Onondaga Lake is the sacred site where the Haudenosaunee Confederacy was founded over a thousand years ago under the Great Law of Peace, a governance system rooted in unity, reciprocity, and balance. The Peacemaker, along with Hiawatha and Jikonhsaseh, brought peace to five warring nations on its shores, giving rise to one of the world’s oldest democracies. The lake’s gifts sustained life for generations, providing fish, medicines, and wampum shells that recorded treaties, such as the Hiawatha Belt. This worldview of gratitude and reciprocity, however, clashed with European colonial expansion. Through the Doctrine of Discovery, settlers dispossessed the Onondaga of their lands, violating treaties such as the 1794 Canandaigua Treaty, and transformed the lake into an industrial site of extraction and exploitation. Companies like Allied Chemical dumped mercury and toxins into its waters for decades, turning a place of abundance into one of the most polluted lakes in the United States.
Despite promises to return land, the desecration of Onondaga Lake has continued through projects like waste-capped beaches, an amphitheater, and a proposed aquarium. For the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, this is not only an ecological crisis but also a spiritual wound, as the lake is a living relative and the birthplace of their democracy. Industrial pollution, sewage dumping, and unfulfilled commitments have left the lake in desperate need of healing. The story of Onondaga Lake is thus not just local but emblematic of a larger clash between Indigenous ways of seeing the Earth as a relative and settler colonial systems that commodify land and water. To restore the lake is to restore a vital site of democracy, ceremony, and cultural survival.
The American Indian Law Alliance (AILA) seeks to raise awareness of the need for the return of Maple Bay and the complete restoration of the lake. Through events like the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival and the Sacred Lake 5K Run, AILA brings the community together to honor the lake and educate the public about its history and ongoing struggles. AILA also engages in advocacy, sharing the story of Onondaga Lake at the United Nations and through public education initiatives, such as Treaty Talks and Doctrine of Discovery presentations. By amplifying Indigenous voices, organizing cultural renewal, and pressing for accountability, AILA aims to ensure that Onondaga Lake is remembered not as a symbol of pollution and broken promises but as a sacred place of healing, peace, and renewal for future generations.
How do you poison your mother, the earth? ~ Betty Hill (neé Lyons)
Onondaga Lake is not only the birthplace of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy but also a sacred relative whose waters have been poisoned by centuries of industrial exploitation. The American Indian Law Alliance calls on our neighbors, allies, and leaders to honor treaty obligations, support the full return of Maple Bay, and join us in the proper restoration of the lake. Together, through education, advocacy, and cultural renewal, we can ensure that Onondaga Lake is healed and protected for the next seven generations.