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Mohawk Nation of Grand River

The Tract, and What Is Left of It

Six miles each side of the Grand River, from its mouth to its source: set apart in 1784 for the Mohawks and their posterity, never surrendered by them.

The web edition of the poster · From Book IV of the National Books, Lands and the Tract · ISBN 978-1-0680559-0-4

The Tract, and the reserve inside it

The Nation’s land map: the Grand River, the line six miles from each bank graded by its evidence, and the municipal boundaries around it

The line six miles from each bank, graded by its evidence: A alongside a surveyed limit, B measured from the water, C through a reservoir, D interpreted. The Six Nations reserve in plum, with the part outside the line hatched; the towns as green dots, every one inside the line.

0 acres in hand
950,000 in right

95 of every hundred acres the Crown claims, by sales and surrenders made in the class’s name; 5 are a reserve of Canada’s, held for the Six Nations; none is in the Mohawk Nation’s hands: even the two-tenths of an acre Peter Cook willed to the Mohawk, the Nation’s one holding in hand, the City sold. In right, all of them, still there, in green: the Crown’s covenant to a named class, never surrendered by it.

The villages they left

CanajoharieTikondaragoAughgugo

Canajoharie, Tikondarago and Aughgugo, on the Mohawk and the Susquehanna; burned, 1775 to 1779.

Fort Hunter to the Grand River Queen Anne’s Chapel, 1711: its silver, its BibleH.M. Chapel of the Mohawks, 1785

The chapel came with them: Queen Anne’s silver communion set and her Bible, given in 1712, went from Fort Hunter to the Grand River, where the chapel of 1785 is His Majesty’s Chapel of the Mohawks, a Royal Chapel. King Edward VII gave it the Royal Arms; the Canadian Heraldic Authority has since granted the chapel arms of its own, and they carry the royal crown, which is why it stands over the chapel here.

Where you stand

FergusEloraKitchenerWaterlooCambridgeParisBrantfordCaledoniaCayugaDunnville

every one of them inside the line.

If you are of the posterity, the whole six miles is still yours in right: the Register records your line, and The Line of Honour shows how.

The acres, step by step

in right, unchanged: 950,000 950,0001784the Proclamation740,0001793the Simcoe Patent390,0001798Brant’s sales55,0001841the “surrender”46,0001850the reserve45,580todayCanada’s reserve in the Crown’s account

The posterity: unknown in number. The Crown never ascertained them on oath, as Simcoe’s Proclamation of 1796 provided, nor recorded them; the Register does, one line to a Loyalist ancestor at a time. Acreages are approximate.

The chain, 1784 to today: each sale and surrender, and why it fails

A family walks the chain. Tap a link for the Nation’s reading of it.

  1. 1
    1784 · The Proclamation, 25 October COVENANT
    six miles each side of the river, “which them and their posterity are to enjoy for ever”
    the covenant itself: to a named class, their posterity included
  2. 2
    1793 · The Simcoe Patent NEVER ACCEPTED
    a deed on Simcoe’s terms, restricting sale and lease; never accepted by the Grand River Mohawk
    never accepted by the Grand River Mohawk
  3. 3
    1795–98 · Brant’s sales of the upper blocks NO SURRENDER BY THE CLASS
    Dumfries, Waterloo, Woolwich, Nichol, Canborough and Moulton, confirmed by Russell in 1798: made in one man’s name
    made in one man’s name; the class as a class gave none
  4. 4
    1832–35 · The Navigation Company; the Plank Road A LEASE, NOT A SURRENDER
    the Nation’s funds put into the Navigation Company by the Crown’s officers; the plank road leased, not surrendered
    lost money is not a surrender; a lease is not a surrender
  5. 5
    1841 · The “general surrender” PROTESTED
    signed by chiefs under pressure, protested at once by petition; the reserve consolidated south of the river by 1847
    a class that never surrendered cannot have surrendered
  6. 6
    1850 · About 46,000 acres remain NOT THE TRACT
    a reserve under statute, held for the Six Nations, part of it outside the line: Canada’s reserve is not the Tract
    Canada’s reserve does not decide the Crown’s covenant
  7. 7
    1821–2026 · The Crown knew throughout KNOWN THROUGHOUT
    Bathurst 1821; Oliver 1909, 1914; Churchill 1922; the Queen’s plaque 1984; Titles 2021; the Surveyor General 2024; ServiceOntario 2026
    a defect the Crown has known of is not cured by its own silence
  8. 8
    1796 · 2026 · The oath, and what the Nation asks PERSISTS
    the mark “ascertained” on oath before a magistrate; the Nation asks mandamus, the interest recorded, observance, and an accounting
    persistence, not loss

Yielded to others, 1994 to 2026: the Schedule of Unjust Enrichment, Gazette No. 61

$1,406 bn1 Land value
$112 bn2 Infrastructure
$654 bn3 Taxes taken
$30 bn4 Licences, fees
$63 bn5 Farms, food
$555 bn6 Trade, industry
$103 bn7 Patents
$33 bn8 Water, resources
$2.96 trilliona conservative floor; the method is in Acquired Territory, and in the section beneath

Where $2.96 trillion comes from, and what it could actually be

How the floor adds up: a statement of account placed before the King on 2 April 2026, Gazette No. 61, from the valuation a committee of the Crown’s own people made in 1994: the Mayor of Brantford, the Member of Parliament, Jane Stewart, and the mayors of every municipality along the Grand River.
1994: the Crown’s own committee values the Tract$250 bn × property since, 6.25 (a Brantford house, $80,000 to $500,000)× 6.25 × the share the committee put under the claim× 0.90 1 · Land value$1,406 bn 2 to 8 · the enjoyment taken, 1994 to 2026, 32 years: the improvements fixed to the land,taxes, trade, farms, patents, licences, water$1,549 bn the floor, Gazette No. 61$2.96 trillion no double-counting · every figure public or the Crown’s own · interest and the years before 1994 left out
What it could actually be. The Gazette calls its figure a floor; these are the web edition’s illustrations, each with its assumption stated, not the Gazette’s figures.
the floor, as published$2.96 tn the same 32 years with their time value, at 4 per cent$4.50 tn the land’s own yield kept, 3 per cent of a rising value, in place of layer 1$4.84 tn the years the Schedule leaves out, from 1850, at a tenth of today’s rate$5.20 tn the loss of exclusive use itselfno sum the loss of enjoyment itself: the fruits, and every improvement fixed to the landthe eight layers, and up
The eight layers, and what each rests on
Layer1994 to 2026
1Land value
the City of Brantford’s own 1994 report put the whole Tract at $250 billion; a 6.25× rise in real property since (a Brantford four-bedroom house, $80,000 to $500,000); 90 per cent under the Nation’s claim, as the City’s report acknowledged
$1.41 trillion
2Infrastructure built on the Tract
highways and regional roads $35 bn; municipal roads, bridges and stormwater $28 bn; water and wastewater $18 bn; hospitals $12 bn; schools and campuses $8 bn; transit $6 bn; civic buildings $5 bn
$112 billion
3Taxes taken
property tax on about 300,000 properties $240 bn; provincial and federal income tax on about 800,000 taxpayers $243 bn; HST and GST $63 bn; corporate taxes $55 bn; land transfer tax $18 bn; development charges $12 bn; capital gains on property $22 bn
$654 billion
4Licences, fees and extraction
aggregate royalties $8.5 bn; water-taking permits $3.2 bn; quarrying and mining licences $4.8 bn; business licences $6.4 bn; liquor and gaming $3.1 bn; Crown leases and easements $2.6 bn; conservation fees $1.8 bn
$30 billion
5Farms and agri-food
crops on about 5,000 farms $19.2 bn; livestock $8.4 bn; dairy $6.2 bn; food manufacturing $24 bn; farmland rents $4.8 bn
$63 billion
6Trade and industry
manufacturing $185 bn; technology $78 bn; retail $112 bn; logistics $34 bn; construction and real estate $95 bn; finance $42 bn; tourism $8.5 bn
$554 billion
7Patents and innovation
patents $28 bn; start-up valuations and exits $45 bn; R&D credits $12 bn; research grants $8.4 bn; venture capital $6.8 bn; licensing $3.2 bn
$103 billion
8Water and natural resources
municipal water $14.2 bn; farm water $4.8 bn; hydro $2.1 bn; timber $1.6 bn; aggregate $7.4 bn; carbon and conservation credits $2.8 bn
$33 billion
Conservative aggregate
City of Brantford report, 1994; Statistics Canada; the Grand River Conservation Authority’s watershed report, about one million people; Ontario’s agricultural profiles; Region of Waterloo indicators
$2.96 trillion

The terms, drawn

Exclusive use. The right to say who is on the land and what is done with it, to the exclusion of everyone else, the Crown included; it runs to the class person by person.
the class, inside its fence everyone else, outside the Crown too
Public use. What the Crown licensed on the Tract is use by everyone, the opposite of exclusive. That loss has no sum, because only observance restores it: the Nation licensing the use, and taking its rent, headwater f of the Grand River dollar.
public use: everyone on it a highway, a hospital,a water main, a campus:licensed by the Crownas if the land were its own.Exclusivity gone. No sum cures it.
Enjoyment. The right to the land’s fruits and to keep them, and to everything fixed to it: every pipe, road, rail, wire, main and building is an improvement to the land and goes with the land, so its value is the class’s too. The eight layers are the account of the enjoyment taken, the fruits and the improvements both; it can be put in money, which is why the Schedule can be a statement of account. It is the Dollar’s headwaters a to i.
the class taken, 1994 to 2026:the eight layers rents · crops · water · gravel · timberand every improvement: pipes, roads, buildings
Acquired territory. The Crown bought out the Mississaugas’ interest in 1784 and set the land apart by its own Proclamation, a deed of gift, for a class it had named in 1779 and their posterity for ever; what the Crown set apart by its own instrument, it holds bound by that instrument. Book II’s doctrine.
the Mississaugas’interest, bought out set apart, 1784a deed of gift the class andtheir posterity Ontario, 1867,subject to it: s. 109;s. 52 protects it not held from time immemorial: acquired, by the Crown’s own instrument Crown-derived, not a section 35 right · the Crown holds bound by its own instrument never surrendered by the class to whom it runs
The underlying interest, and why the account is owed.
enrichedthe Crown, by alleight layers count deprivedthe Nation, of its ownterritory, since 1784 no juristic reasonno valid instrumentever extinguished it all three stand: the account is owed unjust enrichment has three elements

Who is who

Haldimand1718–1791
Carleton, Dorchester1724–1808
Simcoe1752–1806
Brant, Thayendanegea1743–1807

The Crown’s

Carleton, later Dorchester: the promise, 1775; the Mark of Honour, 1789

Haldimand: the Pledge, 1779; the Proclamation, 1784

Simcoe: the Patent, 1793; the oath, 1796

The Nation’s

Brant; Deserontyon: to the Grand River, and to the Bay of Quinte, 1784

The three villages’ Mohawks, and their posterity: the class, by either sex, anywhere

The cases

What the courts protected

Isaac v. Davey, 1977: the reserve’s governance

Chippewas of Sarnia, 2000: good-faith purchasers

City of Sherrill, 2005 (US): settled expectations

What supports the Nation

Mabo (No 2), 1992: interests survive the Crown’s sovereignty

The Oneida cases, 1974, 1985: no clean title without a surrender

Kingspan v. Brantford, 2010: the City’s own sale disclaims the claim: the defect named, never cured

Cowichan Tribes, 2025: registered titles defective beneath a prior interest

Six Nations v. Canada: the Haldimand claim, filed 1995; Phase 1 before Justice Parghi

What each did not decide

Isaac v. Davey: not the Crown’s covenant to a named class under section 109. Sarnia: not a duty to observe; it protected purchasers, and the Nation evicts no one. Sherrill: American law on settled expectations; the Nation seeks the record, not disruption.

The Nation does not seek to overturn private titles that do not conflict with the interest; it holds that registration cannot defeat it, and will not concede it.

The printed poster

Download the poster as printed, A3, full quality: the-tract.pdf