KAREN BEST
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Dunnville Chronicle
Someone planted a Canadian flag fastened to a long branch into the topsoil heaped on the Dunnville Shopping Centre property last week.
The national emblem was driven home less than 48 hours after representatives of Calloway REIT concluded their first meeting with Six Nations. Calloway REIT is the owner of the property where a 90,000 square foot Wal-Mart is planned. Smart Centres is the company steering development of the project at the corner of Taylor Road and North Shore Drive.
Scott Dutchak of Calloway REIT said last week's meeting with Six Nations representatives was good. "We're still talking," he said. "We will meet with them again."
Basically the two parties are talking every day back and forth, he added.
"It's looking very positive," said Dutchak. "We managed to get a very good relationship going. The project will continue for sure. We are committed to it."
When news that the property owner was asked to speak to Six Nations spread around town, people began to worry about losing Wal-Mart. Some were angry, others disappointed.
It's upsetting, said Mayor Marie Trainer. The property would bring in $450,000 in property taxes a year and 200 jobs. Wal-Mart is a much needed store to keep people in the community, she said.
In a recent telephone conversation with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada minister Jim Prentice, she told him it was time to start dealing with the criminals and radicals. The Mississaugas of the New Credit near Hagersville have a lot of land claims and they are peaceful, she said. Why not deal with those who are peaceful first, she continued.
Trainer said people all over Haldimand County are upset about Wal-Mart's situation.
Late last week Annette Williamson who works at Phase II said people were hoping the store will still go on. "We'll see what happens. Hopefully there' s no trouble," she said. "One thing Dunnville does not need is any interruption in business."
"I don't know what it has to do with the natives," said Dennis James of Dunnville. "I thought it was a done deal. I hope Wal-Mart doesn't give in to them in anyway at all."
He too felt Wal-Mart will bring a lot of business into Dunnville.
"If they don't come to any agreement, I don't think the native brigade is going to be very cooperative," James continued.
In the future, developers will likely post security guards at construction sites, he said noting he expected OPP to back them up. This might be enough of a deterrent to stop nuisance protests, added James.
"Let negotiations prevail and stop aggravating people," he rhetorically offered advice to Six Nations people.
James said the Six Nations community is so fractured that no one has control over those involved in protests. The people of First Nations that he knows don't like the tactics employed in Haldimand County. "They won't speak out against their own people," he said. "They stick together."