The best way for developers with projects stalled by native protests to combat the protesters is to put a public face on their struggle. It's easy to view developers as faceless corporations and that's the way they often seem to prefer to be represented.
When the developers planning to build a Hampton Inn Hotel in the city's northwest industrial park showed up Tuesday planning to start work on their stalled project, it marked their first public relations offensive against the protests. Specifically, it was the first time the public had seen or heard from the developers since they broke ground on the project.
Now, the people of Brantford have been reminded who is being affected by the small group of Six Nations activists that has stalled more than one construction site in the city.
In the struggle to continue development in Brantford in the face of rotating protests targeting specific sites, it is essential that people get to see the other side of the conflict.
Floyd and Ruby Montour, who have become the face and voice of the protesters, have shut down more than one construction site with very little help or effort.
As seniors, the couple invite sympathy - they could remind anyone of their grandparents - and are fully aware of their David status against the Goliath developers they have stalled. The potential sight of the Montours being handcuffed and carted off to jail could be their most powerful weapon.
But, on Tuesday, Dan Bawa and his son, Danny, appeared on the scene, determined to restart their project.
They weren't a bunch of greedy shareholders eyeing their stock portfolios. They were frustrated members of a business family who had suffered four months of delays due to the protests. And, perhaps for the first time, they were human beings, not a faceless corporation.
There appear to be two distinct approaches for businesses when faced with shutdown due to aboriginal activists: stay low key or go public.
When the first Brantford construction project to be postponed by native protesters was targeted last fall, builder Mike Quattrociocchi unmistakably took the public approach, doing whatever he could to attract attention to his plight. Quattrociocchi even confronted Premier Dalton McGuinty during an election appearance in Hamilton.
In the end, Quattrociocchi resumed work on his project on Grand River Avenue. We're not suggesting that calling public attention to a company's plight is a guarantee of success in finishing a project that has been targeted by protesters. But there's little evidence to suggest that the low-key approach accomplishes anything.
The Bawas were convinced by police to abandon their plans to start construction Tuesday, but they vowed to return today.
They may not have accomplished exactly what they wanted - resuming construction - but they appear to have settled on a strategy to confront the protesters head on with the public watching.