There are dire predictions that this will be a long hot summer of confrontation as aboriginal groups ramp up blockades and protests to push for action on some of their long-stalled land claims.
June 29 is the designated day of action, and there are protests threatened across the country. Assembly of First Nations national chief Phil Fontaine has called for speedy action on land claims in order to ease native anger.
Some people believe the system is working as it should.
Take, for example, the claim over the Douglas Creek Estates inCaledonia. That stalled from 1995-2001 because an aboriginal group took the federal government to court over it. It is a policy of the federal government that you can’t sue them and negotiate with them at the same time, so the negotiations broke off. That’s why there was no progress on the claim at that time.
As far as the feds are concerned, there was a valid surrender of the land by the Six Nations in 1844. They’re simply not negotiating over it any more. In an attempt to end the stand-off in the 40-hectare construction site that native activists are still occupying, federal officials have offered to discuss two other nearby land claims — but the activists have refused.
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