FocusCanada Forums

Natives lift blockade of Caledonia roadway
CTV.ca News Staff

Native protesters removed a blockade from the road running through Caledonia, Ont., Tuesday, signaling a positive turn in the standoff that turned ugly only a day before.

The move was designed to ease tensions between protesters and frustrated community residents who clashed in fistfights Monday night despite a heavy police presence.

"We're moving the barricades and showing that goodwill once again, and we'll see what happens," aboriginal spokesperson Hazel Hill told The Canadian Press Tuesday.

The main obstruction, a piece of a hydro tower, now blocks the entrance to the construction site at the centre of the dispute. The protesters have been barricading the road to prevent housing construction on land they claim as their own.

"Safety is the biggest concern for our people because of the anger and racism that was shown yesterday," Hill said.

Construction crews set to work clearing away debris once the blockade was removed. They also began to repair damage to the roadway.

Traffic began to move along the road around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Goodwill

Early Monday, protesters briefly dismantled the barricade as a sign of goodwill after the province pledged to indefinitely halt construction on the site.

It had been hoped the move would mark the beginning of the end of the standoff, but the blockade was taken down for only a short time before the situation degenerated into a series of violent fistfights with non-natives and the barricade was put back up.

It turned even uglier at around noon Monday, when an SUV driven by a Six Nations protester tried to force its way through the line of locals that had been barring protesters from accessing the site.

Police intervened in several clashes, but tempers got out of hand when vandals damaged a power transformer and cut off electricity to the area, which is around 14 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ont.

The blackout, along with the standoff, lead municipal officials to declare a state of emergency late Monday.

Hydro One spokeswoman Laura Cooke told CTV News that the cause of the outage was clearly vandalism to the local power transformer and it will likely be days before service is fully restored.

The power outage forced school boards serving Caledonia, Simcoe and Waterford to close 17 schools.

Talks

Talks to end the bitter dispute have been continuing under former Ontario premier David Peterson, but it remains unclear when those talks were likely to resume.

Meanwhile, a local councillor said earlier Tuesday that efforts to bring an end to the dispute needed to be stepped up, even if it meant bringing in the military,

"They need to bring in the necessary authorities to end this dispute immediately," Haldimand County councillor Buck Sloat told CTV Newsnet.

"Whether that be the provincial OPP or whether that be the army, I'm not sure at what level it needs to be brought in but this needs to be ended immediately."

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called for "calm and goodwill" to end the standoff.

"It's not the kind of thing that's going to be resolved overnight," McGuinty told reporters.

"It's going to continue to take some time, and I would ask all parties involved to allow cooler heads to prevail."

Land dispute

Aboriginal demonstrators began blockading the road on April 20, when police attempted to forcibly remove protesters who had been occupying a 40-hectare piece of land since Feb. 28.

Protestors argue that the site of the Douglas Creek Estates housing project was part of a large land grant back in 1784, but the provincial and federal governments insist the land was surrendered in 1841 to help build a major highway.

With files from the Canadian Press

Video and more articles click Here

Waaaaaaayy to touchy a subject to get involved with.

I've seen and heard and read both sides of the argument and have nothing to add.

We are all law abiding people. The Indians do in fact own 6kms on both sides of the Grand River. Even the development they are protesting against.

Problem is, they receive tax dollars from the Municipality and Province for people who pay taxes, both Municipally and Provincially to use the land. If you live within 6 kms of the Grand, part of your house taxes goes to the Natives. Been that way for, well, years.

So now they want their land back. How do they feel about the money?

You figure it out.

I already see this as a two faced argument they are never going to win. It has set back the view of the Native people 50 years in Canada.

Like I said. We should all have to live within the laws that govern us.

So next time, elect a government that has the balls to enact the laws that govern us all.

meford4u,May 23 2006, 07:40 PM Wrote:Like I said.  We should all have to live within the laws that govern us.
[right][snapback]189077[/snapback][/right]

Generally speaking I'm fairly liberal minded when it comes to native issues and there are a number of issues where they have my sympathy.

But they totally lose my support, my goodwill and my respect when they use tactics that are at best those of a bully, and at worst those of a gangster or terrorist.

I don't care what the issue is or how long it's been outstanding, there is no reason in this country to use illegal force and violence to make your point; and it should not be tolerated, especially by those who supposedly represent the best interests of the law-abiding citizenry.

There's the notion within our first nations that they aren't Canadians and don't have to adhere to "our" rules. So does that mean that it is legal according to native law to barricade public roads? I doubt it. I can guarantee that if I and my buddies decided to barricade a road in the reservation we'd be hauled off while the brake rotors on our cars were still warm.

And to your point meford ... the minute that barricade went up all negotiations should have stopped. Those who negotiate with a figurative gun to their head do nothing but perpetuate the future use of that tactic. It's no wonder to me that native groups continue to use barricades and the like, because so far it's been working for them. That's gotta stop.

I'll be the Negative Neddy here... it's BS. They're threatening the livelihoods of many Canadians that aren't hurting anyone and are just working in their field of trade (i.e. carpenters, plumbers, etc.).

It's already proven that there is no such thing as a "native" to Canada. These folks came in from the Siberian land bridge 20-30,000 years ago. They were simply the first immigrants to the area. It's a world community now, and the rest of us in this country are paying our taxes as responsible citizens... why shouldn't they?

There are some things that should never have happened (religious boarding school abuse, etc), but that doesn't excuse their responsbility to live "in the now". Folks immigrate here all the time, and with the exception of a few things I don't neccessarily agree with (Sharia court being proposed, apparently Jewish tribunals can be substituted for Canadian law in certain cases, etc.) everyone does their part and becomes a part of a country in a lot less intrusive way than living in America.

The roadblocks are illegal. The roads are maintained by the Provincial government, the maintenance and the upkeep are paid for by taxpayers' dollars. The "natives" should have taken this to court years ago instead of acting like spoiled children now. As usual, strikes and blockades have way too many similarities for my liking. Also, as mentioned, the fact they're allowing precedent to be shown by allowing the roadblocks to be effective is a very bad thing. Pick them up, cart them off to jail. Removing the capacity of the police to protect Canadian citizens in Canada is a very, very bad thing indeed.

Well adding to this here is another story related to this:

Power restored to thousands near Caledonia, Ont.
CTV.ca News Staff

Power has been restored to thousands of homes and businesses in the Caledonia, Ont. area, one day after aboriginals removed a blockade in the community that has been paralyzed by a land-claim dispute since February.

Hydro crews worked through the night to restore power to the last 3,600 homes and businesses affected by the outage.

Hydro One spokesman Davvyd Roderick told The Canadian Press than fewer than 200 customers were still without power, down from around 8,000 on Monday when vandals damaged a power transformation station.

Further repairs to the damaged station will take a few days to complete.

The removal of the barricade is being described as a positive step toward resolving the land-claim dispute.

The main obstruction, a portion of a hydro tower which was blocking a road in the southern Ontario town, was taken down Tuesday and now blocks a construction site entrance on land at the centre of the dispute.

Ken Hewitt, of the Caledonia Citizens' Alliance -- an ad-hoc group formed after native protesters put the barricades up in April -- said he is encouraged by the progress.

"I think the community is excited to see the road is open, and it's a positive step for Caledonia and the Six Nations," Hewitt told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday.

The Argyle Street blockade has become a focal point for tensions in the community recently, with native protesters and frustrated community residents clashing on several occasions.

Tempers boiled over on Monday, resulting in fist fights between the two sides despite a heavy police presence.

Hewitt said the removal of the blockade will go a long way toward restoring peace.

"I think the tensions were running high when the blockades were up ... and there are still some concerns. But I honestly believe that in the community here, where these people have lived together for a long time, those tensions will dissipate quickly."

However, Hewitt maintained his position from Tuesday that damage that was done to a hydro transformer, knocking out power to thousands of residents, was akin to terrorism.

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice called the removal of the barricade a sign that the dispute "has turned a corner."

Two other aboriginal barricades on a highway bypass outside the town remain in place.

CTV's Scott Laurie, reporting from Caledonia Wednesday morning confirmed that the removal of the blockade appears to have restored peace and eased tensions in the community.

"The battle now is over the land claims," Laurie told AM.

"The out-and-out punching and kicking and fighting that we saw on Monday has passed, and people on both sides are thankful that is the case."

The dispute, said Laurie, will now return to the negotiating table as talks continue between both sides.


Land dispute

The protesters are trying to prevent construction of a housing development on land they claim as their own.

They have vowed to stay on the site until there is a resolution to the dispute.

"We're staying on the land. That's been our intention from the beginning -- to hold that peaceful presence on the land," Hill said, adding that protesters will stay there until negotiations are completed.

"People need to realize that all the money that's been wasted has been on strictly the barricades, the land issue hasn't been touched on," Janie Jamieson, another aboriginal spokesperson, told reporters.

Protesters argue that the site of the Douglas Creek Estates housing project was part of a large land grant back in 1784, but the provincial and federal governments insist the land was surrendered in 1841 to help build a major highway.

Six Nations Chief Allen McNaughton said negotiators are now working on removing a second blockade that remains in place on Highway 6.

Protesters initially took down the barricade on Monday as a sign of goodwill after the province pledged to indefinitely halt construction on the site.

However, the blockade was put back up after the situation degenerated into a series of violent fist fights with non-natives.

Police intervened in several clashes, but tempers escalated when vandals damaged a power transformer and cut off electricity to the area, which is about 14 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ont.

The blackout, along with the standoff, lead municipal officials to declare a state of emergency late Monday.

Aboriginal demonstrators began blockading the road on April 20, when police attempted to forcibly remove protesters who had been occupying a 40-hectare piece of land since Feb. 28.

So what's the latest, I'm heading down Highway 6 to Port Dover Wednesday evening?

2001 ZTS,May 29 2006, 01:19 PM Wrote:So what's the latest, I'm heading down Highway 6 to Port Dover Wednesday evening?
[right][snapback]190202[/snapback][/right]

Well the only thing I know is that they have most of the roadways still blocked off except for the one they reopened to the town, I know they are still holding the area that is in question, but other then that I have not heared anything that would send up red flags still.

the last time they did that the blockade went back up.. lets hope they dont re-erect any more. I'm sure Ontario Hydro wasnt too happy about them using a hydro tower for a roadblock...

Frost__2001,May 29 2006, 02:50 PM Wrote:

2001 ZTS,May 29 2006, 01:19 PM Wrote:So what's the latest, I'm heading down Highway 6 to Port Dover Wednesday evening?
[right][snapback]190202[/snapback][/right]

Well the only thing I know is that they have most of the roadways still blocked off except for the one they reopened to the town, I know they are still holding the area that is in question, but other then that I have not heared anything that would send up red flags still.
[right][snapback]190222[/snapback][/right]

Thanks for the update, Phillip! Hopefully it will clear up more tomorrow...

paolo,May 29 2006, 07:37 PM Wrote:the last time they did that the blockade went back up.. lets hope they dont re-erect any more.  I'm sure Ontario Hydro wasnt too happy about them using a hydro tower for a roadblock...
[right][snapback]190272[/snapback][/right]

I saw the whole tower thing yesterday. I should have had a camera out. It was quite amusing and they had a big thing up to watch your speed. There's a bit of traffic going in, but not that bad.

We went to Port Dover yesterday the deal is the bypass to the north west is blocked and you are forced through town along Argyle Street or a detour to the south east which we did not try.

Busy and slow in the early evening but pretty effortless at night.

At any rate definately some pretty "interesting" sights to be seen that is for sure, the hydro tower across the road comes to mind as one. The development they were protesting was not where I expected it to be. Big private security presense at the hydro sub station.