Six Nations have appealed directly to the Queen in trying to settle thier ongoing land claim at Caledonia.

From The First Perspective

Below is the text of the letter,
written on July 17, 2006

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
Buckingham Palace
London, SW1A1AA

Your Royal Highness,

Scano, (Hello)

I am writing to you with the utmost respect regarding our On gwe ho weh (True people) Territory, Kanenhstaton (The Protected Place) a.k.a. Douglas Creek Lands. Our Nation is in terrible turmoil at the hands of the Canadian Government. The acting officials, Governor General Michelle Jean, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, have shamed and disgraced Canada as they continue to ignore the Haundensaunee Traditional People of Six Nations, as they do not hear our cries. They have been in violation of our Human Rights when it comes to our people for many, endless years.

Our waters are contaminated and are unsafe to drink. In some places we are unable to bathe in the water as it holds so much sulfur that it makes us sick and leaves the color of our white tubs brown. As the filth seeps into the ground, it causes Mother Earth to suffer and when she suffers, we suffer. We become sick with diseases and our skin often breaks out with sores. The pesticides that are being used carries through our women and into our unborn children. Our children suffer the consequences as they are born with deformed limbs. In other Territories there are a high percentage of miscarriages. All these factors serve as genocide against our People.

Our past dealings with the outside world have not changed and, in fact, the mistreatment has gotten worse. This is not a Third World Country, nor are we foreigners to this land. We have Treaties made with King George III, with respect to Your people and His intention was, "to protect us from further harm." Because of our Military Alliance, we defeated Your enemy, making us, "Allies to the Crown." This title we earned with great honor. Together we sealed, The Two Row Wampum, The Covenant Chain and the Peace Treaty. These agreements state that "we travel the same river together, each in our own canoes and we will not steer each others’ vessels." Both of our Ancestors have laid out this path for us to honor and respect each other and to govern ourselves accordingly as we practice peace, power and righteousness.

In 1924, the government forcefully imposed the illegal Elected Band Council on us, which went against our Inherent Rights. Through this act of betrayal, our Traditional Confederacy Council was ignored. Their intention was and has always been, to banish and do away with us. However, our traditions are very much alive today as they were back then, and we are here with that same spirit. We have taken everything that Canada has shoved at us leaving us no other alternatives. As it was foresaid long ago, "There will come a day when we have had enough." Today, we have had enough.

We were meant to enjoy this land, "As long as the water flows, the grass grows, and the sun shines." Through the land comes peace and harmony. Mother Earth is crying and it is our duty to protect her for when she cries, our people cry. We can no longer tolerate having to place a toxic blanket over our loved ones when we place them into the ground. We have been cheated, robbed and molested of our lands and I am reaching out to You so that You hear our cries. We are trusting, caring and loving People of this Earth and we are born natural defenders of the land for which we should be treated with respect and dealt with in an appropriate manner according to "The Great Law.” We have respected Your people throughout.

Fifteen years ago, the shrewd developers, Don and Ron Henning of Henco Industries, Inc., bought a parcel of land along side the Haldimand Tract. Who they purchased this land from is unknown to us and they have never shown us a Title. These developers knew this land was under dispute because three years prior, Henco Industries placed a proposal on the table for discussions with the Six Nations Elected Band Council and our Council never responded to Henco. The Henning brothers took it upon themselves to proceed with a multi-million dollar development investment that would eventually place as many as 50,000 families upon the land. The People of Six Nations have been concerned about where we are going to house our own future generations as we are running out of space.

This is unfair and unjust as it suppresses our extended families and their given right to stay with us on our lands. In the meantime, we hold title to this land through Sir Frederick Haldimand and the Royal Proclamation affirms this. We are aware that our Ancestors gave away title to a small portion of land on the tract as gifts and also agreed to lease some of the land for 99 years with stipulations. These agreements have been broken by settlers and yet, we as a People, made no attempt to remove anyone, though the leases have been expired for some time now.

On February 28, 2006, we made a long overdue stand for our land rights and it has been quite the journey we have taken and one we are proud of. On March 7, 2006, Judge David Marshall of the Cayuga Court placed illegal court injunctions upon our People. Judge Marshall’s intention is to remove us off our land with whatever force necessary, as we have had threats made against us to call in the Army. We have asked Judge Marshall to step down on several occasions as he has a biased opinion in that he claims he has title to property along the Grand River (the Haldimand Proclamation.) Judge Marshall states in his book written in 2002 that he is, "an Honorary Chief to the Six Nations," and to us this means he was adopted into our Nation. Again, Judge Marshall stands in a conflict of interest in that he is rendering a judgment against his own "family members."

We have served papers addressing our rights to Judge Marshall, the OPP, RCMP, Henco’s lawyer, Michael Bruder and to all officials involved who have taken an oath, "to protect Her Majesty’s interests."” This case is not a criminal matter. This is an International matter that concerns all of us regarding who we are as Six Nations people and what we represent. We have been unwillingly placed in the middle of psychological warfare. Mr. Bruder has threatened to file a lawsuit against the OPP.

Judge Marshall threatens to hold the OPP in contempt of Court for not removing our people from our own lands. The OPP came in upon our unarmed people on April 20, 2006 and attacked them while they slept at 4:45 AM. The OPP came in with guns drawn; tear gas and tasers were used with as many as eight officers on one of our people. For simply standing up for our given rights, many of our people were placed under arrest with absurd charges. In the meantime, our Confederacy Chiefs were at the negotiation table and were told that as long as talks were taking place, they would not come in and try to remove us. They lied.

When the OPP came in upon our people, they placed barricades up so the media, and hence, the world communities, could not witness the savagely brutal attacks against us. They act like terrorists as they inflict terror upon our people. We replaced the barricades with palisades for the safety of the people from any further attacks.

This caused major conflict with some of the Caledonia residents who only thought of themselves as far as their local economy and convenience of travel were concerned. Many of the local residents must have believed we were going to evict them from our land. Racist people from Caledonia and outside communities were brought in to insight hate crimes and throw rocks at our people while trying to entice us to step outside of the boundary lines. We have been treated badly and given poor representation in the media who continuously slander our names in their newspapers and broadcasts while not speaking the truth anywhere.

This has not been an easy ordeal trying to maintain peace while such volatile language and abuse is thrown at us. Nor has it been easy trying to keep our children from becoming just as hateful as the non-natives around us while we continue to make a stand for our birthrights. We stated from the start, "We are peaceful, unified and unarmed," and, "We do NOT declare War." We believe Canada has no intention of upholding and honoring the Treaties. Therefore, I am asking, no I am begging You, on behalf of our People, that You step in so that we can continue to have peace, Nation to Nation.

Nya weh (thank you)
Jacqueline House