Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator
CALEDONIA (Jun 30, 2007)
Douglas Creek Estates seemed more like a forgotten outpost than a political hot spot as natives across Canada took to the streets to protest a myriad of aboriginal grievances from land claims to housing.
The mood was almost sleepy as a handful of native protesters lounged around the 40-hectare site, which has been occupied for almost 18 months and was considered a potential flashpoint in aboriginal affairs.
Dawn Smith said the national day of protest is just business as usual for persons like herself who moved onto Douglas Creek Estates to reclaim the land on Feb. 18, 2006.
"Every day for the last year and a half to us has been a national day of protest. This one day is no better or no worse than any other one," she told reporters yesterday.
Every day in the future, she added, will also be a day of protest until the land claim issue is settled once and for all.
The occupiers, who at times numbered several hundred, had stopped construction of a housing development on the site and reclaimed the land as Six Nations territory.
They argued the land was granted to them by the British Crown more than 200 years ago and still belongs to them because it was never transferred to non-natives.
Smith said the elected chiefs who organized the national day of action have no authority over the natives occupying Douglas Creek Estates.
But she added she has the "highest commendation" for natives who chose to stand for their rights.
Janie Jamieson, who has been on the site since the beginning, said the call to action provides a forum for all native groups to make a "strong statement ocean-to-ocean."
But as far as Douglas Creek Estates was concerned, she suggested the point was already made loud and clear.
"There's not much more we can do. We've pretty much done everything," she told a group of reporters during a guided tour of the site.
It was one of the few times in more than a year that non-native reporters were allowed on the site which was once like an armed camp with barriers and checkpoints, security guards on all-terrain vehicles and an internal road system.
Jamieson said the occupiers have started dismantling houses and hope to eventually restore the land to its natural state.
On April 19, 2007, they planted white pines, which are symbols of peace, to commemorate the first anniversary of an abortive early-morning raid when a heavily armed OPP tactical team tried to evict the occupiers.
Armed with clubs and makeshift weapons, the natives drove the police off the land and launched a series of actions, including the blockade of area roads.