Prodding two tiered justice in Caledonia.

The Sachem

On Saturday, October 21, Caledonia resident, Doug Fleming decided he had a point to make about what he feels is a two-tiered justice system in Caledonia.

Fleming parked his ‘mobile cigarette store’ in Caledonia and sold contraband cigarettes in clear view of Ontario Provincial Police officers, without being fined, charged or arrested. This, he says, was exactly his point.

Fleming says he is frustrated about the ‘smoke shops’ along Highway #6, south of Caledonia near the intersection at 5th Line Road. He claims the smoke shops are operating illegally as they are operating without having been issued any business operating licenses or building permits. He also contends that the shops are selling contraband cigarettes and that the shops advertise smokes for sale with signs posted along Highway #6, which is also against the law.

Fleming says that because he feels the Ontario Provincial Police have failed Caledonia and surrounding communities, by failing to treat everyone under the law equally since the stand-off at the former Douglas Creek Estates development site, he worries that smoke shops will eventually be all along Highway #6, and that the police will not do anything about it. He believes nothing is being done because the shops are owned by members of Six Nations.

Fleming purchased a mixed selection of contraband cigarettes from the two smoke shops at the intersection of Highway #6 and 5th Line. He parked his truck in the parking lot along Argyle Street in Caledonia where the Ontario Provincial Police have an office located. He placed signs on the grass advertising his business and sold cigarettes out of the back of his pick-up truck.

Several Ontario Provincial Police cruisers were on site and officers watched Fleming, and the small group of supporters with him, as Fleming sold the contraband cigarettes to patrons passing by.

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. John Barron said that the OPP were not going to be arresting Fleming for the sale of cigarettes in that particular parking lot. “Our position is to keep the peace and ensure there is an orderly flow of traffic”, said Sgt. Barron.

Sgt. Barron also explained that the sale of contraband cigarettes would be a matter for the RCMP to enforce under the Canada Customs Excise Act and that the act of operating a business without a business operating permit would be a by-law infraction enforceable by Haldimand County By-Law Officers, not the Ontario Provincial Police. He further noted that the parking lot is private property owned by a property management corporation, and unless the owners objected to Fleming’s presence, there was no trespassing violation.

Sgt. Barron made it clear there was no intention by the Ontario Provincial Police to arrest or charge Doug Fleming for selling contraband cigarettes out of the back of his pick-up truck.

Haldimand County Councillor and Caledonia resident, Craig Grice, arrived in the afternoon to speak with Fleming.

Grice says Haldimand County has made it known to the Six Nations Band Council that the county has concerns with the smoke shops operating along Highway #6 without proper building or business operating permits, but that no official notice of infraction has been submitted to Band Council as of yet.

He also clarified that the Ministry of Transportation is responsible for all advertising along the highway, and that the sale of contraband cigarettes is in fact a federal matter for the RCMP, both of which he says have been voiced by the County as concerns to each respective government body.

Grice says that the two-tiered justice system in Caledonia “needs to be known about, but not prodded”.

When asked if he felt whether Fleming’s mobile smoke store was prodding the situation he responded, “The point needs to be proven and taken”.

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Native extortion.

TheRecord.com - CanadaWorld - Land titles under review

A team of native researchers has begun reviewing all Crown land titles issued along the Grand River in the last 200 years to determine which parcels were illegally transferred to non-natives, according to a lawyer representing the Six Nations.

It's the latest escalation in the long-standing dispute over who owns a huge swath of land extending 10 kilometres wide on either side of the entire Grand River, an area which encompasses much of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge.

Regional Chair Ken Seiling also said the threats from Six Nations were not new, and will not impact the way the municipality operates.

"We are bound to operate under Ontario legislation and there is no legislation or legal authority to do what they are suggesting," he said.

The dispute centres around what's called the Haldimand Tract, which extends on each side of the Grand River from the mouth to the source. It was granted to the Six Nations in 1784 in recognition for their loyalty to the Crown during the American Revolution.

Today, the Six Nations reserve covers of only about 50,000 acres of the original million-acre tract.

"The bottom line . . . if they don't come to the table to negotiate in good faith (with the HDI), all development will come to an utter and complete stop," said Aaron Detlor, a Toronto lawyer representing the confederacy.

A team of native researchers are doing "a lot-by-lot investigation into these lands"

Detlor said the Haudenosaunee Six Nations (HSN) has asked the province to put a notation on the title of any property within the Haldimand Tract that was improperly transferred to non-natives. He suggested this approach would help protect homeowners, developers and other parties from unwittingly buying a disputed property.

In the meantime, he added, natives have warned an area bank about the risk of approving mortgages on disputed properties. They've also talked to agencies that set bond ratings for municipalities such as Haldimand County, whose tax base and ability to pay back loans could be affected by native land claims.

But Detlor believes it will take "billions" rather than millions to properly compensate the HSN.

Last month, Haldimand councillors got a similar letter from the Six Nations Elected Band council urging them to stop all new developments.

"We would strongly recommend that Haldimand county cease all development permits until the land claim negotiations are complete and a settlement has reached," that letter stated.

"This would help avoid any future protests/occupations within our mutual territories."

In the past, the province has encouraged municipalities to consult with both the Haudenosaunee and elected band council before issuing development permits. But there is no legal requirement to get their approval for a development to go ahead, providing the applicant meets all provincial and local regulations.

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Caledonia occupation drags on and on....

This is a prime example why, sometimes, having a "dialog" in some situations does not work. This has been going on for years and the citizens of Caledonia has been living in a war zone for years. McGuinty and Smitherman have done nothing but try to pass the buck. They haven't even gone out there to see what's going on. It's time to get rid of them, perhaps something will finally get done. Enforcing the law will be nice.

TheRecord.com - CanadaWorld - Leaders square off on native unrest

Anyone directing, participating in or financially supporting an illegal land occupation in Ontario would face harsher penalties under a Progressive Conservative government, leader John Tory said yesterday as he paid a visit to one of the province's current cauldrons of aboriginal unrest.

"The Caledonia occupation -- as we've heard this morning -- is about more than a disputed property or about more than how a single community has been torn apart, and it's about far more than the many legitimate long-standing grievances of our First Nations peoples,'' Tory said after the discussion, which didn't include any aboriginal representatives.

"Instead, the Caledonia occupation is about what happens when a group of people conclude that the process doesn't work for them, and go on to conclude that the laws don't apply to them.''

Local resident Anna Marie Vansickle, who hosted an earlier visit by Tory, said she feels abandoned by the Liberal government and isolated by measures the provincial police have taken to ensure the safety of residents.

"I believe that Premier McGuinty would like the people of Ontario to believe that this has been a peaceful protest and continues to be peaceful,'' she said. "And everybody's aware of all the incidents that's going on -- the hijackings, attempted murders, break-and-enters, tire fires, verbal and physical assaults . . . this is the environment that we send our children to every day at school.''

Tory has maintained that his party would not negotiate with those who occupy lands illegally and that they would sue those who create a public disturbance to recoup the "huge public expense'' of having police keep order.

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Aboriginal Terrorists are Above the Law

clipped from www.theglobeandmail.com Aboriginal protesters left Sam Gualtieri one blow short of death when they ran away after attacking him in the house he was building in Caledonia, Ont. The 90-unit subdivision, on eight hectares, is about one kilometre from the disputed Douglas Creek development, which has been occupied by protesters from the nearby Six Nations reserve since February, 2006. Joe Gualtieri said Ontario Provincial Police officers on the site "stood there, and they did not intervene" until after the beating, when the attackers had fled. The confederacy has adopted a policy of seeking development agreements with those building on the Haldimand Tract, a strip of land 9½ kilometres either side of the Grand River Haldimand Mayor Marie Traynor described the proposed development fee as "like the old-time Mafia, isn't it? That's what people have been telling me. That's how they see it, and I have to agree. If you give me some money, I'll leave you alone."

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