Two Akwesasronon Question Tribal Court Proceedings and Outcomes

By Kaniehtonkie.

Four years ago, a local resident was summoned to court to defend the ownership of her land between herself and her neighbors. She was summoned to appear at the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council Court.

Two years ago, a local resident embarked on the same journey, trying to resolve the ownership of

his highly prized show dogs. He went through the proper route of going through the local tribal court system as well.

Two very different cases reaching the same outcome and very similar challenges along the way.

Alicia Cook, made three purchases of land from the previous owner for her family on Gray Bear

Road, located off Drum St. Road in 1999 which was verified by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe

and issued a land deed in 2000 and again in 2014. Cook had her land purchase professionally

surveyed with a licensed surveyor. He verified through the court system, the right of way the neighbors were issued by the previous owner and without Cook’s consent was indeed going through her property. Yet, this critical testimony was ignored by the judge.

Cook states, “The previous owner gave them the right of way through my property and without my knowledge, suddenly, I have people going through my property.”

Dwayne Lazore was the other community resident. Lazore began raising show dogs at an early age of 25. Many owners of show dogs don’t become successful until much later in life. His charisma and charm matched that of the gracefulness and showmanship of his show dogs, earning top prizes and ribbons at dog shows along the eastern seaboard from Miami to New York City. He trusted his dogs, his partners, and his plans.

As each entered the system of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Court system, their trust was

betrayed by a series of court procedures of motions, injunctions, judgments, dismissals, claims

and counterclaims. All regular procedures within any court system under the guidance of a

properly trained lawyer – except neither respondent could find a lawyer who would agree to

work with the SRMT Tribal Court system.

Cook called four lawyers; Lazore called five lawyers from the Saint Regis Mohawk Trible Court Bar list. And each lawyer replied with a similar answer – I no longer represent at the tribal court, or I am not practicing at the tribal court.

According to Cook, she was told by a local lawyer – the lawyer would not enter the SRMT Court due to past negative experiences. Yet another local lawyer, Cook asserts, said the judge had broken a contract between the seller and buyer and in layman’s terms – aiding and abetting the theft of land without due compensation.

Another shared his experience with Cook and asserts the lawyer felt bad charging his client when the case should have prevailed, had the court ‘run properly.’

Cook left messages for other lawyers to represent her, but most did not return her calls.

In Cook’s case, the Court claimed evidence was not provided on the exact original location of

Gray Bear Road, despite providing a survey to the court and the court acknowledging the survey

on page 4 of 11 Decision and Order dated March 31, 2021, and yet fails to acknowledge the land

survey on page 10 of 11, stating, ‘Respondent could have had a survey done of her property prior to improving Gray Bear Road.’

Turning her single lane driveway into a two-lane road, and according to Cook, was wrongly viewed.

“I never wanted a two-lane road, I put a single lane on property I purchased. I’m entitled to my purchase. The two-lane road came from encroachment from neighbors beyond my property.”

It also states, “In her arguments, Respondent, contended that she built up Gray Bear Road.

Essentially arguing that she holds ownership interest due to her work. The Court is aware the

Respondent built up Gray Bear Road. It is unclear as to the exact work that the Respondent did

to improve Gray Bear Road.”

Cook contends “When I originally purchased the property there was no Gray Bear Road, I put in the laneway and I am the grandfathered purchaser of this property therefore, all other deeds that follow mine are null and void. How these issued deeds are read is another issue, we have people in office that copy and paste from other deeds, and this makes things ‘read improperly.’ The average person would never think twice, they’re just happy to be purchasing property”.

Cook provided detailed and original receipts to the Court showing work directly related to the improvement of Gray Bear Road. According to Cook, the Court didn’t consider the work Cook completed on her laneway and neither did they offer just compensation for her investment or compensation for the strip of acreage ‘they took with a stroke of a pen.’

Cook contends she owns the laneway, with legal transactions, surveys and deeds issued by the

Tribe. The Court mentions such deeds but fails to acknowledge Cook as the rightful owner.

Cook states “I will not submit to an incompetent ruling. I purchased this property and

have all the legal paperwork to prove it, therefore it is mine”.

For Dwayne Lazore, the ownership of his show dogs was questioned, the location of his

residence was questioned and the location of where his dogs resided and cared for was

questioned. Lazore provided statements and official documents to show the ownership of his

dogs. Lazore also provided documentation to show his legal residence and where his show dogs were being taken care in Frogtown.

Lazore said, “I was successful in the U.S., but in Canada – not as much. I wasn’t winning the ribbons and prizes as I was in the U.S. A dog breeder suggested hiring a handler for my show dogs. I contacted a few people, and several referred me to a handler from east of Cornwall. Where the handler lived, he could only have three dogs at his residence. So, we had to move my dogs from his residence. It was suggested to go to a warehouse three miles away, but that didn’t make any sense to store my dogs in a warehouse when my dad owned property in Akwesasne. So, we moved our dog business to Frogtown. We took care of other show dogs as well and we took them all to Frogtown.”

He added, “When we travel to dog shows, we leave certain dogs behind, and my father takes care

of them. We eventually rented a house from my dad and built kennels for the dogs with my dad taking care of them.”

Times go by and in a convoluted route, the show dogs end up at the handler’s house east of Cornwall because of the difficulty the handler experienced when crossing the border. In 2016, the ownership of the show dogs’ changes from Lazore to his handler and his handler’s new partner – but without Lazore’s knowledge. Lazore reads of his dog’s new ownership in a dog show program.

At this point, Lazore continues to improve the set-up for show dogs and to ease the work for his dad in taking care of his dogs. From Oct 2017 to August 2018, Lazore’s father was taking care of about 29 show dogs in total, at his dad’s house.

Lazore claims he provided detailed authentic documentation he owns his show dogs to the court. The handler provided documents allegedly said to be signed by Lazore – giving up ownership. Lazore claims he didn’t sign over the dogs and he couldn’t have signed them in Florida. The papers submitted by the handler were dated and time stamped in Florida.

Lazore stated those papers are fraudulent, “I was living in Akwesasne at the time – and I provided proof of my residency.”

The handler provided the Court with papers from the American Kennel Association (AKC) allegedly with Lazore’s signature, giving up ownership of his beloved dogs.

Lazore contacts AKC, informs them the papers are forged and that he was living in Akwesasne at the time and date of the signature and sent proper AKC affidavits to support this claim.

AKC brings in a handwriting expert and declares its inconclusive as to whose signature is on the

documents. Tribal Court sides with the handler, because as Lazore’s tells it, ‘It’s two people

against one” – the handler and his new partner against Lazore.

Later in the proceedings, the handler admits he never saw Lazore sign over ownership of the show dogs and Lazore was never in Florida during the said timeframe. AKC never found any fraud. Lazore contends this disclosure was disregarded by the Tribal Court.

Totally unrelated cases, yet similar in being left to defend themselves – Lazore said from the list of Regis Mohawk Trible Court Bar lawyers, every lawyer he contacted refused to take a case at the Tribal Court. At one point, Lazore went outside the approved list of lawyers and retained a lawyer who wasn’t registered at Court. The Judge said he couldn’t technically represent Lazore. Lazore claims the lawyer was furious and dropped Lazore.

In the end, everything Lazore appealed was denied. Cook and Lazore allege of the many documents submitted, most were disregarded. Lazore lost most of his show dogs fencing, kennels and the handler never paid a cent for the care, feeding and housing of their show dogs. Cook is denied ownership of land she rightfully purchased and was given a “non-possessory easement interest to access her property.” No compensation for loss of land or investment was mentioned.

Lazore asked, “Why do we have a tribal court when no one wants to represent here. If I were a

lawyer myself, or had a lawyer to represent me, I would feel ok about every decision the court

made. I’m not a lawyer - what was I to do?”

Cook feels the same, saying, “I had to navigate the legal proceedings by myself. I tried and I

couldn’t find a lawyer to represent me because the Court system is incompetent. That’s why no

lawyer will go there.”

“In addition, because you cannot find legal representation, you have to maneuver your way around clerical errors and legal proceedings that don’t line up. Something is wrong here. They couldn’t even get my name or address right.”