Blackbear

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FROM: THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR NEWSPAPER
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Mediator 'good first step'





Paul Hourigan, the Hamilton Spectator, Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onondaga Chief Arnie General listens as Confederacy supports protest near
Caledonia.
Six Nations Confederacy Wants 'Meaningful Talks'
By John Burman
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 28, 2006)
The Six Nations Confederacy Council says Ottawa's appointment of a mediator
to investigate issues surrounding the Six Nations protest at a Caledonia
building site is a positive first step toward settlement.
But the Haudenosaunee chiefs -- who announced yesterday that their council
supports the protest -- say the federal government has already had some 300
years to figure out those issues.
Ottawa could end the protest tomorrow by freezing construction and opening
meaningful talks on land claims which would include the Confederacy, Chief
Leroy "Cayuga Bear" Hill, a sub-chief, told a news conference at the Onandaga
Longhouse.
Reading a statement first in the Cayuga language and then in English, Hill
said Ottawa needs to send someone with authority to straighten out claims and
do more than just investigate.
They want Ottawa's "runner," mediator Michael Coyle, to go back to Parliament
Hill and tell Minister of Indian Affairs Jim Prentice the protest will end
if the government puts a moratorium on construction in writing and freezes
further development of disputed lands while "meaningful talks" are held.
"Then the people would leave," said Hill.
Any talks would be expected to lead to resolution of outstanding land claims
the Six Nations Confederacy says cover most of Southern Ontario and an
estimated value of $400 billion in what the chiefs say are outstanding leases,
illegal sales and loss of money held in trust by Ottawa.
Hill said Six Nations citizens launched "a reclamation" of some of those
lands at Caledonia three weeks ago when developer Don Henning of Henco
Industries began building homes on Six Nations' land that has not been surrendered.
The land in question, the chiefs say, was taken by the Crown in 1848 and sold
off.
Hill praised the Ontario Provincial Police for "being respectful and careful"
since the protest began at the entrance of Douglas Creek Estates off Argyle
Street in Caledonia Feb. 28.
"Our people there are not criminals," said Hill. "The OPP understand this. We
hope Ottawa gives the order to disengage. It is in their hands."
The Haudenosaunee chiefs also praised the clan mothers who have maintained
peace at the protest site.
The chiefs also said they find it insulting that Ottawa will deal with the
elected band council on the reserve on the land claims issue when that council
was established by the federal government in 1924. They claim the elected
council does not represent the people.
"The community is against the elected council dealing with land claims," Hill
said.
"But that is who Ottawa deals with."
_jburman@thespec.com_ (mailto:jburman@thespec.com)
905-526-2469

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.

Blackbear

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FROM: THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR NEWSPAPER
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Plank Road Tract Part Of Land Dispute
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 28, 2006)
Land at stake: A tract of open land west of Argyle Street and south of the
town of Caledonia that is being developed as Douglas Street Estates. There are
71 housing lots in the first phase of the subdivision. There are 10 houses in
various stages of construction, including six that have been sold.
Protesters say that land, known as the Plank Road Tract, is part of the much
larger Haldimand Deed, granted by the Crown to Six Nations in 1784 in
recognition of their support of the British Crown during the American War of
Independence. The deed included land stretching six miles on either side of the
Grand River, from Lake Erie to Dundalk (midway between Owen Sound and Fergus),
about 210 kilometres.
That initial 950,000 acres was later downgraded by Lieutenant-Governor John
Simcoe in 1795 to 275,000 acres. The Haldimand Tract now ends near present-day
Elora in Nicol Township.
The developers: Don and John Henning, of Henco Industries, have invested
about $6 million in the project and say they have a clear title to the land.
They say they followed every step of the planning process, including
notifying the Six Nations elected band council, and nobody objected during the three
years that it took to bring the project to this stage. They have appealed to
the federal government to intervene, saying they are being held hostage by a
"splinter group" of protesters and Ottawa.
Ottawa: The Ministry of Indian Affairs and Northern Development initially
took a hands-off approach, describing the protest as a local dispute. Last week,
however, the minister sent an independent mediator on a fact-finding mission
to the protest site.
History of the claim: The Plank Road Tract was registered as a land claim in
1987. The claim is based on the argument that the land is part of the
Haldimand Tract. The Six Nations band council, in its submissions to Ottawa, claimed
the reserve was never properly compensated for land sold to non-natives and
land that was taken to build the Hamilton to Port Dover Plank Road (now
Highway 6).
The protesters: The group says the land is part of Six Nations territory and
was never to be sold to non-natives. They charge Douglas Creek Estates is
being built on stolen land. They say the dispute has to be settled on a
nation-to-nation basis with Ottawa or through some international court.
Six Nations Band Council: The elected council is opposed to the protest, but
has included the Plank Road Tract as one of 29 land claims registered with
Ottawa.
It is trying to fast track two of the least contentious claims -- not Plank
Road -- through a new procedure called the exploratory process.
To date, only one claim out of the 29 has been settled. In 1985, band members
voted to accept $610,000 to settle a dispute with Canadian National Railway
over 80 acres on the eastern border of the reserve.
The hereditary chiefs: Yesterday, the chiefs said it's time the federal
government launched land rights discussions with Six Nations, but that a delegate
with a stronger mandate is needed.
The clan mothers: The clan mothers are part of the Six Nations Confederacy
governance system. Based on a matrilineal tradition, there is one clan mother
in each clan, who chooses her successor among her descendants and picks the
Confederacy chiefs.
Start of protest: The protesters first held an information picket at Douglas
Creek on Oct. 25, 2005. Protesters point out the Six Nations reserve now
covers less than 5 per cent of the original tract of six miles each side of the
Grand River from the mouth to the source.
_plegall@thespec.com_ (mailto:plegall@thespec.com)
905-526-3385

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.

Blackbear

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FROM: THE BRANTFORD EXPOSITOR NEWSPAPER

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ocal)

Confederacy Chiefs Call For Talks On Land Claims

By Michael-Allan Marion, expositor staff
Local News - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 @ 01:00





The Six Nations Confederacy Council has thrown its support behind protesters
in their fourth week of occupying a residential development project under
construction near Caledonia.

Five chiefs and four clan mothers held a news conference in front of the
Onondaga Longhouse on Monday afternoon to state their support for the action.

They also responded to a move by the federal government to send University
of Western Ontario Prof. Michael Coyle as a special representative -- or “
runner” -- on a fact-finding mission of the ongoing occupation, which natives are
calling a “land reclamation.”

“The federal government’s runner is a positive first step but the federal
government needs to take further steps and send a delegate with a stronger
mandate,” said Leroy Hill, who called himself a sub-chief of the Cayuga Bear
Clan.

Hill, who was the main spokesman, added that the action “has insulting
overtones when the federal government continues to recognize only the elected band
council and continues its talks on our lands and funds with Canada’s Indian
Act band council and province while sending Mr. Coyle here on his
fact-finding mission.”

Reading a statement first in the Cayuga language and then in English, Hill
said that the chiefs at Monday's new conference find Coyle’s mandate
unsatisfactory.

Ottawa needs to send someone with authority to straighten out claims and do
more than just investigate, he said.

Hill also said it’s time for the federal government to open discussions on
Six Nations Confederacy land rights to most of southern Ontario, and an
estimated $400 billion in what the chiefs say are outstanding leases, illegal sales
and loss of money held in trust by Ottawa.

The land in question in Caledonia, the chiefs say, was taken by the Crown in
1848 and sold off.

The gathering of leaders did not represent the full expression of the
Confederacy, but many were chiefs of various Mohawk, Cayuga and Onondaga clans.

Chief Allen MacNaughton of the Mohawk Turtle Clan said the occupiers, who
were joined last Wednesday by scores of other natives from Ontario and New York
State in a blockade at the entrance to the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision
off Highway 6, had the full support of the chiefs and clan mothers gathered.

“They have endured many hardships,” he said of the original protesters. “
We, the chiefs, support this. We believe the federal government has the power
to end this dispute today. We believe there is a solution that is in Canada’s
power to iron out.”

MacNaughton made it clear that the assembled chiefs and clan mothers intend
to support the occupation to the end.

Asked for his thoughts on a solution, MacNaughton said: “We want all
development to stop in Caledonia."

Development is taking place all through the area, said Hill.

“There is prosperity all around us. There is an explosion of land all around
us, yet we are running out of land for ourselves.”

The chiefs want Coyle to tell Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice that the
protest will end if the government puts in writing a moratorium on
construction and freezes further development of disputed lands while "meaningul talks"
are held, Hill said.

"Then the people would leave."

Developer Henco Industries has obtained an injunction to remove the
occupiers, and an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that they had until 2 p.m. last
Wednesday to leave before facing contempt of court charges.

But, so far, OPP officers have been content to monitor the area from a
cruiser parked a short distance down the highway from the development.

Hill said that police have shown restraint in its handling of the standoff

“They should be commended. They’ve been respectful,” said Hill, remarking
that the OPP is in a difficult situation between peaceful protesters and the
government.

“Those people down there are not criminal and the police know this. We hope
the federal government orders the police to disengage.”

He said that clan mothers who showed up last Wednesday, the day the police
were empowered to go in to break up the occupation, have kept the situation in
control.

“It’s a tough job that they have been asked to do. Our people don’t want to
see violence. We don’t want this thing to escalate any further,” he said.

“If Ottawa committed to a moratorium on construction, those people would be
happy to leave.”

Clan mother Bernice Johnson said she and others in her position went to the
site only to keep the peace. But she added they are prepared to support the
action “until we have a solution to what is going on.”

The clan mothers are also prepared to meet with Coyle.

Spokeswoman Janie Jamieson, one of the original organizers, insisted that
the rank and file at the site remain unified.

“This reclamation will continue to be peaceful,” she added.

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.

Blackbear

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FROM: THE TORONTO STAR NEWSPAPER

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Council Of Chiefs Backs Land Protest
Urges construction freeze at Caledonia

Asks for `meaningful talks' on claims
Mar. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM

CALEDONIA, ONT. — Ottawa's appointment of a mediator to investigate the Six
Nations protest at a southern Ontario building site is a positive first step
toward settlement, says the Six Nations Confederacy Council.
But the Haudenosaunee chiefs, who announced yesterday their council supports
the protest, say the federal government has already had some 300 years to
figure out those issues.
Ottawa could end the protest immediately by freezing construction and
opening meaningful talks on land claims that would include the confederacy, Chief
Leroy Hill told a news conference yesterday.
Reading a statement first in the Cayuga language and then in English, Hill
said Ottawa needs to send someone with authority to straighten out claims and
do more than just investigate.
They want Ottawa's "runner," mediator Michael Coyle, to tell Minister of
Indian Affairs Jim Prentice the protest will end if the government puts a
moratorium on construction in writing and freezes further development of disputed
lands while "meaningful talks" are held.
"Then the people would leave," Hill said.
Any talks would be expected to resolve outstanding land claims the Six
Nations confederacy says cover most of southern Ontario, and an estimated $400
billion in what the chiefs say are outstanding leases, illegal sales and loss of
money held in trust by Ottawa.
Six Nations citizens launched a "reclamation" of some of those lands at
Caledonia three weeks ago when developer Don Henning of Henco Industries began
building homes on Six Nations land that has not been surrendered, Hill said.
The land in question, the chiefs say, was taken by the Crown in 1848 and
sold off.
CANADIAN PRESS

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.