The annual Buffalo Creek Treaty Commemoration took place earlier this month on Saturday, May 17th, at the Burchfield Nature & Arts Center in West Seneca. Though a staggering compromise, the treaty, signed in 1842, allowed the Seneca to maintain our possession of lands that today make up the Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Oil Spring Territories.
“The terms of this treaty today are important, not even for what little land we have left, but also for the protection from taxation, assessment and encroachment,” said Councillor Todd Gates, keynote speaker of the event. “Treaties, as described in the U.S. Constitution, are made between nations. We always have to remember that they are called the supreme law of the land.”
A special Nya:wëh to the Indigenous Spirit Dancers for their exhibition, Iroquois Post 1587, and our always gracious hosts, the Burchfield Nature & Arts Center.
