Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat
Certificate of the record
The Royal Chapel — His Majesty’s Royal Chapel of the Mohawks: the faith, kept since 1785, and the Crown face to face.
POS001-261030-000011 · version 1 · A draft — not yet for use
What it is
The chapel and its yard in spring, drawn in the Nation’s manner: the cherry tree over the bell house, the stones inside the pickets, the tomb of Joseph and John Brant, the pines behind, the walk to the road, the river, the dike and its trail with the little people on it; the chapel in eight lines, from the Four Kings in 1710 to the chapel’s own arms in 2024 and the Nation’s reading of it as a free chapel of the Crown, the first of three promises; and the Royal Arms over the door, of George III’s reign, with the broad arrow on the bell; under the drawing, the 1984 plaque’s title in English, French and Mohawk, and the yard’s people numbered on the drawing, the Brants in the tomb, Catherine Brant, Pauline Johnson’s boulder and the Prince of Wales’s tree. The web edition rings the bell, two taps as people do at the chapel, while it sways a little in its house; rings the peal of eight handbells one by one or in rounds, treble to tenor; reads the main plaque in English, French or Mohawk and each smaller plaque word for word; shakes the cherry tree’s petals down, opens the door, shows the felt lion and unicorn of the Royal Arms shifting as they wait for their picture, then freezes them at a tap, flashes, and develops the photograph like a Polaroid, sets out the chapel at a glance, the Crown’s visits and its plaques, lights the eight windows from behind, a sun moving on its own or following the reader’s finger, and reads each window at a tap.
| Its date | 2026-10-29e |
| Made by | Mohawk’s Printer for Grand River |
| Their qualifications | Drawn by Mohawk’s Printer for Grand River from the National Books’ own data; Book VII, The Royal Chapel shows it on a page of its own. |
| Their duty | Not recorded. |
| Its standing as a survey | This is the Nation’s determination, made from the sources named; it is not a survey under the Surveyors Act, and was not prepared by a licensed surveyor. |
| Datum and projection | Not a map; the Three Villages’ inset keeps the land map’s datum (NAD83 / UTM zone 17N). |
How it was made
An illustration, drawn from the sources below; printed in A3 landscape (420 × 297 mm), with A2 and A1 print files, 3 mm bleed and crop marks.
How surely
An illustration, not a survey: the figures stand for no particular family. The Three Villages’ inset is the Register’s own land map, drawn from its layers.
A poster: it teaches, and does not decide. The record of any person’s line is the Register’s.
Its sources
- The Royal Chapel, Book VII — Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat, 2026; the Nation’s own
- Her Majesty’s / St. Paul’s Chapel of the Mohawks National Historic Site — Parks Canada, 1981; the designation
- The plaques at the chapel, as cast — the Historic Sites and Monuments Board; the Ontario Heritage Foundation; the Masonic Foundation of Ontario; the Brant Chapter, I.O.D.E.; the plaques
- The arms of His Majesty’s Royal Chapel of the Mohawks — the Canadian Heraldic Authority, 2023; the grant
What it carries
✓ A title · ✓ Its maker · ✓ Its date · ✓ A scale bar · ✓ A scale ratio (1 : n) · ✓ North · ✓ A legend · ✓ Its datum and projection · ✓ Its sources, with their dates · ✓ A statement of its accuracy · ✓ A locator (where it is in the wider world) · ✓ Its credits and licences
Its files, and their fingerprints (SHA-256)
Its entries in the integrity log
How the records are kept
The records of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat are kept in the Nation’s Register, an electronic records system kept in the usual and ordinary course of the Secretariat’s work. When a file is taken into the Map Room its SHA-256 fingerprint is taken at once and entered in the Register’s integrity log, in which every entry is sealed with the fingerprint of the entry before it; a certified version’s files cannot be changed, and a change makes a new version, the old being kept. At the date of this certificate the log holds 36 entries and, read through, every entry seals the one before it.
To cite it
Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat, The Royal Chapel (poster), POS001-261030-000011, version 1, 28 October 2026. https://mohawkuniversity.org/Register/verify/POS001-261030-000011
A draft affidavit of the custodian of the records
To be read with counsel before it is used; to be sworn or affirmed before a commissioner.
I, ______________________, of ______________________, MAKE OATH (or AFFIRM) AND SAY:
1. I am the ______________________ of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat, and have the keeping of its records, and so have knowledge of the matters below.
2. Attached as Exhibit “___” is a true copy of the record POS001-261030-000011, version 1, “The Royal Chapel”, as it is kept in the Secretariat’s records.
3. The records of the Mohawk Nation of Grand River Secretariat are kept in the Nation’s Register, an electronic records system kept in the usual and ordinary course of the Secretariat’s work. When a file is taken into the Map Room its SHA-256 fingerprint is taken at once and entered in the Register’s integrity log, in which every entry is sealed with the fingerprint of the entry before it; a certified version’s files cannot be changed, and a change makes a new version, the old being kept. At the date of this certificate the log holds 36 entries and, read through, every entry seals the one before it.
4. The SHA-256 fingerprint of each file of the record, as it was taken into the records, is set out in the certificate of the record attached; the fingerprint of the copy attached is the same.
5. To my knowledge the system was at all material times operating properly, and nothing in it has been altered except as recorded in its integrity log.
SWORN (or AFFIRMED) before me at ______________________, on ______________________.
Electronic documents are received as evidence on proof that they are what they purport to be, and of the integrity of the system that kept them (Canada Evidence Act, ss. 31.1–31.3; Evidence Act (Ontario), s. 34.1). This certificate sets out that record; whether a record is admitted, and its weight, are for the court.
Scan the railing with the Register’s scanner, mohawkuniversity.org/Register/edge-scan/, or type the address beneath it.