PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Tue., Sep. 30, 2008

Pray for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The prime minister has resigned causing more instability in an already troubled state. CPT will send a team for three months from December to work with local human rights groups..

Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Toronto, Canada

Haudenosaunee prophets are speaking some hard truths that Canadians, especially Canadian Christians, need to hear about land claims.  Two Row Understanding through Education (TRUE) is an attempt by some settler (i.e., non-indigenous) neighbours of the Six Nations (Haudenosaunee) community to create a meeting space for learning more about the first agreements that made it possible for newcomers to settle on this land.  "Two Row" refers to the Two Row Wampum Treaty—the first agreement between Haudenosaunee inhabitants and Dutch settlers—not to interfere with each other but rather to live in cooperation and harmony.

TRUE emerged in the context of organized non-natives harassing and attacking the Haudenosaunee after the latter reclaimed land that non-native commercial development is altering beyond repair.  Since the original Haldimand Tract—ten kilometers on either side of the Grand River source to mouth—was deeded in 1784 to Chief Joseph Brant and the Haudenosaunee for their allegiance to Britain during the American Revolution, agents of the British and successor Canadian governments have seized land and misappropriated funds from leases held in trust for the Haudenosaunee.  Less than 5% of the Tract remains under the control of the Haudenosaunee.  Of the twenty-nine well-documented land claims registered with the Federal government on portions of the other 95% of the land, only one has been settled.  All claims have languished in the Government’s hands from thirteen to twenty-eight years.