By KATIE DAWSON The Sachem
(February 22, 2007)
Caledonia resident Craig Grice, who lives on Braemar, says living through this reclamation has been tough for everyone involved. Parked at the end of his street is an OPP cruiser, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some nights with its headlights shining into his home, and the homes of his neighbours.
Looking back on the past year, Grice says there were nights during the most tense of days during the reclamation when the sound of cars running, and the lights and fires would keep him up.
"I have neighbours who wouldn't go in their backyards all summer. That time is lost, they can never get that time back." Grice lives on Braemar, where he and his neighbours look onto the Douglas Creek Estates site that has been the subject of a land claim by Six Nations for almost one year.
Those nights are gone now, but residents still live with a sense of uneasy calm. Grice, who was voted in as the Haldimand County Caledonia Councillor in the fall of 2006, says there is a lot about the reclamation that angers him. The fact that there are people on Sixth Line and other areas without policing angers him as well the frustration of the federal government's lack of leadership.
Grice fears that with the summer months coming there may be more activity on the site, but is hopeful that the events that took place last spring will not occur again. He is also hopeful that a resolution will be found, and that nothing happens that would cause Caledonia to not recover from this. "I hope that the situation does not get heightened to a point where no one could recover, and the two communities would never get back together." He points out that there is a fear residents have that if the land claim is quiet for too long, the rest of the country will forget about it. But unfortunately bringing the media's attention to the land claim means that something has to happen that involves heightened tensions. "That's just how it is."
Grice says any time he watches the news and Caledonia comes up, pictures from April and May are shown, with tire fires and road blockades. "That is what hurts our local businesses." Caledonia is in a state of calm right now, and according to the provincial and federal government, negotiations are moving along. Grice says he doesn't know where negotiations are at because Haldimand County is not welcome at the main negotiating table. The community has to wonder what's next," says Grice. "It's been a year and the occupation still exists. The community wonders what's next."