That the Crown, in the performance of its covenant obligations to the Mohawk Nation, issued a series of formal instruments between 1779 and 1796 establishing, confirming, and giving practical effect to the territorial and legal rights of the Mohawk Nation in the Grand River Territory.
The instrument
Gazette No. 9 — Notice of the Haldimand Obligations
28 March 2026
Gazette No.: GZT001-260204-000009
Register Entry No.: REG001-050300-000009
Tracking Code: AG1208-050000-000009 Status: Perfected / Entered / Fully Effected / Registered and Published
Category / Class: Category 02 — Sovereign, Foreign & Legislative · Class 04 — Notice
NOTICE OF THE HALDIMAND OBLIGATIONS
The Four Instruments: 1779, 1784, 1789, and 1796
Be it known to all whom it may concern:
That the Crown, in the performance of its covenant obligations to the Mohawk Nation, issued a series of formal instruments between 1779 and 1796 establishing, confirming, and giving practical effect to the territorial and legal rights of the Mohawk Nation in the Grand River Territory. These four instruments must be read together as a single transactional framework. These obligations remain in force.
I. THE HALDIMAND PLEDGE OF 1779
In 1779, Sir Frederick Haldimand, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Quebec, ratified a formal pledge to the Mohawk of the three villages — Canajoharie, Tikondarago, and Aughgugo. This pledge is the originating transaction. It names the three Mohawk villages as the primary parties. The Six Nations are not named in this document. The Pledge is the instrument against which all subsequent instruments must be read.
II. THE HALDIMAND PROCLAMATION OF 1784
On 25 October 1784, Governor Frederick Haldimand issued the Proclamation by which the Grand River Territory was set apart for the Mohawk Nation and its posterity to enjoy forever. Its terms are operative, not aspirational. The grant was made and took effect on 25 October 1784, and no subsequent act has lawfully extinguished or diminished the rights thereby conferred.
The Proclamation does reference the Five Nations alongside the Mohawk; however, those references are to “such others” of the Five Nations — a term of legal significance. In Kirk v. Morris, 40 Ala. 225 (Ala. 1866), it was observed that the term “stranger” is substituted for “or some other person” — meaning a person not a party to the transaction who acts for the benefit of the defendant. The Five Nations referenced as “such others” are third parties to the transaction, not primary beneficiaries. The three Mohawk villages named in the 1779 Pledge are the primary and direct parties. This distinction is foundational to the Nation’s legal position and to the citizenship determination framework.
III. DORCHESTER’S ORDER-IN-COUNCIL OF 1789 — THE MARK OF HONOUR
In 1789, Governor Lord Dorchester issued an Order-in-Council establishing the Mark of Honour — the designation “U.E.” (United Empire) — to be attached to the names of loyalists and their posterity as a permanent mark of distinction, so that their posterity might be discriminated from future settlers in parish registers, militia rolls, and other public records. This instrument addressed a structural gap in the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784: the Proclamation set apart the territory for the Mohawk posterity but did not provide a mechanism for identifying who those posterity are. The Mark of Honour established that mechanism. The Secretary-General’s UE designation is the living expression of Dorchester’s 1789 instrument.
IV. THE SIMCOE PATENT OF 1793 — REJECTED
In 1793, Governor Simcoe issued a Patent purporting to define and confirm the boundaries of the Haldimand grant. This Patent was outright rejected by the Mohawks of Grand River as not being for the benefit of the Mohawks. The rejection of the Simcoe Patent is itself significant: it establishes that the Mohawk Nation was, from the very beginning of Upper Canada’s existence, actively asserting rights against Crown overreach and refusing instruments that did not honour the terms of the 1779 Pledge. The Simcoe Patent is not an instrument of the Haldimand obligation — it is a Crown attempt to limit it, which was rejected at the time and remains rejected.
V. THE SIMCOE PROCLAMATION OF 1796 — HERITAGE REGISTRY
In 1796, Governor Simcoe issued a Proclamation establishing a heritage registry mechanism for the loyalist Mohawk posterity. The purpose was to give practical effect to Dorchester’s 1789 instrument by providing a formal process through which descendants of the three Mohawk villages could register their heritage and thereby ascertain their standing as beneficiaries of the Haldimand instruments. The Proclamation stated: “to the end that their posterity might be discriminated from (the then) future settlers in the parish registers and rolls of the militia of their respective district, and other public remembrances of the Province, as proper objects, by their persevering in the fidelity and conduct so honorable to their ancestors, for distinguished benefits and privileges;” and that it was still “necessary to ascertain the persons and families upon the lands now about to be confirmed to them.”
The Birth and Heritage Registrar Directive (SG0300-240102-010001, 2024) and the Citizenship Determination Rules entered in this Register are the contemporary institutional expression of the 1796 Simcoe Proclamation. The Register is the heritage registry contemplated in 1796. UELAC certification is the contemporary equivalent of the Mark of Honour.
VI. THE CONTINUING OBLIGATIONS
Read together, these four instruments (and the rejected fifth) give rise to continuing Crown obligations: giving full and honest effect to the territorial grant; maintaining Crown protection over the Territory; accounting to the Nation for administration, disposition, and revenue of lands within the Territory; engaging with the Nation directly and in good faith; and recognizing only the three Mohawk villages and their documented posterity — not the Haudenosaunee Confederacy or the Six Nations Elected Council — as the primary rights-holders in respect of the Haldimand instruments.
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.
Gazette No.: GZT001-260204-000009
Register Entry No.: REG001-050300-000009
Registrar General
Date of Registration
This instrument forms part of the permanent record of the Secretariat.
Mohawk Nation of Grand River · Grand River Territory
