Let Twist Again

[Gayogoho]

03.09.2006 06:41:51

Ontario's illegal attempt to do away with Indian Title

“LET’S TWIST AGAIN”: HOW ONTARIO WANTS TO DO AWAY WITH ORIGINAL INDIAN LAND TITLE BY CHANGING “LANDS REGISTRY SYSTEM” TO “LANDS TITLE SYSTEM”

MNN. Sept. 3, 2006. The devil never rests. Here’s another big move by devious Ontario. In the past, if anyone buys property in Ontario, they had to do a complete title search going back to the Crown patent and Indian title. In the last few years Ontario has been pushing to make a declaration to change the registering of the lands from the “Lands Registry System” into the “Lands Title System”. This was used in the Canadian West in provinces like British Columbia where there were no treaties to found the British claim to the land. The Ontario government wants to certify all land title in the province according to what they say is their idea of “title”. This way nobody has to do anymore title search going back to the original Indian title.

When Ontario became a province they divided up all the land into counties. In each county the government surveyors divided up the land into lots and concessions. It developed a “surveyor’s grid” to decide the dimensions and location of any property in Ontario. All lands have a source of original Indian title. On top of Indian title Ontario had underlying title called the “Provincial Crown”. This "layer cake" hoax was made up by the Privy Council in England in the St. Catherines Milling and Lumber case in 1888.

The Haldimand Deed confirmed Indian title and provided protection from encroachment forever for the “Mohawks and their posterity”. Anyone doing a title search in the Registry Office on the Haldimand Tract would find the original title going back to 1784. This means there had to be a legitimate transaction between the Six Nations people and the first non-native title holders on the record.

Today when a person does a title search they usually find the first deed came from the “Crown”, except in the case of the Haldimand Tract, which came from the Indigenous people. If there’s never been a valid sale from the Indigenous people to the first titleholders, which could be the Crown, then the root of title is invalid.

Under the old Land Registry System everyone had to establish title by deeds and documents. The Ontario government has been having difficulty making declarations on lands because all of Ontario is subject to Indian title. The Six Nations issue is revealing the difficulty Ontario is having in certifying land title because everything is subject to dispute.

Ontario is trying to get around this by making a “decree” that people don’t have to do a title search beyond 40 years. This doesn’t undo the fact that they have to go back to a valid title for now. Presently all the lands in Ontario are still subject to dispute.

When the Ontario government does away with the Land Registry System completely, Ontario will decide who owns what in the province. No one has to go beyond to look for a root of title anymore. Indians can be ignored and trampled on as usual even though Canadian people are becoming increasingly aware of our rights and the injustices done to us in the past.

Here’s another interesting twist to this scheme. American Insurance companies are guaranteeing the land title. If there is a dispute, they pay people off with insurance money. What do you think of that one?

Under the new lands title system Ontario will make a decree to indirectly do away with all original Indian title. They have done it in some places in Ontario. It’s absolutely illegal. Six Nations is not the only region where there are problems of this kind. They’ve been dodging the issue for a long time in other parts of Ontario.

In 1991 Ontario had a near miss. Bear Island had registered cautions against unceded lands north of Lake Nipissing on behalf of Temagami and of the Indians. Ontario had to go to court to get a declaration that the Crown in right of Ontario had clear title. But the Supreme Court of Canada found that the issue depended on facts which were not produced.

In the case of Six Nations there’s more documentary proof of the facts than in most parts of Ontario. So Ontario makes counterfeit decrees to prop up their side. This is one of the reasons why they are pushing for a different land title system. They know, when you come right down to it, the foundation of the current system is rotten. What they don’t seem to have noticed is the new system will be even more rotten. It’s a reversion to raw colonialism.

Well, it’s our land, we haven’t been consulted and we haven’t given our consent to be robbed at colonial legislative gunpoint!

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

[email protected]

Sign up for Mohawk/Six Nations updates at www.mohawknationews.com

poster: Thahoketoteh

[Riverwind]

Ontario is trying to get around this by making a “decree” that people don’t have to do a title search beyond 40 years. This doesn’t undo the fact that they have to go back to a valid title for now. Presently all the lands in Ontario are still subject to dispute.

This statement demonstrates how clueless many aboriginal activists are. The number of non-aboriginal land owners vastly outnumbers the the number of aboriginals. This means that if the current laws threaten the rights of the majority non-aboriginal land owners then the gov't will change those laws. That is the nature of democracy and no amount of hand wringing by aboriginal activists will change that.

The arrogant and condescending attitude demonstrated by some aboriginal activists actually makes the process of changing laws to eliminate aboriginal claims a lot of easier for politicians.

[geoffrey]

Please stop starting dozens of threads on the same topic, it's really annoying.

[yam]

Im for the opposite Geoffrey. I would think that any students would also be be. Afterall, it is making news which suggests that people want to keep informed. For you it would be practical to simply ignore this subject.

[jbg]

This statement demonstrates how clueless many aboriginal activists are. The number of non-aboriginal land owners vastly outnumbers the the number of aboriginals. This means that if the current laws threaten the rights of the majority non-aboriginal land owners then the gov't will change those laws. That is the nature of democracy and no amount of hand wringing by aboriginal activists will change that.

The arrogant and condescending attitude demonstrated by some aboriginal activists actually makes the process of changing laws to eliminate aboriginal claims a lot of easier for politicians.

I recommend as required reading Charles E. Mann's excellent book 1491 for a synopsis of the extent to which the native cultures and identities were literally destroyed prior to the arrival of the bulk of the European colonists. Pigs and explorers were disease sources that spread smallpox and hepatitis, to which natives had no immunity, all the way up to Massachusetts and beyond from Florida long before the original US Thanksgiving Day. Indeed, the thinning of their population made this possible.

My point in all this is that there were never, at any time of substantial British or French colonization, viable native cultures or political structures. Any statement to the contrary is a recent fabrication.

I am happy to e-mail a PDF of Mr. Mann's summary of this article, which was published in the April 2002 Atlantic Magazine, if you PM or email me.