A protest in 2013 at Short Hills, Ont. Photo by Cody R. Law.

Last fall, Haudenosaunee hunters made their way to the forest with archery equipment for an annual six-day deer harvest. At Short Hills Provincial Park, just southwest of St. Catharines, Ont., the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry collaborated to create a safe space for the hunters. But despite the obvious government support, animal rights activists gathered to protest as cars entered and exited the park. The harvest is an important tradition, but many protesters may not realize the significance of the meat itself: the venison is a healthier and much more affordable meat for the community.

TREATY RIGHTS
The Treaty of Albany 1701, or Nanfan Treaty, gives Haudenosaunee people the right to hunt and fish in southwestern Ontario. But it wasn’t until 1982 that the Government of Ontario recognized and honoured treaty rights; before this, hunting in the area was done outside provincial law. Since 2013, the Short Hills deer harvest has given the Haudenosaunee people another opportunity to act on their right to hunt.

PROTESTS
Since the harvest’s first year, protesters have been known to yell racial slurs at harvest participants and shine spotlights at vehicles that enter the park, obstructing participants’ vision and compromising their safety. According to Paul Williams, member of the Haudenosaunee Wildlife and Habitat Authority, as of late, the majority of the protestors see the provincial park as a deer “sanctuary.” But during the past two years, there have also been counter-protests supporting treaty rights. To ensure the safety of everyone involved, park personnel and regional and provincial police have been present.

VIABLE VENISON
Through the harvest, Haudenosaunee hunters have access to lean venison, which is healthier than the processed, fatty meats many community members rely on. “Often, those [market] foods that are consumed are the ultra-processed kind—generally, ready to eat, ready to heat. We found that [Indigenous] people who consume more traditional food tend to consume less of the ultra-processed foods,” says Malek Batal, a principal investigator of the First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study (FNFNES).

HEALTH REPORT
The FNFNES found that there are high rates of diabetes among Indigenous people living on reserve in Ontario. About 24 percent are living with diabetes, which is three times the national average. And consumption of processed foods, especially meat, is a factor contributing to high rates of diabetes and obesity. Batal suggests that issues with food security affect the development of obesity, which is a major risk factor for diabetes. “Food insecurity means you have access to high-energy, low-nutrient foods, because they’re cheaper,” says Batal. “When ultra-processed foods are available and affordable, you eat more of those kinds of foods, which means that you are more at risk for developing obesity.”

PRICING

Much of this boils down to money. In 2014, the FNFNES reported that food security is a major issue. In Ontario, 29 percent of Indigenous households on-reserve experience food insecurity. About 23 percent of Indigenous households off-reserve experience food insecurity in comparison to about eight percent of Ontario households, which is also the national average. Comparatively, the average weekly cost of groceries for healthy meals is $247 for Indigenous communities in Ontario and $205 in Ottawa.

Illustration by Matt Daley

On the second Saturday of every July, the Haudenosaunee people march across the border at Niagara Falls to remind North America of a message: “We are not American. We are not Canadian. We are Haudenosaunee.”

Harry Doxtator can remember attending the ceremony as a toddler, and now sits on the Border Crossing Committee as the Oneida representative. “We are establishing our right of having the ability to cross the border that they have designed. We are saying that we have the right to freely travel, as we call it, Turtle Island.”

Since the 1783 Treaty of Paris established the boundary between Canada and the United States, the Haudenosaunee have become a people divided. The borders of Canada, the United States, Ontario, Quebec, and New York demarcate their lands.

Since 1928, the crossing celebration acts as an affirmation of the rights laid out in Article III of the 1794 Jay Treaty. Signed by Britain and the United States, this article purports that the First Nations people dwelling on either side of the border can cross to and from and freely carry on commerce.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy says that they have neither been defeated by, nor accepted citizenship from, Canada or the United States and thus remain sovereign. Respect for the nation is expressed as early as 1613 in the Two Row Wampum Treaty. “As allies, the Haudenosaunee people were promised that their freedom and independence would always be recognized,” explains Grand Chief Mike Mitchell of Akwesasne, a Mohawk reserve that straddles both international and provincial borders. “From the imposition of the Indian Act, of residential schools, to brainwashing to make us forget who we are, the end product is still that, we are citizens of our own nation.” They have also held their own passports since the 1920s, and ID cards since the 1950s.

All members of the Six Nations—Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cayuga, and Onondaga—can hold a Haudenosaunee ID card and passport. The ID card is used is at the Canada-US border, and passport-holders have successfully used them to travel around the world. But heightened border security since 9/11 has caused escalating conflicts over the legitimacy of the Haudenosaunee passport.

Through the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the United States released a restricted list of documents acceptable for entering the United States. The Haudenosaunee responded by creating a documentation committee in order to bring both pieces of identification up to date, both in terms of security and political acceptability. “We are in negotiations with the United States about having it accepted as compliant with WHTI,” says committee member, lawyer, and professor Paul Williams. “We’re also in negotiations with Canada, whose law at this point doesn’t have a list of acceptable documents.” Canada’s regulation only states that the documents should be satisfactory to the officer at the border crossing. “It gives the officer a bundle of discretion,” says Williams.

The latest upset was in June 2011 at the Cornwall border, which divides the Mohawk Nation in half, when Joyce King produced her Haudenosaunee passport as identification to enter into Canada. The Border Services Officer seized the document, deeming it unsanctioned.

Problems persist more on the Canadian side of the border than the American one. This is because, unlike the U.S., Canada never incorporated Jay Treaty’s article III into law. The Treaty of Ghent, which provides the restoration of the rights of First Nations as they existed prior to the War of 1812, has only been enacted in the U.S. The Crown promised to do the same—but never has.

“There are 28 articles in the Jay Treaty,” says Grand Chief Mitchell. “Canada has ratified and sanctioned 27 of them.”

The federal government believes there isn’t a reason to keep this promise, claiming that circumstances have changed. But Williams relays the stories of over 200 families that are broken apart by their inability to leave Canada, such as a woman from Tuscarora who, married to a Cayuga man at Six Nations, cannot return to the United States to visit her father who is dying of cancer. Forced to stay in Canada in fear that they won’t be permitted re-entry, it is clear that there are plenty of reasons for the Haudenosaunee to continue protesting for their rights to cross a border that their community precedes by hundreds of years.