City officials are nervously monitoring another round in the past week of native protest actions at Brantford development sites over unresolved land claims.
But other than huddle with officials from other levels of government and voice their concerns about the growing effect of demonstrations on Brantford's local development industry, they are holding to the position that the law is a matter for the police to enforce.
"Anything that causes concerns for developers is of concern to us because it hurts our city's ability to grow," Mayor Mike Hancock said in an interview Monday.
Hancock confirmed that while he was on vacation last week, he was kept informed regularly about two protests by members of the Haudenoshaunee Six Nations Confederacy on Monday and Thursday at the site of the new Hampton Hotel under construction at Oak Park Road and Highway 403; and another one at a power centre that First Gulf is just getting underway at Wayne Gretzky Parkway and Henry Street. Native representatives told the developers they had to get approval for their projects from the Haudenoshaunee Development Institute, which could include their having to pay fees and sign papers recognizing the institute's authority.
At each site, the owners ordered a temporary halt to construction, although work has since resumed.
Coun. Mark Littell, the acting mayor last week, and top city administrators kept tabs on each incident.
Hancock also said Monday that he, Brant County Mayor Ron Eddy and Brant MPP Dave Levac held a meeting with Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant on the growing number of protest actions at job sites.
Council held a closed session Monday just before its regular meeting to be briefed on the latest developments that officials concede are causing concern.
That the level of frustration in the development community is rising was demonstrated in the open session where Danny Bawa, a representative of the company building the Hampton, was a delegation on an entirely different matter.
In response to several questions, Bawa conceded the company's hope to finish construction in October depends a lot on whether there are any more protests.
When Coun. Dan McCreary asked Bawa if he called police in either action, the developer said he didn't, in the interests of not inflaming the situation further.