An interim peace plan aimed at ending native protests at Brantford development sites will soon be presented to city council.
The Haldimand Tract Good Neighbours Coalition will appear at council Aug. 18.
"I see this as being fabulous news," Steve Charest, a spokesman for the coalition, said Wednesday. "This will be an opportunity for us to speak directly to the mayor and all of council about our proposal.
"We'll be able to have a full and open discussion about it."
Charest is looking forward to getting some feedback about the principles and concepts on which the proposal is based.
The proposal calls for the city to pay a percentage of the municipal portion of taxes to the Haudenosaunnee/Six Nations on new development that is under land claim. In exchange, the native groups would agree that protests won't stop work on the sites.
The native groups would reimburse money paid to them under the agreement when land claims have been resolved.
The plan was put together by a group called The Haldimand Tract Good Neighbours Coalition which includes several native and non-native businesses and developers. It is dependent on city hall's co-operation, but Aug. 18 will be the first time it is formally presented to council.
The proposal was first presented to the community late last month at the Woodland Cultural Centre by Charest and representatives of the coalition's founding members. The founding members include Charest, of King and Benton, Kingspan Insulated Panels ltd., Multani Custom Homes Ltd., STM Construction Ltd., The Abor Group and Two Row Architect.
"We've taken our knocks from the city, the elected Six Nations band council and the Confederacy for not presenting our proposal to each of them first," Charest said. "But we really thought it was best to be transparent and present it to everyone, the entire community first so that everyone would have the opportunity to learn about it at the same time.
"In the short term it caused us some grief but I think that for this to be successful in the long run, it was the way to go."
Members of the coalition were scheduled to present the proposal to the Six Nations elected band council on Wednesday. The meeting with the band council is a result of the coalition's inaugural meeting which attracted both band councillors and band administrative staff, Charest said.
Since the inaugural meeting other businesses, both native and non-native, have joined the coalition. Those groups and individuals include: Josh Bean, CRS Contractors Rental Supply, real estate broker Joan Griffin, LAT43 Systems Structurally Insulated Panel Homes, Morrison Home Comfort Specialists, Royal Lepage Action Realty and Skyelab Consulting Services.
Meanwhile, the coalition is also trying to set a date to have representatives of Elliot Lake and the Serpent River First Nation visit Brantford. The coalition hopes to bring Elliot Lake Mayor Rick Hamilton and Chief Isadore Day, of the Serpent River First Nation, to the city to speak about an agreement they reached to enable them to live in harmony.
Tentative plans call for Day and Hamilton to be in Brantford on Aug. 28 and 29.