The OPP may have to hire more officers as the Caledonia standoff reaches one year with no end in sight, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino says.
"We just can't sustain this . . . There's got to be a resolution," Fantino said. "When you think about some 5,000 police officers rotating through (Caledonia) over the last year -- 480,000 hours of police officer work that should have gone elsewhere -- and all that time there's this negotiation stuff that appears, to me at least, to be going nowhere."
Fantino said he has yet to be contacted by any representative of the Stephen Harper government, although it is responsible for negotiating the Douglas Creek land claim with the Six Nations community.
"I've had no opportunities to provide briefings about some of the significant potential threats that we're facing with regards to how this is a very explosive situation, one that can erupt at any given time," Fantino said.
The federal government has not inquired as to whether the OPP needs any assistance either, he said.
The OPP has had to draw in officers from all over the province and lean on other police forces to cope with the significant demands of the Caledonia situation, Fantino said.
It has been a year since members of the Six Nations community moved onto a housing construction site in Caledonia, claiming the land as their own.
Police officers trying to keep the peace have become the "lightening rod" for agitators on both sides of the issue, Fantino said.
Yesterday, Premier Dalton McGuinty called on the Harper government to pick up the pace to find a solution to this crisis.
"The only body that is in a position to bring the discussions to fruition is the federal government," McGuinty said.