European colonizers, who believed they had discovered the New World were unaware of the political, social, geographical and historical relationships of O:gweho:we who were already living in North America. One of the O:gweho:we nations that existed as a powerful force in North America was the Hodinohso:ni Confederacy, which already had its own governing customary laws provided to them by the Peacemaker. This thesis is intended to explain the traditional customary laws of the Hodinohso:ni in order to provide an analysis and comparison of Hodinohso:ni law with Eurocentric international law.

European colonizers, who believed they had discovered the New World were unaware of the political, social, geographical and historical relationships of O:gweho:we who were already living in North America. One of the O:gweho:we nations that existed as a powerful force in North America was the Hodinohso:ni Confederacy, which already had its own governing customary laws provided to them by the Peacemaker. This thesis is intended to explain the traditional customary laws of the Hodinohso:ni in order to provide an analysis and comparison of Hodinohso:ni law with Eurocentric international law.

“Holding Hands With Wampum” weaves a story of disparate peoples who came together to create a new North American World over a period of more than five centuries. The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora member nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy conceptualized their universe according to the kaswentha ethic and above all treasured autonomy on local, national, and confederate scales. “Holding Hands With Wampum” traces the spiritual foundations of this Haudenosaunee worldview and then uses ethical discourse to explain the evolution of Haudenosaunee-European relationships through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to Canadian Confederation and, finally, to the modern age of land reclamations and assertions of Haudenosaunee sovereignty. Unravelling a uniquely Haudenosaunee perspective of the past, “Holding Hands With Wampum” is a cultural form of intellectual history, as it employs Haudenosaunee culture and ethical discourse to understand the place of a diverse community in the very public world of council fires and other political interactions. As an exercise in ethnohistory, “Holding Hands With Wampum” combines the documentary record with wampum belts and oral interviews in an effort to create a balanced historical narrative that situates culture in a constantly changing geo-political reality. The concept of métissage also provides a framework for understanding how these dramatically different peoples came together in the eighteenth century and created a new, common diplomatic protocol. Only by shedding light upon Haudenosaunee-European relations over such a long period can we hope to understand contemporary issues of land and treaty rights and, perhaps, learn how to rekindle the métissage of a not so distant past. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-19 15:18:03.721

La tradition juridique iroquoise, ou de la Confédération iroquoise - autrement connue sous l‟appellation Haudenosaunee ou Gens du Longhouse - est non seulement ancienne, mais aussi organique et viable. Les rappels de son existence et de son contenu nous entourent et nous pénètrent. Son application, toutefois, exige notre volonté et notre participation, ainsi que celles des communautés autochtones dont les ancêtres l‟ont développée il y a plusieurs siècles. Ceci représente un défi constant pour la communauté mohawk de Kahnawake où la marche du temps a mené, malgré la présence notable et indépendante des Mohawks avant et pendant les premiers siècles d‟interaction avec les Européens, à une intégration juridique de la mentalité coloniale. L‟on pourrait même douter de l‟existence de leur ordre juridique, la Kaianerekowa. La réalité néanmoins est toute autre et cet ordre est complet, sophistiqué et applicable; il s‟ouvre ainsi, nécessairement, à la possibilité de critique et d‟amélioration progressive. La médiation illustre bien ces dynamiques, parce qu‟elle en fait partie depuis un temps immémorial. Aujourd‟hui, Kahnawake cherche à développer son identité juridique ainsi que ses relations avec le monde extérieur. La Kaianerekowa représente une alternative concrète viable pour les communautés locales ou globales. La médiation demeure une application pratique et efficace de cet ordre juridique pour cette communauté, comme pour d‟autres, chacune avec des adaptations particulières. Nous argumenterons pour la reconnaissance pleine et entière de la Kaianerekowa comme ordre juridique et de la médiation comme forme juridique potentiellement dominante à Kahnawake. / The Iroquois Legal Tradition, or that of the Iroquois Confederation otherwise known as the Haudenosaunee or the People of the Longhouse, is not only ancient but also organic and currently viable. The reminders of its existence and of its content surround us and traverse us. Its application, however, requires our will and our participation as well as that of Indigenous communities of which the ancestors themselves developed it many centuries ago. This presents a constant challenge for the Mohawk community of Kahnawake where the march of time led, despite the notable independent Mohawk presence before and during the first centuries of interaction with the Europeans, to a legal integration of the colonial mentality. This could even lead one to doubt of the existence of their legal order, the Kaianerekowa. Reality, however, is otherwise and this order is complete, sophisticated and applicable; it is thus open necessarily to the possibility of critique and progressive improvement. The mediation exemplifies these dynamics, because it has been a part of them since before one can say. Today, Kahnawake seeks to develop its legal identity as well as its relations with the outside world. The Kaianerekowa presents itself as a concrete and viable alternative for local and global communities. The mediation remains a practical and efficient application of this legal order for this community, as for others and each with its own particular adaptation. We will argue for the full and entire recognition of the Kaianerekowa as a legal order and of mediation as a legal form potentially dominant in Kahnawake.

La tradition juridique iroquoise, ou de la Confédération iroquoise - autrement connue sous l‟appellation Haudenosaunee ou Gens du Longhouse - est non seulement ancienne, mais aussi organique et viable. Les rappels de son existence et de son contenu nous entourent et nous pénètrent. Son application, toutefois, exige notre volonté et notre participation, ainsi que celles des communautés autochtones dont les ancêtres l‟ont développée il y a plusieurs siècles. Ceci représente un défi constant pour la communauté mohawk de Kahnawake où la marche du temps a mené, malgré la présence notable et indépendante des Mohawks avant et pendant les premiers siècles d‟interaction avec les Européens, à une intégration juridique de la mentalité coloniale. L‟on pourrait même douter de l‟existence de leur ordre juridique, la Kaianerekowa. La réalité néanmoins est toute autre et cet ordre est complet, sophistiqué et applicable; il s‟ouvre ainsi, nécessairement, à la possibilité de critique et d‟amélioration progressive. La médiation illustre bien ces dynamiques, parce qu‟elle en fait partie depuis un temps immémorial. Aujourd‟hui, Kahnawake cherche à développer son identité juridique ainsi que ses relations avec le monde extérieur. La Kaianerekowa représente une alternative concrète viable pour les communautés locales ou globales. La médiation demeure une application pratique et efficace de cet ordre juridique pour cette communauté, comme pour d‟autres, chacune avec des adaptations particulières. Nous argumenterons pour la reconnaissance pleine et entière de la Kaianerekowa comme ordre juridique et de la médiation comme forme juridique potentiellement dominante à Kahnawake. / The Iroquois Legal Tradition, or that of the Iroquois Confederation otherwise known as the Haudenosaunee or the People of the Longhouse, is not only ancient but also organic and currently viable. The reminders of its existence and of its content surround us and traverse us. Its application, however, requires our will and our participation as well as that of Indigenous communities of which the ancestors themselves developed it many centuries ago. This presents a constant challenge for the Mohawk community of Kahnawake where the march of time led, despite the notable independent Mohawk presence before and during the first centuries of interaction with the Europeans, to a legal integration of the colonial mentality. This could even lead one to doubt of the existence of their legal order, the Kaianerekowa. Reality, however, is otherwise and this order is complete, sophisticated and applicable; it is thus open necessarily to the possibility of critique and progressive improvement. The mediation exemplifies these dynamics, because it has been a part of them since before one can say. Today, Kahnawake seeks to develop its legal identity as well as its relations with the outside world. The Kaianerekowa presents itself as a concrete and viable alternative for local and global communities. The mediation remains a practical and efficient application of this legal order for this community, as for others and each with its own particular adaptation. We will argue for the full and entire recognition of the Kaianerekowa as a legal order and of mediation as a legal form potentially dominant in Kahnawake.