There is a HUGE difference between being a citizen/member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and being a Canadian citizen who happens to have indigenous ancestry. Although these differences are mainly ideological and political nevertheless, they exist.
Canadians who happen to have Indigenous ancestry band council, Christians, unadopted or clanless, do not get to make decisions for members/citizens of the sovereign Haudenosaunee confederacy. Yet, they’re still trying to impose a faulty jurisdiction established by the RCMP in 1924.
This distinction needs to be made very clear.
I bring this up because of the protest yesterday and the people saying, “these are our people,” about the band council and the police force. Let me remind you of something when those people became officers and band councillors; they swore oaths which effectively removed them from the protection of the Kayanere’kowa under wampum 58
WAMPUM #58
ANY CHIEF OR OTHER PERSONS WHO SUBMIT TO THE LAWS OF A FOREIGN PEOPLE ARE ALIENATED AND FORFEIT ALL CLAIMS IN THE IROQUOIS NATIONS
The minute these people take these oaths, they remove themselves from the circle of protection offered by the Kayanere’kowa, and they commit to upholding the interests of the colonizers. They are no longer citizens of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy; they are just Canadian citizens who happen to have Indigenous ancestry. There is a considerable difference between these two concepts of political identity.
The sooner our community realizes this, accepts it, and upholds our laws, we will all be better off.
Onondaga, Beaver Clan member
