Retrospective entry (Rule 11) of the Secretary-General's rejection, 27 September 2022, of the HDI's claimed standing to represent the Haldimand interests. Extract (Parts I–III).
The instrument
[Register note: this text stood as “Gazette No. 54” in the Gazettes Master v3 of 19 April 2026. It is G53 in the certified Index REG001-260908-000282, which governs; the number printed below is the April number.]
Gazette No. 54 — Notice of Rejection — Haudenosaunee Development Institute Representation
3 April 2026 (Date of Registration) · Original: 27 September 2022
Gazette No.: GZT001-050400-000054 [now GZT001-260101-000054]
Register Entry No.: REG001-050400-000054
Tracking Code: SG1201-050000-000054 Status: Perfected — Registered and Published
NOTICE OF RETROSPECTIVE REGISTRATION
HDI Representation Rejected — Secretary-General’s Position on Standing
Retrospective entry under Rule 11. Original letter: 27 September 2022, addressed to Tim Gilbert, Managing Partner, Gilbert Law. Date of registration: 3 April 2026.
Be it known and placed on record:
That the Secretariat of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River hereby enters in the Register the formal position of the Secretary-General, established on 27 September 2022, rejecting the claimed standing of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council to represent the interests arising from the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784.
I. THE OCCASION AND THE REJECTION
On 27 September 2022, the Secretary-General, Benjamin Doolittle UE, addressed a formal letter to Tim Gilbert, Managing Partner of Gilbert Law, in response to a representation from the Haudenosaunee Development Institute on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council. The HDI had offered to represent interests arising from the Haldimand Proclamation in litigation described as concerning “rights stemming from the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784 and Simcoe Patent of 1793, alleging breaches of treaty and fiduciary duty and a failure to account,” and seeking “a declaration that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is the collective rightsholder in respect of the rights and interests asserted in the action” while asserting “the Six Nations of the Grand River Band of Indians is not the collective rightsholder.”
The Secretary-General rejected this representation for cause, on the grounds set out below.
II. THE LEGAL POSITION ON STANDING
The Secretary-General’s position is grounded in the four-instrument chain: the Haldimand Pledge of 1779, the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784, Dorchester’s Order-in-Council of 1789, and the Simcoe Proclamation of 1796. The primary parties to that chain are the three Mohawk villages named in the 1779 Pledge: Canajoharie, Tikondarago, and Aughgugo.
The Haldimand Proclamation of 1784 references the Five Nations alongside the Mohawk as “such others.” In Kirk v. Morris, 40 Ala. 225 (Ala. 1866), the term “stranger” or “such other person” refers to a person not a party to the transaction. The Five Nations, referenced as “such others,” are third parties to the transaction, not primary beneficiaries. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which includes the Five Nations as its constituent members, therefore lacks the standing to be delegated by “such others” to represent the Haldimand Proclamation interests.
Furthermore, there is a structural distinction between the Haldimand Proclamation and the Simcoe Patent of 1793. The Simcoe Patent was outright rejected by the Mohawks of Grand River as not being for the benefit of the Mohawks. Any litigation asserting rights under the Simcoe Patent as a foundational instrument is building on a document that was rejected at the time of its issuance and remains rejected by the Nation.
III. THE SECRETARY-GENERAL’S PERSONAL STANDING
The Secretary-General, Benjamin Doolittle UE, is the sixth great-grandson of Colonel Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) UEL, of the Canajoharie Mohawk — one of the three villages named as primary parties in the Haldimand Pledge of 1779. The UE designation is Dorchester’s 1789 Mark of Honour, which was established specifically to discriminate the loyalist Mohawk posterity from future settlers.
The Secretary-General therefore has direct documented personal standing to assert the rights recognized in the Haldimand instruments — a standing that no organization constituted under the Indian Act, and no representative appointed by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, can claim on the same basis.
IV. THE DIMINISHMENT ARGUMENT
The use of the Indian Act band list and the Six Nations band council as the representative framework for Haldimand Proclamation interests does not merely misidentify the rights-holder — it actively diminishes the beneficiary class. The Indian Act band list registers approximately 6,000 persons. That list does not certify any documented connection to the three primary villages of Canajoharie, Tikondarago, and Aughgugo. It certifies only enrollment under the Indian Act. Many enrolled members may carry no clan affiliation, and no means exists within the Indian Act framework to distinguish those with direct lineage connections to the 1779 Pledge beneficiaries from those without.
The UEL standard, derived from Dorchester’s 1789 Mark of Honour and applied by this Secretariat in its Citizenship Determination Rules, captures all posterity — matrilineal and patrilineal. It grows exponentially with each generation. The true cohort of Haldimand posterity, identified by the UEL standard, is materially larger than the band list. By substituting the band list for the full UEL-standard cohort, HDI’s claimed framework does not represent the full beneficiary class — it represents a subset of it, defined by Indian Act administrative enrollment, not by documented lineage to the named primary parties.
This substitution is not a technical legal point. It has direct financial consequences. Any settlement, declaration, or accounting negotiated by HDI or the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on behalf of a 6,000-person band list does not bind, and cannot satisfy, the obligations owed to the full cohort of Haldimand posterity as determined by the Secretariat’s citizenship framework.
V. ENTRY IN THE REGISTER
The formal rejection of the HDI’s claimed standing is entered in the Register for the following purposes:
(i) To establish the Nation’s consistent and public position that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Six Nations Elected Council are not the collective rights-holders in respect of the Haldimand instruments;
(ii) To establish that this position was formally stated as early as September 2022 — before the directives of 2024, before the opening of the Register in 2026, and before the Representation to His Majesty the King;
(iii) To cross-reference the citizenship determination framework entered in this Register (GZT001-050300-000020 [now GZT001-260106-000020]) which gives the legal basis for the four-corners and stranger doctrine analysis;
(iv) To establish that any settlement, declaration, or accounting obtained by HDI or the Haudenosaunee Confederacy purportedly on behalf of the Haldimand beneficiaries is, at most, binding on the Indian Act band membership and does not satisfy the obligations owed to the full UEL-standard cohort of Haldimand posterity as identified by the Secretariat;
(v) To support any future proceedings in which the Nation’s distinct legal position — as the posterity of the named primary parties to the 1779 Pledge — must be asserted against third-party claims.
EXECUTION
Executed under the authority of the Secretariat of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River.
Secretary-General
Date
CERTIFICATION OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL
I certify that this instrument has been duly received, examined, and entered in the Register of the Nation of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat as a retrospective entry under Rule 11 of the Rules of the Register.
Gazette No.: GZT001-050400-000053 [now GZT001-260204-000053]
Register Entry No.: REG001-050400-000053
Original Code / Reference: RE: Forced Representation of So Called Haudenosaunee — Secretary-General’s letter to Tim Gilbert, Gilbert Law
Original Date: 27 September 2022
Nature: Retrospective — Rule 11
Addressee: Tim Gilbert, Managing Partner, Gilbert Law
Publication: mohawkuniversity.org/pdf; archived web.archive.org 27 September 2022
Cross-Reference: GZT001-050300-000020 [now GZT001-260106-000020] (Citizenship Determination Rules — Four Corners Analysis)
Registrar General
Date of Registration
This instrument forms part of the permanent record of the Secretariat.
Mohawk Nation of Grand River · Grand River Territory
