The day after Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice refused to meet with his provincial counterpart to discuss the occupation and its costs, Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said the finger-pointing is exasperating for residents who just want the ordeal to come to an end.

“They are just playing games right now,” Trainer said about the escalating war of words. “We’re in the middle. We’re the ones suffering.”

“I’d like them to stop acting like children. I wish they would quit holding Caledonia residents as hostages. It’s pretty frustrating.”

Six Nations Chief Allen MacNaughton echoed Trainer’s sense of urgency for Prentice and the Ontario government to end their spat.

“It is with great concern that the Hodiyenehsoh find the Crown, in right of Ontario and Canada, engaged in playing politics in the media,” MacNaughton said in a statement.

“We sincerely hope the two levels of government in Canada will be able to work out their differences and return to the negotiating table with renewed determination.”

MacNaughton urged Prentice to become directly involved in talks with Six Nations Confederacy chiefs to reach a settlement in the land dispute.

Although the province purchased the land in question and is negotiating, Premier Dalton McGuinty has increasingly argued land claims are a federal responsibility, and said Tuesday that Ottawa must “step up to the plate.”

That comment prompted Prentice to cancel his meeting with David Ramsay, Ontario’s minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, later that evening.

Prentice said Ontario is solely responsible for paying the costs of occupation — now pegged at $40 million for policing, business compensation and the purchase of the disputed land.

“The Constitution is very clear. Property and civil rights, the administration of justice and policing are all provincial responsibilities,” Prentice said in an interview.

“What’s missing here is the justification for the province to say this is a federal obligation to pay for this. While the federal government has responsibility for Indians, that doesn’t override provincial law.”

Prentice said he’s been working hard to end the “oldest land claim in Canada,” appointing fact finders, negotiators and meeting with key provincial and aboriginal leaders to help sort out the dispute.

“I’m prepared to discuss the issues in a serious way with (the province) any time they choose, but I’m not going to be part of a media circus and political grandstanding about the issue,” he said.

McGuinty responded to the snub by calling the federal Conservative thin-skinned, and said people shouldn’t get into politics if they can’t take criticism. A clearly frustrated McGuinty repeated his demand that Ottawa take a lead role in negotiating an end to the dispute.

“They’ve got to understand, it’s not going to go away,” McGuinty said. “If it’s not Caledonia, it’s going to be land claims issues elsewhere across the country. This is an issue that’s been percolating on the backburner for a long time now.”

People want to see the dispute resolved, McGuinty said.

“They want us to meet,” he said. “And I think they want us to respect each other’s constitutional responsibilities.”

But no new meeting between the two levels of government has been set.

The federal government should start settling smaller side-issues with the Six Nations protesters and establish some goodwill to resolve the larger land claim issue, said Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay.

“We don’t want to have these disputes,” he said. “We want to get these things settled for the people of Ontario and especially the aboriginal people in that area who — for a couple hundred years — have not had justice.”

Ramsay said he didn’t know how long this dispute would take to resolve but “it should be sooner rather than later.”

In the meantime, Caledonia residents are losing faith.

“They have really lost focus about what this whole thing is about,” Trainer said of the politicians. “They’re forgetting about the people who are suffering every day — their nerves are shot, they’re on tranquilizers, they’re on heart medication. It’s not a good thing.”

McGuinty’s ramped-up rhetoric about Ottawa’s role in the Caledonia dispute is the latest tough talk about how Ontario is getting short-changed under the federal Conservatives.

That Liberal tactic has backfired, critics said. Conservative Leader John Tory said Caledonia residents were looking for progress on the standoff and are seeing “a jousting match instead.”

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the Liberal government is paralyzed and is falling back on the “tired old politics of blame and squabble.”

Six Nations protesters have occupied the former housing development site in Caledonia since February. Their occupation has been marred by violent clashes with town residents and barricades that cut the town in half.

The aboriginals say they are prepared to stay on the land — which they say was taken illegally from them 200 years ago — until it is returned to them.

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NOVEMBER 13 2006

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5574

Six Nations occupation in Caledonia digs in heels for winter months

Members of the Six Nations Confederacy of Indigenous People are preparing to continue their ten-month occupation of disputed land this winter, after negotiations with the government reached a new roadblock earlier this month.

The protestors intend on “maintaining a presence on the occupation site through the winter,” said Six Nations spokesperson Hazel Hill.

They began occupying the land bordering the Grand River in southern Ontario last February, to protest the federal government’s sale of what they claimed was their land to a real estate developer. At the beginning of the month, the government announced its position on the ownership dispute: according to the minutes of a set of documents from the 1840s, the Six Nations surrendered the land long ago.

However, negotiations continue, as many Six Nations people deny that the records are valid.

“These are documents made by a discredited agent,” said Lynda Powless, editor of the Turtle Island Newspaper. “The government discredited [Samuel Jarvis, an “Indian Agent”] for...stealing funds and absconding. They are fully aware of this situation.”

Six Nations spokesperson Jaqueline House went further, claiming the documents are forgeries.

“Signatures are in calligraphy, which our chiefs would never use,” she said. “Or else they have Xs on them...and you can see where they started cutting and gluing those on all over the place.”

Hill described the current occupation site as “quiet” as the protesters prepare for colder months and continuing negotiations. The summer months had been more exciting, with international visitors from other indigenous communities showing up in support of the land claim, said Powless.

However, House stressed that the dispute is less about land than about countering the racism and oppression that the Six Nations people continue to face.

“For a long time we blamed ourselves...for losing our culture, our language,” she said. “But it’s not our fault.... Now, we are fighting diplomatically for our dignity. I don’t want my children to grow up hating or being hated.”

The land-claim dispute has been marked by racial tension and violent incidents, including an April police raid on the reclamations site at four in the morning when protestors were sleeping. Both House and Powless said that many of those arrested over the past months, with charges ranging from robbery to attempted manslaughter, are still awaiting trial and have not had bail hearings.

Other violent run-ins have been with media people and neighbouring residents. Powless said that most of the racial tension in Caledonia comes from new residents who have moved to the area from larger cities and “have no clue who their neighbors are,” while House cited media misrepresentations.

“[People] come and make racial slurs and throw rocks all the time,” she said. “If one of our guys throws one back...all of a sudden [people think] the natives are attacking.”

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DECEMBER 15 2006

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Jan.27.2007 09:16:55

CROWN KEEPS FALTERING ON 6 NATIONS CLAIMS MNN. Jan. 27, 2006. This is Hazel’s update on the goings on at Six Nations: On Thursday we had the main table meeting as scheduled. If you watch CH TV 11, you'll see that the position of the Crown hasn't changed. They've once again utilized the media as a negotiating tool as if to proclaim something new or great. It's nothing great! It certainly doesn't offer any new evidence of any sale or lease. For that matter, it doesn't even refer to any factual cases of Canadian law. Their document is nothing more than an OPINION! It is not FACT, nor is it the LAW to which we have agreed to for the negotiation process. It is not surprising. It is exactly what we expected. Did anyone really think they were going to make some great announcement and admit that they had in fact stolen our lands, the lease monies, and made up deeds for all the fraudulent land sales and leases throughout the years for all those living within the tract. Not likely! They will continue with their tactics of using the threat of courts to try and discourage us. What they failed to mention was that within that court system there are numerous cases in which the Department of Justice ('DOJ') has been found WRONG. This includes cases such as Guerin, Sparrow, Badger, and Dalgamuuk. All of these cases deal with indigenous rights. In a press release earlier today, Chief Allen MacNaughton reminded the world that "Canada is trying to rely on a Department of Justice "legal" opinion, which in reality is a political position on Six Nations land rights." He further says, "The Department of Justice has taken the position, wherever possible, to limit the assertion of rights and claims by indigenous peoples to protect the Canadian public purse." Well, we too have our own opinion on what the Crown has tabled. We have our own "legal experts" that have helped us to provide points that we tabled with the Crown on the same day. We’d like to share those points with you: 1. Relying upon the position of the Department of Justice is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Two Row. The Two Row sets out a Nation-to-Nation relationship. The DOJ is not a Nation. 2. Relying upon the DOJ position requires an assumption that the Canadian legal system is to apply to the resolution of disputes further to the Treaties and the relationship between the Haudenosaunee and the Crown. This is inconsistent and contrary to Two Row which does not allow one party to place itself in the others canoe nor to pull another into its ship. 3. Even IF the position of the DOJ was relevant, it would not be of assistance. DOJ takes the position that Haudenosaunee are 'Indians' or 'First Nations' which we are not. 4. DOJ takes “political” positions not “legal” positions. They have a political agenda to limit, wherever possible, the assertion of rights and claims by 'First Nations' in North America and to protect the public purse. In trying to push this political agenda through the courts, they have been consistently found wrong. So the LAW which they are obligated to follow, according to our relationship and ancient covenants, IS the Two Row. They have just as much responsibility to it as we do. They have many generations of neglect, manipulation, corruption and genocide to answer to. There is nothing on that Two Row that leaves room for their DOJ opinion. There is nothing on the Two Row that allows them to defend their actions of the past. There is nothing that they can say to absolve themselves for violating the Laws of Creation. They can only begin to right the wrongs, IF they are serious, and continue with the process of re-polishing the covenant chain as we work our way through this peaceful negotiation process. Does their position worry us? Not one bit. Does our position worry them? What do you think! Do you think the fact that we've had a complete oral history, backed up and supported by written documentation and historical evidence of facts presented to them; against their pathetic position of "we believe the courts would find in our favour", without an ounce of documentation to back it up - it certainly should worry them. Their action and attitude of tabling this document is like being in a school yard fight when the bully gets busted for his actions. He desperately tries to deflect away from his own actions by pointing fingers at everyone else. He makes an issue of everything else but the issue at hand. They try to deter from the TRUTH. And that's all this is. Another smoke screen. They need to get honest with their citizens. They know that they have frauded the Onkwehonweh, They know they have frauded the people of Caledonia, as well as the rest the people living in the municipalities, towns and townships along the Grand River. They know they can't continue to try and bully their way through this. This isn't the playground or school yard! They can no longer hide behind their unilateral acts and presumptuous law. If the Crown wants to continue to challenge the Creator by undermining the Law that we are standing in defense of, so be it. They better understand the consequences of such actions. As I've often said, The Eye of the Eagle is Upon You, Govern Yourself Accordingly! This morning, the Confederacy Chiefs and the Elected Band Council had another meeting together. It was a good start at looking at the issue of governance in our community. By no means do they agree on all things. It was a good beginning. By sitting down and looking at things that they do agree on, brings them another step closer to the Unity that we envision for all the Onkwehonweh. It was like the first step in a process of healing. For generations we have internalized the oppression that has been created by the Crown through its genocidal practices (including the implementation of the Indian Act). We've allowed the divisions that were created as a result of that oppression to perpetuate into the weaknesses and divisions within our community. We've turned on each other and we've blamed each other for not being able to move forward. We should have been directing that energy and dealing with the originators of that oppression. Today, we ARE dealing with our Oppressors. We are doing so in Unity & Peace. We are doing so in accordance with the Kaierenekowah, [our constitution]. Unlike them, we do so with respect and honour, even toward those who sit across the table from us at negotiations, who, all the while, continue to enforce genocide, through the Indian Act, forcing our people onto the deck of their "ship" in their court house, and by constant interference in our canoe. If we truly believe in doing what is right, if our heart is sincere, our mind is clear and our intent is what it does for our children and our grandchildren and the generations to come, then we do have a commonality that can move forward. We can speak with one voice for the highest good of all concerned. And that really is all we can ask of each other. It’s that simple. In Love, Light and Peace, Hazel thebasketcase@on.aibn.com Posted by MNN Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com