Council Update A packed Six Nations Community Hall listens to the overview of the Consultation and Accommodation Agreement. Report on the March 16, 2011 Community Meeting 03/25/11 – In response to the questions and comments from community members at the March 16, 2011 community meeting, we submit the following response to what the Elected Council had in mind when this Agreement was developed. The Agreement with Brantford City Council was never intended to be a legal and binding agreement but instead it was more formal than the Grand River Notification Agreement (GRNA). In light of more recent Supreme Court Decisions and resulting rulings on the legal duty to consult and accommodate, the GRNA is silent. The Agreement is a way to implement the principles of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous peoples that require that state governments must seek free, prior and informed consent from indigenous people before using their traditional lands. This Agreement will not jeopardize anything including the 1995 accountability lawsuit against Canada. If the Agreement goes ahead, the Elected Council’s lawsuit demanding Ontario and Brantford consult and accommodate Six Nations will be put aside. If either of the Councils, party to the agreement, wanted to pull out of the Agreement, the Consult and Accommodate lawsuit can be revived. The whole intent of the Agreement was to create a vehicle for revenue sharing for Six Nations benefit from the use of Six Nations assets now under third party ownership or Ontario reality Corporation ownership throughout the Haldimand Tract. The intent was to start with Brantford and then go up and down the river to secure agreements with every municipality using our lands. We want to work with our neighbors to move our agenda forward, by taking action so our community can benefit from the use of Six Nations land in Brantford and all other Haldimand Tract municipalities. Until we create the concern with the municipalities regarding development and financial investment, we can expect that Canada and Ontario will not stop development within the Haldimand Tract to appease us. Confrontation will continue and our people will continue to be criminalized and be arrested. By creating allies with our neighbors, we intend to pressure Canada and Ontario to address Six Nations Land Rights. Without the alliance with our neighbors, with whom we must live together at the local level, there is not much expectation or hope that negotiations to solve our Land Rights will ever see the light of day. The Council intends to travel to Ottawa with our neighbor municipalities to demand resolution of Six nations Land Rights so we all can plan for our common future. If a municipal government is under siege from protest, they will not support this alliance. The Council would much rather prefer to reach a negotiated settlement of our Land Rights rather than a Supreme Court decision where there is a distinct chance of a less than beneficial outcome for Six Nations. Prior to the development of the Agreement, the Six Nations Elected Council took the Global Solutions document to the community on August 18, 2010. Many of the issues and principles were explained to the people at that time. Those issues and principles were accepted with a positive sense from those in attendance. The general feeling from this meeting was that the Council was moving forward in a constructive manner pertaining to our land rights. To address the concerns from the community, we have been asking Canada to address our land rights since the 1980’s and 1990’s to no avail. Twenty-eight (28) land Claims (Land Rights) have been submitted under Canada’s Specific Claims Policy. All of our Land Rights as counter researched by Canada have been validated by Canada for resolution. In 1995 Canada closed all files relating to our Land Rights as they chose no longer to address these injustices. To date Canada has given no indication that they are ready to reopen these negotiations. In September of 2009 we wrote to the Prime Minister to ask him to review the mandate given to Canada’s negotiator and replace that mandate by giving the negotiator a clear direction to settle our Land Rights. The Prime Minister’s Office directed Six Nations Council to consider having our Land Rights addressed by Canada’s Specific Claims Tribunal. This Tribunal reported that they can only deal with Claims of one hundred and fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) or less and have no mandate to do otherwise. All of our Land Rights are worth far more than the limit imposed by this Tribunal. We have lobbied the sitting Conservative members of Parliament who represent all the ridings in the Grand River Tract to seek their support. In the majority of cases, these people had no knowledge, understanding or in some cases, had NO interest in addressing Six Nations Land Rights. We have taken our lobby efforts to the municipalities. Every municipal government in the Tract was contacted and asked for their support. That response has been overwhelming. It seems at the local levels, the confrontations on development of Six Nations lands have resonated in raising concern with the municipalities. Municipal governments can become our greatest allies in pressuring the federal and provincial governments to come to the table to address our Land Rights. The Council’s lobby efforts have produced the opportunity to appear before the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs. This lobby effort was to secure a Cabinet approved mandate for federal negotiators. Six Nations asked for negotiations based on principles for the return of lands, non-extinguishment of our continued rights to land and for perpetual care and maintenance agreements to meet the needs of our community based on our standards. Those agreements will be protected by Canada’s Constitution and will provide us our vehicle out of the Indian Act. Transcripts of the March 16, 2011 community meeting are available for distribution at the Council Administration reception desk for anyone who would like to read the questions and comments made by community members at the meeting.    Go Back To Main Page Contact Us Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council 1695 Chiefswood Rd. Ph: (519) 445-2201 fax: (519) 445-4208 Business Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm Google Search SixNations.ca Employment Policy   Employment Policy

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