HF 1806

1st Engrossment - 79th Legislature (1995 - 1996) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             memorializing the government of the United States to 
  1.3             refer matters of disagreement between the citizens of 
  1.4             Minnesota and Ontario to the International Joint 
  1.5             Commission for examination and determination under the 
  1.6             Root-Bryce Treaty. 
  1.7      WHEREAS, from time immemorial, people have used the waters 
  1.8   now forming the common boundary between the United States and 
  1.9   Canada as a corridor for travel and commerce; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, this route, and the right of citizens of both 
  1.11  nations to use the route freely and openly has been guaranteed 
  1.12  by international agreement in the form of the 1842 
  1.13  Webster-Ashburton and 1909 Root-Bryce Treaties; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, the Root-Bryce Treaty was entered into, more 
  1.15  particularly, "to prevent disputes regarding the use of boundary 
  1.16  waters and to settle all questions which are now pending between 
  1.17  the United States and the Dominion of Canada involving the 
  1.18  rights, obligations, or interests of either in relation to the 
  1.19  other or to the inhabitants of the other, along their common 
  1.20  frontier, and to make provision for the adjustment and 
  1.21  settlement of all such questions as may hereafter arise"; and 
  1.22     WHEREAS, in recent years, the citizens of the State of 
  1.23  Minnesota and the citizens of the Province of Ontario have been 
  1.24  engaged in a variety of disagreements that are related to their 
  1.25  common frontier, the boundary waters, and that are detrimental 
  1.26  to the well-being of the citizens of each nation and for which 
  2.1   resolution is urgently desired; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, the Root-Bryce Treaty provides, in the 
  2.3   International Joint Commission, a forum for the "adjustment and 
  2.4   settlement of all such questions as may hereafter arise"; and 
  2.5      WHEREAS, since its creation in 1909, the International 
  2.6   Joint Commission has been a facilitator or active participant in 
  2.7   the resolution of disputes relating to the international 
  2.8   boundary such as, in recent times, the dispute between the City 
  2.9   of Seattle and the Province of British Columbia involving 
  2.10  hydropower production in the Skagit River Valley, British 
  2.11  Columbia, for the City of Seattle; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.12     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.13  that the President of the United States, the United States 
  2.14  Senate, and the United States Secretary of State refer the 
  2.15  matter of disagreement between the citizens of the State of 
  2.16  Minnesota and the citizens of the Province of Ontario to the 
  2.17  International Joint Commission for examination and report, under 
  2.18  Article X of the Root-Bryce Treaty. 
  2.19     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.20  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare certified copies of 
  2.21  this resolution and transmit them to the President of the United 
  2.22  States, the President and Secretary of the United States Senate, 
  2.23  the United States Secretary of State, and to Minnesota's 
  2.24  Senators and Representatives in Congress.