Informed by expert testimony from Jon Parmenter on the history of treaties between Indigenous nations and the British Crown, the Quebec Superior Court recently stayed federal charges against two Mohawk men – touching off what some Canadian legal experts called “an earthquake in Indigenous rights jurisprudence.”
Jon Parmenter
In 2016, Derek White and Hunter Montour were charged with importing large amounts of tobacco into Canada from the United States without paying taxes amounting to millions of dollars. It’s been a high-profile case from the beginning, said Parmenter, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, and their defense – asserting an Aboriginal right to trade based on 18th century treaties — required historical expertise to prove.
Parmenter helped the defense successfully make the case that a specific treaty between Indigenous nations and the British Crown was recognized on 20 different occasions between 1700 and 1760 and is still legally binding – and thus the defendants do not owe tax. He said the defense attorneys learned of his expertise through his book, “The Edge of the Woods: Iroquoia, 1534-1701.”
“The question I was tasked to answer was to what degree did the British Crown recognize the right of the Haudenosaunee [a confederacy that includes the Mohawks] to engage in trade across international boundaries at and shortly after the time of contact,” Parmenter said.
Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.
