Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation
Band No. 164

Mohawk peace flag
People	Mohawk
Headquarters	Tyendinaga
Province	Ontario
Land
Main reserve	Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
Other reserve(s)	Glebe Farm 40B Six Nations of the Grand River
Land area	73.63 km2
Population
On reserve	2169
Off reserve	7685
Total population	9875
Government
Chief	R. Donald Maracle
Council size	4
Website
mbq-tmt.org

The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) (Mohawk: Kenhtè:ke Kanyen'kehà:ka Mohawk pronunciation: [gʌ̃h'dè:ge ganjʌ̃ge'hà:ga]) are a Mohawk community within Hastings County, Ontario. They control the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, which is a 7,362.5 ha (18,193-acre) Mohawk Indian reserve on the Bay of Quinte in southeastern Ontario, Canada, east of Belleville and immediately to the west of Deseronto. They also share Glebe Farm 40B and the Six Nations of the Grand River reserves with other First Nations.

The community takes its name from a variant spelling of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant's traditional Mohawk name, Thayendanegea (standardized spelling Thayentiné:ken), which means 'two pieces of fire wood beside each other'. Officially in the Mohawk language, the community is called Kenhtè:ke, which means "on the bay" (from Mohawk kénhte "bay", which is also the origin of the word "Quinte"). The Cayuga name is Tayęda:ne:gęˀ or Detgayę:da:negęˀ, 'land of two logs'. The nation's band number is 164.

Overview

The territory of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ), represent one of the largest First Nations territories in Ontario.

Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory has ties to the birthplace of the Great Peacemaker—Dekanahwideh—who was instrumental in the bringing together the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca into the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, according to Kayanesenh Paul Williams, a Six Nations lawyer and author.

The traditional land of the MBQ, which was much more vast that the current territory, was based on a variation of the traditional Mohawk name of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea —which means "two pieces of fire wood beside each other". In the Cayuga language the name is Tayęda:ne:gęˀ or Detgayę:da:negęˀ—"land of two logs". The geographical feature, the bay is kénhte in the Mohawk language and the community's official Mohawk name is Kenhtè:ke —"on the bay". It was anglicized to "Quinte".

The Mohawk nation reserve covers 7,362.5 ha (18,193-acre) in Hastings County on the Bay of Quinte in southeastern Ontario, Canada, east of Belleville and immediately to the west of the township of Deseronto.

History

Following the American Revolution, the Mohawk, who were allies of the British Crown, lost their traditional homelands in the Mohawk Valley of what became New York state, when they were forced to cede their lands following the defeat of the British. As compensation for their allegiance, the Crown offered them unsettled land in Upper Canada. A group of Mohawk led by John Deseronto selected the Bay of Quinte because it was said to be the birthplace of Tekanawita, one of the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy in the 12th century. The majority of the Mohawk followed Joseph Brant to the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation in what has become the province of Ontario.

On May 22, 1784, the group of 20 Mohawk families (between 100 and 125 people) arrived at Tyendinaga. Nine years later, the Tyendinaga tract of land was officially set aside under Crown Treaty 3½, signed on April 1, 1793, by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe and thereafter known as the 'Simcoe Deed'. This tract of land, measuring 37,500 ha (92,700 acres) was legally accepted by the British Crown, and subsequently by the Upper Canada government.

A wave of Loyalists also settled in the Bay of Quinte area, and the government granted many of them land in the Tyendinaga Tract. During the period from 1820 to 1843, the Mohawk lost two-thirds of the treaty lands of the Simcoe Deed. Additional land loss has left the Mohawk with only 7,100 ha (18,000 acres) in this area today.

The major new settlement for the Mohawk and other Iroquois in Canada was the Six Nations Reserve of the Grand River (where prominent Mohawk leader Joseph Brant struggled with the colonial government for control of the land). In addition, Mohawk and others joined the existing communities of Kahnawake, Kanesatake, Wahta and Akwesasne (the latter four were mostly Mohawk settlements established along the St. Lawrence River during the colonial era prior to the war).

In 1869, the Gradual Enfranchisement Act was passed by the Canadian federal government, establishing elected band councils on First Nations reserves. The first election for the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte elected council took place in October 1870, where seven chiefs were elected to sit on the council.

Land claims

Land Claim—to the right of the green space—covers the south of Tyendinaga area and most of Deseronto.

In 1995 the MBQ filed a claim on an area which covers 923 acres of land surrounding the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory area, which included most of the land upon which the township of Deseronto has been built. In 2003, the federal government entered into initial land claims negotiations on the Culbertson Tract land claim.

The claim is based on Loyalist settlers allegedly acquiring Mohawk traditional land illegally, during the period from 1820 to 1843, resulting in the loss of the majority of the land from the Simcoe Treaty. As set out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the terms and conditions for purchasing land from Mohawk included the requirement of a community vote prior to sales of any common land to non-Mohawk. Research and documentation has shown that these terms and conditions may not have been followed at Tyendinaga. The Township created a "Catalogue of Culbertson Tract Land Claim documents collection" in its archives. Chief Don Maracle renewed a call for negotiations to continue in 2011, following a period of stagnation. A symposium entitled "The Land that Supports our Feet", was held in Deseronto in 2013 which was well-attended.

In June 2013, Justice Rennie of the Federal Court of Canada ruled in Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development), that expropriation is one of several viable alternatives available to the government under the law.

Long-term Drinking Water Advisories (DWA)

The Mohawk of the Bay of Quinte have been under a Drinking Water Advisory since 2008, "due to fecal, bacterial and algae contaminations". During a drought in the area, many of the groundwater wells—upon which they had depended—went completely dry.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, supply chains from manufacturers were disrupted, resulting in an increase in the 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) water main project from about $8.1 million to $18.2 million. In December 2020, the federal government had announced new funding of $16.7 million to "cover the cost of extending the water mains" from the township of Deseronto and the MBQ's own water-treatment plants which will then be able to serve five areas in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

This funding supports the final phase in the "multi-phase project to improve access to safe drinking water for the MBQ community. The federal government and the First Nation invested a combined total of $18.2 million towards the project, which will "ultimately lift five long-term drinking water advisories in the community". This final phase has been contracted out to Gordon Barr Limited, who began construction work in December 2020. The new water mains will link the MBQ's and Deseronto's water treatment plant, thereby connecting "86 existing homes and several of the community's semi-public buildings". By 2021, there were about 2,200 people living on the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte reserve with another 3,000 Mohawks living nearby. Of these, there are about 90 families "on a waiting list for affordable housing".

Demographics

Notable Bay of Quinte Mohawk people

• Beth Brant (1941–2015), writer and poet
• Rick Brant (born 1967), track and field athlete, sports advocate
• Hannah Claus (born 1969), visual artist
• Lee-Ann Martin, curator and writer
• Shelley Niro (born 1954, Turtle clan) filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist