Negotiations between Six Nations protesters, the province, and the federal government are “in the public interest” and are “the best way to resolve” the dispute in the southwestern Ontario community of Caledonia, said Attorney General Michael Bryant.
Those talks were derailed Tuesday when Ontario Superior Court Justice David Marshall ordered all parties to halt negotiations until the aboriginals end their almost six-month occupation.
On Wednesday, Bryant said the court had “no jurisdiction to order the parties to cease negotiations” and launched an appeal.
Six Nations residents who have occupied the Douglas Creek Estates construction site since February vowed to stay, regardless of legal rulings and appeals.
The appeal is just “part of the Canadian” legal process, said aboriginal spokeswoman Janie Jamieson.
In addition to continuing the occupation, the group will decide on Aug. 23 whether to re-erect highway barricades that previously divided the town and sparked violent confrontations with non-aboriginal residents.
In the meantime, Jamieson said it is up to Caledonia residents to maintain the peace.
Aboriginals and non-aboriginals clashed Tuesday night at the occupation site, with some aboriginal protesters turning a fire hose on the other group. The two sides were kept apart by a line of provincial police officers.
“There is a constant push from some (residents) to see bloodshed and they’re going to keep on creating situations until it happens,” said Jamieson.
Despite the legal action, Bryant said the province will indeed halt negotiations until the Ontario Court of Appeal either overturns Marshall’s ruling or orders a stay pending appeal.
“The reasons for judgment do appear to be clear,” Bryant said.
“We will comply with that order until such time as the order is either stayed, or suspended, or overturned.”
The appeal could take weeks, but the government is acting as ``expeditiously as possible,” he added.
Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said the Harper government supports the appeal, since it appears to be the best way to get back to the negotiating table.
“In the absence of the parties being able to sit down, we can’t get on with the challenging job of getting this resolved,” Prentice said, who added that while progress is being made a “resolution is still a long way off.”
“This is one of the longest, oldest disputes in Canada in terms of land claims,” said Prentice.
“It’s not going to be resolved overnight. It’s going to take goodwill, calm and patience and that’s what we’re trying to bring to the negotiating table.”
Non-aboriginal residents also harboured fears Wednesday that the situation could quickly deteriorate.
“If the occupation continues and those confrontations continue... sooner or later, somebody is going to get hurt,” said Ken Hewitt of the Caledonia Citizens’ Alliance.
“A lot of people are very angry and very frustrated.”
Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer said residents are worried the protesters will, once again, erect barricades on the town’s main street.
“All hell will break loose” if that happens, said Trainer.
“I’m afraid if it does escalate, there are hotheads on both sides and people’s nerves are frayed and something bad could happen.”
Former Ontario premier David Peterson, who was appointed by the province to begin negotiations in the dispute, said he worries Caledonia could become another Ipperwash — a 1995 Ontario standoff which culminated in the shooting death of an aboriginal protester.
“It’s been a very volatile and tender situation,” he said.
Peterson, who is no longer involved in the negotiations, said he couldn’t understand how Marshall could “stop people from talking.”
Six Nations protesters have occupied the housing development since the end of February, claiming it was wrongly taken from them by the Crown more than 200 years ago.
Lawyer Gary Graham said Marshall’s latest ruling was ``unprecedented.”
Still, anyone who disagreed with the order had little choice but to accept it, or appeal it, said Graham.
“Anybody who wants to ignore the order of a judge is stepping down a pretty slippery slope.”