Talks to end native blockade in Caledonia will resume Wednesday

Canadian Press
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 | Updated at 3:58 PM EDT

[SISIS note: The following mainstream news article is provided for reference only, as an example of how mainstream media treats indigenous resistance to genocide. Mainstream media often presents biased and distorted information, lacking pertinent facts and/or context. Inclusion of this article on our site should not be considered an endorsement by SISIS.]

Premier Dalton McGuinty says negotiations will resume tomorrow in hopes of ending an aboriginal blockade and lengthy land claims dispute in Caledonia.

McGuinty told the legislature that Six Nations officials asked for a break in the talks so they could consider what was discussed during lengthy negotiations on the weekend.

He said the frustrations evident on both sides in the land claims dispute should not spill over into confrontations, and appealed to residents to remain calm and patient.

About 500 non-aboriginal locals stormed a police line in the southern Ontario community last night, demanding the native blockades be removed and the road reopened.

McGuinty said he doesn't think the locals who were yelling at police and screaming racial taunts at the protesters are representative of the people of Caledonia.

He said the land claims dispute will take time to resolve and warned it won't be settled "in the immediate future."

The fragile goodwill between First Nations protesters and locals fed up with their two-month occupation of a disputed tract of land continued to dissolve today as protesters became enraged over comments made by the mayor.

Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer was confronted at the site by two protesters furious with her claim that residents have been hurt economically by the protest and don't have money coming in automatically every month.

"How do my people have money coming in automatically? How? Answer that. Answer it," First Nations spokesman Clyde Powless said as he thrust his finger in Trainer's face.

"I'm deeply saddened by comments I've heard you made about my people waiting for a monthly check. I'm shocked at you and I will never want to address you again."

Trainer defended her comments, which she made in an interview with the CBC, as Powless returned to the highway barricades that Six Nations erected last Thursday after provincial police raided the occupation, now eight weeks old.

"They needed to know what the Caledonia people thought," said Trainer.

"I have to stick up for my people, just like they're sticking up for themselves."

After making the comments, the mayor was censured by her council. The council's new spokesman is deputy mayor Tom Patterson.