The Six Nations elected band council is seeking an injunction against two smoke shops that have recently set up on band land without permission.
Elected Chief Dave General says the parcels of land off Highway 6 at 5th Line belong to the Six Nations community but are being used for personal profit by the smoke shop owners whom he describes as "lawless."
"This is business activity occurring on community-owned land without any benefit to the Six Nations community," said General.
The plots of farmland along Highway 6 were bought by the Six Nations band council in the early 1990s. The council has applied to have the lands added to the Six Nations reserve. But while the process drags on, the lands remain under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Police and Haldimand County.
General said the community-owned lands are a small fraction of the wider reserve and that most of them are leased for agriculture. Money collected by the band council is then redistributed through programs and services in the community, he said.
He added that this is the first time he has seen natives setting up shop on community land.
"They've just plopped themselves there," he said. "And people are concerned about the lawlessness and unregulated attitude of them setting up wherever they want."
General hopes that once it is granted, the injunction will be enough to convince the two owners to close up shop and leave the land.
"Hopefully this is something we can resolve without the need for police," he said. The two shops sprang up in recent months on lots attached to farmland currently being leased from the band council by Six Nations farmers.
Their presence has raised concerns among Caledonia residents as well.
Doug Fleming recently started selling cigarettes out of the back of his pickup truck to protest what he describes as police inaction around the shops. He fears that others will see the brisk business the two shops are doing and decide to set up along the high-traffic route as well.
OPP spokesperson Dave Rektor said police are still investigating Fleming's "antics." He added he is not aware of the injunction and would not speculate on what the OPP would do if it is granted.
Jeff Henhawk, who also goes by the name Jeff Hawk, set up his shop on the Highway 6 land last spring and says he does not recognize the authority of the band council which he sees as an agent of the federal government.
He said he would not be swayed by an injunction.
"It would be no different to me than the Henning brothers' injunction," said Henhawk, who was involved in the early occupation of the former Douglas Creek development.
The developers of that subdivision sought and won an unsuccessful injunction to have the protesters removed.
Since opening, Henhawk's shop has been the target of criminal activity including a May 17 shooting and an arson. The second smoke shop called Broken Promises opened up a few hundred metres south of Henhawk's shop on the other side of 5th Line recently. A manager there refused to comment yesterday.
General said someone else recently tried to set up a smoke shop on community land on 4th Line near Highway 6 but was convinced to leave by a farmer currently working the land.
General estimates there are as many as 300 smoke shops being run on individually owned properties on the reserve. He says there is a "health versus economics" debate around the issue, but the sale of tobacco is an important source of income for many in the Six Nations community.