By JORGE BARRERA, IN CALEDONIA
March 18, 2007
Tacked to the plywood wall of the guard shack is a Henco Homes lot number placard with the message "who found who? 1492."
A middle aged Six Nations man with large glasses says the words are from a song written by a local musician. He is sitting near a window that overlooks the entrance to Douglas Creek Estates.
Below the sign is a poster with the photographs of a half built suburban home and a logging clear cut. "American Dream, Native Nightmare," it reads.
The place smells of woodsmoke and cigarettes. Another man nicknamed Nish keeps watch through the window for unfamiliar cars or people approaching the entrance. He knows the local cars by the rumble of their engine. A walkie-talkie with the word "frontline" taped to the side occasionally crackles with code names, "huggy bear" or "megadeath." A short distance away an OPP cruiser keeps constant surveillance.
"I am here to protect this area and to protect this piece of land too," says Nish 47.
An Ojibway, born in Toronto, the still birth of his child 15 years ago put him on what he calls the traditional spiritual path. That path led him to Douglas Creek where the Six Nations confederacy has been on a year-long showdown with the federal and provincial governments to reclaim the 40 hectare piece of land they say was swindled from them by the Crown.
On the table below the window is a copy of Turtle Island News, "North America's #1 Native Weekly," the local reserve newspaper, fresh off the press this morning. The the first three pages offer a detailed account of the political fallout from a shoving match between the band chief David General and Six Nations community members during a negotiation session with the federal and provincial governments. The incident magnified internal divisions between the band government and the traditional government over who controls the government money provided for negotiations and leads the talks.
There is uncertainty about the future of negotiations if the rift continues to fester. There are worries government negotiators will use the divisions to scuttle talks and heighten tensions that subsided at Douglas Creek over the winter.
When Six Nations members took over the 650 home Henco Industries residential development last February, it was feared the things could quickly turn bloody. The site was the scene of several bitter and sometimes violent confrontations between Six Nations members, Caledonia residents and police.
The calm, however, seems to be melting with the snow. Some now murmur darkly about fraying patience and plans to occupy other areas if negotiations falter. The OPP are now looking into a message posted on an Internet chat board warning of impending escalation.
"Watch the eastern front...we're planning something spectacular for Canadians to prove to them we are serious about getting our land back. It should come off with quite a bang," read the post by Tsi Nikayen' Enonhne' that appeared last Tuesday.
"We have given everything. We have taken down barricades, we have given a buffer zone, we have done everything to try and appease and accommodate our neighbors and we have been respectful," says Six Nations spokeswoman Hazel Hill. "You are going to see that the people have had enough. We are not taking it anymore."
The events of the past year left the relationship between Six Nations and Calidonia, a bedroom community of about 10,000 near Hamilton, in tatters. The two have thrived side by side for over 200 years.
As several people gather in the guard shack this morning talk turns to coffee, but a trip to the Tim Hortons minutes up the road is quickly dismissed. Someone remembers the time when a cup of coffee came with a gob of saliva. There is also the story of a ripped status card at the local Canadian Tire.
"I don' t feel comfortable going there with the racism," says Six Nations band councillor Ava Hill. "We have been accused of destroying Caledonia. But if their businesses are going down it is because our people quit shopping there."
Mending the relationship may take some time, says Hill.
"There has been a lot of damage done," she says. Suspicion of the non-native world runs high here. Many believe the media is biased against them and that non-native Canadians too easily turn into enemies. They believe the only goal of the federal and provincial governments is to assimilate them and erase their culture.
"They want us to be Canadian. That's what it's all about," says an older Six Nations man.
When I respond to a question from another man by saying I was born in another country but grew up in Canada, he shakes his head and turns away.
The rules for staying on Douglas Creek are written in marker on a large piece of cardboard just inside the front door of a newly built house on the first corner past the guard shack: no drinking or drugs, no profanity, no weapons and children under 18 must be out by 8 p.m.
Across the top of the inside door frame is a bumper sticker urging support for the Grassy Narrows logging blockade north of Kenora. In an adjacent room, a young man peers through binoculars out the front window. In the basement the Six Nations clan mothers have gathered for a meeting.
There is food from a potluck and the place has the atmosphere of a large family reunion. Children run in circles.
On one side of a large wooden table in what was designed as a living room sit four women and a man. They want to talk. On the wall above their heads is the Dene Nation flag sent from the Northwest Territories. It is thick with signatures and words of support.
"I consider myself a freedom fighter," says Boots, 46, dressed head to toe in military fatigues. "They took our land, they tried to take our language and our culture. We want to be left alone to do our own business."
The rest nod in agreement.
"We are a peaceful people and we have been, but at some point we have to make a stand," says Sheranne, 26. "We are a sovereign people who never recognized the government, the border, they don't exist to us."
The conversation comes to an abrupt end. The man who drove me to the house suddenly reappears.
"You actually do not have permission to be here so I am going to have to ask you to leave."
He drives me to my rental car parked near the guard shack and tells me to immediately vacate the property.