WASHINGTON — In an ongoing battle with the state of New York for tribal land rights, members of the Onondaga Nation Tuesday filed a petition with an international human rights commission against the federal government.
Citing broken treaties with the United States over 4,000 square miles of land in upstate New York, tribal leaders and members demonstrated at the Friends Meeting House in Washington and, later, outside the White House as rain pelted down to announce the complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
“What [the petition] means is one more step to help the world recognize the harms that were done to our people over time. They don’t go away,” said Freida Jacques, an Onondaga tribal leader. “You can ignore and dismiss them, which is what has happened in the courts in the United States, but the hurt is still there and that we seek a healing from.”
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request to review a Land Rights Action in which the tribe disputed New York’s ownership of 2.5 million acres of land that it claims originally belonged to the Onondaga Nation. The tribe also demanded an environmental cleanup of the area.
The tribe first filed a case with a U.S. District Court in 2005, which the court then dismissed. Joe Heath, the tribe’s lawyer, said the Onondaga were left with no choice but to file a violation with the commission.
Jacques, an Onondaga Turtle clan mother, said the tribe isn’t looking for a handout, but instead want access to more food and water resources to help sustain their community. She said reservation lands are predominantly made up of gravel and shale, making it difficult to grow crops.
“We could try to find more access to plowable land, land that’s more accessible for planting,” Jaques said. “That is part of the Land Rights Action – our ability to try to acquire places that may benefit us. We know that land is worth much more. Because over time that land will sustain you, whereas money will not.”
The commission will consider the petition and determine whether an investigation into the violation is warranted.