January 10, 2007
Canadian Press
DESORONTO – An eastern Ontario Indian spokesman is warning that natives manning a barricade at a quarry will "kick the hell" out of police if they move against the protesters.
About 30 members of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte erected barricades outside a gravel quarry early today in the town of Deseronto, 30 kilometres west of Kingston.
They are upset with a developer's plan to build condominiums on disputed land claimed by Mohawks called the Culbertson Land Tract.
Spokesman Shawn Brant said the quarry, operated by Thurlow Aggregates, was targeted because it might supply building material for the project.
He said police risk touching off a violent clash with Indians if they try to intervene.
Ontario Provincial Police are on the scene, but say it's only to keep tabs on the protest, which is expected to remain peaceful and last just 24 hours.
The dispute in Deseronto is eerily similar to one in the southern Ontario town of Caledonia, south of Hamilton, that prompted an occupation that continues to this day.
If police do move on the group, it would trigger a conflict that would "far exceed Caledonia's crisis," Brant told Belleville radio station CJBQ
"The very least that we would do is kick the hell out of them," he said. "We would do whatever is necessary in order to achieve our objectives."
The Mohawks are frustrated with the pace of their land claim, and are gravely concerned the developer will begin construction before the claim is settled, said Don Maracle, chief of the Tyendinaga Mohawks.
"We don't believe development should be taking place on that property while there are discussions taking place," Maracle said, noting the protest was not sanctioned by the Mohawk council.
"There has to be negotiations."
There has been little or no disruption to local residents and there have been no disturbances, police said in a statement.
The federal government earlier appointed land claims negotiator Sean Kennedy to try to resolve the Culbertson dispute.
Brant said the protest was forced by Kingston developer Tim Leith when he set today as a deadline for progress to be made in the ongoing land dispute.
The Indian Claims Commission website says the Mohawks' claim centres on the illegal disposition of some 827 acres of land in 1836 and 1837. The tract consists of land within the original Mohawk Tract granted to and reserved for the Six Nations in 1793.
The basis of the Mohawk claim is that no part of the Culbertson Tract was ever given up. The claim was submitted in 1995 and accepted for negotiation in 2003.