Ontario wants Ottawa to foot bill for costly Caledonia dispute

April Lindgren
CanWest News Service
Saturday, October 21, 2006

Ontario will go after the federal government for the ongoing cost of dealing with an aboriginal land-claims dispute in Caledonia, Ont., Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday.

"We're going to put the feds on notice," McGuinty told reporters following a speech in Niagara Falls, Ont. "We've been caught up on this thing for a long time and more importantly, the people of Caledonia have been caught up in this thing for a long time. Now it's costing Ontario taxpayers all kinds of money. The Constitution makes it very clear the responsibility for managing land claims rests entirely with the federal government."

Six Nations protesters who occupied land slated for a housing development at Caledonia in February insist the property was illegally taken from them by the Crown. With tensions between the aboriginal protesters and local residents of Caledonia running high, the province spent more than $20 million to purchase the disputed land so that it can be held in trust until the land claim negotiation is completed.

"What I would like to see is the federal government pursue this with more vigour, more enthusiasm and more determination," McGuinty said. "In some ways they seem to be 100,000 miles away from all of this ... It would be great if at some point in time the federal government said: `We are going to get serious about this and we're going to manage this effectively so that we can wind up negotiations sooner rather than later."'

McGuinty refused to speculate on the amount of compensation the province will seek, but he did say it will be "considerable."

In addition to purchasing the land, the province has also provided financial assistance to local businesses that have been hurt as negotiations between the federal and provincial governments and the Six Nations drags on, and is considering how to compensate residents whose homes back onto the disputed property. Many of the residents say they are intimidated by the ongoing occupation and activities of Six Nations protesters.

"I'm convinced there are going to be some policing costs above and beyond what normally have been within the OPP budget," McGuinty added. "We intended to make a claim for that as well."

The premier's remarks came the same day a poll commissioned by the union representing provincial police officers indicated that most Ontarians want to see the RCMP brought in to help keep the situation under control. Eighty per cent of respondents said they want the federal government to take over negotiations to end the eight-month protest, and 60 per cent said they favoured setting a deadline for completing a deal, after which the aboriginal protesters would be removed.

Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory described McGuinty's comments as "ridiculous," and noted that his caucus has been demanding an accounting of the total cost of the standoff for weeks.

"In typical McGuinty Liberal form this is just another attempt to dither, deflect and deny," Tory said in a press statement. Tory accused the premier of mismanaging the situation by not setting rules for the protesters' use of what is now Ontario-government-owned land and by backing away from his earlier insistence that negotiations could only continue if barricades were removed and seven suspects implicated in a number of confrontations were located by police.

"His actions make it clear that Dalton McGuinty will say anything," Tory said. "One minute he is telling everyone how well he is working with the federal government and the next he is demanding that they foot the bill for his weak leadership."