(Jan 7, 2010)
The taxpayer bill for the simmering land dispute with Six Nations protesters in Caledonia is $64.3 million and counting.
The running tab, according to Ontario's Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, does not include $15.8 million the province paid for the former Douglas Creek Estates, which was seized and occupied on Feb. 28, 2006, by Six Nations protesters.
A year later, Ottawa reimbursed the province for the purchase of that residential subdivision, which was under construction at the time. The feds kicked in another $10.6 million to offset the $45.8 million provincial tab for policing.
Since buying the site, the province has paid $900,000 in managing the land, including property taxes plus heat, hydro and water for natives living in the one house that remains on the site.
The $64.3 million does not include the recent out-of-court settlement between the Ontario government and a Caledonia couple, Dana Chatwell and Dave Brown, who were suing the province and OPP for $7 million for abandoning them to the lawlessness that surrounded the 27-hectare disputed land claim site adjacent to their Argyle Street South home.
The terms of the settlement remain confidential and were reached without any admission of liability by the government and the OPP.
Nothing to show for it at Douglas Creek Estates, but the cost of keeping the peace could be climbing.
The court hearing was told by the couple's lawyer John Evans that their home had plummeted in value from an estimated $400,000 to between $50,000 and $75,000. It will now be owned by the province.
Half a dozen related lawsuits have yet to be heard, including a proposed Caledonia class-action suit that is awaiting a decision on certification from a Superior Court judge.
Hamilton lawyer John Findlay, who represents the Caledonia class-action claimants, said it's premature to estimate the total claims at this point. But he said the claims of contractors, including those who were building the Douglas Creek Estates, were larger than expected and are approaching $1 million.
He said a Norfolk County survey done after protesters destroyed a Hydro One transformer in May 2006 and knocked out power to Caledonia and the region for two days has pegged damages for that one incident at close to $1 million.
Rick Monture, acting director of McMaster University's Indigenous Studies program, said he thinks his perspective on the money spent by the province to manage the native protest in Caledonia is probably shared by people of the town and all Ontarians.
"Yes, these costs are exorbitant and unnecessary," he said. "I think people on both sides of the issue are mystified and troubled by the fact that nothing (in terms of land claim negotiations) has been resolved or even any progress made."
"We are all equally frustrated by the government," said Monture. He said federal and provincial negotiators "need to take some responsibility and have the political will to take care of these things."
Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said the province continues to veto commercial and residential development proposals in Caledonia for fear another native protest will erupt. She said economic growth has also been hampered by the government's refusal to extend the town's southern urban boundary on Argyle Street South beyond the 6th line.
Conservative Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett said while he is pleased that Chatwell and Brown have been compensated for what they endured over the course of the occupation, he and many others in the county were disappointed the case ended so abruptly halfway through the testimony.
They wanted to hear the other side of the story, he said, about how the government and OPP would defend the hands-off approach taken to policing the native protest.
"Do we now have to wait for the next court case, or will that one be smothered as well?"
In November, Barrett complained in the legislature about a Freedom of Information request that revealed the Ontario Realty Corporation had paid $26,178 since 2006 to provide protesters who continue to reside in the one remaining house on the occupied land with free gas, hydro and water. The corporation paid $153,000 in municipal property taxes, $1,533 for no trespassing signs and $103,044 for fencing. The total land management bill was $900,000.
Barrett said the economic cost of land claim disputes in Haldimand-Norfolk and Brantford have been "almost incalculable." He said few developers will invest in the area for fear of being trapped in another Douglas Creek Estates situation.
"I have represented Haldimand County for the past 3 1/2 years. I am out and about all the time," he said. "I do not hear skill saws. I do not hear carpenters pounding nails and that's from Dunnville right up to Hagersville and Caledonia. There's nothing going on, very little construction."
905 526-3494
Item Cost (millions)
Residential Assistance Program $ 0.43
Business Recovery Program $ 1.40
Support for Haldimand County $ 1.74
Payments to Henco and builders $ 6.90
Other land acquisition costs $ 0.26
Land management costs $ 0.90
Provincial funding for Six Nations negotiations $ 1.79
Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Brantford office $ 2.52
External negotiations, legal and archaeology costs $ 2.63
Policing operations * $ 45.8
Total provincial costs $ 64.38
Purchase of Douglas Creek Estates: (reimbursed by the federal government) $ 15.80
* Includes federal contribution
source: Ontario Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs