From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Aboriginals: Iroquoians/Alexander Von Gernet
Shortly before European contact, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca had formed a non-aggression pact that came to be known as the League of the Iroquois. Throughout much of the seventeenth century, this league did not have a unified foreign policy but was intended to keep spiritual unity and peace among the Five Nations, each continuing to act independently of one another in their relations with Europeans. By the 1680s, however, there had emerged a political, diplomatic, and military confederacy intended to represent a unified pan-Iroquois politics. Theoretically, the confederacy or confederate council had fifty hereditary chiefs representing various clans and each assuming the name of his predecessor. Decisions were reached only through unanimous agreement. In recent times, the league and the confederacy have often been regarded as one and the same.
The confederacy was not always in agreement over policy towards the French and English and, later, British and Americans. In fact, the council fire, which was located at Onondaga where the confederacy chiefs usually met, was symbolically covered in 1777, thereby dissolving the confederacy. After the American Revolution, two council fires were rekindled, one on the American side and one at Six Nations in Canada. The Canadian version of the confederacy remained in power throughout the nineteenth century, although it was under constant pressure from the British and Canadian governments.
Kahnawake, Kanesatake, and Akwesasne were not part of the Iroquois Confederacy, although they maintained their own hereditary chiefs. In 1888 the Canadian government introduced a system of electing chiefs at Akwesasne. That same year Akwesasne became the Mohawk member of the American version of the confederacy. Today, Akwesasne has three different governing bodies: the Mohawk Nation Council (nine hereditary chiefs appointed for life), the St Regis Tribal Council (recognized by the United States), and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (an elected body of twelve chiefs and one grand chief recognized by Canada). This situation, together with the fact that Akwesasne lies in five different jurisdictions (Canada, the United States, Ontario, Quebec, and New York State), has made relations with the external power structure among the most complicated in North America.
In 1924 the Canadian government also dissolved the confederate council at Six Nations and replaced it with an elected body. The hereditary chiefs continued to meet, and today there remains a division between the elected council and the confederate council. The latter reject all Canadian Indian legislation since 1867, and there have been several attempts to overthrow the elected band councillors. The confederate chiefs uphold a version of the traditional Great Law and are generally followers of the Longhouse religion. Their ultimate aim is to have Canada recognize the confederacy as the government of the Six Nations. At the present time the majority of Six Nations people do not, however, wish to replace the modern elected council.
Relations with the federal government have most often been dominated by issues of local interest to each Iroquoian community. The construction of the St Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s generated difficulties at both Akwesasne and Kahnawake. In particular, owing to the terms of the Indian Act, an Akwesasne woman living on the Canadian side was no longer considered an Indian if she married an Akwesasne man living on the American side. The international boundary led to a host of problems with border crossings and duty-free passage, some of which are currently being resolved in the courts. In April 1990 nightly fire-fights with automatic weapons between pro- and anti-gambling factions at Akwesasne resulted in massive police intervention by both Canadian and U.S. governments. Cigarette smuggling has also contributed to tensions, both within the community and in relations with non-aboriginal society.
The unique historical circumstance that led to the establishment of various Iroquoian communities in Canada has meant that large-scale land claims do not play as important a part among the Iroquoian peoples as they do among many other aboriginal groups. Nevertheless, the Six Nations have been actively pursuing the possibility of reclaiming or obtaining compensation for land they lost along the Grand River. Claims by Iroquoian people have also led to landmark court decisions. For example, in the 1990 case of R. v. Sioui, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the Huron of Lorette could not be prosecuted for cutting trees, camping, and making fires in a nearby provincial park because “treaties and statutes relating to Indians should be liberally construed and uncertainties resolved in favour of the Indians.”
The Oka crisis of 1990, with its violence, protracted armed stand-off, and bridge blockade, brought the Mohawk of Kanesatake and Kahnawake into the international limelight. Precipitated by a proposed expansion of a golf course onto disputed lands, the affair became a metaphor and rallying cry for various aboriginal grievances, not only in Quebec but across the country. Although members of the militant Warrior Society received most of the press coverage, they were opposed by more moderate Iroquois who worked behind the scenes to resolve the crisis.
As the tension between traditionalist and modernist forces continues in Iroquoian communities, the promise of self-government is met with considerable ambivalence. Who will ultimately wield power remains uncertain. Meanwhile, Iroquoian people are committed to rebuilding the social fabric of their lives and leading their nations into a prosperous future.
