Grand River land dispute


The Grand River land dispute, also known as the Caledonia land dispute, is an ongoing dispute between the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Government of Canada. It is focused on land along the length of the Grand River in Ontario known as the Haldimand Tract, a tract that was granted to Indigenous allies of the British Crown in 1784 to make up for territorial losses suffered as a result of the American Revolutionary War and the Treaty of Paris. The Six Nations were granted the land in perpetuity and allege that lands were improperly sold, leased or given away by various Canadian governments, leaving only 5 per cent of the original lands under Six Nations control. The Six Nations also allege that monies owed to the Six Nations from leases and loans on much of the tract have not been paid or were redirected into government coffers.
The dispute has been the subject of many formal negotiations under the land claims process since the 1970s and several instances of direct action in the form of protests, blockades, and occupations. Formal negotiations have broken down, and the dispute is before the courts. The Government of Canada's policy to extinguish aboriginal title as a condition of settlement is considered unacceptable by the Six Nations. The Six Nations are seeking monies owing and ongoing payments for leased lands and the return of lands improperly transferred.
The dispute came to wide attention in Canada in 2006 when the Six Nations formally reactivated litigation initially brought in 1995 against Canada and Ontario. Protesters from the Six Nations of the Grand River demonstrated on a parcel of land in Caledonia, a community within the municipality of Haldimand County, roughly 20 kilometres southwest of Hamilton. Soon after this demonstration, the demonstrators took control of the disputed land, the planned site of a subdivision known as "Douglas Creek Estates". The land, along with all of Caledonia, is part of the "Haldimand Tract". The Government of Ontario compensated the developer and stopped the development, holding the land for planned negotiations.
In February and March 2020, the dispute once again entered public consciousness with Mohawk protesters blockading Highway 6 as part of the 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests in solidarity with the Wetʼsuwetʼen, and later with the occupation of the site of another planned subdivision in Caledonia, "McKenzie Meadows". The protestors have called the area "1492 Land Back Lane". Calling themselves "land defenders", the protestors have refused to leave despite being ordered to by an Ontario court.

Background

18th century

  • May 22, 1784 – Frederick Haldimand purchases land along the Grand River from the Mississauga nation.
  • October 25, 1784 – In return for military support provided by member states of the Six Nations during the American Revolution, the British Crown provides these nations with territory to replace lands ceded south of the Great Lakes via the Haldimand Proclamation. A contingent of Haudenosaunee people led by Brant decides to settle at the Grand River. The nations' new, shared territory extends from either side of the Grand River, from its source to its termination at Lake Erie.
  • 1791 – Sir John Johnson, who had been placed in charge of managing the resettlement of the Haudenosaunee, notices an error regarding the northern boundary of the Haldimand Tract. He found that the headwaters of the Grand River did not fall within the land purchased from the Mississaugas in 1784. The Crown's surveyor Augustus Jones redefines the boundary of the Six Nations' parcel, establishing straight-lined boundaries, including Jones Baseline, which provided the northern boundary of the newly defined parcel, around the later location of Guelph.
  • December 1792 – The Crown purchases the remainder of the land included in the Haldimand Grant from the Mississaugas, but does not transfer it to Six Nations.
  • January 14, 1793 – Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe confirms the grant with a limited deed, known as the Simcoe Patent, or the Crown Grant to the Six Nations, or the Haldimand Tract, no. 4. The Simcoe Patent limits the Haldimand Tract to for the exclusive use of the Six Nations, leaving the rest of the land available to be leased, surrendered, or sold by the Haudenosaunee to the Crown. It does not address the issue of the territory around the headwaters. Brant and the other Six Nations chiefs reject the patent and claim that they are not bound by it.
  • 1796 – The Six Nations grant chief Joseph Brant the power of attorney to sell off some of the land and invest the proceeds to provide annuity for tribal members, who are struggling to survive in the new settlements. The Crown initially opposes the sales but eventually concedes.
  • c. 1794–6 – Joseph Brant begins selling land to private interests, having reached a deal with Peter Russell that allowed him to sell and lease the land so long as it is offered first to the Crown. Ultimately, he sells, an area comprising the northern half of the reserve, for £85,332. The interest on the annuity promises an income of £5,119 per year, far more than any other Iroquois people had received up until that point.
  • February 5, 1798 – The land sold by Brant to the Crown is parcelled off into six blocks and sold to private land speculators. These blocks later developed into towns as follows:
  • * Block No. 1 – Township of Dumfries
  • * Block No. 2 – Waterloo Township
  • * Block No. 3 – Pilkington Township in Wellington County, and Woolwich Township
  • * Block No. 4 – Nichol Township in Wellington County
  • * Block No. 5 – Moulton Township in Haldimand County
  • * Block No. 6 – Canborough Township in Haldimand County

    19th century

  • 1801 – All of the land speculators have fallen behind in their payments due to being unable to sell farm-size lots to settlers fast enough to keep up.
  • 1828 – Nearly two thirds of the Grand River territory has been sold, leased, or occupied by squatters.
  • 1835 – The Crown approaches the Six Nations about developing the Port Dover-Hamilton Plank Road and the surrounding area. The Six Nations agree to lease half a mile of land on each side for the road but did not surrender the land. Lieutenant-Governor John Colborne agrees to the lease but later, his successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, does not.
  • 1840 – The government recommends that a reserve of approximately be established on the south side of the Grand River and the rest sold or leased to the Crown in order to protect them from encroaching squatters.
  • January 18, 1841 – According to the Crown, the Six Nations council agrees to surrender for sale all the lands outside those set aside for a reserve, on the agreement that the government would sell the land and invest the money for them.
  • February 4, 1841 – The Six Nations petition against the surrender of land, saying the chiefs had been intimidated and deceived and they had agreed only to lease the land.
  • July 7, 1841 – There is another petition against the surrender.
  • 1843 – A further petition to the Crown says the Six Nations need a reserve of and want to keep and lease a tier of lots on each side of Plank Road and several other tracts of land within the territory laid out by the Haldimand Proclamation.
  • 1843 – Plank Road is completed, which helps to "spur the growth of Caledonia but also the sale of Six Nations lands."
  • December 18, 1844 – A surrender is signed by 47 Six Nations chiefs that authorizes the sale of land to build Plank Road.
  • 1845 – Starting this year, despite the protests of Six Nations citizens, the Crown sells Plank Road and surrounding lands to third parties.
  • May 15, 1848 – The land that would later be the site of the development of Douglas Creek Estates is sold to George Marlot Ryckman for 57 pounds and 10 shillings; a Crown deed of title is issued to him.
  • 1850 – The Crown passes a proclamation setting the extent of reserve lands to about, which is agreed to by the Six Nations chiefs.

    20th century

  • 1924 – Under the Indian Act, the Government of Canada establishes an elected band government on the Six Nations reserve, known today as the Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council. The establishment of a band council is characterised by some as a coup, not least of all due to the use of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to ensure the transition of power at Six Nations.
  • 1931 – The Statute of Westminster is put into effect; the parliament of the United Kingdom relinquishes the ability to legislate on behalf of Canada. All Canadian First Nations affairs are now fully within the jurisdiction of the Canadian Crown.
  • 1974 – The Six Nations Land Claims Research Office is created by Six Nations to pursue the terms laid out in the Haldimand Proclamation.
  • 1974–1995 – SNLCRO submits 29 separate land claims to the Specific Claims Branch of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
  • 1995 – After only one of the 29 submitted land claims is resolved, the Government of Canada closes the rest, because they receive notice of pending litigation from Six Nations.

    Canadian National Railway Settlement

In 1980, the Six Nations Council, along with SNLCRO, submitted a claim to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada against Canadian National Railway's unauthorized use of reserve land for a stretch of rail that runs along the eastern end of the reserve. The First Nation eventually accepted a settlement in 1987 that consisted of $610,000 in the form of three parcels of land added to the reserve, which added approximately. The council also retained the right to purchase said railway lands if they were not used for railway purposes and were re-acquired by Canada.

Douglas Creek Estates (Kanonhstaton)

In 1992, Henco Industries Ltd. purchased of land for what it would later call the Douglas Creek Estates. The proposed subdivision was set to be located southeast of Caledonia, between Argyle Street South, 6th Line, the CN rail line, and the houses along Thistlemoor Drive. That land was part of an existing land claim submitted by the Six Nations Elected Council; the claim had been closed by 1995. In March of that year, the Six Nations sued the federal and provincial governments in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice over the developers' purchase of the land. The lawsuit is an accounting claim for "all assets which were not received but ought to have been received, managed or held by the Crown for the benefit of the Six Nations." The case was openly litigated until 2004, when it was paused for "exploratory" negotiated settlement talks with the federal government. These talks were never pursued, due to the Douglas Creek Estates conflict in 2006.
Regarding their right to purchase the land, Henco argued that the Six Nations had surrendered their rights to the land in 1841 and Henco had purchased it from the Government of Canada. The Six Nations, however, maintained that their title to the land was never relinquished, as their chiefs protested the 1841 surrender and sent a petition to the government arguing against the terms.
In July 2005, the subdivision plan for Douglas Creek Estates was registered, with title to the property guaranteed by the province of Ontario.
Starting in February 2006, community members from Six Nations occupied the site of the proposed development, which they named in Mohawk Kanonhstaton. Direct action on the part of protesters over the years included blockade of roads and rail lines, damage to a power station resulting in an area blackout and more than $1 million in repairs, and low levels of violence from both sides, as well as isolated, more serious attacks. The federal government halted negotiations at times because of the protesters' actions.
As protests continued, on June 12, 2006, more than 400 area residents and businesses filed a class-action suit against the Government of Ontario for its "failure to protect them adequately". This was settled in July 2011, with the government paying to class members. By the end of 2011, several criminal cases related to assaults had been prosecuted.
During the continuing dispute, on June 16, 2006, the Government of Ontario announced it had bought the disputed tract from the developer and would hold it in trust until negotiations settled the claim. Talks began, including the Confederacy chiefs, but were put on hold in 2009 when litigation of the 1995 lawsuit was resumed. The trial is anticipated to start sometime in early 2024.