Sept 14, 2007
Brnatford Expositor
Drums along the Grand. The year is 1784 and Britain's loyal subjects, the Indian allies of the Six Nations have been rewarded for their loyalty in the American Revolution by The British Crown.
Governor Haldimand, with a grant of land six miles on either side of the Grand River totalling 275,000 hectares, fulfilled that reward. The Six Nations Confederacy control all activities within the Haldimand Tract with the British crown. Unfortunately for Six Nations, about 90 per cent of that land was sold, given away or removed from their control.
Now, the Confederacy wants the people living in the Grand valley to return control of this land to them. They do not acknowledge that much of this land was sold or given to white settlers, but maintain that it was all stolen. Their claims are unproven in a court of law, and they would instead assert their claim to the lands by force and threats.
They now demand development fees, much as a legitimate government would. Regrettably, without legal authority, this amounts to extortion. The Ontario government has declined to become involved, choosing instead to allow individual developers to resist as best they can.
Is this political leadership? Is this the best we can expect from our Ontario Government? Many of us are now questioning the entire colonial arrangement of the Indian reserve system. This was set up to give natives some land that they could never sell or have stolen from them by developers. This system is no longer satisfactory to natives or Canadians.
I would propose that the reserve system be dismantled, for without that base, natives would lose the need to expand the reserve's boundaries. Incidentally, Canadians would be relieved of spending approximately $20 billion a year to sustain reserves and colonial treaty obligations. If natives can never be satisfied by the administration of this colonial institution, then perhaps the time has come to abolish it. Let those candidates running for office know how you feel.
Martyn Southam
Brantford