the inappropriate level of force displayed by the OPP during these protests, citing one instance of guns being drawn due to the mistaken sighting of a rifle in the protest.[15]
↑ Indian And Northern Affairs Canada, Canada (2003). Resolving Aboriginal claims: a practical guide to Canadian experiences. Canada. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Ottawa. ISBN978-0662352396. OCLC57282187.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
1 2 Pasternak, Shiri; Collis, Sue; Dafnos, Tia (2013). "Criminalization at Tyendinaga: Securing Canada's Colonial Property Regime through Specific Land Claims". Canadian Journal of Law & Society. 28 (1): 65–81. doi:10.1017/cls.2013.4. ISSN0829-3201. S2CID146454564.
The Bay of Quinte is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is located about 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Toronto and 350 kilometres (220 mi) west of Montreal.
In Canada, an Indian reserve is defined by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Reserves are areas set aside for First Nations, one of the major groupings of Indigenous peoples in Canada, after a contract with the Canadian state, and are not to be confused with Indigenous peoples' claims to ancestral lands under Aboriginal title.
Six Nations is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of whom live on the reserve. These nations are the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora. Some Lenape live in the territory as well.
Kanesatake is a Mohawk settlement on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers and about 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Montreal. People who reside in Kanehsatà:ke are referred to as Mohawks of Kanesatake. As of 2022, the total registered population was 2,751, with a total of about 1,364 persons living on the territory. Both they and the Mohawk of Kahnawake, Quebec, a reserve located south of the river from Montreal, also control and have hunting and fishing rights to Doncaster 17 Indian Reserve.
The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) are a Mohawk community within Hastings County, Ontario. They control the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, which is a 7,362.5 ha (18,193-acre) Mohawk Indian reserve on the Bay of Quinte in southeastern Ontario, Canada, east of Belleville and immediately to the west of Deseronto. They also share Glebe Farm 40B and the Six Nations of the Grand River reserves with other First Nations.
The Numbered Treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. These agreements were created to allow the Government of Canada to pursue settlement and resource extraction in the affected regions, which includes the entirety of modern-day Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, as well as parts of modern-day British Columbia, Ontario, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. These treaties expanded the Dominion of Canada with large tracts of land in exchange for promises made to the indigenous people of the area. These terms were dependent on individual negotiations and so specific terms differed with each treaty.
Christ Church, His Majesty's Chapel Royal of the Mohawk is located on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Deseronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation and is associated with the Anglican Parish of Tyendinaga, Diocese of Ontario. It was designated as a National Historic Site in 1995 and is one of only three Chapels Royal in Canada, elevated by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.
Deseronto is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, in Hastings County, located at the mouth of the Napanee River on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, on the northern side of Lake Ontario.
The Grand River land dispute, also known as the Caledonia land dispute, is an ongoing dispute between the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Government of Canada. It is focused on land along the length of the Grand River in Ontario known as the Haldimand Tract, a 385,000-hectare (950,000-acre) tract that was granted to Indigenous allies of the British Crown in 1784 to make up for territorial losses suffered as a result of the American Revolutionary War and the Treaty of Paris (1783). The Six Nations were granted the land in perpetuity and allege that lands were improperly sold, leased or given away by various Canadian governments, leaving only 5 per cent of the original lands under Six Nations control. The Six Nations also allege that monies owed to the Six Nations from leases and loans on much of the tract have not been paid or were redirected into government coffers.
The Toronto Purchase was the sale of lands in the Toronto area from the Mississaugas of New Credit to the British crown. An initial, disputed, agreement was made in 1787, in exchange for various items. The agreement was revisited in 1805, intended to clarify the area purchased. The agreement remained in dispute for over 200 years until 2010, when a settlement for the land was made between the Government of Canada and the Mississaugas for the land and other lands in the area.
The association between the monarchy of Canada and Indigenous peoples in Canada stretches back to the first interactions between North American Indigenous peoples and European colonialists and, over centuries of interface, treaties were established concerning the monarch and Indigenous nations. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada have a unique relationship with the reigning monarch and, like the Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand, generally view the affiliation as being not between them and the ever-changing Cabinet, but instead with the continuous Crown of Canada, as embodied in the reigning sovereign.
Shawn Brant is a Native activist who lives on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in direct action struggles for Native land rights, in conflict with Ontario provincial authorities.
Captain John Deserontyon, U.E.L was a Mohawk war chief allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War. He led his people to Upper Canada after the war, settling on land granted by the Crown at the Bay of Quinte in present-day Ontario. This reserve, initially settled primarily by Mohawk loyalists from the Lower Castle, is known as Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario. Deseronto, Ontario is named for him.
Alderville First Nation is a band of Mississaugas, a sub-nation of the Ojibways. The Alderville and Sugar Island 37A reserves belong to that First Nation band government.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Indigenous peoples in Canada, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Indigenous or Aboriginal self-government refers to proposals to give governments representing the Indigenous peoples in Canada greater powers of government. These proposals range from giving Aboriginal governments powers similar to that of local governments in Canada to demands that Indigenous governments be recognized as sovereign, and capable of "nation-to-nation" negotiations as legal equals to the Crown, as well as many other variations.
The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI) is a provincial territorial organization (PTO) mandated to defend and enhance the Indigenous and Treaty rights of its 7-member First Nations in Ontario, Canada.
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is the main First Nation reserve of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation. The territory is located in Ontario east of Belleville on the Bay of Quinte. Tyendinaga is located near the site of the former Mohawk village of Ganneious.:10
Indigenous peoples in Canada demand to have their land rights and their Aboriginal titles respected by the Canadian government. These outstanding land claims are some of the main political issues facing Indigenous peoples today.
Indigenous specific land claims in Canada, also called specific claims, are long-standing land claims made by First Nations against the Government of Canada pertaining to Canada's legal obligations to indigenous communities.
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