When I was in high school in the 1940s, we had to memorize poetry.
One poem I still remember, at least in part, was called, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Coleridge.
Part of it went like this:
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread.
And having once turned round walks on
And turns no more his head.
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread
The present Canadian government is like the poor wretch in this poem, who is afraid to look back. The government does not want to face its past, especially in a court of law, where it is almost sure to lose.
If the land claims negotiations were a poker game, the Haudenosaunee Six Nations would have four aces with the Nanfan Treaty of 1701, King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763, The British North America Act of 1867 and the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784.
All are legal documents and would carry great weight under British and Canadian law.
So, the negotiators for both Canada and Ontario are in no hurry to leave the negotiating table, because the next step would be to the courts.
In the courts, they would have to show how they legally acquired Haudenosaunee Six Nations land.
They do not seem to have any such documents - or at least very few. No wonder they do not want to look back. They do not want to acknowledge the past with its shady deals and even outright theft.
A letter to the editor published on Sept. 7, from Brantford resident Jim Windle, illustrates this failure to learn from history.
Robert Burwell's survey maps dated Jan. 26, 1833, show the William Kennedy Smith Tract.
Smith was the son of John Smith, who helped build the Mohawk Chapel. The Smith Tract had a 999-year lease.
"That lease, in subsequent years, was arbitrarily changed to a land patent by greedy government speculators, without the approval of the title holders, the Six Nations.
In other words, "it was stolen, without compensation," wrote Windle. This letter was in regards to the land on Grand River Avenue at Jarvis Street, where builder Mike Quattrociocchi wants to construct four townhouses.
There are also other dated maps that clearly show "Indian Lands," "Indian Settlements" and "Indian Farms."
These old maps would support the Haudenosaunee Six Nations land claims in court.
It is no wonder the Canadian government fears to examine its past too closely.
To a country still in denial about its unfair treatment of aboriginal people, land claims are like skeletons in its closet.
George Beaver is a freelance writer living on the Six Nations reserve. Our Town is a forum for news and views from some of the smaller communities in our area.