I have repeatedly said that the ONLY way that the thorny issues of claims of treaty rights, supposedly unsurrendered land, and who has the right to govern at Six Nations Reserve can only be settled by the Provincial Superior Court system in either Brantford or Cayuga - or if the Federal Government gets involved.
A very important, and likely precedent setting, decision has been made by Justice Harper of the Superior Court in Brantford - one that basically eviscerates the assertions of the Haudenosaunee Hereditary Chiefs Council (HCCC) as being the legitimate governing body at Six Nations, and basically neutering them by recognizing the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) as the representatives of the Six Nations people tasked with speaking for Six Nations in any matter involving the Provincial or Federal Governments.
The whole despicable saga of the theft of the Douglas Creek Estates (DCE) property by Six Nations militants in 2006 under the guise of claiming (falsely) that the land was unsurrendered, the barricades set up across Argyle Street South, the Provincial Government purchase of the DCE property from the legal owners and "gifting" to Six Nations, and the negotiations to extort money or land from the Government (Provincial or Federal - it ended up being Provincial) in order to have the barricades removed has been detailed at length multiple times in this blog - and there is a wealth of info online. While SNEC is the legal representative of Six Nations, the instigator of the "land reclamation" (theft) was orchestrated by HCCC, the previous governing body at Six Nations (until 1924) and members of same who were to become the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI - the "muscle"). To keep peace in the family, SNEC offered HCCC a seat at the negotiating table (although the latter were NOT happy about this arrangement). That was 2006, but what about 2017?
Recent events, including the schlepping of the Hydro One tower (what was left of it) over Argyle Street South in Caledonia on 10 August 2017, came about via a dispute over who should have the say as to what happens with the Burtch lands in Brant County. The "main event" involved a woman (Kristine Hill) and her ex - husband (Ed Green), supporters of the HCCC and its "enforcement branch", the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI). She had tilled the land, and planted crops on the Burtch property. They claimed to have a lease from the HCCC, and ignored an order from SNEC to vacate these lands.
To make a long story short (since this is not the point of the present posting), Ms. Hill lost and was found to have "willfully disobeyed" a Court Order to vacate. Details of this case can be found in The Sachem, 22 September 2017, in an article entitled, "Judge rules in favour of Six Nations Elected Council over Burtch property" - click here.
What is important in the wider sense is that in a court of law the claim that the HCCC was unable to muster even rudimentary evidence that there was merit to this case, which hinged on their authority to determine the rights of Ms. Hill to farm the land at Burtch.
What is of critical importance:
1) The ruling of Justice Harper that, he could not recognize the HCCC’s right to decide the future of the Burtch lands based on Hill’s statement that she was raised to pledge allegiance to the Haudonosaunee chiefs. Harper said he was unable to Hill’s argument because there was virtually no evidence presented to him by her lawyers supporting the claim.
2) The Court Order was issued, in response to a claim by Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) that they hold the title to all 380 acres of the Burtch lands through a corporation (9646035 Canada Limited) created to keep the lands in trust for the people of Six Nations.
3) In 2006, Six Nations extorted what became known as the "Peterson Promise" from the Ontario Government. In essence, "we will remove the barricade across Argyle Street South in Haldimand County if you given us the Burtch Correctional property in Brant County such that we can add these lands to the Reserve". More specifically, The “Peterson Promise” stated that the land would be returned to the status it once held under the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784, which allowed the Six Nations people to settle and live on six miles of land along the entire length of the Grand River, on both sides. The HCCC backed out of the negotiations before the agreement was reached.
So even though both SNEC and HCCC were at the negotiation (extortion) table, HCCC walked out before any deal was reached yet has the gall to insist that they are the only group who have the rights to decide the fate of the Burtch lands!
In desperation, the Burch occupier brought out the old boogey man of "Treaty rights". There is NO TREATY with Six Nations but that has never stopped individuals from using this tattered old worn out assertion to try to get leverage. It did not work. So Hill asserted, her Aboriginal treaty rights to farm the Burtch lands, Harper cited a case involving Tyendinaga and CN Rail that showed treaty rights cannot be asserted by an individual. Furthermore, to repeat, there is no treaty of any description that applies to the Six Nations of the Grand River. It is the hope of the present author that soon this matter will be taken to Court and Six Nations will be required to produce the phantom treaty. They won't do this of course because they would lose, and this would have tremendous implications for the extortion of millions of dollars from green energy companies and land developers in Southwestern Ontario based on making them believe that a treaty actually exists, and Six Nations need to have a cut of the action.
In other words, the proceedings have much broader implications for Six Nations and the people of Haldimand and Brant Counties. SNEC is the only group at Six Nations who can establish a legitimate claim to be the representatives of the occupants of the Six Nations Reserve - even if there is a large faction who disagrees. Lets hope that the can or worms, or Pandora's Box has been opened and we can obtain a Court ruling on all bogus Six Nations claims (treaties, unsurrendered land). We have been waiting a long, long time. What if the Federal Government said, "Ok, enough is enough, lets go to Court and let the evidence speak". Not going to happen, but I can dream.
DY.
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