Six Nations of the Grand River
Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River, French: Réserve des Six Nations, Seneca: Ye:i’ Níónöëdzage:h) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of whom live on the reserve.[2] These nations are the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora. Some Lenape (also known as Delaware) live in the territory as well.
Six Nations 40
1924
Mark Hill
183.20 km2 (70.73 sq mi)
12,848
The Six Nations reserve is bordered by the County of Brant, Norfolk County, and Haldimand County, with a subsection reservation, the New Credit Reserve, located within its boundaries. The acreage at present covers some 46,000 acres (190 km2) near the city of Brantford, Ontario. This represents approximately 8% of the original 550,000 acres (2,200 km2) of land granted to the Six Nations by the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation.[3]
Several named communities exist within the Six Nations reserve:
Government[edit]
The Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council is a governing body established to run the affairs of the reserve in 1924, formed under the Indian Act. The Elected Council has, since its foundation, been the primary government of Six Nations recognised by the Government of Canada. However, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council has maintained a presence on the reserve despite the establishment of the elected council, representing a continuity with the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Education[edit]
Prior to colonization, education in Haudenosaunee communities took place in "unstructured and non-coercive ways."[16] This continues to this day alongside state education.
Members of the Six Nations attended the Mohawk Institute, a residential school which was the subject of numerous abuse allegations. Upon closure of the institute in 1972, the residential school was replaced by the Woodland Cultural Centre.[17]
Day schools were also operated on the reserve under the Six Nations School Board (1878–1933), the first Indigenous school board in Ontario.[18] While the official colonial curriculum was taught and many non-Indigenous teachers taught on the reserve, Indigenous influence on the board allowed for the hiring of many Six Nations teachers, many of them women as was and continues to be the case at the elementary level in Ontario.[16] Teachers on the reserve also formed their own association for professional development, the Six Nations Teacher's Organization.[18]