January 2007
Tuesday, January 2nd: The Six Nations Confederacy celebrated New Year’s Day by getting back the original building that was the seat of its government before they were removed by Canada in 1924. The elected band council gave keys to the vacant 1864 council house in Ohsweken to Onondoga Chief Arnie General, who was part of an attempt in 1959 to reoccupy the old confederacy council house. Janie Jamieson, a spokesperson for Six Nations demonstrators in Caledonia, said that the Department of Indian Affairs had returned possession of the house to the Six Nations band council (Rob Faulkner: HS A10).
Kitchener-Waterloo Record editorial: Ontario and federal politicians must resolve the land grievances of the Six Nations. The standoff in Caledonia is costly and disruptive to residents there. The Six Nations have claimed the bed and banks of the Grand River. They have a legal right, confirmed by the Supreme Court, to be consulted about projects affecting their claims. However, there is uncertainty about the river claim. There is uncertainty about how consultation is to be practiced. There is uncertainty about who speaks for the Six Nations. These uncertainties have already delayed plans for two new bridges over the Grand River. They may stall other plans to repair or replace other bridges. They may delay other watershed projects, some quite routine. This is unacceptable. If senior governments can not negotiate a complete resolution this year, they should at least clarify how local councils and agencies are to move forward with important projects (KWR A6).
Columnist Lee Prosaska: This has not been a great year for our police organizations. At the provincial level, the image of the OPP has suffered perhaps irreparable damage because of its policing of the Aboriginal occupation in Caledonia. The behaviour of OPP officers policing the occupation in Caledonia has seriously undermined non-Aboriginal people’s respect for the provincial police authority. It is hard to avoid a perception that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have been treated differently during the controversial occupation. Certainly, it is understandable for the OPP to work hard to avoid a repeat of the clash at Ipperwash. Commissioner Gwen Boniface, largely invisible throughout the Caledonia occupation, has moved on, with former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino taking over. Mr. Fantino is known as a law-and-order proponent, but he has not yet shown any firm leadership when it comes to Caledonia. It is not enough for him to say there is no double standard in Caledonia; he and his police force need to show us (HS A14).
Wednesday, January 3rd: The province of Ontario has agreed to pay $150,000 towards a marketing campaign in the community of Caledonia. The province provided finances for the community in November in addition to a sum of $210,000 that it provided for a similar marketing campaign during the summer. Advertisements for the latest marketing campaign have been designed for newsprint and radio, and are meant to entice people into stores and local businesses. In other news, Gary McHale of Richmond Hill has vowed to return to Caledonia on Jan. 20 to put up Canadian flags on utility poles opposite the Six Nations occupation site. OPP spokesperson Paula Wright told reporters that the OPP is aware of Mr. McHale and plan to prevent “anyone’s personal agenda” from interfering “with the safety of the community” (HS A10).
Thursday, January 4th: Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said the occupation at Douglas Creek Estates has had a profound impact on the growth of Caledonia. Housing company Mattamy Homes was looking at buying more than 200 hectares of property for 2,500 homes in north Caledonia, but Mayor Trainer said it abandoned the project because the land is the subject of a possible land claim. Meanwhile, realtor Bruce MacDonald, who was negotiating the deal, confirmed Mattamy dropped its options for the site last year, but said the decision was due to several factors (Daniel Nolan: HS A10).
The Ontario government will give the OPP more than $20 million to cope with heavy policing costs from the Caledonia standoff. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino will use the money to help cover policing costs and pay for new officers to patrol Caledonia and help officers seconded from across Ontario to return to their home detachments. He will also receive $1.6 million to put toward expanding the Haldimand OPP detachment in Cayuga, plus pay for new cruisers, computers and other equipment needed to police Caledonia (Daniel Nolan: HS A1; TStar A6).
North Bay Nugget editorial printed in the Kingston Whig-Standard: Continued organized rallies in Caledonia are doing more harm than good. Protest organizer Gary McHale plans to return to the site on Jan. 20 for yet another rally at the disputed site. Negotiations are ongoing, but the situation in Caledonia has gone on for too long and the longer it lasts, the more chance there is of violence. That is the last thing we need (KWS 4).
Friday, January 5th: The Government of Ontario will provide the OPP with nearly $22 million to aid in the cost of policing the ongoing Six Nations occupation in Caledonia. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said the Haldimand OPP detachment will get several dozen new officers, straight from the police academy. The officers will be redeployed elsewhere once a settlement is reached in the nearly year-long occupation (WStar C1).
The OPP have arrested and charged Christopher Hill, 20, of Ohsweken after he was discovered during a routine investigation of an unrelated matter. A warrant for Mr. Hill’s arrest has been outstanding since the OPP’s botched raid in April on the Six Nations occupation site in Caledonia. In other news, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino criticized Richmond Hill resident Gary McHale who recently announced plans to stage another rally near the contested occupation site, stating: “I think it is provocative. I think it is irresponsible and I think, at the end of the day, intelligent people will see it for what it is. It is mischief making.” Mr. Fantino would not say whether Mr. McHale will face arrest again, but did state: “We will maintain the peace at all costs in Caledonia and lawbreakers will be dealt with” (Daniel Nolan: HS A11).
Monday, January 8th: Trevor Miller, a Six Nations man who has been incarcerated for the past five months for allegedly assaulting a camera man in Caledonia last June, is scheduled to appear in court today for another bail review. Supporters of Mr. Miller feel the justice system has treated him unfairly and have called his incarceration an act of war against Aboriginal people. Last month, Stuart Myiow, a member of the Mohawk Traditional Council from Kahnawake in Quebec, blamed the problem on the decision by Canada and the U.S. to not ratify a UN declaration on Indigenous rights (Steve Buist: HS A8).
Tuesday, January 9th: Trevor Miller arrived for a bail hearing Monday wearing a colourful Mohawk headdress. Supporters of Mr. Miller accompanied him into the courtroom where they staged a quiet demonstration by refusing to stand when Superior Court Justice Stephen Glithero entered and left the courtroom. Justice Glithero adjourned Mr. Miller’s case to Jan. 22, when he will appear before Superior Court Justice David Marshall (Paul Legall: HS A9).
Wednesday, January 10th: OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino announced Tuesday that the OPP detachment in Haldimand will get 50 more officers by the end of the year, doubling the strength of the detachment to deal with the Caledonia dispute. Mr. Fantino said strengthening the detachment with permanent postings will help build bridges with the community and be more cost efficient (Marissa Nelson: HS A1, KWS 9).
In an interview, Commissioner Fantino discussed the strategy that has been adopted by the OPP in dealing with the Six Nations occupation in Caledonia, including how the force deals with non-Aboriginal complainants like those from Richmond Hill resident Gary McHale. Mr. Fantino criticized Mr. McHale’s proposed Jan. 20 rally in Caledonia, saying “It is totally unhelpful. It is agitating the community. It is creating the potential for confrontation and violence. It is totally unnecessary and unhelpful and what makes me very suspicious is that it is done in the shroud of the Canadian flag” (Marissa Nelson: HS A10).
Thursday, January 11th: A brief confrontation took place Wednesday between a member of the Six Nations occupation in Caledonia and Chris Syrie, a musician whose property borders the disputed site. According to reports, Mr. Syrie planted two Canadian flags and two “No Trespassing” signs on his lot which borders the tract of land currently occupied by Six Nations members. The brief confrontation was quickly defused by the OPP and a second Aboriginal man. According to Mr. Syrie, the property he purchased for $106,000 in 2005 is now worthless. Mr. Syrie indicated that his problem is not with the Aboriginal occupiers, but with the provincial government, which has ignored his requests for a buy-out of the property which Mr. Syrie had planned to use for a music school (Daniel Nolan: HS A8).
Sunday, January 14th: London area resident Mark Vandermaas has vowed to return to Caledonia in a repeat bid to hoist the Canadian flag there. This time, Mr. Vandermaas will be trying to recruit others to join him next Saturday near the site of the Six Nations occupation in Caledonia. Mr. Vandermaas said he has been prepared to be jailed again and hopes to find 50 others willing to be arrested at a planned protest. An OPP spokesperson said police would prefer outsiders stay away from Caledonia (John Miner: LFP A1).
Monday, January 15th: During a meeting at the Caledonia Lions Club Sunday, Richmond Hill resident Gary McHale called on area residents to join him, and “about 15” other people who are prepared to risk arrest at a demonstration planned for this weekend. The demo has been arranged in order to draw attention to the OPP’s handling of the Six Nations occupation in Caledonia. Mr. McHale also told the crowd that he hoped to “fire Dalton McGuinty” and force the disbanding of the OPP (Bill Dunphy: HS A11).
Lloyd Brown-John, University of Windsor political science department: The situation in Caledonia is absurd. OPP cars and officers are everywhere and likely to remain. Apparently, their job is to keep the peace and apply the law to non-Aboriginal people, but not to Aboriginal people. The Ontario government has just allocated another $22 million of taxpayer money for the OPP to police Caledonia. The federal government has taken a full back-seat role. This has left the McGuinty government to bear the full weight of public opprobrium over the drawn-out Caledonia siege. Never have so many politicians quaked before so many loud- and foul-mouthed protesters as they have at Caledonia. Time is not on the politicians' side (WStar A6).
Wednesday, January 17th: The OPP have issued an arrest warrant for Jarrod Greene, a 33-year-old Ohsweken man who allegedly caused $6,000 damage to the street in front of Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia during the 2006 Victoria Day weekend violence. OPP Constable Paula Wright said Mr. Greene is being sought on a charge of mischief for allegedly using a front-end loader to dig up a portion of Argyle Street West near the entrance to the disputed land. In a media release Tuesday, Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton argued the OPP has no power to arrest Mr. Greene because Argyle Street is sovereign Six Nations land (Paul Legall: HS A10; Kelly Patrick: NP A4; CP: KWR A3).
Letter writer Hal Jones, Burlington, Ont.: The Indigenous people of the Six Nations were not a conquered nation and as such are hardly subservient to laws and rules that were designed to primarily serve the European colonizers. I give credit to the OPP in their handling of the Six Nations occupation in Caledonia. While it is the federal government that is at fault for not stepping in and taking the initiative in settling this land dispute, it clearly demonstrates that not only here, but around the world, the colonization process is almost never ended and has ongoing costs that must be born by Aboriginal people and the citizens of the present state (HS A14).
Letter writer Patrick O’Connor, London, Ont.: The Sunday edition of The London Free Press gave front-page advertising to Mark Vandermaas so he can find others to flout the law and cause civil disobedience in Caledonia. It even reads like a help-wanted ad. Mr. Vandermaas is not a modern hero, but a self-deluded disturber. This story is not worthy of front-page coverage. It is free advertising (LFP A6).
Thursday, January 18th: Ontario's Culture Ministry said an archeological dig of around 18 locations in the Caledonia area uncovered stones left behind by nomadic hunting groups thousands of years ago and the remains of an 800-year-old longhouse. News of the discovery was welcomed by Six Nations protesters occupying the former housing development site in Caledonia as proof of the historical connection Aboriginals have with the area. While Six Nations spokeswoman Janie Jamieson said she is convinced there are human remains buried on the site, the Ministry of Culture said no burial grounds have been found. A spokesperson for Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay declined to comment on how the findings could affect talks between Six Nations, the province and the federal government. Meanwhile, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion said it is time Ottawa worked out a swifter way to handle Aboriginal land claims, calling for the creation of an independent body to deal with disputes such as the one in Caledonia (Chinta Puxley: KWS 11 and LFP A4, TSun 44; Dana Borcea: HS A10; CP: Gaz A11 and EJ A6, RLP C12, WStar A9, MT&T C4).
About 300 people attended a meeting on resolving the Caledonia occupation. At the meeting, Confederacy officials revealed the Ontario government has offered to create a 6.4-kilometre agricultural belt around Six Nations in an effort to settle the standoff and ward off concerns about encroaching development. They noted the federal government has also pressured Six Nations to accept a financial settlement instead of land (HS A10).
Stephen Ford, the lawyer representing Six Nations protestor Irwin Ronald Gibson, launched a legal challenge that could dramatically affect the way Aboriginal Canadians are treated in criminal court. Mr. Gibson is one of several protesters charged with criminal offences in connection with the occupation. Mr. Ford's plan is to convince the Canadian courts they have no jurisdiction over Aboriginal Canadians like Mr. Gibson who are charged with criminal offences on Aboriginal lands. As a first step on Jan. 31, Mr. Ford will attempt to convince Ontario court Justice David Harris to remove himself from the Gibson case and refer it to Ontario Superior Court. Mr. Ford said his long-term goal is to get the Supreme Court of Canada to make a firm ruling on Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution which relates to Aboriginal Canadians (Paul Legall: HS A10).
Friday, January 19th: The OPP and Six Nations occupiers of the disputed Caledonia site are preparing for a renewed attempt by white protesters to raise the Canadian flag. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino asked local municipal police chiefs to provide extra officers tomorrow to prevent physical confrontations. The flag rally is being organized by Gary and Christine McHale, of Richmond Hill. A spokesperson for the occupiers dismissed the McHales as racist publicity-seekers, while the McHales said they are protesting the flag ban since Mohawks are allowed to display their "warrior flags" (Ian Robertson: TSun 16; WSun 16).
Due to the Caledonia occupation, developers are frequently approaching the Six Nations Confederacy, seeking direction on projects they want to build on land the band claims to own along the Grand River. Confederacy officials said the traditional government has heard from 13 developers since November representing $1 billion in projects. Among them is the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which is looking to build a new Highway 24 between Brantford and Cambridge. Ginette Albert, spokeswoman for Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay, said the province has no problem with the situation, adding it submits its own projects within the Haldimand Tract to both the band council and Confederacy (Daniel Nolan: HS A10).
Letter writer Mike Morden: Of late, controversy at Caledonia has rested upon the flying of the Maple Leaf flag. Those that oppose the occupation claim that the flag has been abused, disrespected, disgraced. Truly, this is the case, and it is not the Six Nations at fault. Instead, the reactionary opponents of the occupation have taken to waving the flag in anger. My Maple Leaf is not a symbol of aggression, repression, unthinking opposition to progress. It is not to be used to cover over historical truths. The brilliant contributions of and blinding abuses suffered by our First Nations are written upon its every line. Nor is it a plaything to be waved at OPP officers like a matador waving a red cape at a bull. My Maple Leaf can stand for more than white Canada. It can stand for Canada (HS A15).
Saturday, January 20th: The OPP has warned residents to stay away from Saturday’s rally near the site of the Caledonia Aboriginal occupation. Police said anyone who crosses the police line at the protest, organized by Gary McHale of Richmond Hill, risks criminal charges. It is the third rally Mr. McHale has organized and the OPP’s statements suggest a stricter stance toward Mr. McHale and his protests. Mr. McHale said he has helped keep things under control in the town, pointing out that since he first announced his first march, there has not been a single clash between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginal protesters. He has staged the rallies to highlight what he says has been different treatment by the OPP of Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals (Marissa Nelson: HS A1).
During an interview, Gary McHale told reporters that he will not stop until he “changes the system.” Mr. McHale said told reporters that a CSIS agent has interviewed him twice: once in his home office, and again over lunch (Haley Mick: G&M A15).
In an interview, Mr. McHale was quoted as saying “My ultimate goal has nothing to do with Caledonia. It is an example of a problem. My ultimate goal is to force every government to live up to what I have been sold as a bill of goods. I firmly believe in multiculturalism. ... But we all have to be equal under the law ... My goal is to expose that the government does not listen to the will of the people” (Marrisa Nelson: HS A2).
Sunday, January 21st: The OPP held the middle ground between a standoff of Six Nations occupiers and non-Aboriginal protestors in Caledonia, Ont., over the weekend. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino was critical of out-of-town protestors like Gary McHale who descended on Caledonia, stating: “We are prepared to deal with these people in a way that we will preserve public safety ... and officer safety” (Gregory Bonnell: LFP A10).
Monday, January 22nd: Commissioner Fantino’s comments on the weekend’s events were repeated (Dana Brown: HS A9; CP: WStar B7).
Tuesday, January 23rd: Columnist Robert Howard: It has been a long, difficult 11 months for the town's residents and businesses since Six Nations protestors took control of the development site. There has been bad behaviour on both sides of the barricades, and living, and making a living, in Caledonia has been trying. But few residents showed up for Saturday's rally, apparently more interested in doing something constructive with their time. Good on them. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino told Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals alike that, "We're not going to take any nonsense." Good on him, too (HS A14).
Friday, January 26th: The federal government asserted in a Department of Justice report that the Six Nations claim in Caledonia would fail if brought before the courts. The report, which was given to members of the Six Nations Confederacy negotiation team, however, has not convinced the Six Nations to call off their occupation and both sides are expected to continue talking (Daniel Nolan: HS A13).
Saturday, January 27th: The federal government has told the Six Nations Confederacy that its claim to the disputed site in Caledonia would not be recognized in court. The federal government set out that position in a Department of Justice report presented Thursday to Six Nations Confederacy officials (Marissa Nelson: HS A15; G&M A20).
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