There appears to be a question of who should assume control of the 378 acres of land. This in itself is not a problem as at least a few hundred acres of land within the much larger Burtch Tract has been returned to some of the rightful owners of the Haldimand Tract. The “Big” question which is once again the subject of much conjecture regarding the Burtch lands, is; Who are the rightful owners of the land and why are these persons the rightful owners? To find an answer to both questions all any person of any nationality has to do is get themselves a copy of the Haldimand Proclamation of October 24, 1784 and (carefully) read the words contained in that document and reread the words and paragraphs until it becomes clear which group of people are named in the Proclamation. This is an easy process and anyone who is literate in the English language should have no difficulty arriving at a positive and proper conclusion.
The granting of the Haldimand Tract to Captain Tyendanaga (Joseph Brant) of the Mohawk Nation was the culmination of a previous request made by Tyendanaga to his English Superiors for land in Upper Canada (Ontario) in lieu of Captain Brant (and his Indian warriors and their families) for their loyalty to England in the recent American War which England had lost their thirteen colonies in America and Brant and his people were forced to give up their (Homeland) in the Mohawk River Valley of the new New York State. Captain Brant and thousands of Indians and English Loyalists of many nationalities then moved northward across the Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Niagara River into Upper Canada. In a deal worked by Brant and the English Governor of the Province of Quebec which is now, Ontario, Brant and his Mohawks and others of the Six Nation Indians were given the Grand River and all land for six miles on either side of the river from the rivers mouth to its source.
The Haldimand Tract was not granted to the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, and the land was not granted to all Mohawks as many people like to believe today. The Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy had been split by the American War as some of the Tuscarora’s and the Oneida’s had fought against England while some of the Senecas and Cayugas had fought alongside Brant and his Mohawks with the English. Today; in the summer of 2017 as we argue about who the Haldimand Tract was Granted to and which group constituted the (original Government) or who was the first Governor. The answer to both questions is a no-brainer; Captain Joseph Brant would not have arrived in Upper Canada unprepared to govern as he, (Brant) would have been the Military Governor of the Grand River Colony and his Lieutenants would have constituted the original Government.
Getting back to the Burtch question: under the terms of the agreement between the Burtch Sub-Committee and the two levels of the Crown, the 378 acres which made up the Burtch Lands were to be returned to their original state at the conclusion of the $7,000,000 Remediation Project which meant that when we the people took back the land there was to be only, grass, trees, shrubs, and perhaps water in the stream which flows through the property. That; however was not the case when the Corporation took control of the property, a few species of unnatural plants in the form of Scientifically modified tobacco and Soybeans were growing where there should have been only native plants. (SOME One had broken the agreement); the (land was not in its natural state). In the past it had always been the federal or provincial government (s) which broke every Treaty or agreement the Indians and the Crown had made. This time, however; it appears that one or perhaps more than one “Indian” had broken the Treaty. Now we have the Six Nations Elected Council at odds with the Iroquois Confederacy Chiefs Council over who has the legal right to the property and it appears that neither of these two groups have ever really read and understood the wording of the Haldimand Proclamation of October, 1784.
