August 18, 2010 - Today, an historic meeting was held in Rochester, NY of the leaders and representatives of the Haudenosaunee Territories of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations.

Our Nations came together to re-affirm the ancient unity of the Haudenosaunee and with the common goal of defending our Treaty protected sovereign right to the free use and enjoyment of our lands, free from intrusion and interference by foreign governments.

This meeting is in response to the latest attack on our sovereignty and our rights by NY State in its most recent attempt to illegally impose its taxation on our territories, which is merely the latest attack on our rights.

The state is acting in violation of our treaties, from the Two Row Wampum treaty of 1613 to the 1794 Treaty of Cananadigua, and in violation of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the US Constitution.

Our leadership has agreed to meet again, to unify and to the stand against New York State's latest efforts to erode our sovereignty and is committed to work towards a proactive plan to address this latest attempt to infringe on our historic right to trade and our right to control our own economies.