Home /Claimsmap /Ontario /Mediation /Claims in Mediation /Mohawk Council of Akwesasne [Dundee claim]

Mohawk Council of Akwesasne [Dundee claim]

The Mohawk territory called "Akwesasne" is located adjacent to the city of Cornwall, Ontario, and straddles the international boundary of Canada and the United States, the Ontario and Quebec provincial boundaries and the New York state line. On the Canadian side, the elected government is the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, composed of 12 District Chiefs and a Grand Chief. The community has a registered population of 10,249 (at February 2006), of whom approximately 8,300 live on the 4,739 hectares (11,712 acres) of reserve land on Cornwall Island and other islands in the St Lawrence River.

The claim lands, known as the Tsikaristisere or "Dundee lands," are on the south shore of the St Lawrence River roughly opposite Cornwall. They consist of approximately 20,000 acres in the most westerly portion of the Province of Quebec, in the area now known as the Township of Dundee. Historically, they were part of the land recognized as set apart for the Mohawks of Akwesasne. From the early 1800s, the Dundee lands had been leased out to non-Mohawk settlers. None of the leases were proceeded by a surrender.

An alleged surrender was signed on February 16, 1888, but the Mohawks maintain that their intention was to reclaim the leased lands gradually rather than to surrender them.

The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne’s claim was partially accepted for negotiation in 1988 on the basis of inadequate compensation resulting from the 1888 surrender, but these negotiations broke down in the mid-1990s. The Council subsequently revised its allegations in the context of evolving case law and submitted additional research. In response to this development, Canada conducted a legal review of the revised submission and new evidence. The claim was accepted for negotiation in December 2002, on the basis that the Crown breached a pre-surrender fiduciary duty in relation to the 1888 surrender and that the Crown owes an outstanding lawful obligation to the Mohawks of Akwesasne in relation to certain leases not validated by the 1864 Dundee Act.

A negotiation protocol was signed by the parties before the ICC was asked to facilitate. Negotiations are in the early stages and issues are still being identified.