Ottawa is offering Six Nations $125 million to settle three land claims in exchange for ending the 15-month occupation of a former housing development in Caledonia.
The offer was presented to Six Nations representatives yesterday and was conveyed to Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer last night by federal negotiator and former Mulroney cabinet minister Barbara McDougall.
Trainer said the offer is to settle claims involving the former Moulton Township, flooding of lands in Dunnville to accommodate building the Welland Feeder Canal in 1829 and the investment of Six Nations money into the Grand River Navigation Co. in the 1830s.
The mayor also said Six Nations would be permitted to keep the former Burtch Correctional facility in Brant County, near Mount Pleasant.
In exchange, Ottawa wants natives who took over the Douglas Creek Estates 15 months ago to leave and it also wants assurances there will be no more occupations. Natives say they reclaimed the land, which the province bought off the developer for $16 million last year, over a claim involving the building of the Plank Road (now Highway 6) in 1843.
The mayor said she is optimistic the "pretty big" offer will end the dispute.
"Everybody's hopeful, but time will tell," she told The Spectator last night. "It's just an offer. There will be lots of discussions and meetings and we'll go from there. It's a start and it looks after a few of the issues and that's a good thing."
Negotiators from Ottawa, Queen's Park and Six Nations are to meet today at the main negotiating table, which will likely see talk dominated by the federal government offer. While the mayor was hopeful, some natives at the table have consistently said in recent months they are only interested in the land and not a cash settlement.
Six Nations has filed 29 land claims with Ottawa since 1980. One was settled in 1985 with CN Rail. In 1994, Ottawa offered Six Nations $3.5 million to settle the Moulton claim, but it was rejected.