Mar 05, 2007 04:30 AM
Margaret Anderson gazes out across land occupied by Indians in Caledonia, less than 10 metres from her doorstep.
Past the barricade near the foot of her driveway. Past the Indian flags flapping in a bitter breeze. Past a No Trespassing sign and another hand-scrawled with the message: Welcome to Mohawk Territory.
For more than a year the 81-year-old widow has watched with bemusement as Indians, residents of her neighbourhood and police manage an uneasy truce on land that until early last year had been a new subdivision of homes under construction at the south end of town.
That was before Six Nations protestors forced construction to a halt on Feb. 28, 2006, claiming a 200-year-old treaty proved the land was theirs. Since then there have been violent confrontations between residents and Indians, a failed attempt by police last April to remove the protestors and lots of talking on both sides.
Yet ownership of the land is still in dispute, even after the province bought the land from the developer last year and allowed the Indians to continue occupying the site. It was a move many residents call cowardly, because they say Queen's Park hasn't tried hard enough to settle the dispute.
The federal government, which some sides say holds the key to a solution, is blamed for being absent on the issue.
The Ontario Provincial Police, which has brought in officers from across the province to manage the situation, has taken heat for what residents see as a two-tier system of justice – one for the Indians they say illegally occupy the property and another for them. There's been a heavy police presence in the area around the clock for more than 12 months.
Half a dozen OPP two-person cruisers patrolled the boundary areas yesterday.
A car drives by with a sticker in its rear window that declares: Caledonia – No Sheriff, No Law.
Margaret Anderson sits and watches it all from a chair in her living room.
"It doesn't bother me at all," she said yesterday. "In all the time they've been here, I've never been afraid.
"There are so many stories that Indians own the land, that we own it, you don't know who to believe. One thing I know for sure: it's not going to be solved very soon."
She also fears that if her health deteriorates and she's forced to sell her house, she'd take a beating on the price if she could find a buyer at all.
Many have tried to sell and given up in frustration.
Jack Dancey has had his home up for sale for four months without a sniff of an offer.
"Nobody seems to want to live here now, especially people who are living here now," said the 91-year-old veteran who flew for Canada in World War II.
Matt Vresk, 40-year-old father of two, said he's frustrated by the dispute, but worries more about the effect on neighbourhood children.
"At the beginning they were scared to go to school, scared to walk anywhere, didn't want to play outside," he said. "It's quiet now, but you know it's still going on. You just try to keep living your life."
"If the natives get what they want here, you'll see more of these situations right across the country. I think that's why they don't really want to settle it. They're all playing games."
At a news conference in nearby Ohsweken last week, Six Nations chiefs said they have proof the land belongs to them. They displayed government documents that they say back up what they have been saying all along – that the land in question was never surrendered to the Crown.
"It has been a challenging year and we believe we are on the threshold of a just resolution of this case, if Canada's political will is there," said Chief Allen MacNaughton, who suggested the governments are deliberately stalling on the road to resolution.
Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer doesn't buy it. She said "100 per cent of the blame" belongs to the Indians.
"Nobody knows who's in charge," she said yesterday. "They need to get their governance straightened out."