Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte could be in for a long haul if they wish to challenge the federal government’s policy on land claims, MP Daryl Kramp said Thursday.
The Prince Edward-Hastings representative said it is unlikely Ottawa will change its long-held position that it will not expropriate land.
“We can’t go around buying property, regardless of how valid claims are,” he said in an interview from his Parliament Hill office. “You don’t correct one wrong by creating another wrong. You try to solve an issue and that means coming to an amenable settlement (with) ... a willing buyer-willing seller scenario.”
Kramp was responding to news that talks between the Mohawks and the federal government have broken off following a June 12 meeting in which the government announced that it may not be able to return all of the Culbertson Tract to the band.
The Culbertson Tract is a 923-acre swath of land that covers half the town of Deseronto and about 500 acres of Tyendinaga Township.
The federal government began negotiating this spring how the land can be returned to native control, five years after accepting the claim was valid.
Kramp said if the band wishes to challenge the policy and not accept financial compensation for any land that can’t be returned, it would have to take the matter to court.
But that could prove to be a long, daunting process.
“As we all know a court process is long and lengthy and I was hoping we could come up with a resolve ... in the short term. But I understand the pressure that the chief (R. Donald Maracle) and others find themselves on.”
The Mohawk band is planning a meeting with Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl next week to voice its displeasure over how the land claim is unfolding.
Kramp said he will not attend the meeting, as he wants to be a neutral player in the process. All he’s hoping for, he said, is for talks to resume so a fair settlement can be reached quickly.
“I still believe that people in good faith will move forward and as long as people are talking we have some hope,” he said. “I’m still optimistic we can settle an issue like this and I’ll keep working in this vein.”