[Indigsol] MNN Katenies & Ghost of Deskaheh

[orakwa]

KATENIES' DEFENCE OF HAUDENOSAUNEE 

TERRITORY & JURISDICTION :

 

THE GHOST OF DESKAHEH - SAME OLD, 
SAME OLD - 
 

For MNN by Ieriwa'on:ni 

 

MNN.  July 12, 2008.  When Katenies appears in a 

Cornwall Ontario court on July 14th, 2008 she can be 

counted on to raise the issue of the court's jurisdiction.  

There is nothing original about what she is doing. The 

exact same arguments were raised in the 1920's.

 

The colonial fantasy that imagines it is OK to push 

people off the land of their ancestors and grab all their 

resources is alien to the Kaienere'ko:wa, the constitution 

of the Iroquois. So is the idea that the land we live on is 

"property" that can be exploited without regard for the 

needs of the coming generations. However, the colonial 

cultures are so intrusive that Onkwehonwe everywhere 

have had to use colonial languages and the colonial 

cultural idiom to defend our rights. 

 

At the time of World War I, some Europeans began to 

realize that their greed was getting them no where.  They 

founded the League of Nations to stop war and solve 

international legal problems.

 

This did not stop colonialism. Canadian officials 

continued to try to impose their laws on the Haudenosaunee 

people living on the Grand River territory. For example, 

when Canada passed the Soldiers Settlement Act to 

provide land grants for veterans, the Department of Indian 

Affairs started granting Six Nations land to Six Nations war 

veterans instead of granting them ordinary "Crown land" as 

was done for other veterans.  This interfered with the Six 

Nations right to govern their territory. 

 

The Council of the Six Nations at Grand River hired 

various lawyers to defend themselves and appointed the 

Royaner (Chief) Levi General Deskaheh to apply for 

membership in the League of Nations.  

 

George Decker, a lawyer from Rochester New York, 

provided the following advice on May 23, 1922:

 

"Now if this land is within your Six Nations territory it is not 

properly subject to any Canadian authority of any sort, 

judicial, legislative or any other, and all I can say about it is 

that your people must not permit any judgment, order or 

decision of any Canadian official, or board or court, to be 

enforced within your Six Nations territory, and you should 

stand as firm in that respect as you already have in respect 

of the Soldier Settlement matter.  Be good-natured about it, 

but firm."

 

Deskaheh was denied any chance to present the Six 

Nations case at the League of Nations or at the International 

Court.  Since then, Canadian courts, including the Supreme 

Court of Canada, have consistently avoided answering 

questions concerning how they can claim jurisdiction over the 

Onkwehonwe or our territories.

 

The Supreme Court of Canada has found that the Crown has 

a fiduciary responsibility towards "aboriginal people".  However, 

there is little or no evidence of this in practice.  Instead of 

keeping squatters off the Six Nations Grand River territory, 

various aspects of the Crown have issued licenses and title 

documents.  This abuse continues to this day. If the people of 

Six Nations object, the settler state calls out the army.

 

At Akwesasne, the Crown is in a conflict of interest.  Instead 

of protecting the Akwesasne community from foreign incursions 

by British subjects and Canadian citizens, it has become a 

trespasser itself by building border facilities there.

 

>From one end of Canada to the other, the historical record of 

colonial relations with the Onkwehonwe whose lands it claims 

is long, complex and extremely tangled.  The quest to defend 

Onkwehonwe rights is complicated by the fact that most 

Canadians are both ignorant and misinformed about their own 

history.  They don't even know about the Peace Treaty of 1701 

that acknowledged the vast territorial and cultural rights of the 

Onkwehonwe.

 

One thing alone remains clear and simple. Canada has never 

answered the jurisdictional question raised by many 

Onkwehonwe including Deskaheh and Katenies.    

 

Ieriwa'on:ni

 

Legal actions will need to be taken to protect our rights.  We have no funds.  

Canada is hiring costly law firms to defend their illegal actions and suppress 

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