February 2015

Dear community member,

The supporters of Haudenosaunee right to hunt offer this educational resource for your consideration. This package documents the solidarity work offered to Haudenosaunee hunters Nov. and Dec. 2014 at Short Hills Provincial Park.

Background: Haudenosaunee hunters have legal treaty rights to hunt at Short Hills Provincial Park. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) has accommodated these treaty hunting rights. Approximately 25 local community members opposed this treaty right and put up a physical barricade blocking Haudenosaunee hunters from entering Short Hills. The anti-hunt protesters established a 10 minute vehicle stall that was supervised by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Niagara Regional Police Department. During this time, anti-hunt protesters surrounded hunters’ vehicles, aimed their flashlights into the faces of Haudenosaunee drivers, and their passengers, and called out various derogatory statements. In response, a solidarity picket was established by supporters of the Haudenosaunee right to hunt.

In this information package please find the following:

1. A testimony account from Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international human rights organization that provided support to the Haudenosaunee hunters at Short Hills.

2. A statement from the supporters of Haudenosaunee right to hunt.

3. A support letter for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry that outlines how the hunt is justified in three important ways – with respect for treaty rights, through good stewardship of Ontario’s natural resources, and through demonstrably safe hunting practices. We encourage you to sign this letter and to fax it to the MNRF to demonstrate your support for the hunt.

4. Links to further resources: a. CFBU radio interview with Paul Williams, Haudenosaunee hunter and member of the Haudenosaunee

Wildlife and Habitat Authority, recorded December 12, 2014. This interview provides further information about Haudenosaunee treaty and hunting rights http://www.cfbu.ca/aud/DH.mp3

b. Susan Hill “Conducting Haudenosaunee Historical Research from Home: In the Shadow of the Six

Nations/Caledonia Reclamation,” American Indian Quarterly, Fall 2009, Vol. 33, No. 4: 479-498. http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v033/33.4.hill.html

c. Tamari Kitossa “Same difference: Biocentric imperialism and the assault on indigenous culture and hunting”http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Same+difference%3A+biocentric+imperialism+and+the+assault+on+indigenous...-a030002334

d. Robert W. Venables “The Clearings and The Woods: The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Landscape? Gendered

and Balanced” http://www.newbooks-services.de/MediaFiles/Texts/9/9781441915009_Excerpt_001.pdf

e. http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/11/15/traditional-haudenosaunee-hunt-meets-opposition

f. https://www.tworowtimes.com/opinions/opinion/short-hills-lesson-settler-animal-advocacy/ The assumption that members of settler society should be involved in determining what happens on Haudenosaunee traditional land is quite troubling. It is important to note, too, that non-Aboriginal (white) hunters who hunt in the surrounding areas, in deed even across the street from Short Hills Provincial Park, have not been subjected to any form of protest. We encourage members of the Brock community to learn more about this critical social justice issue.

In Solidarity,

Jodielynn Harrison on behalf of Supporters of Haudenosaunee right to hunt