Developers are beating a path to the doors of the Six Nations Confederacy, seeking direction on projects they want to build on land the band claims to own along the Grand River.
Confederacy officials say the traditional government has heard from 13 developers since November representing $1 billion in projects. Among them is the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which is looking to build a new Highway 24 between Brantford and Cambridge.
It's fallout from the Caledonia standoff, in which natives have occupied a former housing site for 11 months, claiming Six Nations never surrendered it. And it's another example of the resurgence of the traditional government, which Ottawa replaced with an elected-band council system in 1924.
The Confederacy is also leading talks with Ottawa and Queen's Park to resolve the Caledonia standoff (the elected band council delegated talks to the Confederacy). And it recently got back the keys to the 1864 council house it was evicted from eight decades ago. The band council and Confederacy are discussing governance and federal negotiator Barbara McDougall has been tasked with resolving it as part of her duties.
Confederacy officials are thrilled by the interest of would-be developers, which they say includes the Grand River Conservation Authority, a landfill developer and three companies wanting to build windmill projects. Six Nations claims 10 kilometres on each side of the Grand River under the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation. It was given the land by the British Crown for help during The American Revolution.
Under the 1996 Grand River Notification Protocol, communities in the lower Grand watershed are to consult Six Nations on projects in the tract, but only the elected-band council.
Confederacy official Wes Elliott called it "a historic day" when the developers appeared before 19 chiefs at two recent meetings.
"We had developers looking for guidance, looking for permission," he told a community meeting Wednesday.
Elliott said the chiefs asked developers what they'll do if the Confederacy rejects their projects.
"They've said, 'We'll have to pick up and go somewhere else.'"
He outlined four projects presented to the chiefs; a $16 million Cayuga landfill, a $275 million windmill farm, a $40 million Brantford plaza and $354,000 in work the conservation authority wants to do.
Cayuga sub-chief Leroy Hill said the chiefs don't have a consensus on how to deal with the developers, with some arguing the approaches should come from Ontario because it's a government-to-government situation. He, however, sees opportunities, such as obtaining free electricity from a windmill proponent for Six Nations' 2,900 homes and businesses.
Ginette Albert, spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay, said yesterday the province has no problem with the situation and said it submits its own projects within the Haldimand Tract to both the band council and Confederacy.
"As far as individuals, we don't tell them what to do and we will not be telling them what to do," she added.
Haldimand County Councillor Lorne Boyko, who represents Dunnville, said the province had warned the county the 1996 protocol was going to change, but it would arrange a new one. He said last week the province told the county it would not work on a new protocol, so he distrusts the Ontario government.
He's not opposed to Confederacy involvement, but hoped it didn't believe it had any veto power.
"This is where the senior levels of government should have come into play."