Onondaga Nation Land Rights Complaint

The Onondaga People wish to bring about a healing between themselves and all others who live in this region that has been the homeland of the Onondaga Nation since the dawn of time. The Nation and its people have a unique spiritual, cultural, and historic relationship with the land, which is embodied in Gayanashagowa, the Great Law of Peace. This relationship goes far beyond federal and state legal concepts of ownership, possession or legal rights. The people are one with the land, and consider themselves stewards of it. It is the duty of the Nation’s leaders to work for a healing of this land, to protect it, and to pass it on to future generations. The Onondaga Nation brings this action on behalf of its people in the hope that it may hasten the process of reconciliation and bring lasting justice, peace, and respect among all who inhabit the area.

The land rights action petitions the federal court to declare that New York violated federal law when it took Onondaga Land. The land area includes the Onondaga Nation’s historic territory, which encompasses not only Syracuse and Onondaga Lake, but stretches south past Binghamton and north past Watertown.

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