Land Locked

Caledonia's Broken Peace and the search for answers

By Marissa Nelson
The Hamilton Spectator(Feb 26, 2007)

Three hundred and sixty-five days.

Two communities.

Forty-six million dollars.

Sixty-nine charges laid.

Seventy homes that will never be built.

Forty hectares that changed a town.

A year later, and the path to peace still isn't clear.

The standoff over a partially-constructed subdivision on the outskirts of Caledonia started quietly last February when a small group of natives blocked the road into the site.

The relative calm at the site now belies the turbulent year that passed. Tempers and tensions flared, at times erupted and when it was quiet, it seemed like the dispute was merely simmering.

On the big question -- a resolution to the land claim -- nothing seems to have changed. Both sides are restating positions heard a year ago.

But that doesn't mean nothing has changed. The biggest change may be within Six Nations itself.

It has been a year of discovery, building community, cohesion and pride. Their traditional leaders and culture have new prominence and power on the reserve.

There is change for everyone else involved: the town, the province, the OPP, and for Canada. What the protest means is different for each. Those differences help explain why, a year after it blew up and more than 100 years after it began -- the dispute is still unresolved.