Ontario runs from the law!! Caledonia, Brantford, Waterloo follow!!

Native dispute requires clarity

September 02, 2008

THE RECORD

Some Six Nations members near Brantford have demanded that property owners and governments submit development fees and applications to them. They claim jurisdiction over much of Waterloo Region, based on a 1784 land grant. They contend it's their right as a First Nation to regulate growth.

Their claim is unresolved. Until it's resolved, it's a bad idea to recognize a controversial aboriginal planning agency. Giving in to Six Nations demands at this point undermines Canadian law and property rights. This can't be allowed to happen.

The intentional ignorance of the news media is appalling. They encourage the governments to ignore the law and do the bidding of their political and corporate masters. The Government of Ontario issued approvals for development without fulfilling their legal obligations to "reasonably consult and adequately compensate" Six Nations Constitutional Aboriginal Rights. The media is encouraging the government and corporate lawbreakers.

Now, the director of a Six Nations planning agency is crying foul, saying the watershed agency is acting illegally by not seeking approval from her agency. Approval is not needed, and it's time to get on with these projects. Planners aren't doing their job if they allow good works to falter unnecessarily.

Still, the situation is unsettling. There's no clarity around what it means to consult with Six Nations. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that governments have a duty to consult with First Nations on activities affecting land claims. But the process has not been formalized, leaving it open to interpretation.

Interpret this: http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2008/july/2008ONCA0534.pdf [48] Where a requested injunction is intended to create “a protest-free zone” for contentious private activity that affects asserted aboriginal or treaty rights, the court must be very careful to ensure that, in the context of the dispute before it, the Crown has fully and faithfully discharged its duty to consult with the affected First Nations: NO ONE - not Brantford, not the private Corporations, not the GRCA, not Ontario, not Waterloo, not Caledonia, Haldimand ... NO ONE has consulted and accommodated Six Nations legal rights. Until the duty to consult is fully discharged, no building, no development is legal. All are open to legitimate protest and being shut down by Six Nations. No injunction to stop protests can be sought until a consultation agreement is in place. When the Brantford court finally hears the injunction sought by Brantford, Brantford and Ontario will be forced to consult with Six Nations, by Canadian law, Canadian courts. Ontario, Brantford, Waterloo, GRCA, Haldimand ... are all running from the law. All are fully aware that they are defying the law. The media are also aware of the law and are trying to manipulate the public into agreeing with lawbreaking. It seems the governments, media and corporate entities are quite willing to continue to break the law, so long as the puppet media are willing to do their bidding and mislead the public. Canada is a joke. Canada is all in favour of human rights ... in someone else's country. Canada's record for human rights in its own country is a tale of Canada's governments running from the laws of Canada, hiding the truth in propaganda and misinformation fed to the Canadian public. Canada's governments - federal, provincial, municipal - and the corporations for which they stand - are in violation of International and Canadian law, and they continue to violate the human rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.