1-16-07, 9:10 am
In the early morning of New Year's Day, the Six Nations people signalled a turning point in their history by removing the lock that barred the Haudenosaunee Chiefs from the building that was the seat of their government since before Confederation.
'We are now back in the original building of our ancestors,' said Onondaga Chief Arnie General to a packed room inside the Ohsweken Council House.
Built in 1864, the house has great symbolic significance. It was the house of the Six Nations Confederacy until October 7, 1924, when the RCMP stormed the Council House, dissolved the Confederacy, and imposed an elected Band Council in its place.
Similar actions had occurred on Iroquois territories all over Ontario and Quebec. Beginning in the 1880s, Indian Affairs began pressuring smaller communities to replace their traditional chiefs with an elected council system. In 1899, traditional leaders on the Akwesasne reserve made an attempt to recover their council hall two months after an election presided over by armed police. They were met with RCMP bullets. Head Chief Jake Fire was shot two times, wounding him fatally.
After the storming of the Council House in Ohsweken in 1924, RCMP raids seized documents and wampum belts that proved the sovereignty of the traditional government and the extent of the lands granted to the Six Nations by the Crown in the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784.
In contrast, this return of the chiefs to the Council House was a far more peaceful and celebratory occasion. The first ones to enter were Six Nations people who tried to reclaim the Council House in 1959, only to find themselves legally barred and the RCMP preventing them from entering the building. They were followed by Six Nations chiefs, clan mothers, Six Nations people and their supporters.
Members of the elected Band Council handed over the keys and showed their support for the restoration of the traditional government. Melba Thomas, member of the Band Council, handed Chief General the key to the Council House, 'so that the true leaders of this community can once again conduct their business here.'
The building had been vacant since 1998, when it had housed the Six Nations library. Speakers representing the traditional chiefs, clan mothers, and participants in the 1959 attempt spoke about the need for the Six Nations community to become more united, in a single government, and to reassert their sovereignty.
The transfer occurred one day after the end of what the local press has dubbed 'The Year of Reclamation,' in reference to the ongoing reclamation near the town of Caledonia of a piece of land slated for suburban development. The land is still the subject of current negotiations with the Province of Ontario. The Confederacy council won the right to be the chief negotiator representing the Six Nations community, after a power struggle with the elected council over who should be handling land claims.
2006 proved a year that sparked the Six Nations community into action, asserting their rights and educating others about Six Nations history and sovereignty. A fundraising concert in July raised over $20,000 for the reclamation, and the October 15 'Potluck for Peace' brought thousands of Six Nations people and supporters to the reclamation site, while across a police line a so-called 'March for Freedom' organized by Gary McHale of Richmond Hill, Ontario, failed to draw more than a couple hundred.
By New Year's Day, the Reclamation had entered its eleventh month. This in spite of an OPP raid last March and the racist mobs that occasionally gather to harass and insult the Six Nations people at the site.
Following the ceremony inside the Council House, a Six Nations flag was raised on top of the building, which will see its first Confederacy meeting in 82 years some time this spring. Participants then gathered outside for a group photo, marking a milestone in the history of the Six Nations people, inaugurating a new year of peace, understanding, and struggle.
'We have to work together,' Chief General said. 'All good things are done over a period of time.'
From People's Voice
