08 August 2007
70,000 page homework assignment
1. What are the outstanding Six Nations claims? Per federal backgrounder, there are 14 issues to be resolved; RR has only copied the three that are pertinent to Region of Waterloo in this excerpt:
"In March 1995, the Six Nations of the Grand River Band of Indians filed a lawsuit against the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario. The lawsuit involves allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty in the administration of Six Nations lands and assets, most of which are based on events that took place before Confederation. In other words, the Six Nations claims focus on how land and money were managed, rather than questioning ownership and/or a return of lands.
"Specifically, the Six Nations give fourteen examples of claims, or allegations, which they are attempting to prove against Canada and/or Ontario, including:
- the Crown did not give the Six Nations all the land promised in the Haldimand Proclamation;
- William Claus, a Crown agent, misappropriated monies belonging to the Six Nations and the Crown did not properly secure reimbursement;
- the Crown speculatively invested the Six Nations’ trust monies in the Grand River Navigation Company;....
"As outlined in its Statement of Defence, the Government of Canada’s position is that the Six Nations validly surrendered all the lands that are not now part of the reserve; that the Six Nations received full and fair compensation for the lands they surrendered; and, that if there is any liability, the liability related to breaches that pre-date Confederation rests with the Province of Ontario.
"In 1999, 2000 and 2001, all three Parties – the Six Nations, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada – turned from active litigation and towards talks to find common ground upon which to proceed with some form of out-of-court resolution. Since 2004, the Government of Canada has been in exploratory discussions with the Six Nations’ elected Chief and Council and the Province of Ontario to address the claims.
"This timeline reflects the tremendous complexity of the factual issues that must be addressed. There are already more than 70,000 pages of material dating from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. A full response to the Six Nations’ allegations requires a comprehensive social, political, legal and economic history of southwestern Ontario from 1784 to the present." Source: federal backgrounder to Six Nations claims===>To read the entire document go to:
2. How was the Haldimand Tract cf. map above surveyed?
"....it was unanimously agred upon and determined That the bend of the river easterly, nearly two miles from its mouth or issue into Lake Erie, and the Mohawk Village shall be the two fixed points and that a line drawn straight from one of these points to the other shall form the centre line of the Indian Settlement or Lands on the grand River, and that two parallel lines to this, six miles distant on each side of the river shall form the bounds between them and the Settlement of Nassau." (1)
3. Why did the Augustus Jones survey not continue to the source of the Grand River?
"The plan prepared by Augustus Jones of the tract granted to the Six Nations, extending from Lake Erie at the mouth of the Grand River to the northern limit of the lands purchased from the Mississaga Indians on 22 May 1784 is stated to contain about 674, 910 acres and has an extract from the deed of feoofment dated 7 December 1792 endorsed on it." (1)
4. What about the Mississaga Treaty signed 22 May 1784 at Niagara?
"The speaker for the Mississagas stated that they were not the owners of all the land between the three lakes, but that they were willing 'to transfer our right of soil and property to the King our Father, for the use of His People, and our brethren the Six Nations from the Head of the Lake Ontario or the Creek Waghauata to the River La Tranche then down that River until a South Course will strike the mouth of Catfish Creek on Lake Erie." (2)
5. Why were portions of the Haldimand Grant sold?
"Although it was Haldimand's intention that the Six nations would retain these lands in perptuity, Brant was adamant that they should be immediately be enabled to sell or dispose of their lands without restriction. As tension increased over the land question, it was finally agreed that the land would be surveyed and sold by the government on behalf of the Six Nations, thus providing some control over the loyalty and integrity of the purchsers of such a major tract of land in the very heart of the province. More than half of their entitlement, mainly those lands furthest removed from the lakefront, were surveyed, divided into six separate blocks and offered for sale." (2)
Maps L to R: Grand River highlighted in blue from source in Dundalk highlands to mouth in Lake Erie; 1813 Chewitt map of Upper Canada showing the Haldimand Tract as surveyed by Augustus Jones as wells as the blocks of land offered up for sale. Block Two sold to Germany Company and now Region of Waterloo is shaded orange (just above Block One shaded green and now North & South Dumfries Townships)>
Sources: (1) Brig. General E. A. Cruikshank, the Reserve of the Six Nations on the Grand River and the Mennonite purchase of Block No. 2, Waterloo Historical Society 1927; (2) unknown source from RR's files long before blogging ever crossed her mind-- apologies.
Labels: aboriginal, history, land claims
Did my 40th Birthday Sweat there
http://www.topix.net/world/canada/2007/08/shirt-tales-a-70-000-page-homework-assignment-in-march-1995-the-six-nations
Shirt Tales a 70,000 page homework assignment In March 1995, the Six Nations
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Posted today
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megwich
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