Natives, city officials meet to discuss trailer

Michael-Allan Marion
Brantford Expositor
Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 01:00

Public interest continues to grow about the sudden location by natives last week of a trailer on a parcel of land on Erie Avenue just inside the city limits.

Although its owners told city officials on the day a trailer and flags appeared that theyre establishing a learning centre by the Cockshutt Bridge to explain native issues and and history, neighbourhood residents have been dropping by the spot to see what its owners have in mind.

Theyve been told by the trailers occupants that the land, in the formal ownership of the Grand River Conservation Authority, is really native land in the possession of the Mohawks.

The interest rose another notch Wednesday when about a dozen natives from the Mohawk Nation led by Chief Edwin Hill trekked into City Hall for a closed-door meeting with acting mayor Dan McCreary and city manager John Brown.

The natives sought the meeting through an intermediary.

We had a full and frank discussion about the events that have transpired at the site, McCreary said after the meeting. He did not divulge details about the discussion.

It was fortuitous that we had a chance to talk. It was a very good meeting. Theyre good people.

Many watchers are wondering if the trailer could become a smoke hut, with cigarettes being sold on what is suddenly called native land.

The occupants are not part of Six Nations and are not acting at its behest.

McCreary said weve had discussions with the folks that have occupied that site and so far they have been true to their word.

In visits to the trailer by Expositor reporters, the occupants handed out literature about the history of Six Nations, native issues, and the slow progress on land claims filed on territory along the Grand River.

Don Tripp, one of the people responsible for the trailer, emphasized that the trailer is a learning centre.

The GRCA has not filed a complaint about the occupation.