Photo by Krysten McCumber, Brant News
Bill Squire and Jason Bowman of the Mohawk Workers say Kanata Village, along with all land six miles on either side of the Grand River, belong to the Kahniakehake Mohawk Nation.
J.P. Antonacci
BRANT NEWS
The time has come to evict a group of residents squatting in a city-owned building known as Kanata Village, Coun. Richard Carpenter told city council on Monday.
The group, known as the Mohawk Workers, has been at 440 Mohawk St. since 2007. In that time, the city has provided heat, hydro, water and phone service to the building at no charge to those living there.
“The property’s been occupied illegally,” Carpenter said. “We haven’t done anything to evict the illegal occupiers. And we’re paying their…bills.”
According to Brantford Power records presented by Carpenter, the city has spent more than $25,000 on power, water and sewer service to the former interpretive and tourism centre since 2007.
In addition, the city has paid more than $13,000 to Union Gas since 2007 to heat the building. Before telephone service was cut off in January 2012, the city had paid more than $10,500 to Bell Canada for phone bills.
Bills for phone service reached a monthly high of $1,690 in December 2011.
“I guess when you have free telephone, you can call whoever you want,” Carpenter said.
That puts the total spent to support a group illegally occupying a public building at more than $49,400, an amount Mayor Chris Friel called “almost to the point of ridiculous.”
“I don’t know why we continue to allow a handful of individuals to continue to use this property,” Friel said.
Council asked staff to cut off services during a closed meeting in December 2010, Carpenter said. CAO Ted Salisbury confirmed that, to date, the city has not tried to collect the outstanding utility bills.
Carpenter said he would welcome an overture from the Mohawk Workers looking to pay the bills.
“But certainly the taxpayer shouldn’t be subsidizing these individuals,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Mohawk Workers said it is the city that is illegally occupying land that according to the Haldimand Proclamation belongs to the Kahniakehake Mohawk nation.
“It’s laughable – maybe laughable isn’t the right word, because it’s depraved,” Jason Bowman said during an interview at Kanata Village on Tuesday. “(The city) is squatting on the land. They’ve polluted and corrupted it.”
Bowman described Kanata Village as a “friendship centre” open to the public and featuring information displays about native history and culture, as well as a replica 17th-century native village on the grounds.
Someone is on site at all times, though it is unclear if anyone lives there permanently.
“It is disgusting that the city would try to make moves on people doing a service not just to the (native) community but the wider community,” Bowman said.
Who owns the land is the real issue, said Coun. Dan McCreary.
“We’ve danced around this long enough,” he said.
The Mohawk Nation may claim ancestral ownership, but “clearly, (Kanata) is a municipal asset,” McCreary said.
“It just boggles my mind (for the city) to say that we don’t have any rights to this place,” countered Mohawk Workers spokesperson Bill Squire. “I think that’s very shallow on their part.”
Asking the residents of Kanata Village to leave would “in no way” affect the city’s relationship with Six Nations, Friel said.
“We are not doing this to cause a rift between our communities,” Friel said. “We are dealing with a particular issue that has cost the municipality close to $50,000 over five years.”
The Mohawk Workers have no formal connection to either Six Nations elected council or the Six Nations Confederacy council, Friel said.
Carpenter told council that Six Nations Chief Bill Montour expressed surprise that the city was allowing the Mohawk Workers to occupy the building.
Bowman dismissed both Six Nations councils as lacking the authority to speak or negotiate on behalf of the Mohawk Nation, as the councils do not have treaty rights to the Haldimand Tract.
The Mohawk Workers are upset that city council appears to be “hiding” from the issue of native land claims and compensation owed to natives, which Bowman said totals $250 billion before interest.
“I’m not really interested in talking about $50,000 – it’s a waste of our time,” Bowman said. “We would like to know what the city council is planning to do about the $250 billion invoice.”
The fact that the residents of Kanata Village are native makes no difference to the city’s position, Carpenter said.
“This is not a matter of nationality,” he said. “They’re occupying a building and it’s got to stop.”
Well-known land claims activists Ruby and Floyd Montour attended Monday’s council meeting. Ruby Montour stood up during the debate and attempted to speak, but was quickly admonished by the mayor.
“Sit down, Ruby. You have no position,” Friel said.
“You don’t either,” she replied. “Is that how you want to work with us?”
Prior to Monday’s meeting, Friel e-mailed Carpenter asking him to withdraw the Kanata Village item from council’s agenda so the city would not become embroiled in a political spat with Mohawk Nation.
The mayor preferred to handle the matter through utility companies.
“There is never merit in creating confrontation when a peaceful solution is available,” Friel wrote.
“There is never merit in creating confrontation when a peaceful solution is available”
True – as long as the victim capitulates, the bully doesn’t have to strike.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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As I have pointed out before, the Six Nations did not own the land along the Grand River. Quebec Governor Hadlimand bought land along the Grand River for the Crown from the Mississauga Indians on May 22, 1784.
The later October 25, 1784 Haldimand announcement was not a treaty and not a deed. It was a licence for Six Nations people to occupy, not own, land along the Grand River and courts have said so. Furthermore, Mohawk leader Joseph Brant and the Six Nations chiefs did not accept the 1793 Simcoe Patent (deed) to land along the Grand River so that land remained the Crown’s land.
Later, Joseph Brant and various groups of Six Nations chiefs surrendered Six Nations use of various parcels of the Crown’s land back to the Crown for sale until the Six Nations people ended up on the current reserve around 1850.
The Crown could have expropriated land it needed from land it owned but it didn’t. When the Six Nations needed money, the Crown was generous and said it would make sure money from sales of the Crown’s land would be put into a trust fund for the Six Nations to help run the reserve.
The Six Nations alleges that sometimes money from land sales did not get into the Six Nations trust fund. The Six Nations alleges the Crown mismanaged the trust fund, imprudently invested money from the trust fund and borrowed money from the trust fund without paying it back.
The Mohawks who occupy the Kanata site in Brantford cannot claim that land. People from the Six Nations of the Grand River cannot claim land that belonged to the Crown. The Six Nations can claim money but not land.
And if, as I have pointed out above, the Mohawks who occupy the Kanata site in Brantford cannot claim that land, if people from the Six Nations of the Grand River cannot claim land that belonged to the Crown, if the Six Nations can claim money but not land and if the Mohawk activists took over the Kanata site illegally, why have the Mohawk activists been allowed to occupy the Kanata site illegally for 5 years?
How come they were not removed sooner?
And, if Bill Squires and the Mohawk Workers, who are occupying the Kanata site in Brantford, are so convinced they own that land, why don’t they or won’t they take their case with all of the pertinent documents to court to prove it?
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My compliments to Richard Carpenter. It seems that he is the only one with courage to speak out about the occupation of Kanata by a group of dissident Mohawks.
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There are many non natives and natives who live in Brantford outside of the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve. Many have homes and businesses and must pay their water and sewer bills, their electricty bills, their phone bills, etc.
If they don’t, the City and/or the phone company will cut off their services.
If the Mohawk Workers aay they own the Kanata site, they should be responsible for paying for their utilites and services. If they don’t pay, why shouldn’t they be cut off like anybody else who doesn’t pay for their utilities and services?
And, if the City of Brantford is going to set a precedent and pay for their utlities and services, I would like the City to pay for my untilitiies and services too.
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When is Friel going to stand up for the rights of the law abiding citizens of our community? i suspect he would still be pleading with the illegal protestors to “talk this out” (and intimidating city staff and other councillors to sweep it under the carpet) even if they were occupying his own home. I also wonder why city staff did not cut off the services to Kanata when asked to do so by council in December 2010. More behind the scenes meddling by Friel to accommodate his appeasement strategy similar to his dictatorial actions in refusing to sign by laws? I think he has been taking his cues from Neville Chamberlains play book.
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jbowman, the Cree have lived in the Hudson’s Bay, James Bay area in the far north for centuries. They are used to living in that climate in that area.
The Cree made treaties with the Crown to surrender land around Hudson’s Bay and James Bay to the Crown and the Cree chose the areas they wanted to keep for their reserves.
In Treaty 9, the Crown promised the Cree a small annuity for each Cree person: the Crown said the Cree could hunt on the land the Cree surrendered to the Crown until the Crown leased or sold the land and the Crown promised the Cree a school and/or a teacher on each reserve. The Crown did not promise in Treaty 9 to pay for all infrastructure, services and programs on the Cree reserves.
Nevertheless, the Canadian federal government (the big Crown) slowly began using tax money to pay for the chiefs’ salaries, to pay for infrastructure like roads, houses, hockey rinks, community centres, healing centres. band offices, band wehicles and equipment, water and sewage treatment systems, etc. and to pay for services (like health-care) and programs for the Cree including those in Attawapiskat.
In addition, the Crown organized it so the Indians who live and work on the reserves don’t have to pay taxes to the Crown. That is pretty generous when the Crown was not obliged to do all that don’t you think?
Furthermore, the Attawapiskat Cree had a little over $3 million in surplus at the end the the 2011 fiscal year and many Cree from Attawapiskat work at the DeBeers diamond mine outside of the reserve. DeBeers has given Attawapiskat about $10.5 million which the Cree are holding with more to come and the Attawapiskat Cree also have $325 million in contracts to provide services to DeBeers. All of that for a reserve of 1,864 people and they say they can’t afford to maintain the houses the government has given them on the reserve.
And the resrves are not prisons. The Indians can leave their reserves any time they want to live and work outside of the resrves and many do.
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jbowman, you said “the City of Brantford owes the Grand River Mohawks $250 billion in arrears plus interest”.
That is nonsense. The Canadian federal government (the big Crown) has taken on the responsibilty of assessing Six Nations of the Grand River claims and determining whether Six Nations claims are valid. It is up to the Canadian federal government (the big Crown) to pay if a court finds in favour of the Six Nations or when the Six Nations decides to negotiate settlements to valid claims.
Municipalities like the City of Brantford are not obliged to pay any money to settle any valid Six Nations of the Grand River or Grand River Mohawk claim. That is up to the Canadian federal government (the big Crown).
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