Caledonia land claim still contentious

OHSWEKEN At the Ohsweken Fair Grounds, it's a bright blue Sunday with the mood to match.

Antique cars shine under the sun in the parking lot. Local dancers, dressed in elaborately beaded outfits, crowd the floor at an afternoon powwow. Nearby cheers are drowned out by a tractor as it digs into the dirt to pull a heavy sled along a stretch of racetrack. The tone at the 145th Six Nations Fall Fair and Pow Wow is festive.

If you follow the Grand River east to Caledonia, though, you'll find a completely different atmosphere. There, a police line stands between the former Douglas Creek Estates (DCE) on Argyle Street and activist Gary McHale, who is there with 20 protesters. McHale and his group have been making regular Sunday appearances at the contested site to protest what he calls the OPP's "two-tiered policing" policies.

DCE was a large housing development that was seized by native protesters during a 2006 land dispute. It remains occupied by natives.

Most recently, the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, founded to deal with developers who want to build on land under claim by Six Nations, announced its plan to put $40,000 toward revitalizing the former DCE. Ideas include installing an iron gate at the entrance to the land, erecting a small museum, planting trees and creating a garden. Some have also suggested making a monument of the burned-out trailer and hydro towers that remain on site. For others, the idea of a memorial is a painful reminder of the land's 2006 occupation.

"Do you know how much that's going to hurt Caledonia?" asks Debbie Thompson, who lives just west of the DCE lands. "That's what disrupted my life and they're going to erect something there? It's like a kick in the ass.

"Get rid of those hydro towers and get rid of that trailer. Every time people come to my home, that's what they look at. It's not a nice welcome to Caledonia. This is a beautiful town that should remain that way."

Thompson says she likes the idea of a garden, but is doubtful it would last. A few years ago, flowers planted on the site were ripped out overnight.

"I agree with the trees or bringing it back to farmland," she says. "Rent it out to a Six Nations farmer or a Caledonia farmer, any farmer."

Ohsweken resident Gerry Hill, 46, is just happy to hear something positive might happen with the land. He wants to see a solution that will benefit parties on all sides - a space that can be shared and serves to educate - and this seems like a good start, but he's unsure about its possibility.

"You know you have to just kind of wait and see," says Hill. "It's easy to talk about things but whether it's really going to happen or not's another story."

Ohsweken resident Barry Crawford, 51, says the same thing. "We've been waiting 200 years now," he says. "And $40,000 could do a lot of good somewhere else." He thinks the current suggestion is just a way for the HDI to appease people in Caledonia, and he'd most like to see the government settle the land claim.

Thompson agrees. "I just think that, you know, who knows who owns that? Two hundred years? Who really knows?" she says. "Get it on the table and let the judges say, 'OK, done,' and over. If it's true, why play games?"

She watches the dozens of officers standing at the side of the road, waiting for McHale and his group to return from a coffee break.

"It's a waste of taxpayers' money," she says. "Look at the police that are out. For what? One man that hasn't done anything they can stick a charge on. That's the joke of it all."

Sunday's protest resulted in one arrest. A man faces a charge of obstructing police and will appear in provincial court in Cayuga at a later date.

akenny@thespec.com