Sept. 25, 2007
Brantford Expositor
Last week brought a glimmer of hope that common sense had finally come to the leadership of the Six Nations Confederacy.
First, the chiefs of the Confederacy apologized for the brutal beating of a Hamilton man inside the house he was building for his daughter in Caledonia, and that they did not sanction that action. Now the news is that the police, without Confederacy objection, have arrested those responsible. In doing so, the OPP have begun finally to fulfill their mandate of enforcing Canadian law there, which is supposed to be administered equally to everyone.
Secondly, Brantford builder Mike Quattrociocchi has been given the Confederacy green light to continue work on his building project which was abruptly ended two weeks ago by native activists. Protesters descended on the project again, but who came along bearing the good tidings which let the work continue? None other than Mr. Clyde Powless! Now this is an important turnaround for Mr. Powless since he has usually been seen erecting barriers at places like Caledonia rather than tearing them down. But if he can be the messenger who relays words of reason from Confederacy leaders then the possibility of a breakthrough is real.
Hovering over all of this is the Confederacy Land Use Proclamation recently announced which vaguely threatens enforcement by native vigilantism against non-adherents, and how our law enforcement agencies would react in kind.
Now, of course, everything in life comes with a price, even breakthroughs. The price being asked for now is contained within a proposal, presented to government by Six Nations Confederacy leaders, which must be answered within 30 days.
Exactly what the proposal may entail is hard to say but anything involving a change of governance, transfer of privately owned lands, or financial redress at the expense of citizens with land titles within the Grand River Valley, must of course be subject to approval by the citizens represented by the government involved in these negotiations.
Such an agreement must be fully outlined to the Canadian public and put to a referendum vote, possibly across the province of Ontario, but more specifically within all the communities of the Haldimand Tract.
Robert Thompson
Brantford