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AN APPEAL FOR TURTLE ISLAND WIDE SOLIDARITY
AND ACTION IN SUPPORT OF SIX NATIONS!

** Actions in Toronto and Montreal on February 28th, 2007**

One year is too long! Recognize the rights of Six Nations!

February 28th, 2007 marks the one-year anniversary of the Six Nations Land Reclamation. One year ago, a group of people from Six Nations took back a piece of their land that was under construction by developers and demanded an end to the destruction of their land and to settler encroachment on their territory.

Now, one year later, the Canadian government has yet to recognize the truth: that this land is not owned by them nor can it be sold by them. It is Haudonausaunee (Iroquois) territory, stolen and sold by the colonial authorities illegally.

The people of Kanohnstaton, formerly "Douglas Creek Estates", have asked for and encouraged solidarity actions and a pressure campaign in support of the Reclamation. The Six Nations Land Reclamation needs your support and solidarity to make the Canadian government understand that Six Nations is not alone. We must speak out against the injustices of colonial land theft and genocide and take a stand for dignity, Indigenous land rights, justice and autonomy.

We, as people living on stolen land, have a
responsibility to support and demand that Haudenosaunee land rights and sovereignty be recognized. We must also demand that the government immediately cease the criminalization of those who have been involved in the Reclamation, as over 32 people continue to face bogus charges for defending their rights. It is time to stop spending tax-payer money on negotiators' and OPP salaries, to stop the lies, and to recognize the treaties between the Haudenosaunee and the colonial powers.

The federal and provincial governments recently brought a pack of lies on paper to the negotiation table, claiming that Six Nations sold their land. Let them know that we will not be swayed by age-old colonial tactics of forgery and false dialogue. If the government has any issues with the Iroquois protecting their own territory, we suggest that they file a land
claim with the traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose credibility outweighs that of the Canadian government by a very large margin.

FAX/EMAIL/PHONE: February 26th to March 2nd, 2007

Speak out and make your voice heard!

TAKE ACTION: February 28th, 2007

Invitation to organize local activities and/or actions!

The people of Kanohnstaton have asked for support demos and rallies for the one year anniversary. Local actions that can exert political pressure on our government are needed and encouraged. If you can organize locally, please let the people at the Six Nations Land Reclamation know. You can organize a delegation to a governmental body to deliver a letter, hold rallies and demonstrations, or simply participate in the week-long pressure campaign.

In Montreal, supporters will rally at the federal government buildings located downtown at noon. Speakers from various Haudenosaunee territories will join us in the speak-out.

MONTREAL SPEAK OUT & RALLY
Wednesday, February 28th
12PM
Complex Guy-Favreau
200 Réné-Lévèsque O. (métro Place des Arts)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved in the organizing or mobilization for the
Montreal Rally and Speak-Out, please contact 6nationssolidarite@gmail.com

In Toronto, supporters will gather at the provincial government buildings, seat of the Liberal government and of the Lieutenant Governor, the Queen's representative in Ontario. All are welcome to speak out in support of Six Nations.

TORONTO SPEAK OUT & RALLY
Wednesday, February 28th
12 PM
Queen's Park (Front Lawn)

Bring noisemakers and banners of solidarity!

Should you wish to get involved, please contact ocap@tao.ca

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There's no legal basis to the Six Nations land claim; all they had was an occupancy permit
By John S. Hagopian

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The ownership history of Six Nations lands in Ontario has been ignored, as has the legal basis of the Six Nations claim to those lands. It's time for the politically incorrect truth to be told. In short, the Six Nations have no legal rights to the lands in question, and have had none for over a century.

They have never had any rights to land in Ontario by virtue of aboriginal title or by treaty. For a tract of land along the Grand River, they obtained in 1784 merely an occupancy permit from British colonial Governor Frederick Haldimand that endured only at the pleasure of the Crown. After 1784, the Six Nations surrendered to the Crown various portions of the Grand River tract, and by the middle of the 19th century all that remained was the land contained in the current Six Nations reserve south of Brantford. That is a summary of their legal rights.

As for moral obligations, a review of the history of the Six Nations Indians indicates that they are not innocent victims of land robbery by European colonizers, but are instead themselves the culprits who terrorized, conquered, and displaced many other Indian tribes whose lands and resources they sought to control.

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It is more than an occupancy permit, unbelievable!

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Originally posted by remind:
Contact the government in support of the 6 Nations, the negative lying trash churned out by the Hamiltion Spectator.

There's no legal basis to the Six Nations land claim; all they had was an occupancy permit
By John S. Hagopian

It is more than an occupancy permit, unbelievable!

Changin g Histyory

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TONS of good news here, including a response to Hagopian's 10 year old diatribe.

Reclamation Day news

Illegal colonialism
By Billy Two Rivers,Kahnawake Mohawk Territory
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 3, 2007)
Re: 'The Myths of Caledonia' (Opinion, Feb. 24)

Writer John Hagopian states that, basically, there is no legal basis to the Six Nations land claim and that all they (Six Nations) had was an occupancy permit.

For the information of your readers, I must point out that, during that time, the British Crown did not possess an occupancy permit, either -- never mind crown land or ownership -- legal or otherwise.

That said, herein lies a brief response to some of the propaganda conjured up by the mindset of the writer to undermine all calls for historical redress, by way of European colonial law. The current impasse in Caledonia between the Six Nations and non-natives concerning rights to certain lands is very poorly understood by the public and the media alike.

The ownership history of Six Nations lands in Ontario has been ignored, as has the legal basis claim to those lands. It's time for the truth to be told. In short, the Six Nations do have legal rights to the lands in question; the lands have been Iroquoian homelands long before the founding of our confederacy.

They have all the rights to land in Ontario by virtue of aboriginal title. In fact, all land belongs to the indigenous peoples, contrary to the "doctrine of discovery," i.e. the Papal Bulls of January 8, 1455.

Based on this licence to steal, our learned white brother takes the Canadian soap box and carefully regurgitates the position of colonial and assimilative Canada and its provinces that these lands were "Terra Nullius" and inhabited by "soulless creatures." This made the lands ready for the taking by any immigrant colonial thief. That, of course, makes it all legal in the writer's eyes.

... and this ...
Rally supports Six Nations
Click here to find out more!
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 1, 2007)

A group of Hamiltonians marked the first anniversary of the Caledonia occupation yesterday by holding an information rally at Gore Park.

The non-native group, Hamilton Solidarity for Six Nations, included a smattering of labour representatives, students and academics.

Organizers said the rally was held to educate the public about native land claims issues and to send a message to the federal government to stop dragging its feet on the Caledonia dispute.

McMaster biology professor George Sorger said the federal government has to step up and assume sole responsibility for settling the dispute, instead of involving other levels of government.

"The Haldimand Proclamation gave that land to the Six Nations forever," he said. "The Six Nations and representatives of King George proclaimed it. The Six Nations and the federal government of Canada have the authority to negotiate it (settle the land dispute)."

Rolf Gerstenberger, president of USWA Local 1005, said he was following the Canadian labour tradition by supporting the Six Nations people in their efforts to reclaim the 40-hectare tract known as Douglas Creek Estates.

He believes the federal government is dragging its feet in settling the ownership dispute because it doesn't want to set a precedent for other native land claims across Canada.
plegall@thespec.com
905-526-3385
hamilton.6n.solidarity@gmail.com

[ 03 March 2007: Message edited by: saga ]

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On the anniversary of the Six Nations Land Reclamation we express our solidarity to you and to all those that are defending today their land and livelihoods against theft and colonization.

On February 28th, 2006, after the Canadian government gave a construction company the permission to build a settlement on their land, the people of Six Nations took it back, demanding an end to the theft and destruction of their land and to settler encroachment on their territory. Many of them now face charges in Canadian courts for defending their land. This sounds tragically familiar to us in Palestine and to many others around the world. For over 500 years the same mechanisms have been used against indigenous peoples, to colonize and dispossess.

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