A proposed consultation and accommodation agreement between Brantford and Six Nations will be the topic of discussion at a Wednesday night community meeting.
The meeting is being held at the community hall in Ohsweken beginning at 7 p.m.
"It's a very, very important meeting," said Jan Kahehti: io Longboat, of the Ongwehonewe Women's Council. "There will be a lot of discussion about the agreement and it's important to everyone in the community."
The women's council and the Men's Fire stopped the signing of the proposed agreement just over a week ago. The agreement was reached between Brantford city council and the Six Nations Elected Band Council and both the Men's Fire and the Women's Council said the whole community needs to be able to review the agreement before it is signed.
"We've asked for time. That's all," Longboat said. "We don't want to be too hasty.
"This is our future that we're talking about."
The community meeting comes just a couple of days after the Men's Fire and Women's Council issued a statement declaring their land on the Haldimand Tract is and forever will be governed by the Haldimand Deed of Oct. 25, 1784.
The statement went on to say "we will not allow a small group of three people from the Six Nations elected system, three people from Brantford City Hall staff and three people from Ontario to make decisions regarding our land. The Six Nations elected council has no authority to sign any land agreements on behalf of the Six Nations people".
The statement added that Brantford Mayor Chris Friel attended the Six Nations Community Hall on March 12 for what he deemed to be "consultation with Six Nations" and when the overture was turned down stated in the media "that the loss is to the people of Six nations, who missed the opportunity for consultation."
However, "what the mayor refuses to understand is that the people of Six Nations are not prepared to consult with him or his council at this time.
He was repeatedly asked during the week prior to postpone his visit to Six Nations but he did not listen to the requests."
Longboat defended the statement saying that Friel had been asked twice through an intermediary to stay away from Saturday's meeting.
Friel said Tuesday he isn't exactly sure why the statement was released.
"What they're asking us to do is what we're already doing, consulting with our communities," Friel said adding that he prefers to work through issues through open discussion.
"My philosophy as both Mayor and personally is to sit down, talk about issues and work towards common solutions," Friel said Tuesday.
And, he noted, the statement includes a misrepresentation of the proposed memorandum.
The proposed Brantford-Six Nations agreement calls for the establishment of a consultation committee to exchange information about issues and initiatives and, through discussion generate advice and recommendations for reasonable accommodation of interests. The committee would include equal representation from the city, Six Nations and up to three seats for provincial representatives.
"It's clearly stated that this is not a decision-making body (committee)," Friel said. "It's a committee that makes recommendations to be sent back to the communities for consultation."