MOHAWK NATION LEADERSHIP DOES NOT SUPPORT SRMT/NYS LAND CLAIM SETTLEMENT M.O.U.
Akwesasne Mohawk Territory – Onerahtohko:wa (May) 30, 2014
As titleholders and leaders of our Mohawk Nation clan families, we wish to share our position concerning the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s announcement that it has achieved a land claim settlement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with New York State and St. Lawrence County.
Firstly, we were extremely surprised and dismayed to discover that the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council announced that the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs has supported this MOU. The Tribal Council does not speak for the Mohawk Nation. We would like to take this time to point out that the MOU was never made available for review by the Nation and we never presented at any session of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs, or has the Mohawk Nation leadership agreed in council to support any version of the MOU. Our political system is based upon consensus and no consensus decision has been made to support the MOU.
As the custodians of Haudenosaunee sovereignty in Mohawk Nation Territory, we must consider the territorial integrity of our overall ancestral homeland and protect our historic claim to the nine million acres of traditional Kanien’keha’ke territory.
The MOU signed by the Tribe fails to provide the protections necessary to ensure that the rights of future generations are not lost. It also fails to ensure that the benefits of a settlement would come to all of Akwesasne.
Turtle Clan Eddie Gray
Bear Clan Aronhiaies Herne
Wolf Clan Howard Thompson
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