September 17, 2020

Federal Indigenous Services Minister, Marc Miller, Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca
Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca 
Ontario Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Hon. Greg Rickford c/o carlo.oliviero@ontario.ca (chief of staff)

Dear Ministers Miller, Bennett, and Rickford,

As neighbours and friends of the Six Nations of the Grand River, we are pleased to see in the press that Ministers Miller and Bennett have committed to meet with members of the Six Nations community to seek a resolution to the current dispute over the McKenzie Meadows development in Caledonia that has come to be known as 1492 Land Back Lane. We are writing to support your commitment and to urge Ontario Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Hon. Greg Rickford, to join you in addressing the long-standing, multiple injustices that have produced the many confrontations and disputes over Six Nations governance and land, and that have sparked so many conflicts with their non-Indigenous neighbours.

As you know, the people at the ground level—both land defenders and Caledonians who have purchased the proposed homes to be built at McKenzie Meadows—are pressed into intense conflicts like the one we are currently experiencing because of long-standing and unresolved injustices over Six Nations governance, funds, and territories. These problems cannot be resolved simply by court injunctions to remove defenders from the lands—indeed, we urge you to oppose and cease the judicial use of injunctions to obstruct and criminalize the peaceful protests people have been forced to turn to because of inaction around these issues over many, many years. Nor can the problems at issue be resolved by the defenders or angry Caledonians themselves. It has taken 150 years to elaborate the complex problems we are living in the midst of, and it will take sustained engagement especially from government to untangle and resolve them.

This is not the place to try to elaborate each phase that has evolved into our current situation—books and books have been published on these matters by Haudenosaunee scholars, Canadian and American scholars, community members and journalists, among others. But signalling a few of these will suffice here:

• The fact that the Haldimand Tract originally granted to the Six Nations in 1784 has been reduced to 5% of its original size, usually by legal means (such as Governor Simcoe’s survey and reduction of the grant by a third). The result is a massive and intolerable gap between justice and what British and Canadian law has justified, and this gap promotes land defenders’ and others’ distrust and disdain for Canadian law.

• The fact that Six Nation’s trust funds generated through land leases and sales early after the Haudenosaunee arrived on the Grand River territory were mis-managed, misappropriated, and embezzled by members of the British colonial government and Canadian officials with the result that the traditional government of the Six Nations, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council, could not afford to provide for its citizens from the 1830s and 40s onwards (see for example the history of the Grand River Navigation Company)

• The loss of independent revenue signalled above pressured some Haudenosaunee chiefs to consider land surrenders during this period, while others resisted surrendering any more land. Under this pressure the British colonial government produced “surrenders” in the 1840s signed by some chiefs that were immediately protested by others.

• The above loss of land and revenues undermined the strength of traditional Haudenosaunee government and allowed the Canadian government in the 1920s to foment dissent within the Six Nations and then send in the RCMP in 1924 to officially close the Confederacy Council. In doing so, Canada rejected its established nation-to-nation relationship with Six Nations as outlined in treaties from the Two Row and Covenant Chain and Pledge of the Crown Wampum agreements to Nanfan as well as in written statements by Ministers of Government such as Frank Oliver assuring Six Nations government of its sovereignty.

• By replacing the traditional government with the elected band council, Canada intervened in Six Nations governance and fomented a division of loyalties within Six Nations that has continued ever since between a majority of Grand River Haudenosaunee who retain allegiance to traditional government and a minority of pragmatists who work with the band council. The current land dispute hearkens strongly to this division because the developer, Ballantry and Losani Homes, agreed to transfer $200,000 (not even the price of one of the 200 homes they plan to build) and a small parcel of land to the elected council in exchange for the elected council’s public support for the development.

• All of the above injustices have been raised over and over again throughout the past 150 years, whether by written expressions of concern over governance and loss of land in the 1790s, or in the 1840s and again in the1870s when the Indian Act was threatening to expunge Six Nations sovereignty, by delegations to Ottawa, London, and Geneva in the 1920s when Canada was working to impose the band council system, and by direct action protests when members of Six Nations tried to reopen the Confederacy Council House in 1959 and when they established a Six Nations Land Claims Research Office and registered a whole series of concerns about outstanding financial and land disputes in the 1990s, right up the more recent land reclamations known as Douglas Creek Estates in 2006 and McKenzie Meadows in 2020.

It is time to actually face the long history of grievances between the Six Nations and Canada. Because the elected council is a Canadian invention, it cannot simply be resolved or rejected within Six Nations itself. Because Six Nations lands and funds have been expropriated under government “management” with the help of Canadian legal instruments, it is not possible for the citizens of Caledonia or Six Nations land defenders to right these wrongs on their own. Because the provincial government has jurisdiction over lands and policing, it is not possible for the federal government to work out solutions with Six Nations without the participation of the province.

Because each of your governments lasts approximately four years, we have seen government after government come into power, promise to address and resolve the relationships between Canada, the provinces, and various Indigenous peoples (e.g. Trudeau senior in 1969, Mulroney’s failed Constitutional efforts in the 1980s, Paul Martin’s Kelowna Accord of 2005, Stephen Harper’s Apology and intention to do better in 2008, Justin Trudeau’s promises of a new relationship with Indigenous peoples in 2015—not to mention the various assurances of Bill Davis, Dalton McGuinty, Kathleen Wynne, or Doug Ford). The years go by, promises are made, more disputed land is expropriated, more distrust grows, more conflict emerges, and—as the stalled discussions over Douglas Creeks Estates shows—nothing is resolved.

We need something different, something long-lasting. A process of honest nation-to-nation discussion and trust-building that can outlast each four-year government. A process that looks down the road beyond the immediate interests of land developers and momentary governments to a seven-generation-long vision of this Dish-With-One-Spoon region, where neighbours, Indigenous and not, should be able to live beside one another in peace and mutual respect.

Please don’t avoid the issue by producing another “study”—from the Hawthorne Report (1966) to the Penner Commission (1983) and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) and the Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019), hundreds and hundreds of recommendations have been made. They have been carefully formulated by people your governments have commissioned to investigate the issues and to offer solutions. It’s time to act on their recommendations and calls to action.

We urge you to do what you said you would do: meet with the people of Six Nations, not just the elected council, but with all the concerned parties, and address the layers of injustice and distrust. Build mechanisms for governance and dispute resolution that can let us live in peace, unity, and respect with one another in our region.

Looking forward to seeing positive results, sincerely,

Daniel Coleman, Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Amber Dean, Associate Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Lorraine York, Distinguished University Professor, McMaster University
Noel Glover, Postdoctoral fellow, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Sally McKay, post-doctoral fellow, School of the Arts, McMaster University
Susie O’Brien, Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Nina Clements, In Solidarity with 1492 Land Back Lane
Melinda Gough, Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Henry Giroux, Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Susan Spearey, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies, Brock University
Gary Barwin, Writer
Jeanette Eby, Community Mental Health Worker and Nursing student, Hamilton
Andy Crowell, Ecumenical Chaplain, McMaster University
Eugenia Zuroski, Associate Professor, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Randy Kay, Coordinator of Volunteers, OPIRG McMaster
Gary Barwin, Writer
Bernadette Ryan, writer & retired teacher at Mohawk College
Julie Dring, Executive Director, Hamilton Artists Inc.
Bryan Prince / retired independent bookseller
Bryce Kanbara, propietor, you me gallery, Hamilton
Dr. Nancy Bouchier, Professor, History, McMaster University
Dr Deborah Bowen, Professor Emerita, English, Redeemer University
Simone D’Angelo, student
James S. Quinn, Professor, Biology Department, McMaster University
Dana Hansen, Professor, English Department, Humber College
Don Wells, Professor Emeritus, Labour Studies and Political Science, McMaster University
Christina Baade, Professor and Chair, Communication Studies and Multimedia, McMaster University
Jane Aronson, Emeritus Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Alvaro Tortora
Ashley Shinde, Office of Community Engagement, Sociology Student, McMaster University
Anne Savage, Associate Professor, English and Cultural Studies, Mcmaster University
Denise Maraj
Robert E. Connolly, Retired  High School Dept.Head, Latin, Engish, French, Cathedral H.S., St. Jean de Brebeuf H.S., St. Thomas More H.S. er
Linda Warley, Adjunct Professor, English, University of Waterloo
Jasmin Habib, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Waterloo
Suzan Ilcan, Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Lori Campbell, Adjunct Lecturer, Indigenous Studies, St. Paul's University College
Daniel O’Connor, Associate Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Stevie Garnett, McMaster University student
Duane Tucker no affiliation
Julia Roberts, Dept. of History, University of Waterloo
Heather Smyth, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo
Luin Goldring, Professor, Sociology, York University
Gaiyle J. Connolly (retired ARTS department head and ART CONSULTANT  and Hamilton area artist and poet
Ala Filewod, Professor (retired), Theatre studies, University of Guelph
Tanya Basok, Professor, Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, University of Windsor
Paul Lisson, Publisher, Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine
John Terpstra, Poet, Writer and Woodworker
Kim Rygiel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University
Professor, Religious Studies, Arts and Science Council of Instructors
Harvey Feit, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, McMaster University
Frankie Condon, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo
Eric MacPherson, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, McMaster University
Nathan Wall, resident of Hamilton, PhD (cand.) Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
Wendy Coleman, retired educator and literacy consultant, HWDSB
Geoffrey Skirrow Science Teacher HWDSB (retired)
Rose Janson,  Retired Professor, Urban Farmer
Sayedali Mostolizadeh, PhD Candidate, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Don McLean, Hamilton Gallery of Distinction, coordinator of the Hamilton 350 Committee
Carol Leigh Wehking, M.A., Quaker, Storyteller
Alan Hall, Research Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Memorial University
Dirk Windhorst, Assistant Professor Emeritus, Education, Redeemer University
Petra Rethmann, Professor, Anthropology, McMaster University
Patricia McGee
Sedef Arat-Koc, Associate Professor, Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
Tina Moffat, Anthropology, McMaster University
Subuhi Ansari
Rosemary Almas, concerned citizen
Grace Mathieson, Retired teacher HWDSB
Andrew Thompson, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Waterloo
Patricia Waldron, Concerned Settler
Alison Mountz, Professor, Geography & Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Andrew Roddick, Associate Professor, Anthropology, McMaster University
Rianne Mahon, Distinguished Research Professor, Carleton University
Lana Gonzalez, University of Waterloo
Jeremy Haynes, Associate CIBC Private Wealth Management
Ruth Pickering MD-Retired-McMaster Dept of Psychiatry)
Mary Terpstra, retired librarian assistant, Hamilton Public Library
Kathie Clark
Eleanor Chithalen, Retired Director, Children's Int'l Learning Centre, Raging Granny.
Himani Dhanot, Undergraduate Student, Health Sciences, McMaster University
Nan Coolsma, St. Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church
Beverly Shepard, Clerk, Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Elizabeth Gray
Heather Brohman, Family Resorce Worker, Lynwood Charalton Centre
Jade Ta, Student, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
Rodrigo Narro Pérez, PhD Candidate, School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University
Logan Smith, Graduate Student
Mona Abousidou
Gale Coskan-Johnson, Assoc. Professor, Rhetoric and Writing, MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies, Brock University
Frances Thorp Neufeld, retired consultant Board development and Fund Raising
Dr. Robyn Bourgeois, Associate Professor, Centre from Women's and Gender Studies
Dave Haskins, writer and retired teacher of secondary school English in St Catharines and Grimsby.
John Terpstra, Poet, Writer and Woodworker
Marvin Oldejans, Carpenter, Musician
Lee Horton-Carter, M.A.   Psychotherapist
Paul Berti, Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Margot Francis, Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies/Department of Sociology, Brock University
Carolynn Bett Co-leader Travel for Learning, Indigenous Solidarity Working Group,Church of the Redeemer
Nathan Tidridge, Teacher & Author, Waterdown District High School
Judy Major-Girardin, Professor, School of the Arts, McMaster University
Faith Ogunkoya, Team Lead, Student Services, McMaster University
Subuhi Ansari
Pallavi Mukherjee, PhD. student, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University
Deborah Hernandez, graduate student, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Aaron Parry, Student, Anthropology/Indigenous Studies/African and African Diaspora Studies, McMaster University
Sashaina Singh, Knowledge Broker, Office of Community Engagement, McMaster University
Radhika Mongia, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University
Don Mackenzie retired teacher DSBN
Kelly Laurila, Lecturer, Social Work, Renison University College
Simon Orpana, Artist and Educator
Christine Quail, Associate Professor, Communication Studies & Gender Studies, McMaster University
Autumn Getty, Writer
David Butz, Professor, Geography & Tourism Studies, Brock University
Naaman Wood, Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Redeemer University
Patricia McGee
Amanda Montague, Postdoctoral Fellow,  McMaster University
Kate Brown, Equity and Inclusion Office, McMaster University
Cheryl Lousley, Associate Professor, Lakehead University Orillia
Lynn Kearney, retired teacher
Rebecca Raby, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University
Michael O'Sullivan, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, Brock University
Melanee McAulay
Jon Berends, Director of Act Five, Redeemer University
Lesley Wood, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University
Jean Wilson, Director, Arts & Science Program, McMaster University
Christina Sinding, Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Emunah Woolf, student, Social Work, McMaster University
Krista Foss, writer
Angel Majorie Brown, Hamilton, ON
Vilma Rossi, Resident - Ward One, Hamilton
Adrienne Crossman, Assistant Professor, Studio Art, McMaster University
Noelle Allen, Publisher, Wolsak and Wynn Publishing Ltd.
Melissa Ricci, McMaster University, Master's Student, Faculty of Social Sciences
Jennifer Rawlinson
Yimeng Wang, Part-Time Manager, Women and Gender Equity Network, McMaster Students Union
Amanda Leduc, Writer
Calvin Prowse, MSU Maccess Coordinator, McMaster University
Natalee Caple, Brock University
Clare Hitchens, settler, Kitchener, ON
Claud Spadafora, Co-Artistic Director at Femmepire
Monique Deveaux, Professor, Philosophy, University of Guelph
Wil Prakash Fujarczuk, Sexual Violence Prevention Education Coordinator, McMaster University
Glenn Macdonald
Sarah Paust, Graduate Student, Anthropology, McMaster University
Scott Martin, Operations Manager, Sustainable Archaeology McMaster
Danielle Taschereau Mamers, Postdoctoral Fellow, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Ameil J. Joseph, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Kevin Makins, Pastor, Eucharist Church
Randy Jackson, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work and the Department of Health, Aging and Society, McMaster University
Sydney Cumming, Manager/ Services Coordinator, Student Health Education Centre (SHEC), McMaster Students Union (MSU)
Subuhi Ansari
Sandra Preston, Teaching Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster
Sue Markey, Retired Teacher HWDSB
Rob Kristofferson, Professor, Social Justice & Community Engagement | History, Wilfrid Laurier University
Allyson Ion, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Liz Koblyk, concerned citizen
Angela Herring-Lauzon, Instructional Assistant, English Language Development Office, McMaster University
Deborah Kerr, M.S.M, retired Immigration Enforcement  Officer, Canada Border Services Agency
Michelle Peek, PhD, Executive Director of Art Not Shame
Kathryn Carter, English, Wilfrid Laurier University
Elise Arsenault, writer and musician, Hamilton ON
Christina Edwards MTh, STM Spiritual Director
Tara La Rose, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Mcmaster University
Deirdre Haskell, Professor, Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University
Melanie Heath, Associate Professor, McMaster University
Ann Fudge Schormans, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Gary Warner, Associate Professor (retired), French / Arts & Science, McMaster University
Mary O'Connor, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University
Professor Emeritus, Sociology, McMaster University
Ashley Watson, Executive Director, Lakeshore Arts and Board Member Hamilton Artists Inc.
Karen Balcom, Associate Professor of History, McMaster University
Peter Nyers, Professor & University Scholar, Department of Political Science, McMaster University
William Leigh, Professor Emeritus, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, McMaster University
Yaser M. Haddara, Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, McMaster University
Peggy Findlay, Retired Librarian, McMaster University
Christopher Anand, Associate Professor, Computing and Software, McMaster University
André Bédard, Professor, Department of Biology, McMaster University
Kathryn Pringle, BA, BSW, MSW Cand., in Solidarity and Concerned Port Dover Resident
Carolynn Bett Co-leader Travel for Learning, Indigenous Solidarity Working Group,Church of the Redeemer
Mostafa Mohamed,  Board Member, Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy
Robert Cockcroft, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University
Marcia Oliver, Associate Professor, Law & Society, Wilfrid Laurier University
Glenn Macdonald, Hydrographer
Shalen Prado, PhD student, Anthropology, McMaster University
Sue Inglis, Professor Emerita, McMaster University
Esra Bengizi, PhD Student, French, University of Toronto
Joe Aquilina, Teacher, HWDSB
John Colarusso, Professor, Anthropology, and Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University
Helen Ostovich, Professor Emerita, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Catherine Stewart, Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
John Colarusso, Professor, Anthropology, and Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University
Vanessa Oliver, Associate Professor, Youth and Children's Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
John Vickers, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University
Paul Faure, Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University
Nina Drenth, MDiv cand., Wycliffe College; Spiritual Life, Act Five
Helen Thomas, Assistant Professor (retired), School of Nursing, McMaster University
Mohamed Kamel, Engineer and Project Director
Ange Bitwayiki, Political Science Alumni, McMaster University
Alexe Bernier, PhD Student, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Amanda Nemec-Bakk, Graduate student McMaster University
Natalee Caple, Brock University
Beth Marquis, Associate Professor, Arts & Science Program and School of the Arts, McMaster University
Shanti Morell-Hart, Associate Professor, Anthropology, McMaster University
Robyn Ellis, Facilities Management Professional in Hamilton
Brittany Allan, Masters of Social Work Student, McMaster University
Gregory Betts, President, Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English
Suzan Ilcan, Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Alex Latta, Associate Professor, Global Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Johannah Bird, PhD (cand), English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Sara Matthews, Associate Professor, Global Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Jenny Kerber, Associate Professor, English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Melody Morton Ninomiya, Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University
Maddie Brockbank, PhD Student, School of Social Work, McMaster University
Carmela Laganse, Associate Professor, School of the Arts, McMaster University
Paul Harrison, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, McMaster University
Corvid Dawson, Business Owner
Derek Hall, Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University
Marion Gruner, Writer/Producer, Graduate student, University of Waterloo, In Solidarity with 1492 Land Back Lane
Kathryn Maudsley, Teacher (Retired), HWDSB
Loretta D. Pringle, Norfolk County.
Cameron Crowe, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University
Glenna Janzen, Quaker, concerned citizen
Ruth Green, Concerned Citizen
James Cairns, Associate Professor, Social and Environmental Justice, Wilfrid Laurier University
Glenn Fletcher, Department of Oncology, McMaster University
Tanya Richardson, Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
Douglas Booker, General Secretary - International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines - Canada
Jorge (George) Sorger, Professor Emeritus of Biology, McMaster University
Selena Middleton, Instructor, Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University / Publisher & EIC, Stelliform Press
Kris Wilson-Yang, PhD. Chemist, Quaker, settler born on Six Nations Territory


*Signatories will be added once per day, so don't worry if your name does not appear immediately. The letter will be submitted at 12pm EST on Friday, Sept. 25th - all signatures added prior to that time will be appended.