MOHAWK+GRAND RIVER

Gazette No. 58 — Notice of Interest — 423-Acre Tract, Brantford (Panattoni Development)

Be it known and placed on record: That the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat hereby declares the international character of the Haldimand Proclamation and the Crown-to-Nation covenant instruments, and hereby establishes the institutional framework for engaging with the Crown on the basis of that international character.

I. The International Character of the Covenant

The 1897 Settled Accounts Arbitration (Solicitor General Curran QC) confirmed that Crown covenant instruments with First Nations have international character. The Haldimand Proclamation was made in 1784 in the context of the post-Revolutionary War restructuring of territorial and diplomatic relationships in North America. It was a Crown-to-Nation instrument made between two parties with recognized standing to make bilateral covenants.

II. The Parliamentary Record

HC Deb 06 March 1922, vol. 151, cc856–7 (Churchill): The question was whether the Haldimand Treaty had been denounced. Churchill replied that the question was entirely for the Parliament of Canada. The Haldimand Treaty had not been denounced. This confirms that in 1922, the Crown’s view was that the Haldimand covenant had the character of a treaty capable of denunciation under international law principles — otherwise the question of denunciation would not arise.

III. The Implications

If the Haldimand covenant is a treaty of international character, then: (a) it cannot be displaced by domestic legislation without addressing its treaty status; (b) the Crown’s duty to engage with it is elevated beyond the ordinary duty to consult; (c) the wampum belt diplomacy of 1798 (Holmes and Associates, AANC-INAC, cat. R32-492-1993-1, Exhibit A20) is evidence of the parties’ own understanding of the covenant as an international instrument; and (d) the Ceremonial Invitation to the Pipe (G73) and the Formal Offer of Peace (G72) are acts of international diplomatic protocol, not requests for cultural accommodation.