By Karen Best
Haldimand Reveiw
February 26, 2007
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty knows he’ll receive an anniversary card commemorating the year-long Caledonia land claim situation.
On Feb. 16 at a Kitchener high school, Valerie Vanderwyk handed a calling card version of the four-foot anniversary card to McGuinty’s special operations assistant, Paul Lehmann. The Caledonia residents told him that the “unhappy” anniversary card’s message was that, after a year, issues in Caledonia are far from resolved for town and Six Nations residents.
Ontario Provincial Police security, Lehmann and a school board official turned down her request to speak to the premier.
“If he wasn’t prepared to come to Caledonia, the Caledonia was prepared to come to him,” Vanderwyk told them. “It’s all about taking the volume switch and slowly turning it up.” she said later to The Chronicle.
A week earlier, Vanderwyk took the card to Niagara Falls where McGuinty and his government held a caucus meeting. There too her request to see him was declined.
Earlier in February, Vanderwyk and a few other county residents crafted huge cards for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and McGuinty. Holding signs criticizing lack of leadership, both are depicted as clowns on the front cover. Inside the message, Unhappy First Anniversary, is underlined with red duct tape- a deliberate allusion to red tape.
McGuinty holds the sign “Found Waldo; Has Anyone Seen Dalton” and Harper displays the “Has Anyone Seen Diane Finley” sign. Over 350 people have already signed the cards. Before Feb. 28, McGuinty’s card will be delivered to him and Harper’s card will be delivered to Haldimand Norfolk MP Diane Finley.
Through the cards, frustration is focussed on the government, where it belongs, said Vanderwyk. “The idea is to draw this to the attention of the people who can solve this problem,” she said.
Canfield resident Joie Huurman has followed the land claim issue since the beginning and decided to help create the attention-grabbing cards.
“I’d like people to see it’s not just a Caledonia issue because land claims are not exclusive to Caledonia, ” Huurman said. Unresolved land claims across the country have been ongoing for years and will continue if they are not dealt with, she said.
On Feb. 28, 2006, a couple of Six Nations members moved into the Douglas Creek Estates construction site, stating that it was part of their territory and was never surrendered or sold. Recently the Canadian department of justice said their position that the land was sold would stand up in a Canadian court of law.
People interested in signing the cards can do so at Home N Hearth, a Caledonia store at the intersection of Argyle Street North and Caithness Street. The store is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday to Wednesday and Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.