Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte [Culbertson Tract]

The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte have a total membership of approximately 7,500, with about 2,000 of them resident on the Tyendinaga Reserve adjacent to the town of Deseronto and about 10 kilometres east of Belleville, Ontario. The Mohawks have been settled at this location since May 1784.

The claim of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte is based upon the illegal disposition of some 827 acres of land, known as the Culbertson Tract, in the years 1836 and 1837. The tract consists of land within the original Mohawk Tract granted to and reserved for the Six Nations by the Simcoe Deed, also known as Treaty No. 3 ½, in 1793. The basis of the claim is that no surrender of the Culbertson Tract was ever sought by the Crown nor given by the Six Nations, as required by the mandatory provisions of the Simcoe Deed. The claim was submitted in 1995 and accepted for negotiation in 2003.

In September 2004, the ICC began providing facilitation services to the parties at their request. Discussions to date have revolved around identifying the boundaries of the claim lands and discussing compensation.