After several years of relative calm in Caledonia, tensions around the Douglas Creek Estate land claim dispute are flaring up once more.
A roadblock was recently erected at the entrance to the property, off Argyle Street, where development plans led to clashes between police and the aboriginal community in 2006.
The barricade had been off to the side of the road since then, and it’s not clear who moved it back.
Earlier this week, Haldimand County councillors ordered that it be taken down.
“In the event we needed emergency crews to attend that property, we would need access,” Mayor Ken Hewitt said on Tuesday, adding that the county would take similar action again any other unauthorized closure of a county road.
While most of the development plans for the site were abandoned, one person does live inside the roadblock.
Six Nations Chief Ava Hill cautions that her band council wants the county to reconsider taking down the barricade unilaterally.
“We need to sit down and resolve this before they try and take any action to do that,” she told CTV News on Thursday.
“We could be looking at Caledonia 2 if things start escalating.”
The province remains the owner of the Douglas Creek Estate, which it purchased in 2006, for $16 million, from the developer hoping to build more homes on the property.
Hill says she wants to see higher levels of government step in and sort out the land claim dispute.
“I think the province needs to step in and take some responsibility – the province and the federal government,” she said.
“They haven’t done anything for our land rights since 2009.”
Hewitt says he doesn’t expect to hear anything from the provincial or federal government, and says local leaders should work together to find a solution that works for all sides.
“There’s a genuine desire from both communities to start to move toward what I would be calling success,” he said.
