The Ontario Provincial Police yesterday arrested nine aboriginal protesters who had continued to demonstrate outside a new subdivision in Caledonia, southwest of Hamilton, even though Six Nations chiefs had made a deal with the developer to allow the project to proceed.
A Caledonia source with detailed knowledge of the background to yesterday's police action said that it was done with the tacit approval of the Six Nations Confederacy Council.
"It [the nine arrested] was that splinter group that has been giving all the trouble," the source said.
The OPP said in an announcement that the arrests were made after a joint action by the OPP and the Hamilton Police Service, in which the protesters were given the option of leaving the property or being arrested.
The nine arrested protesters were taken to the Cayuga detachment of the OPP, and were to face criminal charges, which were being prepared last night, OPP Constable Chris Hunter said.
The demonstrations at Stirling Woods, which began last week, turned violent when Caledonia developer Sam Gualtieri was beaten unconscious on Thursday by a group of young aboriginals inside a house he is building for his daughter and her fiancé.
Over the weekend, the confederacy chiefs reached an agreement with Venture Homes, the developer of the subdivision, that would allow work to resume on the site.
John Kragten, one of the owners of Venture Homes, said that workers were on the site yesterday, but that they were pulled out to allow the police to remove the protesters, who were just outside the subdivision.
Mr. Kragten said that the police, who he estimated had about 100 officers at the scene, came in force at about 6 a.m., but waited until 2 p.m. to make the arrests.
He said he expects workers will be back at the site today and that work will continue on the 90-unit development until it is completed.
Mr. Kragten said that, since he has struck a deal with the Six Nations confederacy that the aboriginals are not making any claims on the project, he is optimistic that the protesters will not return.
"I'm very hopeful that they [the chiefs] will keep their end of the bargain in one way or the other," he said.