In Ontario, tributes to Queen Elizabeth II are not unanimous among the Mohawks, a people long allied to the Crown. The Mohawk Nations fought alongside the British in several conflicts, including the American Revolutionary War, and some of the territories they inhabit today stem from this alliance.
On Monday, the Mohawk Band Council of the Bay of Quinte, near Kingston, chose to close its offices for the royal funeral. The decision provoked the ire of some members of the community. The closure is a “slap in the face to all Indigenous peoples,” one woman wrote on social media. “When is a day of mourning for all the children whose bodies have been discovered [près des pensionnats] ? This is ridiculous,” commented another resident.
For the head of the band council, Donald Maracle, whose grandfather was sent to a boarding school, these questions remain reconcilable. Discussions must take place with the Crown (about Britain’s role in the establishment of residential schools, for example) in order to heal the wounds of the past, he said in an interview, “but this must take place after the period of grief “. “Many people who have been sent to boarding schools respect the queen,” says the chief.
According to David Kanatawakhon-Maracle, professor of Indigenous studies at Western University and native of this territory, “some members of the community will mourn the death of the queen, but there will not be many”. Donald Maracle – a “royalist”, according to David Kanatawakhon-Maracle, who knows him – is however part of this group. “The queen was a model of grace and dignity,” said Chief Maracle in an interview with the To have to.
The reaction to the temporary office closure highlights the disagreements that can arise between Indigenous band councils — a political system imposed by the Canadian government — and the communities they represent. “Haudenosaunee band councils don’t represent their entire community,” said Courtney Skye, a Mohawk researcher at the Yellowhead Institute, a research center associated with Metropolitan University of Toronto, without commenting specifically on the situation in the Bay of Quinte. .
A historical link
The relationship between the Mohawks and the British dates back at least 350 years. In 1667, the British established an agreement — the chain of alliance — with the Haudenosaunees (also called Iroquois), a group of six Aboriginal nations including the Mohawks, Senecas and Oneidas. The deal was polished over time, and in 1764 other nations joined the alliance under the Treaty of Niagara.
About two years after the treaty was signed, the American Revolution broke out. The Iroquois Confederacy initially remained neutral, but soon found itself divided. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras support the Americans; the rest of the group, including the Mohawks, sided with the British.
After the war, in recognition of their support (and for the loss of their ancestral territory in what some Mohawks consider genocide), the British offered the Mohawks land in Upper Canada. They particularly chose the Bay of Quinte region, where settlers loyal to the Crown also settled. A treaty signed in 1793 formalizes the granting of a territory of approximately 375 km2 to the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte; it is however now only 72 km2 after being cheated by settlers.
It is this treaty that today represents one of the strongest links between the band council and the Crown, explains Chief Donald Maracle. “I haven’t forgotten the hurts caused to the Aboriginal people, but I still value the relationship because of the treaty,” he says.
The band council — and not the Iroquois Confederacy, a traditional council — is the body with which the Crown, through the Canadian government, negotiates treaties, says researcher Skye.
I have not forgotten the hurts caused to the Aboriginal people, but I still value the relationship because of the treaty
“As long as we have a constitutional monarchy in the country, we can go to court to defend the obligations of the Crown under the treaty [de 1793] “, therefore believes for his part the chef Donald Maracle.
Given these close ties, Courtney Skye, who is a member of Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, says a “serious analysis of Crown treaty management” is in order. “If Canada becomes a republic, but the law and jurisprudence remain the same, it will only further marginalize Indigenous rights [au pays] “, she fears.