For decades, Indigenous leaders have worked to heal divisions that colonialism deepened but did not create. In the 1960s and 1970s, James Lone Bear Reavey often visited the Central Fire at Onondaga’s Grand Council in an effort to mend tribal fractures. His success was limited, not because he lacked vision, but because the historical moment may not yet have been ready. Even so, Sandhill Lenape Chiefs continued to follow his example, promoting peace, neutrality, and unity while rekindling relationships with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in ways that endure today.
That earlier groundwork matters now because a new era has begun. In recent years, important connections emerged when two customary-minded leaders, Lance Red Hawk Shauger of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas and John Skenandore, first connected on social media while discussing the Great Peace. Rooted in ancient customary traditions, they found common ground and began discussions on political strategy, community restoration, and sovereign economic bridges that could create new international pathways for traditional Indigenous communities.
Those conversations did not remain abstract. They grew into a wider dialogue involving leaders and representatives from several Nations, many working in association with the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas. Among them are Kawenniiosta Jock; Kaʼnistėnhserá of the Orenrehkowa Wolf Clan Family; Kanerahtiio, also known as Roger Jock, of the Rotisken’rakehte Rahstawenserontha Bear Clan Family; Principal Sachem Dr Ronald Yonaguska Holloway, Minister of International Affairs of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas; and Chief Ambassador Douglas Scott, Ambassador to the Commonwealth for the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas.
What is emerging is not merely a symbolic reunion. It is the practical rebuilding of Indigenous political, diplomatic, and economic relationships across traditional boundaries. These discussions have developed into mechanisms for political reassembly designed to empower Indigenous communities beyond the historic borders of both the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas.
The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas has become an important platform for reviving and strengthening Indigenous diplomatic, legal, economic, and cultural relationships — a role clearly underscored by the December FANA SCNI Peace Treaty led by H.E. Ambassador Gerren O’Neill. At a time when many Indigenous peoples continue to face the long aftershocks of colonial betrayal, the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas is helping to provide a framework through which customary relationships can once again be expressed in institutional form.
This matters not only politically, but economically. Trade routes once used by Indigenous communities along the East Coast before settler contact are being re established and expanded internationally. Encouraged by the international vision of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas, these efforts now reach into banking, sovereign finance, and the institutional tools required to operationalise Indigenous systems on their own terms. In that sense, the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas is not simply an organisation. It is becoming a diplomatic and economic bridge between ancient customary systems and modern international realities.
In mid 2025, under the direction and guidance of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas’ Minister of International Affairs, Principal Sachem of the Sandhill Raritan Lenape, Dr Ronald Yonaguska Holloway, Lance Red Hawk Shauger of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas Sandhill Raritan Lenape Red Chief, Eastern Ambassador, and Nimmoug Congress Third Seat Holder formally advanced efforts to continue the process of reunifying the League of the Iroquois and the Sandhill Lenape.
As a result of Lance Red Hawk Shauger’s work, carried out with the official sponsorship of the Sand Hill Band of Raritan Lenape and Cherokee Indians and with the support of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas, the three Iroquoian Clans noted above have been granted Observer Status within the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas. In a reciprocal ordinance, the Sand Hill Band of Raritan Lenape and Cherokee Indians will reassume their position as a rafter among the Iroquois Confederacy — a step that may finally help resolve the very tensions that Lone Bear Reavey sought to heal generations ago.
Reflecting on these developments, Lance Red Hawk Shauger of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas said: “Reuniting our traditional Big House and Longhouse communities is vital. The reunification of our sovereign Clans, as brothers, builds a bridge to economically empower our Nations. By uniting and empowering our Clan Mothers again, together as family, we are reawakening an ancient civilisation that for a time had slipped into sleep. Today, the structure once described as The Rome of the New World is stirring once more. This will likely have ripple effects for language, culture, history, and economic self sustainability. It can lead to educational facilities for future generations and universities accredited with our unique cultural curricula. These things were once denied to Native and First Nations peoples under law until 1968. Our Nations, and more importantly our Clans, are reunited joining in our prayers and teachings of peace and harmony as we close divisions that colonial powers created through disease, conquest, and long term divide and rule strategies.”
His words point to something larger than ceremony. This is an Indigenous led effort to restore bonds of diplomacy, kinship, governance, and commerce that long predate the states now surrounding them. Through the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas, leaders such as Lance Red Hawk Shauger are helping to revive customary frameworks that colonial systems attempted to erase.
As H.E. Ambassador Gerren O’Neill put it: “The growing role of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas shows that Indigenous institutions are not relics of the past, but living systems capable of shaping the future of diplomacy, legal order, and international cooperation.”
That is why this moment deserves attention beyond Indigenous communities alone. As international law is increasingly re examined through the lenses of pluralism, sovereignty, and historical justice, the work of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas may signal a new era for customary international law one grounded not in imperial doctrine, but in the revitalisation of ancient Indigenous legal and political traditions.
For Europe and the wider world, this should not be seen as a local or purely historical development. It reflects a broader global shift peoples long divided by colonial borders are reclaiming their own frameworks of legitimacy, diplomacy, and international engagement. The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas is part of that shift. What is happening here is not simply reunion. It is a reassertion of law, memory, nationhood, and Indigenous international presence.
