Men’s Council reaffirms Mohawk ownership of Fort Covington land

Representatives from the Men’s Council of the Longhouse in Hogansburg hung signs and flags in the town of Fort Covington Tuesday afternoon, peacefully making a statement that the land there has always belonged to Mohawks.

“It’s just to let them know that this is Indian land,” stated Kanarahtiio Jock.

The signs and flags were hung over the Little Salmon River in the northeastern part of Fort Covington. According to the men, the state has recognized a line further northeast as the end of the Ft. Covington town line (and the start of the disputed land claims area). However, the Men’s Council says that throughout history the actual border was the river itself.

“We know the line as the river and they want to know it as a line over there,” said Jock, pointing in the direction of the old Village Mart store.

“This was never anything but Indian land,” said Jock. “There has never been a dispute over this being our lands. The only problem that the state has is who is going to pay the squatters who are on this land?”

Jock said the point of Tuesday’s demonstration was to bring attention to the state of New York that the land is Mohawk land and that they need to take care of their own people who are living there. He believes that Akwesasne has already compensated the surrounding counties more than enough through casino payments, and now it’s up to the state to sort out what should be done for the people on the land in question.

The area of land between the old Village Mart and the Little Salmon River was at one time a part of the full disputed land area and it’s unclear when the land was taken off the land claims maps and identified as Ft. Covington land. Disputed land – land still claimed by Akwesasne but which is also claimed by the towns of Ft. Covington and Bombay – is found all around Akwesasne, including along Rt. 37 at another site where the Men’s Council has stationed flags and signs stating Mohawk ownership.

The men said they had no plans to build a fire at the Ft. Covington site as they did at the Hogansburg site. However, they planned to stay near the site for part of the day Tuesday to answer questions to anyone driving by and to let the people in that area know that the state has been “fraudulently” taxing them.

“We don’t have to hide anything,” said Jock. “The homework’s all been done. They (state officials) have to come to an understanding now.”