Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples: Individual Presentation by Ernie Benedict

This file contains an individual presentation by Ernie Benedict focusing on broken treaties promises or treaties ignored altogether by the Canadian government. Benedict provides some history on early European contact in the Akwesasne. He questions where in his First Nations treaty was it stated that the St. Lawrence Seaway could be built without input from Aboriginals living in that area: "Where is the law in which an engineering drawing can supersede a treaty?" He calls on the Commission to ensure that treaty rights are not ignored in the future.

Historical note:

The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power", the "Five Nations"; the "Six Nations"; or the "People of the Longhouse") is a group of First Nations/Native Americans that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed. Although frequently referred to as the Iroquois, the Nations refer to themselves collectively as Haudenosaunee, meaning "People of the Longhouse," or more accurately, "They Are Building a Long House."