Message from the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy:

Stop development and negotiate

Posted 7 hours ago

We the Haudenosaunee government of Six Nations find ourselves in an uncertain position with respect to the relationship between the governments of Canada and Ontario, in right of the Crown.

The actions of your government and its processes have challenged our right to establish our own internal structures for dealing with development issues that we are confronted with.

Between us has been established the treaty belts of the Two Row Wampum and the Silver Covenant Chain of Friendship, in which our ancestors, both yours and ours have declared that there would always be a relationship of peace, mutual respect and friendship between us. These agreements further stipulate a policy of non-interference that must be maintained. We each have the right and responsibility to protect the integrity of our governments.

Over the past two years we have offered numerous options and opportunities to the representatives of the Crown at the negotiating table. The options are based on our treaty rights and responsibilities. Our goal is to ease the tensions that exist due to the continued development of lands which are under dispute, due to unresolved Six Nations lands rights issues. The response to this has been legal actions demanding the appearance of our Confederacy Council-sanctioned Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) into your court.

This total lack of respect for our right to set forth policies and internal infrastructures to govern in the manner that we see as desirable and necessary is completely unacceptable and unlawful by both treaty law and international law. This matter will be further dealt with by our council, carrying out our responsibilities to the people of Six Nations.

We urge the representatives of the Crown to realize the potential for conflict, and the best way to stop a conflict when there is a dispute is to stop doing whatever is at the root of the conflict. We urge the governments (municipal, provincial and federal) to act responsibly and to stop development of disputed Six Nations lands and to come to the negotiating table in a sincere, respectful way and let's resolve our outstanding lands issues in the manner our treaties guide us ... Nation to Nation.

Leroy Hill

Council Secretary

Haudenosaunee Council of Chiefs

Six Nations' Grand River Country