Daniel Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 26, 2010)
Ottawa plotted to keep the public in the dark over its $125-million offer in 2007 to Six Nations to resolve four claims.
It adopted that strategy, even though initially the office of Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice indicated he wanted to be proactive about releasing information and some bureaucrats believed the amount would ultimately be released by Six Nations.
Others argued the community needed to be kept informed.
Bureaucrats held that keeping silent on the dollar figure would bolster the position that the government did not want to negotiate in the media with Six Nations. Ministry e-mails indicate this was endorsed by negotiator Ron Doering.
The only circumstance where revealing the figure was contemplated was if Six Nations had miscast the amount to its "own public and/or the public at large."
"If we were to issue some kind of statement on the offer -- even if it were nothing more than a confirmation of what 6 N might have earlier issued, or put on its website -- we would be departing from this principle and it may become an awkward precedent for Canada as talks go on," wrote Indian and Northern Affairs official Franklin Roy in a May 5, 2007, e-mail.
"Would we then feel obliged to put all offers and counter-offers, surrounding conditions, etc. etc. into the media?"
Roy acknowledged that, "Although the offer would be made with a large 6 N group in attendance, technically spking (sic) it is not a venue where anyone can just walk in and have a listen. To this extent, it is not 'in public', per se."
The e-mails are included in more than 240 pages of documents The Spectator obtained from the ministry under the Access to Information Act. The documents cover a period from just before Ottawa made the $125-million offer to Six Nations on May 30, 2007, to resolve four claims, up until shortly after a subsequent $26-million offer made on Dec. 12, 2007, to resolve the Welland Feeder Canal claim. Six Nations eventually rejected the $125-million offer and made a $500-million counter-offer in the fall of 2008 to the $26-million offer.
Ottawa and Six Nations, along with Ontario, began negotiations in May 2006, after natives occupied Douglas Creek Estates, a Caledonia housing project, on Feb. 28, 2006. The natives claimed it was unsurrendered land.
The bureaucrats who argued for making the $125-million public said it would be "using the media as a tool to keep parties informed." The money was to address land claims for Moulton Township, the Burtch Tract, the Welland Feeder Canal and the investment of Six Nations money into the Grand River Navigation Co. in 1834.
"The people of Caledonia are starving for information," wrote adviser Monique Doiron. "We just can't brush them off."
In the end, the media strategy failed. Even though Six Nations negotiators said they would not announce the figure to the community at the May 30 meeting, Doiron said in an e-mail that federal negotiators Doering and Barbara McDougall decided to share the offer to the media camped outside.
Doering was blasted by one bureaucrat in relation to an article earlier that day in The Spectator that talked of a "big offer" coming from Ottawa. The comment was made by Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay.
"Most of our comms approach for this was killed," wrote communications officer Brock Worobel. "Ron is the spokesperson, but we don't know his strategy. Supporting him with lines is almost impossible."
When Ottawa made its $26-million offer in December 2007, one communications manager said there "had been some to-ing and froing" about making it public, but noted new Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl wanted it released.
Other documents revealed:
* Doiron described a May 31 meeting with Six Nations members as "absolutely packed," but said the 75 members were more interested in hearing the response from their chiefs on the $125-million offer.
"From what I gathered, there was a lot of malcontents. I was hearing things like 'this is not about money, it's about land. This is for the future of our children,' and just a lot of 'evil' looks at the federal reps, hence there were at least 5 children, ranging in age from newborn to 5 years old to bring the point home."
* E-mails indicated Six Nations negotiators were initially pleased with the $26-million offer. "Chief (Allen) MacNaughton said, 'the feds earned their pay today.' He has no idea," wrote Robin Aitken. Aitken also said Six Nations negotiators called the offer historical and would be recommending the community consider the offer.
* Six Nations sought a $449,500 budget from Ottawa to help it consult with the community on the $26-million offer.
* Ottawa debated whether to walk out of the talks along with Ontario if the province left over protests in Hagersville in May 2007. An e-mail said the federal group had previously said if Ontario walks, Canada does, too, but also said it had no clear policy.
* Bureaucrats were skeptical of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Development Institute, created under the Confederacy to vet developers' proposals in Six Nations claimed land along the Grand River (known as the Haldimand Tract).
"Unfortunately, this committee is led by (legal adviser) Aaron Detlor and Co. Are the Chiefs just letting these rogue operators loose??? or have they been given direction from the Chiefs to deal with the developer. Who knows at this point," Doiron wrote.