Introduction

HALDIMAND 101 offers a structured, college-level introduction to the Haldimand Tract and associated instruments from a Mohawk Loyalist perspective. Students will read and unpack key documents including the Haldimand Pledge (1779), the Haldimand Proclamation (1784), Lord Dorchester’s Proclamation and Mark of Honour (1789), and the Simcoe Proclamation (1796), alongside modern interpretations and case examples.

The course situates these instruments in relation to hereditary rights, band council structures, Crown honour, and Canada’s constitutional framework.

This micro-course introduces learners to the Haldimand Tract, the Mohawk Loyalist alliance with the British Crown, and the framework of hereditary rights and Crown honour that still matters today.

Course overview

This micro-course introduces the Haldimand Tract as a living legal-historical framework, not just a chapter in a textbook. Starting from the Haldimand Pledge (1779) and Proclamation (1784), and moving through Dorchester’s Mark of Honour and Simcoe’s registry idea, we explore how Mohawk Loyalist posterity were meant to “enjoy forever” their quarter along the Grand River—and what that means today.

You’ll learn how later systems (Indian Act administration, band councils, provincial and municipal structures, settlement trusts) were layered over Haldimand lands, often without properly honouring the original instruments. The course names and explains the resulting jurisdictional vacuum, where governments act “as if” their usual laws apply, while Mohawk heirs are treated as ordinary stakeholders instead of posterity with a perpetual interest.

Through clear lessons, quizzes, short written exercises, and a final reflection, you’ll build the vocabulary to talk about:

• Exclusive use and enjoyment

• Perpetual interest and posterity

• Their quarter and such other

• Hereditary standing and the Mark of Honour

• Misadministration and jurisdictional vacuum

• Honour of the Crown as an ongoing obligation with no statute of limitations

The course is paired with the Encyclopedia and Lexicon on Six Miles Deep / Mohawk University, so you can keep studying key instruments and terms long after you finish.

What you’ll learn

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the historical and geographic scope of the Haldimand Tract along the Grand River.

• Explain the core instruments: Haldimand Pledge (1779), Haldimand Proclamation (1784), Dorchester’s Mark of Honour (1789), and Simcoe’s role in hereditary recognition.

• Use key terms like exclusive use and enjoyment, to enjoy forever, posterity, their quarter, and such other in a clear, grounded way.

• Distinguish hereditary Mohawk Loyalist posterity from later administrative categories such as Indian Act bands and trust beneficiaries.

• Identify how misadministration and a jurisdictional vacuum appear in areas like policing, taxation, development, and settlements on Haldimand lands.

• Articulate why there is no statute of limitations on Crown honour or on the perpetual interests created by Haldimand.

• Outline practical paths for research, advocacy, education, and institution-building that move practice closer to the honour of the Crown on Haldimand lands.

Who this course is for

This course is designed for:

• Mohawk and other Haudenosaunee learners wanting a structured introduction to the Haldimand Tract.

• Community members, organizers, and educators seeking language to explain what is happening on Haldimand lands today.

• Students, researchers, and allies who want to move beyond surface-level “land acknowledgement” into a deeper understanding of hereditary standing, Crown honour, and jurisdiction.

• Anyone interested in the relationship between treaty-like instruments, loyalist history, and contemporary Canadian law and policy.

No legal training is required. The course is written in clear, accessible language while still engaging with serious concepts.

Course format & duration

• Format: Online, self-paced

• Estimated total time: ~6–8 hours

  • Each lesson: 20–45 minutes of reading and reflection

  • Plus optional deeper dives into Encyclopedia & Lexicon entries

The course is structured into 4 modules:

1. Foundations of the Haldimand Tract

2. Dorchester, Simcoe, and Hereditary Standing

3. Misadministration and Jurisdictional Vacuum

4. Reading the Present and Imagining Remedies

Each module includes short quizzes and written exercises to help you digest and apply key ideas.

Assessment & completion

To complete the course, learners will:

• Finish the short quizzes embedded in each module,

• Submit brief written reflections / case exercises,

• Complete a final reflection assignment:
  explaining the Haldimand Tract, its instruments, and the jurisdictional vacuum to someone who has never heard of it before.

You may present this course as a non-credit Mohawk University micro-course or recognize it as the equivalent of 0.5 credit in a future Mohawk University framework, according to how you choose to structure your internal curriculum.

Requirements

• Ability to read English at a high school or college level

• Stable internet connection

• No prior legal or academic background required—just curiosity and respect