Six Nations of the Grand River

The Six Nations of the Grand River is a First Nations reserve in Southern Ontario. The reserve is the largest in Canada with a 2024 registered population of more than twenty-nine thousand. It is home to members from all six nations of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy—the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. The traditional homeland of the Haudenosaunee originally extended through upstate New York into southern Canada. After forming an alliance with England during the American Revolution (1775-1783), some members of the confederacy sought refuge in Canada after the British defeat. In 1784, the British Crown rewarded a group of loyal Haudenosaunee with a gift of land near the Grand River in modern-day Ontario. Within a century, much of the Grand River Settlement was reclaimed by the Canadian government. In modern times, the Six Nations of the Grand River people reside on the remaining 46,000 acres.

Background

According to legend, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy was created between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries by a figure called the Great Peacemaker. Some traditions give his name as Deganawida. He is said to have convinced the mythical leader Hiawatha to adopt the Great Law of Peace, or Kaianere'ko:wa. Deganawida and Hiawatha spread the law to other tribes in the region, persuading them to give up their former ways of violence and human sacrifice. The law acted as the basis of a new system of government that was regarded as a direct connection to the Creator. The confederacy formed a great council of fifty tribal and clan supreme chiefs known as sachems. The chiefs were men, but they were chosen by the Clan Mothers of the matrilineal family lines. The original members of the confederacy consisted of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga. Each of the five nations was represented by a delegation ranging from eight chiefs for the Seneca to fourteen for the Onondaga. In 1722, the Tuscarora migrated north from North Carolina and joined the confederacy as the sixth nation.

The Haudenosaunee grew into a powerful force in the region. They were often at war with neighboring tribes such as the Huron and Mohicans. When French fur traders arrived in the region in the seventeenth century, they gave the members of the confederacy the name Iroquois, a term most likely derived from irinakhoiw, an Algonquin insult meaning "rattlesnakes." The members of the confederacy referred to themselves as the Haudenosaunee, or "people of the longhouse." The longhouse was a traditional bark-covered dwelling that could house many families. As the name suggests, longhouses were large structures, ranging from forty to four hundred feet long.

Overview

During the colonial conflicts of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Haudenosaunee attempted to maintain their neutrality and signed several non-interference treaties with both the French and British. When simmering tensions between the American colonists and England erupted into war in 1775, the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga aligned with the British. The Oneida and Tuscarora sided with the colonists.

The loyalist Haudenosaunee were led by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief who organized numerous raiding missions against the Americans. When Britain surrendered in 1783, it lost all of its lands below the St. Lawrence River to the newly formed United States. As a result, most Haudenosaunee territory in New York was turned over to the Americans. Brant led a group of about two thousand mostly Mohawk and Cayuga into Canada seeking land in return for their service during the war. They were also joined by some Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora. In 1784, the governor of Canada granted them land in southern Ontario stretching "six miles deep" on either side of the Grand River extending up from Lake Erie.

As the population of Canada grew in the nineteenth century, the Six Nations found their land under siege from white settlers. In 1841, the British government claimed the Six Nations surrendered all but a few thousand acres of their land to the Crown. The Six Nations maintained they were intimidated into signing the surrender treaty. From 1980 to 1995, the Six Nations of the Grand River filed twenty-nine court claims seeking compensation for the lands originally promised them in 1784. One of those claims was resolved in 1985. Since 1995, continuing legal action was put on hold several times as the nations and government unsuccessfully attempted to work out a settlement. In 2009, the Six Nations reactivated its litigation against the government. As of April 2024, the disputes remain unresolved.

The modern Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve sits on 46,000 acres near the town of Brantford in southern Ontario, about sixty miles southwest of Toronto. According to Six Nations, the reserve had a 2024 registered population of 29,163. Much of the population resided in the village of Ohsweken. The Mohawk were the most populous nation with a registered population of 11,948; the Cayuga accounted for 7,515; the Tuscarora 2,276; the Oneida 2,116; the Onondaga 1,483; and the Seneca 971. The reserve is also home to a population of 701 Delaware. Among the notable people born on the Six Nations Reserve were late nineteenth century poet and performer Pauline Johnson and actor Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on the 1950s American television series The Lone Ranger.

The Six Nations still meet regularly to discuss community issues under the traditional structure used by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Six Nations Council at Grand River is one of two independent governing councils, with the other located in Onondaga, New York. The Onondaga are considered the fire keepers and open the proceedings. The chiefs of the Grand Council are divided into Elder Brothers and Younger Brothers. The Mohawks, Onondaga, and Seneca are considered Elder Brothers, while the Cayuga and Oneidas are the Younger Brothers. If the Tuscarora wish to discuss an issue at council, they must present the issue through the Cayuga.

Bibliography

Johnson, Michael. Iroquois: People of the Longhouse. Firefly Books, 2013.

Monture, Rick. We Share Our Matters: Two Centuries of Writing and Resistance at Six Nations of the Grand River. University of Manitoba Press, 2010.

Ramsden, Peter G. "Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)." Canadian Encyclopedia, 28 Aug. 2015, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/iroquois/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Six Nations of the Grand River Population Statistic." Six Nations, Aug. 2024, www.sixnations.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/LMem-Stats-for-August-2024.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Welcome to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy." Haudenosaunee Confederacy, www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.