Rifts within Six Nations stall talks, chief says

CHINTA PUXLEY
Canadian Press
March 14, 2007
Posted Globe & Mail

TORONTO -- Internal rifts within the Six Nations community and an endless stream of observers at the negotiating table have stalled talks aimed at ending the year-long aboriginal occupation in southern Ontario, Six Nations Chief David General said yesterday.

Government negotiators broke off talks last week after Chief General, who has spoken out against the continuing occupation of a former housing development site in Caledonia, Ont., was physically barred from attending the negotiations by several aboriginal community members.

Talks are supposed to resume on March 21, but both Chief General and Ontario's Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay, say the Six Nations community has to resolve its internal differences before negotiations can get back on track.

"There are too many agendas and too many voices," Chief General said. "It's an impediment right now. We inside of Six Nations have to sit down and have some heart-to-heart talks."

Chief General is one of only a few representatives with whom the provincial and federal negotiators have said they're willing to negotiate, but the Six Nations approach allows dozens of aboriginal observers to participate in the talks.

That's hindering progress toward ending the occupation, which marked its one-year anniversary two weeks ago, Chief General said. Negotiators should look at limiting the number of people at the table, he said, or even relocating the talks entirely.

"Right now, the room is too big," he said. "There are too many people there."

Chief General, who said he wasn't harmed in last week's scuffle, said some community members didn't agree with how he approached the talks. Still, that won't stop him from participating in future discussions, he said.

It now falls to the Six Nations community to resolve its internal strife to allow talks to resume, Mr. Ramsay said.

"We know there are different points of view on Six Nations about all of this," he said. "That's not really my business. My job is to get this thing solved. We're determined to work it out at the main table.

"That's something for Six Nations people to work out."

Residents of Caledonia are the ones paying the price for aboriginal infighting, said Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer. Very little progress is being made at the negotiation table because "everybody wants to be in charge," she said.