INDEPTH: CALEDONIA LAND CLAIM

Historical timeline
CBC News Online
2006

Six Nations natives and developer Henco Industries are involved in a land dispute over a 40-hectare tract near Hamilton, Ont. Here is a history of the land in question.

1784:
For its loyalty to the British Crown during the American Revolution, the Six Nations is allowed to "take possession of and settle" a strip of land nearly 20 kilometres wide along the Grand River, from its source to Lake Erie, totaling about 385,000 hectares.

Henco Industries now says the so-called "Haldimand Grant" (named after the commander of the British forces) was merely a licence to occupy the lands, with legal title remaining with the Crown. Six Nations dispute that claim.

1792:
Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe reduces land grant to the Six Nations to 111,000 hectares.

1796:
Six Nations grants its chief, Joseph Brant, the power of attorney to sell off some of the land and invest the proceeds. The Crown opposes the sales but eventually concedes.

1835:
The Crown approaches Six Nations about developing Plank Road (now Highway 6) and the surrounding area. Six Nations agrees to lease half a mile of land on each side for road, but does not surrender the land. Lt.-Gov. John Colborne agrees to the lease but his successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, does not. After 1845, despite the protests of Six Nations, Plank Road and surrounding lands would be sold to third parties.

1840:
The government recommends that a reserve of 8,000 hectares be established on the south side of the Grand River and the rest sold or leased.

Jan. 18, 1841:
Six Nations council agrees to surrender for sale all lands outside those set aside for a reserve, on the agreement the government would sell the land and invest the money for them. A faction of Six Nations petition against the surrender, saying the chiefs were deceived and intimidated.
Six Nations would challenge that claim in a 1995 lawsuit and it is part of the basis for the current protest.

June 1843:
A petition to the Crown said Six Nations needed a 22,000-hectare reserve and wanted to keep and lease a tier of lots on each side of Plank Road and several other tracts of land in the Haldimand area.

Dec. 18, 1844:
A document signed by 47 Six Nations chiefs appears to authorize sale of land to build Plank Road.

May 15, 1848:
The land where the current development, Douglas Creek Estates, now sits is sold to George Marlot Ryckman for 57 pounds and 10 shillings and a Crown deed is issued to him.

1850:
The Crown passes a proclamation setting out extent of reserve lands, about 19,000 hectares agreed to by the Six Nations chiefs.

1924:
Under the Indian Act, the Canadian government establishes an elected government on the reserve.

1992:
Henco Industries Ltd. purchases a company that owned 40 hectares of what it would later call the Douglas Creek Estates lands.

1995:
The Six Nations sue the federal and provincial governments over the land. The developer calls it "an accounting claim" for "all assets which were not received but ought to have been received, managed or held by the Crown for the benefit of the Six Nations."

July 2005:
The subdivision plan for Douglas Creek Estates is registered with title to the property guaranteed by the province of Ontario.

Feb. 28, 2006:
A group of Six Nations members takes over the housing project, erecting tents, a teepee and a wooden building.



INDEPTH: CALEDONIA LAND CLAIM

Timeline of recent events
From CBC News Online
2006

June 23, 2006
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the province will pay $12.3 million to Henco Industries to buy out their investment in disputed land in Caledonia. The government will also compensate Henco Industries for the loss of future profits, an amount McGuinty said "remains the subject of ongoing negotiations." McGuinty had previously told the legislature that he couldn't reveal the purchase price because the developer wanted to keep it a secret.

June 16, 2006
The Ontario government buys out the land developers caught in the middle of the land-claims dispute in Caledonia. Henco Industries was building a subdivision on the site before Six Nations protesters took over the land in February. The move is announced in Ontario Superior Court in Cayuga, Ont., where government representatives, developers and residents had convened to discuss a court injunction calling for the removal of aboriginal protesters from the Douglas Creek Estates construction site. The McGuinty government also announces that it will offer $1 million — in addition to the already proposed $700,000 — to compensate Caledonia-area businesses hurt by road blockades set up by the Six Nations protesters the previous month.

June 15, 2006
Negotiations resume between the province and aboriginal protesters.

June 12, 2006
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty calls off negotiations with aboriginals protesting at the Caledonia site, saying that public safety has been compromised by Friday's violence. He says the province will only return to the table when the barricades come down and native leaders assist police in finding seven suspects in connection with Friday's incidents. In response, native protesters use heavy machinery to remove one barricade made of tires and tangled metal. Another barrier at the Douglas Creek Estates housing development remains in place. The Ontario Provincial Police announce that they are looking for copies of confidential documents that were taken from the U.S. Border Patrol vehicle that was stolen during the violent incidents June 9. The documents — which included identities of undercover officers and information from confidential informants — were returned to the provincial police, but not before photocopies were made.

June 11, 2006
The Six Nations Confederacy releases a statement denouncing the violence of the previous day. The Confederacy says the suspects are known to them and have been asked to stay away from the occupation. There is speculation that the suspects may be staying on the Six Nations reserve. The OPP have a protocol not to enter the reserve.

June 9, 2006
Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Maurice Pilon alleges that three violent altercations occurred within an hour of each other.
The first incident began after a couple in their 70s from Simcoe, Ont., pulled their car over near the protest site. Police allege that native demonstrators surrounded the couple and stole their car. The man was taken to hospital when he experienced chest pains. The second incident occurred when two news-camera operators from Hamilton's CH television approached the couple in front of a Canadian Tire store in Caledonia for an interview.

Police allege that native protesters attacked the two camera operators in front of the store, took their camera, removed the videocassette and returned the camera. One operator is taken to hospital with cuts and bruises, requiring stitches to close a head would. One of the camera operators would later launch an official complaint against the OPP, alleging police officers did nothing to stop him from being assaulted. In the third incident, police allege that native protesters swarmed an unmarked U.S. Border Patrol vehicle, forcibly removed the officers inside and drove the stolen vehicle toward an OPP officer. Sometime during this incident, internal provincial police documents containing classified information — including identities of undercover officers and information from confidential informants — are taken from the vehicle. Three people are arrested on charges of breaching the peace and police say they are seeking seven other people on charges of attempted murder, robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, intimidation and assault causing bodily harm.

June 4, 2006
Two Ontario Provincial Police officers who were new to the Caledonia protest drive into an area that police agreed not to enter. Their cruiser is surrounded by aboriginal protesters and area residents. The crowd disperses hours later.

June 1, 2006
Superior Court Justice David Marshall says he will compel Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and Attorney General Vic Toews to become involved in the land claim dispute. Prentice releases a statement saying Ottawa would "co-operate fully with the courts."

May 29, 2006
Ontario Superior Court Justice David Marshall orders parties involved in the Caledonia standoff — including the provincial police, the attorney general of Ontario, First Nations leaders and developers — to a special court session to explain why his initial court order for aboriginal protesters to be evicted from the site, issued in April 2006, was not enforced.

May 24, 2006
Power is restored to most parts of Caledonia at about 6 a.m. EDT. A Hydro One spokesman says fewer than 200 customers are still without power.

May 23, 2006
Hydro One spokeswoman Laura Cooke says it will likely be days before electricity can be fully restored after vandalism and fire shut down a local power transformer. School boards serving Caledonia, Simcoe and Waterdown close 17 schools because of the ongoing power disruption. Later Tuesday morning, Six Nations protestors begin to dismantle the roadblock and two demonstrators – an aboriginal and a non-native – tell police and non-native protestors that the native barricade would come down and the road would be reopened. Ontario Provincial Police clear demonstrators, reporters and onlookers off of Highway 6 around 2 p.m. EDT. Native demonstrators fill in a trench dug across the road a day earlier, and the largest piece of the barricade, a piece of a metal electrical transmission tower, is moved from the road to the entrance to the construction site. The removal of the blockade doesn't mean the end of the occupation of the disputed tract of land. Two other aboriginal barricades on a highway bypass outside Caledonia remain in place.

May 22, 2006
Native protestors take down their blockade around 8 a.m. EDT, calling it a gesture of goodwill after the government of Ontario bans construction on the site. A spokeswoman for the Ontario Provincial Police says Highway 6 must undergo a safety inspection before it can be reopened. Around noon, non-native residents form a human barricade across Highway 6, preventing Six Nations members from passing through. Soon, aboriginal protestors re-establish their blockade using an electrical transmission tower, and use two large backhoes to tear a trench across the road. Native and non-native demonstrators trade punches and insults. A van driven by a Six Nations protester tries to force its way through the locals, prompting a fistfight. Each side accuses the other of using racial slurs. Dozens of Ontario Provincial Police officers form a buffer between the two sides.

Provincial negotiator David Peterson arrives at the scene around 4:30 p.m. and appeals for calm. Vandals shut down a transformer station in Caledonia, cutting power to thousands of residents in surrounding Norfolk and Haldimand counties.
In the evening, the Emergency Response Team of the OPP arrives in riot gear to shore up the police barrier between the native and non-native protestors.

May 21, 2006
Six Nations spokeswoman Janie Jamieson says plans to take down the native blockade across Highway 6 for the Victoria Day weekend are on hold because of a parallel blockade set up by non-native residents of Caledonia.

May 19, 2006
The government of Ontario sends a letter to the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy Council, declaring an indefinite moratorium on construction at the site of the native protest. A lawyer for developer Henco Industries says the company was not consulted about the construction ban.
A small group of non-native residents of Caledonia set up their own blockade across Highway 6, preventing members of the Six Nations from getting to the native blockade.

May 16, 2006
Native protesters take down part of the barrier, allowing local traffic on one lane of Highway 6. They make ID cards for people who live behind the barrier.

In the afternoon, an accident closes the detour road around the barricade. Protesters allow all traffic to pass through the barrier for a few hours, stopping each vehicle, but not checking for ID.

May 5, 2006
Developer Henco Industries says it has been offered the return of corporate records looted from its offices on the site of the native protest if it pays for them.

May 4, 2006
The Ontario Provincial Police says a pamphlet being handed out around Caledonia inviting people to a Ku Klux Klan meeting to discuss a "final solution" to the "Indian problem" is a hoax.

April 30, 2006
Former Ontario premier David Peterson is appointed to help resolve the standoff. "It's not a question of counting blame or finding fault, it's a question of finding a solution," he says at a news conference.

April 29, 2006
The Canadian Press reports that the Ontario government has offered compensation to the land developers and builders affected by the Caledonia occupation. The details of the proposed deal are confidential.

April 28, 2006
About 500 Caledonia residents gather to demand the removal of the native blockade.

April 25, 2006
Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer infuriates protesters when she tells CBC Newsworld that Caledonia residents "have to get to work to support their families. If they don't go to work, they don't get paid and if they don't get paid then they can't pay their mortgages and they lose their homes. "They don't have money coming in automatically every month," she continues. "They've got to work to survive and the natives have got to realize that." After Trainer makes the comments, Haldimand County Council votes to replace her with deputy mayor Bob Patterson as its spokesperson on the issue.

April 24, 2006
About 3,000 Caledonia residents hold a rally in the evening, calling on authorities to end the standoff. Later that night, about 500 residents confront police and native protesters at the blockade.
Some in the crowd head toward the barricade, but about 100 police officers keep them away. Some of the demonstrators smash a police vehicle. One person is arrested.

April 23, 2006
CBC News reports that the barricades around the Caledonia construction site will remain in place for at least two more weeks.Protesters allow local residents to cross the barricades to attend services at Caledonia Baptist Church.

April 22, 2006
After 18 hours of talks, representatives from the Six Nations and the federal and Ontario governments sign an agreement to talk about setting the land claim issues behind the Caledonia occupation. Within two weeks, the three parties will each appoint a "principal representative" to negotiate.Protesters and OPP and RCMP officers remain in place around the barricades.

April 21, 2006
Overnight, about 50 protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve light bonfires beside the CN tracks on their territory in eastern Ontario, near Belleville. CN freight trains are blocked and Via Rail announces that trains from Toronto to Kingston will be replaced with shuttle buses. Friday morning, negotiators for the Six Nations and the federal and Ontario governments begin talks to settle the land claim issues behind the Caledonia occupation. Sam George, whose brother Dudley was killed by an OPP sniper during a stand-off at Ipperwash Provincial Park, calls for calm and urges authorities to treat the protesters fairly. In the afternoon, CN announces it has obtained an injunction from an Ontario court ordering protesters to remove the blockage from its rail lines.

April 20, 2006
Around 4:30 a.m. EDT, Ontario Provincial Police officers conduct a raid on the protesters occupying the housing project, arresting 16 people. Protesters say police were armed with M16 rifles, tear gas, pepper spray and Tasers, and subdued a number of people with shocks from the Tasers and pepper-spray. A spokeswoman for the protesters said one female protester was "beaten by five OPP officers." OPP would later deny that excessive force was used.

Hours later, protesters return to the site numbering in the hundreds by 9 a.m. Protesters use piles of burning tires and a dump truck to block the road into the development. They climb on vehicles and wave Mohawk flags. Police helicopters roared overhead. Police hold a news conference and say they conducted the raid because an "escalation of activity" posed a risk to public safety, but didn't provide any further details. A group of Quebec Mohawks raise a banner and Mohawk flags on a bridge near Montreal in support of the occupation in Caledonia. The demonstration disrupts traffic for about a half hour. As the night falls, a busload of supporters from other Ontario reserves arrives on the site. Four members of the Hells Angels arrive and speak with native protesters.

April 19, 2006
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the land dispute will be settled in a "peaceful manner."

April 4, 2006
A rally of 500 people, including people who bought homes in the development, gathers in Caledonia to demand an end to the stand off.

March 28, 2006
The court order is changed such that protesters will face criminal contempt as well as civil contempt if they don't leave the site.

March 22, 2006
Native protesters continue their occupation of the Caledonia construction site as the court-imposed deadline passes.

March 17, 2006
Protesters are given until March 22 to leave the construction site.

March 10, 2006
Developer Henco Industries obtains an injunction ordering protesters off the site.

Feb. 28, 2006
A small group of Six Nations protesters from the Grand River Territory reserve move onto the Caledonia construction site, erecting tents, a teepee and a wooden building.

Oct. 26, 2005
Six Nations Chief David General writes to Henco Industries, warning of the dangers of developing the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision on native land.