Home » Lexicon » Innocent Third-Party Purchaser / Good-Faith Purchaser
An innocent third-party purchaseror good-faith purchaser is usually defined as someone who buys property without knowledge of hidden defects, disputes, or prior claims affecting the land. In many legal systems, such purchasers are treated as blameless; they rely on the land registry and the visible legal framework, and courts may protect their interests even when an older, unseen right exists.
On Haldimand lands, this idea is more complicated. There are at least three layers to consider:
Everyday buyers relying on the registry Many current homeowners, farmers, and businesses on the Grand River acquired their properties in good faith from people who appeared to have clear title under Ontario’s system. They did not personally design the erasure of the Haldimand Proclamation or the sidelining of Mohawk Loyalist posterity. In the everyday sense, they are “innocent” purchasers.
Oath-takers and implied constitutional consent At the same time, Canadian law treats citizenship and oaths of allegiance as more than formalities. When a person naturalizes or swears an oath of office, they are understood to accept the basic constitutional structure of Canada. Courts have held that such an oath is not “forced belief,” but an implied consent to the framework within which Canada operates.
In the Six Miles Deep view, once Canada confirmed the Haldimand Proclamation and related instruments as part of that constitutional framework, the oath carries a deeper implication: those who swear allegiance accept a legal duty to respect the Crown’s historic commitments, including the promise of a “safe and comfortable retreat” on the Grand River “for ever.”
Under this logic, a person who has taken the oath and then uses their office, capital, or expertise to acquire, develop, or profit from Haldimand lands as if no such obligation exists is not fully “innocent.” They are operating in breach of a duty imposed by law—failing to observe Crown honour and the special status of Six Miles Deep, even as they benefit from the Canadian system that rests on those very promises.
Degrees of innocence and responsibility This leads to a distinction between everyday ignorance and legal innocence. A recent immigrant who has not yet sworn an oath and buys a small home may stand differently from:
a naturalized citizen who has sworn allegiance and invests in major developments on the Tract,
a professional (lawyer, planner, engineer) who works on Haldimand projects without ever asking what lies beneath the titles, or
an official who takes an oath of office, then actively supports policies that ignore Haldimand and expose Mohawk posterity to harm.
The Six Miles Deep framework argues that, once the oath is taken, there is at least constructive notice: people are held to the constitutional commitments that give Canada its legitimacy, including the Haldimand confirmation. Calling all of them “innocent” third-party purchasers erases this duty and normalizes behaviour that, in substance, deepens economic, psychological, and cultural harms to Mohawk Loyalist posterity.
In short, the term “innocent third-party purchaser” is not rejected outright, but narrowed. On Six Miles Deep, true innocence is rare. Those who have sworn allegiance or taken oaths of office sit inside a web of obligations that makes it much harder to claim they are simply neutral buyers when they choose to operate, invest, or build on a promised refuge whose existence is part of the very constitutional order they have agreed to uphold.
“Ignorance may explain how we got here. It doesn’t erase the duty once people are put on notice.”
B. Doolittle UE
Categories
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
