January 03, 2007 - 01:00
Brantford Expositor
A native group is taking the first action in what promises to be a tangled public debate over the possibility of completing the missing link of the BSAR through the Glebe lands.
About a half-dozen natives calling themselves representatives of the Grand River Mohawk Nation erected a “good faith notice” sign by the entrance to Mohawk Park on Tuesday, declaring the facility and the Glebe land to the west as their territory.
“Repatriated Sovereign Mohawk Nation Land,” recognized under the Haldimand Treaty of Oct. 25, 1784, the sign reads. “You are no longer in Canada.”
The sign goes on to explain that developers and corporations that violate the notice “will be prosecuted’ but adds that members of the public are welcome.
The move is not an occupation, but a warning from the Grand River Mohawk Nation that it — not the Six Nations band council or the Iroquois Confederacy — has jurisdiction over the park and the Glebe land as granted by the Haldimand Treaty, said a spokeswoman who calls herself “debspringle.”
People are free to use the lands for their current purposes as a park or farmland, debspringle said.
“This is to inform people that we don’t want the highway to come through here,” she added, referring to the Glebe stretch of the Brantford Southern Access Road that wasn’t built in 1991 in the face of strong opposition.
Last month, city council approved setting up a “pre-consultation” process with Six Nations organizations and
individuals to see if 15 years later there is sufficient interest and support to build the link through the Glebe. The city wants to know where it stands before beginning a required two- to three-year, $300,000-plus environmental assessment process.
Other options or routes to complete the link will come into play after the pre-consultation.
At one meeting late last year, the same Mohawk Nation group appeared before council to identify themselves and explain their preference to see Mohawk Lake, the Glebe and the canal cleaned up.
On Tuesday, debspringle said that neither the traditional Confederacy nor the elected band council would be appropriate representatives in discussions about the BSAR and the Glebe.
“They have no jurisdiction over this land,” she said. “As a Mohawk, I’m standing my ground for what is my inherent birthright.”
A colleague, Pat Holley, said: “We’ve let it go on too long.”
Mayor Mike Hancock said he consulted with officials when informed of the sign. He said the city is taking the position that Mohawk Park is city property while the Glebe belongs to Six Nations.
He said that officials from the parks department were sent to advise the group that the sign is on city property and requested that it be moved about 50 feet to the west and erected on the Glebe lands, where the city would have no objections, but the request was refused.
“They want to make a point that’s important to them and that’s fine,” Hancock said, while adding he remains adamant that the park is city property.
“They have been advised that action will be taken at an appropriate point to have the sign removed. We wouldn’t allow anyone else to put up a sign in the park and we don’t view this one any differently.”
Hancock said the city is dealing with an “inappropriate” sign as an immediate issue separate from BSAR discussions.
“To be perfectly frank, (the BSAR link) a long way off and many millions of dollars away,” he said.
Coun. Marguerite Ceschi-Smith, who represents the ward containing Mohawk Park, expressed support for the mayor’s position.
“I believe the mayor is handling it appropriately. The positioning of the sign is an issue,” she said after a visit to the site.
“As a city we also need to keep encouraging the other levels of government to resolve these problems of jurisdiction and authority along with land claims issues. The problems just go on and on.”
Hancock said the city also doesn’t want to get involved in competing jurisdictional claims between native authorities or organizations.
All questions of claims, he said, are being dealt with in ongoing negotiations between the Confederacy, the band council and federal and provincial authorities that began in the wake of the Caledonia land dispute that broke out last February.
“That’s the place where these questions have to be settled.”