Mayor seeks bylaw opposing additions to reserve

By Bill Jackson – The Regional

September 24, 2008

Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer wants council to pass a bylaw opposing all future expansion of the Six Nations Indian Reserve into areas presently under the jurisdiction of Haldimand County.

The point is so that any new council would have to repeal the bylaw before accepting such a proposal by the federal government, she contends.

Her idea was presented at a council in committee meeting this week but was deferred for the time being by councillors who had several questions about its intent and possible effect.

Haldimand CAO Boyle pointed out that the federal additions to reserve policy allows for some municipal concerns to be addressed and feared that passing such a bylaw could preclude any discussions between Six Nations and Haldimand in the future.

But Trainer said Haldimand doesn't get the chance to provice input on the additions to reserve policy anyway. The county has no control over zoning or land use, she pointed out in her "notice of motion."

However, Haldimand's Corporate Services GM Karen General said that several plots of land are currently in the process of being added to the reserve and that the county has been able to express issues regarding two of them involving smoke shacks. The concerns expressed have been successful in delaying the process, she noted.

Coun. Craig Grice conceded that the county has no veto power over additions to Indian reserves but said the proposed bylaw did not attempt to notify Six Nations or the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations of the county's intent.

Six Nations is not the only Indian reserve, said Coun. Buck Sloat.

"Is this in fact a bylaw, or is it in fact a statement that we oppose?"

Earlier this year council unanimously supported a resolution moved by Sloat that said Haldimand did not support the further erosion of its tax base, land or boundaries as a result of such land being purchased transferred or negotiated as treaty land.

That motion was forwarded to local MPs, the prime minister and premier of Ontario, as well as Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Ontario's Aboriginal affairs ministers.

In her proposal, Trainer said that Haldimand County wishes to express its position "in the strongest possible terms, 'and hence by bylaw rather than resolution'."

County Clerk Janis Lankester said that Trainer's proposal was more of a statement than a bylaw because it contained little "action."

The feasibility of the proposal was to be discussed with the county's solicitor during an in-camera session and will probably be rehashed at an upcoming public meeting.