Six Miles Deep

Six Miles Deep

Don Hopton et al. v. Wayne Pamajewon et al.

Home » Case Law » Don Hopton et al. v. Wayne Pamajewon et al.

  1. Case Title & Citation
    Don Hopton et al. v. Wayne Pamajewon et al., Ontario Court of Appeal, 1993 (exact citation varies by report).

  2. Decision Summary (Neutral Overview)
    This case involved disputes over roads and authority on reserve lands in Ontario. Non-Indigenous parties claimed rights of access based on long-standing use and provincial road concepts. Indigenous parties disputed the existence and scope of public rights-of-way.

The Ontario Court of Appeal considered:

  • Whether common law doctrines like dedication (land becoming public road through use) applied the same way on reserve lands.

  • The interaction between federal Indian Act control, band authority, and provincial statutes.

The Court’s reasoning highlighted that ordinary provincial assumptions about roads do not automatically override federal and Indigenous interests.

  1. Historical & Legal Context
    Pamajewon arose in the broader context of conflicts over control of reserve lands and infrastructure. It sits alongside other cases exploring how far provincial regimes can extend into federally regulated or Indigenous-held land.

  2. Key Legal Principles Identified in the Case

  • Common law doctrines like dedication must be considered in light of the special status of reserve lands.

  • Provincial road concepts do not automatically apply when underlying title and control rest with the Crown in trust for Indigenous peoples.

  1. Implications for Haldimand, Loyalist, and Mohawk Questions

  • The case bolsters the argument that roads on Haldimand lands are not simply “public highways” because municipalities have used them that way.

  • It undercuts claims that long-term public use equals legal dedication where the underlying land is part of a Crown-recognized Indigenous refuge.

  1. Points of Interest to Mohawk of Grand River Posterity

  • Pamajewon helps frame roads on the Grand River as contested spaces rather than neutral infrastructure.

  • It supports viewing many existing roads as potential trespasses or unauthorized occupations, unless specific, lawful grants or surrenders can be proven.

  1. Unresolved Questions / Future Research Directions

  • How would an Ontario court treat Haldimand lands—purchased for Mohawk refuge but not standard “reserves”—in applying Pamajewon’s logic?

  • Could Pamajewon-style arguments be used to demand decommissioning, compensation, or shared jurisdiction over key transport corridors?

  1. Sources

  • Don Hopton et al. v. Wayne Pamajewon et al., Ont. C.A. decision.

  • Commentary on dedication, reserve lands, and public rights-of-way.

355 words

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“Ignorance may explain how we got here. It doesn’t erase the duty once people are put on notice.”

B. Doolittle UE

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About Benjamin Doolittle U.E.

Benjamin Doolittle UE is a Lower Mohawk of Grand River and a direct descendant of the Mohawk Loyalist leadership that secured the Haldimand Tract. In his capacity as Secretary-General for the Mohawk Nation of Grand River, he works to uphold the hereditary rights and responsibilities carried by his line. Through his matrilineal line, he descends from Esther Springstead (Shatekariwate), a clanmother married to Captain David Hill, U.E.L.

Matrilineal line: Tracey → Beverly → Mabel → Bertha → Lydia → Esther → Ellen (daughter of Isaac Brant) → Mary → Esther Springstead (Shatekariwate)

This makes Benjamin a sixth-great-grandson of Joseph Brant U.E.L. (Thayendanegea) and Isaac Brant of Canajoharie, one of the three named Mohawk villages carried into the Grand River settlement. Band Council has certified that he holds 100% Mohawk blood quantum under their rolls, reflecting both his hereditary standing and his rootedness in the community.

In his role as Secretary-General, Benjamin’s work with Six Miles Deep focuses on recovering and enforcing the original Crown-recognized framework for Mohawk title along the Grand River — not as a generic “aboriginal rights” claim, but as a specific hereditary interest grounded in Loyalist service, the Haldimand Proclamation, and the subsequent Crown instruments that confirmed it.

Beyond Six Miles Deep, Benjamin has founded and developed several initiatives to strengthen Mohawk continuity and stewardship, including Grand Back, the Bluebelt conservation concept, Mohawk University, and the Kanien’kehà:ka Language Development Institute. Together, these projects aim to restore land-based governance, protect the Grand River watershed, and support language and cultural renewal for Mohawk posterity.

Earlier in his career, Benjamin operated a community photo studio for several years, specializing in weddings, newborn, and family portraits across the Grand River region. He later helped launch the Indigenous newspaper Two Row Times, supporting its development as a platform for Onkwehonwe voices and treaty-based perspectives.

Benjamin is also an independent music producer, releasing work under the name One Way Current, published by Corn Press Publications. Through his music and writing, he explores Mohawk history, land, and spiritual continuity in contemporary forms that speak to both youth and elders.

He is a member of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada, the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, and the Monarchist League of Canada. These associations reflect his conviction that Crown honour, hereditary recognition, and proper heraldic and historical process are essential to resolving the long-ignored duties owed to Mohawk posterity on the Grand River.

Benjamin maintains an active working relationship with ministers, local officials, and church representatives, regularly greeting dignitaries and visitors at the Mohawk Chapel and using those encounters to remind them of the Crown’s ongoing duties to the Mohawk Nation of Grand River.

Benjamin is also a survivor of the Indian Day School system, an experience that informs his understanding of how imposed systems of education, identity, and governance have tried to overwrite Mohawk continuity while leaving the underlying treaties and Crown obligations intact. His lived experience sits alongside his archival research, legal studies, and community work, grounding Six Miles Deep in both documentation and reality on the ground.

Through Six Miles Deep and related projects, Benjamin works to:

re-establish lawful recognition of Mohawk hereditary rights along the Haldimand Tract clarify the distinction between band-council trust structures and the underlying Mohawk title educate institutions, governments, and the broader public about the continuing force of Crown promises to the Mohawk Nation of Grand River

His goal is not simply to revisit history, but to restore living jurisdiction, stewardship, and continuity for Mohawk posterity, “six miles deep” on both sides of the Grand River, in a way that honours both the ancestors who secured the land and the children who will inherit it.

listen to BLOODLINE

“Bloodline” follows the Haldimand Proclamation from its original promise to the present fight to have it honoured. The track moves through Crown grants, broken commitments, and the legal and political road back to enforcement, asking listeners to hear the Proclamation not as a relic of the past, but as a living obligation that still binds the Crown to the Mohawk Nation of Grand River.

Artist: One Way Current
Writer: Benjamin Doolittle UE
Producer: One Way Current
Publisher: Corn Press Publications
Affiliation: Six Miles Deep / Mohawk Nation of Grand River

Six Miles Deep