Press release
The Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation are commemorating the 229th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Canandaigua on November 11, 2023 by calling on State and Federal officials to honor the Treaty and stop the WNY STAMP mega-industrial site, currently being constructed on the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s Reservation boundary.
The 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua is one of the most important treaties to the Haudenosaunee and remains the law of the land to this day. The treaty upholds Haudenosaunee sovereignty by establishing “a firm and permanent friendship” between the Haudenosaunee and the United States, and enshrines the right of Haudenosaunee to the “free use and enjoyment” of their lands.
The construction of the WNY STAMP mega-industrial site on the boundary of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation violates this historic agreement, and is being carried out without proper consultation with the Nation. In support of the Nation, the Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation are calling on Federal and State officials to stop the construction of the WNY STAMP site: to protect the free use and enjoyment of Tonawanda Seneca homelands, protect the Big Woods, and respect the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s sovereignty.
In particular, the Allies are calling out NYS Governor Kathy Hochul for her recent decision to award an additional $56 million in public money to the Genesee Economic Development Center for further industrial development at WNY STAMP.
“I challenge Governor Hochul to explain how the wastewater treatment facility and STAMP industrial park, which would sit next to our pristine Big Woods and Tonawanda Seneca Nation territory, advance her supposed commitment to environmental justice,” stated Tonawanda Seneca Nation Chief Roger Hill. “Our ancestors fought and died to protect this land and now she is using taxpayer dollars to destroy it. This action by the Governor comes just days before our annual commemoration of the Treaty of Canandaigua, a federal treaty that protects our right to free use and enjoyment of our lands.”
Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation are also calling on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and NYSDEC Commissioner Basil Seggos to uphold the Canandaigua Treaty and respect Tonawanda Seneca Nation rights by opposing the construction of WNY STAMP. In the words of Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, “What kind of leaders are they, and what kind of citizens are we? Will we perpetuate the shameful practices of the colonialist past—or take a stand for justice at last? Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and NYSDEC Commissioner Basil Seggos: Will you use your courage to reshape this age-old narrative of unjust taking from Indigenous nations? If the state and federal governments truly stand behind their commitments to environmental justice, then we should stand with the Tonawanda—for the Big Woods, and for Indigenous land justice.”
The Nation opposes heavy industry at WNY STAMP, which lies adjacent to and upstream from the Nation’s pristine Big Woods and federally-recognized reservation Territory. In late September, construction of a controversial industrial wastewater pipeline slated to service the WNY STAMP mega industrial site was suspended after authorities learned of at least five separate drilling fluid spills and roadway damage including sinkholes and subsidence, according to a United State Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) notification sent to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation.
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Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation (ATSN) strives to uphold the inherent sovereignty of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. We recognize and act in service to the leadership of their traditional government. Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation acknowledges the historical and ongoing theft of the Nation’s unceded ancestral homelands and works alongside the Nation and its citizens in support of the full rematriation of these lands.