A Six Nations councillor is calling for the reserve to implement zoning bylaws and environmental regulations after trees have died next to Six Nations' biggest employer -cigarette manufacturer Grand River Enterprises.
Helen Miller says she fears the mega-plant has contaminated the land around its peat moss sewage system.
Representatives of GRE did not return The Expositor's phone calls or requests for comment.
Miller got involved win the situation after her Chiefswood Road neighbour, Debra Porter, who also happens to be Miller's niece, complained to her about the strong smell of sewage coming from the plant's septic system next to her.
Porter told Miller that a large number of trees had suddenly died on her land.
The councillor asked the Six Nations environment officer to assess the Porter's property and said she was told wastewater being discharged from GRE through its peat-moss system wasn't being treated properly.
From another expert, Miller learned that glue was being dumped into the system.
Miller met with GRE president Steve Williams, accusing his plant of inappropriately disposing of the glue used in the manufacturing of cigarettes.
Williams emphatically denied the charge but offered to look into the situation.
"That was the last time I heard from him."
Miller turned to the elected chief and council, and Chief Coun. Bill Montour told her he would contact Williams about a meeting.
When it didn't happen, Miller took the issue to council, raising it on July 6. Council asked Montour to set up a meeting between GRE and council and councillors agreed that if it was demonstrated that GRE was at fault for the death of the trees, it should have to pay to hook up Porter's property to the Six Nations waterline.
Two weeks later, the council tabled that order until it can meet with GRE representatives.
Apparently, Williams asked for the GRE-and-council meeting to be held behind closed doors but Miller balked at that idea, insisting the community had a right to know what was happening.
Privately, Miller said that she was told GRE planned to renovate its peat-moss sewage system to include catch basins for the plant's glue. And Porter has since hired a lawyer to represent her against the plant.
But Miller won't drop her concerns.
"I'm still concerned about what happens when the basins are full, what will be done about the dead trees and how the affected soil will be remediated," she says.
That may mean it's seriously time for the reserve to ponder zoning bylaws, business regulations and environmental rules.
"There's no way a homeowner should have an industrial-sized peat land sewage system 150 feet from their house and 100 feet from their well but this is what happens when Six Nations has no zoning bylaws and no environmental laws."
Ministry of Environment regulations do not apply on Six Nations.
Miller added that the reserve is rife with hundreds of smoke shops and dozens of upfront and underground cigarette manufacturers.
"We don't know what chemicals besides glue are being used and how the stuff is disposed. We don't know if the manufacturers have proper sewage systems."
The councillor also points out that a huge proportion of people on the reserve work in the cigarette business but it's not known whether any of the set-ups have proper ventilation systems.
"Twenty years from now, the likelihood exists that a lot of people could be inflicted with cancer."
Miller said she's had no luck getting others interested in the situation.
"One councillor questioned why council was involving itself with private property. Another councillor works for GRE."
Miller speculates that people feel beholden to the reserve's largest employer or have family members working there.
She specifies that she's not out to get the company and appreciates much of what they're doing but she wants to protect the land and see the current problems remediated.
"We're such hypocrites," Miller wrote in a letter to the two Six Nations weekly newspapers.
"'We follow the Great Law' people shout. Well, where in the Great Law does it speak to the manufacture of cigarettes and the exploitation of our people?
"Whether people like it or not, Six Nations needs zoning bylaws. Is Six Nations isn't going to adopt provincial environmental laws then we need to develop our own environmental laws. We need to develop a Six Nations' labour code to protect the workers."