Letter to St Catharines Standard About Short Hills Hunt

Re: Niagara letters to the editor, Dec. 3

I’m responding to the letter against the annual Short Hills hunt.

Any request to end the hunt at Short Hills must be directed to the Haudenosaunee, the only ones who have the sovereign right to make this decision under nation-to-nation treaties recognized by the governments of Canada, Ontario, the United Nations and international law. To ask the Ontario government to stop the hunt is to demand the violation of Indigenous rights that exist regardless of who is doing the asking, even if they are Indigenous.

Perversely much of the expense to taxpayers is not from “assistance” to the hunt but for policing the illegal protests which are oblivious to the decision-making roles and rights of the Haudenosaunee.

It is narrow-minded to see the hunt as only about survival, as if it is an out-dated tradition.

The hunt is necessary for Haudenosaunee ceremonies and food independence. Protests targeting Kosher or Halal slaughter would be rightfully suspected of prejudice and exclusion of minority communities, why doesn’t the same apply to protests targeting Indigenous hunting?

Any effort to stop the hunt must first comprehensively respect the rights and very existence of the Haudenosaunee, not try to erase them from our thinking let alone their own lands.

Saleh Waziruddin
St. Catharines

Letter to Voice of Pelham About Short Hills Hunt

The Province Has No Authority

Dear Editor,

Several letters (November 28, 2018) wrongly ask the Ontario government to end the hunt at Short Hills when they should be asking the only ones who have the legal and moral right to stop it, the Haudenosaunee. The hunt is under nation-to-nation treaties between the Crown and the Haudenosaunee which date back to long before 2013, recognized by not just the Canadian and Ontario governments but also the United Nations and international law.  Whether people accept it or not the Haudenosaunee’s rights are that of a sovereign nation.

Saying you understand “repression and hardships” the Indigenous have gone through is only lip-service if at the same time you call for more repression and hardships by violating their rights. This is disingenuous and misleading.

A comprehensive respect for the Haudenosaunee means not only recognizing only they have the right to stop the hunt, but also respecting the role of the hunt in their ceremonies and food independence. Protests targeting Kosher or Halal slaughter would be rightfully suspected of prejudice and the exclusion of minority communities, why doesn’t the same apply to protests targeting Indigenous hunting?

To say modern archery and trucks make the hunt non-traditional is as absurd as saying attending a traditional Christmas dinner requires dressing up as people in Palestine did 2,000 years ago and traveling only on camels and donkeys.

The way forward is to have a comprehensive respect for the inherent and treaty rights of the Haudenosaunee. To address them as equals, not to continue erasing them from their own lands.

Saleh Waziruddin,
St. Catharines