SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Leaders of the Onondaga Nation, before a packed house in a Syracuse theater Feb. 8, reaffirmed their commitment to healing both the local environment and relations with their non-Native neighbors.

The event served to kick off a series of educational discussions called “Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future II,” in which the Onondaga Nation stressed the need to repair both environmental damage caused to one of its most sacred sites – Onondaga Lake – and to improve relations with the surrounding community.

“We are reaching out to our neighbors so they have a better understanding of where we’re coming from,” said Audrey Shenandoah, Deer Clan Mother, in a short video presentation before the panel discussion. “We’re seeking, hoping that justice will be done.”

Stephanie Waterman, the first Onondaga to earn a doctoral degree, thanked the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, a local group supporting the nation’s goals, for organizing the discussion series, which was modeled after a similar series held in 2006. She called NOON “good allies and good friends.”

“This is an opportunity to dispel stereotypes and say what it means to be Onondaga,” Waterman said during the panel discussion. “We’re always spoken of in the past. We value the land – what a gift it is to have all this creation here for us in just the right amounts so we can flourish. We have to appreciate it because it is not ours.”

In March 2005, the Onondagas filed a federal “land rights action” – not a land claim, they say – seeking two objectives. The first is acknowledgment that New York state violated federal law in illegally acquiring Onondaga territory and acknowledgment that the nation still holds title to the land; the other is a significant role in the clean-up of Onondaga Lake – once considered the most polluted lake in the U.S. – and the surrounding area. The Onondaga Nation seeks no monetary damages, nor eviction of current residents.

Oral arguments took place in October 2007 in federal district court in Albany, but a decision in the matter has yet to be announced.

The people of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, of which the Onondaga are one of six member nations, believe Onondaga Lake is sacred because centuries ago, a prophetic figure called the Peacemaker gathered their ancestors together on its shores to halt decades of warfare between them, creating the world’s first democratic government.

As the city of Syracuse grew during the 1800s, hotels and amusement parks thrived as the lake became a popular resort destination. Later, heavy industry took over – chemical companies and steel mills dumped tons of pollutants into the once pristine lake.

In 1901, ice harvesting on Onondaga Lake was banned. Swimming was prohibited in 1940 and by 1970 fishing was illegal. Mercury and at least two dozen other toxic chemicals have been found in the lakebed. Further, sewage and runoff into the lake created a glut of phosphorous in the water, leading to rapid algae growth, which in turn depletes oxygen in the water, making it tougher for fish to survive.

The Onondagas, meanwhile, had over the years been confined to a 7,300-acre reservation south of the city. But after plans to clean up Onondaga Lake were released in 2004, the nation filed its intent to sue both the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, claiming neither agency consulted with the nation, as required by federal law.

In the meantime, Honeywell International, which inherited clean-up responsibilities after acquiring the former Allied Signal Corp., has embarked on a $451 million project that includes dredging some areas of the lakebed, capping other areas to keep pollutants contained, and driving metal barriers into the ground along the lakeshore in an effort to prevent further seepage of chemicals and contaminated groundwater into the lake.

The Onondaga Nation remains vigilant in its stand on cleaning up its sacred lake and continues to ask for help and support from its neighbors.

“Water was put here for all of life on Mother Earth,” said Chief Jake Edwards during the panel discussion. “One of our duties is to respect and obey the law of nature. … Every drop of water is life.”

Jeanne Shenandoah, a member of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, counsels patience and perseverance so the Onondagas and their neighbors can share knowledge and understand each other.

“We do not possess the Earth, we all live here together,” she said. “There’s no line between my home and yours. Is my water going to be clean and yours not?”

More information on the discussion series is available online.