MOHAWK+GRAND RIVER

Gazette No. 70 — Notice of Customary Protocol Deficiency

Be it known and placed on record: That the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat hereby gives formal notice that the Crown has failed to observe the three clearings required by Haudenosaunee council protocol before entering into substantive council on matters of territorial governance and constitutional obligation. The three clearings are not a request for personal cultural or religious accommodation. They are a formal diplomatic protocol under customary Mohawk and Haudenosaunee law governing the opening of Nation-to-Crown council. I. The Three Clearings Haudenosaunee council protocol requires that before substantive matters can be addressed in council, three clearings must be performed to ensure that each party sees clearly, hears accurately, and speaks without obstruction: (i)

Clearing of the Eyes — that each party sees the matter before the council clearly, without the obstruction of mischaracterization, misidentification, or institutional blindness. (ii)

Clearing of the Ears — that each party hears the words of the other nation accurately, without the obstruction of deflection, procedural refusal, or failure to receive. (iii)

Clearing of the Throat — that each party speaks without obstruction — that the words of the Nation are received as they are spoken, not characterized as something other than what they are. II. The Deficiency The Crown has not observed any of the three clearings in its engagement with the Secretariat's constitutional record. The Notice of Constitutional Encumbrance (G65) was not received substantively. The Demand of the Attorney General (G66) was deflected to third-party litigation. The Rules of Engagement (G69) were not acknowledged. The filed Gazette instruments were characterized as unknown to the Court. The Crown's failure to observe the three clearings means that the constitutional council opened by the Secretariat through its filed instruments has not been properly entered by the Crown. This protocol deficiency is entered in the institutional record. III. The Authority Sir John Johnson, Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, received Haudenosaunee diplomatic representations through wampum belt diplomacy and council protocols in 1798, fourteen years after the Haldimand Proclamation. The Holmes & Associates record (Government of Canada, AANC-INAC, catalogue no. R32-492-1993-1, Exhibit A20) documents these protocols as recognized instruments of inter-sovereign diplomatic engagement. The Crown's own administrative record confirms that these protocols are constitutional diplomatic instruments, not requests for accommodation.