Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation

[3] In the Cayuga language the name is Tayęda:ne:gęˀ or Detgayę:da:negęˀ—"land of two logs".

The Mohawk nation reserve covers 7,362.5 ha (18,193-acre) in Hastings County[1] on the Bay of Quinte in southeastern Ontario, Canada, east of Belleville and immediately to the west of the township of Deseronto.

A group of Mohawk led by John Deseronto selected the Bay of Quinte because it was said to be the birthplace of Tekanawita, one of the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy in the 12th century.

Nine years later, the Tyendinaga tract of land was officially set aside under Crown Treaty 3½, signed on April 1, 1793, by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe and thereafter known as the 'Simcoe Deed'.

This tract of land, measuring 37,500 ha (92,700 acres) was legally accepted by the British Crown, and subsequently by the Upper Canada government.

[8] A wave of Loyalists also settled in the Bay of Quinte area, and the government granted many of them land in the Tyendinaga Tract.

[8] In 1869, the Gradual Enfranchisement Act was passed by the Canadian federal government, establishing elected band councils on First Nations reserves.

[14][15] The Township created a "Catalogue of Culbertson Tract Land Claim documents collection" in its archives.

[19][20] The Mohawk of the Bay of Quinte have been under a Drinking Water Advisory since 2008, "due to fecal, bacterial and algae contaminations".

In December 2020, the federal government had announced new funding of $16.7 million to "cover the cost of extending the water mains" from the township of Deseronto and the MBQ's own water-treatment plants which will then be able to serve five areas in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

[21][22] This funding supports the final phase in the "multi-phase project to improve access to safe drinking water for the MBQ community.

The federal government and the First Nation invested a combined total of $18.2 million towards the project, which will "ultimately lift five long-term drinking water advisories in the community".

[23] This final phase has been contracted out to Gordon Barr Limited, who began construction work in December 2020.

[21] The Tyendinaga Mohawk Council consists of one Chief and four Councillors, chosen during elections every two years, as per the Indian Act.

[27] Upon Captain John's death in 1811, there is evidence from external correspondence with other governments that six chiefs may have led the community in the early 1800s.

In 1835, with the conversion of over 60 community members to Methodism and their subsequent exodus to the Grand River, the number of chiefs on the Quinte Mohawk council was reduced by two, resulting in a council size of four, referred to as "the old chiefs," Brant Brant, Powles Claus, Joseph Pinn, and one other.

A little while after this, the structure was changed again, so that government consisted of two chiefs and two councilmen, who were chosen by "their equals" (i.e. other "warriors"), as well as a secretary and a treasurer.

Ultimately, the Superintendent called an end to widespread community-internal elections between 1860 and 1870, claiming that "they're a great deal of trouble, and much ill feeling was caused by the intemperance and excitement."

The Gradual Enfranchisement Act, passed on June 22, 1869, instituted official band council elections under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Ministry for Indian Affairs.

Around this same time, a group of around 200 who did not want to take part in the legislated system gathered to form a traditional council, following the old ways.

This group had help from eighteen chiefs from Grand River, and they reported the creation of this traditional council to the Secretary of State.

Critics of this traditional council wrote to the Secretary of State to warn him about what they characterized as a power-grab by Seth Powless, backed by "pagan" "foreigners," and entreating the protection of the government as Christians.

[27] In 1915, supporters of Thunder Water, a man who was interested in the education of indigenous people, the improvement of women's rights, and a traditional form of governance, ran for council.