Arriscraft Lecture: Phil Monture

Thursday, February 2, 2017 6:30 pm - 6:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Presented in conversation with the student-led initiative Treaty Lands Global Stories.

Building on differences
2017 marks 150 years of colonialism since Canadian Confederation and the rise of authoritarian populism around the world. In this context, the winter lecture series brings together architects and artists, historians and designers, who are constructively struggling to create possible futures of equitable co-existence for people of different cultural beliefs and practices.


A Global Solution for the Six Nations of the Grand River

Phil Monture of Six Nations of the Grand River will tell the story of his community and the Haldimand Treaty of 1784. The treaty covers lands for six miles on each side of the Grand River from Lake Erie to its source, including the University of Waterloo's campus. Monture, who has been researching this history for almost 40 years, will provide a historical overview of various land transactions and will discuss current Six Nations efforts in Canada and at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples to have the their land claim resolved.

Phil Monture is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River. From 1975 to July 2002 he was he Director of the Land Claims Research Office at the Six Nations of the Grand River.  As the Director of the Land Claims Research Office, Phil developed a long term research program and supervised the research for the Six Nations of the Grand River as relates to lands, which are no longer used for its benefit and for which no Crown letters patent have been issued or legal surrender obtained under prevailing legislation. 

He was a member of the Planning Team for the National Land Claims Research Summit and Ontario’s representative on the Land Rights Issues for the National Joint Task Force on Claims Policy Reform (Assembly of First Nations/Canada).

In 2002, Phil established his own company “Nativelands Ltd.” to utilize his expertise to  study and develop Land Tenure and Land Rights for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, the United States and Central America.

Phil has also been active in taking Six Nations unresolved Land Rights issues to the United Nations. The ultimate goal of this process is to establish partnerships and secure a stable, secure and independent economic base for the Six Nations Peoples as per the intent of Six Nations Treaty for their lands.

View the poster.


image of Six Nations map