BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County legislators have agreed to sign off on a final and comprehensive land claim settlement with the Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe.

Legislators agreed to sign the agreement at a special board meeting held April 15.

As part of the resolution, a final agreement must be ratified by all parties by May 8.

"Franklin County has already taken action and ratified the agreement and now with St. Lawrence County doing the same we are nearing the conclusion," St. Lawrence County Attorney Steve Button said.

Tribal officials previously said they were hopeful the land claim would be finalized in the coming months after Governor Kathy Hochul signed Bill A7759 into law, which authorized the governor to sign a land claim settlement with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, once finalized by the parties.

Legislators in both the Assembly and Senate shepherded the legislation through the state legislature. Senator Dan Stec was a sponsor of the bill. 

Members of the Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and Mohawk Nation must all sign off on the agreement, Button said.

Button said the May 8 deadline for final ratification by all parties involved was established in Federal Court in February.

"Parties were actually given two specific deadlines, the first being March 8 to circulate the final agreement. All parties were successful in doing so. The second deadline is May 8, at which time all parties are to have ratified the final agreement," he said.

Once complete, all parties involved will report back to federal court that the agreement has been finalized, at which time the agreement will be sent to the U.S. Congress for ratification.

Once ratified by Congress, land boundaries will be finalized and governance of said lands will be clearly established.

Some of the issues that will be clarified in doing so will include who would be responsible for road repair, fire districts and service, ambulatory services, financial compensation, taxation and other similar aspects.

Officials have been working for years on the land claim, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed in Federal Court in 1982 by the tribe.

Both St. Lawrence and Franklin County were named as defendants in the case, along with numerous municipalities, the New York Power Authority and other non-governmental entities with interests in the land.

"Continued disagreements and endless litigation have fostered distrust between the land claim defendants and the Mohawk related to jurisdictional, taxation and regulatory issues arising from the underlying land claims," officials say.

St. Lawrence County signed a memorandum of understanding on May 28, 2014 with the tribe, which included the incorporation of a process for land acquisitions by the tribe, revenue remittance to the county, as well as the terms of agreement between the other defendants, which included Franklin County and Fort Covington and Bombay.

"Since 2014, the parties have worked towards resolving their differences and establishing a lasting settlement of all land claims in the two county areas," officials say.

Franklin County had also sought an MOU agreement with the tribe, along with the towns of Bombay and Fort Covington for years before reaching  an agreement last June, officials previously said.
Button previously told NCTW the memorandum of understanding with the tribe outlined what lands were part of the settlement and those that were not.

According to Button, the long contested Massena Square Mile and islands in the federal corridor like Barnhart Island were not part of the MOU in 2014.

"The lands in the agreement are all contiguous lands to those that are already tribal territory in St. Lawrence County. For Franklin County, it is a totally different matter and far more complicated," Button previously said.

In 2022, court-ordered mediation began in an effort to reach a final agreement.

Several individual meetings were held, leading to a meeting on Feb. 26, 2024 at the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York before Judge Teresa Dancks, Magistrate. The meeting was held in order to finalize the last elements of a settlement agreement, officials say.

"There is a recognition that any final resolution of pending disputes through a process of litigation would: take many additional years and entail great expense to all parties; continue economically and socially-damaging controversies; prolong uncertainty as to the access, ownership and jurisdictional status of land in question; and seriously impair long-term economic planning and development for all parties," the resolution states.

Button said he is confident the agreement will be ratified in the near future and will progress quickly through Congress with north country representatives eager to reach the conclusion.