A Belleville land claim by the Alderville First Nation has been settled 190 years after the first agreement was signed.
The settlement of the Thurlow Purchase Specific Claim was announced officially Friday with a ceremony at Jane Forrester Park at Meyers Pier. A plaque detailing the band's history was unveiled on the lawn just north of the pier.
Alderville Chief James Marsden, Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis and unveiled a plaque detailing the band's history on the Bay of Quinte.
"We're pleased to make right something that had to be made right for so long," Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock said. Norlock said it was finished with "almost lightning speed" compared to other claims.
The settlement means the Alderville band council will receive $743,852 in federal compensation. The government and band also agreed the claim would never be reopened.
Alderville Chief James Marsden said there is no immediate plan to spend the funds.
"We've just got it put away for now," he said.
He said the band is pleased with the settlement and happy the story of the so-called Thurlow Purchase of Aug. 6, 1816 is now visible on the plaque.
"It's allowing us to bring our history to Belleville for its residents and visitors," Marsden said.
Negotiations were handled at the federal level.
Marsden thanked the government for "speeding up the process.
"In the scope of things this is a very small claim and settlement for Alderville First Nation," he said. He later explained the nation is also involved in the huge Williams Treaty covering most of southeast and central Ontario and the Lost Reserve claim.
The latter is a claim in the Quinte region. Marsden said that claim remains where it sat for about the last decade: in the hands of Canada's justice department.
Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis praised the "seamless, professional" settlement process. He said the city's role was limited mainly to the plaque's creation and placement.
Ellis called it a fitting way to open the newly-renovated park, which has yet to have an opening ceremony since its environmental remediation.
"It's nice that it's been settled and it's been settled in a positive way," said Mayor Neil Ellis.
Jerome Barnhart, a Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory activist who has often participated in protests over delays in land claim negotiations there, heckled as Alderville councillor and historian David Mowat began his opening remarks.
"How come no Mohawks are here? This is our traditional land base," shouted Barnhart. He departed after being confronted by Belleville Police Chief Cory McMullan.
"It's taken us a long time to get back here," Mowat said. "We call the Bay of Quinte our traditional homeland as well."
Mowat said the Mohawks and Mississauga nations warred over the lands, but eventually settled their dispute and, as a way of making peace, intermarrying.
"Some of us in this room, including myself -- our lineage goes back to Tyendinaga," said Mowat.
He said Grape Island, south of Massassauga Point in Prince Edward County, was once home to a 208-person Mississauga settlement in what was "a fascinating period of early history in Upper Canada."
Elder Gordon Waindubence, of Manitoulin Island, performed an opening ceremony.
Addressing the earlier heckling, he said the Mohawks and Mississauga share "a common understanding.
"I hope that the different nations ... try to understand as a nation of people we have something right within us that was given to us by the Creator to keep our blood strong," Waindubence said.
"I'll tell you guys a secret: they don't make land anymore," he said wryly.
"That's why it's so important land like this is set aside.
"I thank my friend the chief; I thank the mayor for having that common vision that we have to set things aside for the young ones here so they will have a place, so they will coexist."
Waindubence closed by saying the current adult generations won't see the benefit of such actions, but their grandchildren will.
lhendry@intelligencer.ca
The Thurlow Purchase
A brief history of the land and Alderville First Nation's claim.
1783: Crown buys a narrow parcel of land from the Mississaugas of the Alderville First Nation. It was bordered by the Bay of Quinte and what are now Bell Boulevard, Front Street and John Street/Hillcrest Avenue. Of that land, 428 acres were reserved for the Alderville nation's burial ground.
1811: Crown asks to buy the burial ground land. Likely delayed by War of 1812, the land is surrendered Aug. 6, 1816. The Mississauga band later relocates to the Rice Lake area southeast of
Peterborough, with the first survey there occurring in 1835.
2007: Canadian government agrees to negotiate claim. Claim is based upon the claim the First Nation didn't receive payment for the land and that the Crown failed to protect the burial grounds from disturbance.
2009: Canada and Alderville nation reach a deal: $734,852 to be paid to Alderville. The claim can never be reopened. Belleville city council agrees to place plaque on Alderville nation's local history in Jane Forrester Park at Meyers Pier.
Source: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada