An illegal smoke shop on Highway 6 at Fifth Line, near Caledonia, was torn down by Six Nations band council on Tuesday.
The shop, called the Broken Promise Smoke Shack, was demolished under a court order executed by the band council, the sheriff and Six Nations Police, with the assistance of the OPP.
"The band council is not against smoke shops. They are businesses," said Lonny Bomberry of the Six Nations land and resources department. "But this smoke shop was on land that is being held in trust for the Six Nations of the Grand River.
"It was in the process of being added to the (Six Nations) reserve when the smoke shop went up."
The establishment of a smoke shop on the land brought the bureaucratic process of adding the land to the Six Nations Reserve to a halt.
The band council sought and obtained a court order to have the smoke shop removed and, on Tuesday, tore it down and took over the land.
"It's a good piece of land that could be used for a variety of things, including housing," Bomberry said.
He acknowledged that there is a shortage of land for housing on Six Nations.
The land could become part of the reserve sometime within the next year or two, he said.