A sacred lake, a Columbus statue, and an Indigenous people's long struggle for land

GEDDES, N.Y. (AP) — Before white settlers came to Onondaga Lake, before the city of Syracuse grew along its shore, before the pristine waters became one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States, it was a sacred place for the Onondaga Nation.

Local officials aware of that history have expressed a desire to transfer a parcel of lakeshore land back to the Onondagas, one of the native peoples who populated and governed much of upstate New York and parts of Canada before the American Revolution. But after 14 years, the effort is stalled amid issues related to taxes, the lake’s cleanup and, most recently, a nearby statue of Christopher Columbus.

Both sides are frustrated, though a deal is not out of reach.

“It’s not called Onondaga Lake for some arbitrary reason,” said nation member Betty Hill on a recent visit to the lake. “They know that it belonged to us, they know that it was part of our history for thousands of years.”

Like other Indigenous people, the Onondaga have been trying to reacquire more of what was once a vast expanse of land in the state, beyond their federally recognized territory.

But reacquiring property along the lake would be a particular prize.

Onondaga Lake is revered as the place where a figure known as the Peacemaker, helped by Onondaga leader Hiawatha, brought the warring nations of Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Onondaga to form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.

Many people believe the confederacy influenced the drafters of the U.S. Constitution.

The nation eventually lost its foothold on the lake, which became polluted in the 19th and 20th centuries as industries dumped mercury, salt and other contaminants into the water. The lake is much cleaner now after restoration efforts, but there are still signs warning that its fish may be harmful to eat.

Yet the lake is still “a living relative to our people,” according to Sid Hill, the Tadodaho, or chief, of the nation. He told Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon in a letter this March that “We have ceremonies which need to be practiced on its shores and other obligations.”

County lawmakers considered returning some land in 2011 following advocacy spearheaded by an Onondaga ally, Lloyd Withers.

Legislators passed a nonbinding resolution to return a parcel by a shopping mall in Syracuse, but that area turned out to be too polluted. A second resolution in 2016 supported the “eventual transfer” of a to-be-determined parcel of land.

Little progress has been made since.

Some nation members believe the county is coming up with issues to foil progress. As an example, they point to the statue of Columbus that has stood atop a pillar in downtown Syracuse since 1934.

The Onondagas support plans announced by the mayor of Syracuse in 2020 to remove the statue of Columbus, an Italian explorer who helped the Spanish establish a colonial foothold in the Caribbean and later suppressed revolts by Indigenous people. They view the statue as a symbol of oppression and plunder standing in the heart of their traditional homeland.

The statue is still standing years later amid a pushback from supporters, who see Columbus as a symbol of Italian American pride.

It became mixed up in land talks this summer. An aide to McMahon told Withers in an email that if the Onondaga lakeshore land transfer is to serve as a “symbolic gesture of healing and partnership,” then demands to remove the Columbus statue seem at odds with that goal.

The email suggested the nation embrace an alternate idea of adding a statue of Hiawatha as a way to potentially “help bridge the divide between two very passionate sides.”

Betty Hill, who is married to Sid Hill, said placing a Hiawatha statue next to Columbus is “beyond insulting.”

“I guess that’s politics for you. You give up something for this, and I’ll trade you off for this,” Sid Hill said. “What do we have to trade? We don’t have anything. We have just a small piece of land left.”

McMahon said he was merely seeking clarification on the issue from the Onondagas. The county does not have control over the statue and it is not a bargaining chip, he said.

What McMahon does want, however, is for the Onondagas to pay taxes on other parcels of land that have been reacquired by the nation at county auctions.

He also wants a commitment the nation will not sue over the lake's cleanup, which has been criticized as insufficient by Onondaga leaders.

“If they can be addressed, then I think we can get to the table, and I think we can hunker out a deal,” McMahon said.

The tax issue could be the trickiest one to resolve. An attorney for the Onondaga, Joe Heath, said that under state law, it isn't required to pay taxes on land recognized as Onondaga territory in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.

In the meantime, Betty Hill said the Onondagas are not going anywhere.

“We’re not going to stop in this quest to gain a piece of this back for our people and our confederacy,” she said.

A statue of Christopher Columbus stands in downtown Syracuse, N.Y, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Hill)

FILE - The Onondaga Nation territory is seen in central New York, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca, file)

FILE - A sign informs drivers of the Onondaga Nation territory's boundaries, Aug. 3, 2023, in central New York. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca, File)

FILE - Industrial buildings sit on the shores of Onondaga Lake, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca, File)

FILE - Tadodaho Sid Hill, takes a break from meetings to pose for a portrait outside of the Onondaga Nation's longhouse, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, on the Onondaga Nation territory in central New York. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca, File)

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party. Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.

“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”

Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.

In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.

Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.

“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”

The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right.

Reform, which only has a handful of lawmakers in the House of Commons, is tipped to make a major breakthrough in an array of elections this May, including those to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, at the expense of both the Conservatives and Labour.

Jenrick, who continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform to unite the right in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.

Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose favorability ratings have fallen sharply since the general election following a series of missteps, questioned why it took Badenoch “so long” to sack Jenrick given all the speculation that he was looking to either challenge her or to defect to Reform.

Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.

Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.

However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks, particularly during her weekly questioning of Starmer, in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.

The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the modern party was created nearly 200 years ago.

Robert Jenrick speaking at a Reform UK press conference in Westminster, London, where it was announced the former Conservative MP has joined Reform UK, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Robert Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at a Reform UK press conference in Westminster, London, where it was announced the former Conservative MP has joined Reform UK, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)