INDEPTH: CALEDONIA LAND CLAIM
Timeline of recent events
CBC News Online | Updated May 5, 2006

May 4, 2006
The Ontario Provincial Police says a pamphlet being handed out around Caledonia inviting people to a Ku Klux Klan meeting to discuss a "final solution" to the "Indian problem" is a hoax.

» CBC STORY: Racist pamphlet in Caledonia a hoax, police say

April 30, 2006
Former Ontario premier David Peterson is appointed to help resolve the standoff. "It's not a question of counting blame or finding fault, it's a question of finding a solution," he says at a news conference.

» CBC STORY: Peterson to help resolve Caledonia dispute

April 29, 2006
The Canadian Press reports that the Ontario government has offered compensation to the land developers and builders affected by the Caledonia occupation. The details of the proposed deal are confidential.

» CBC STORY: Ontario offers to compensate Caledonia developers: report

April 28, 2006
About 500 Caledonia residents gather to demand the removal of the native blockade.

» CBC STORY: Non-native Caledonia protesters vent frustrations

April 25, 2006
Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer infuriates protesters when she tells CBC Newsworld that Caledonia residents "have to get to work to support their families. If they don't go to work, they don't get paid and if they don't get paid then they can't pay their mortgages and they lose their homes.

"They don't have money coming in automatically every month," she continues. "They've got to work to survive and the natives have got to realize that."

Video: Mayor Marie Trainer says frustration is building. (Runs 4:23)

After Trainer makes the comments, Haldimand County Council votes to replace her with deputy mayor Bob Patterson as its spokesperson on the issue.

» CBC STORY: Mayor's comments anger aboriginal protesters in Caledonia standoff


Protesters say the land was granted to Six Nations more than 200 years ago and was never officially transferred to non-natives. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
April 24, 2006
About 3,000 Caledonia residents hold a rally in the evening, calling on authorities to end the standoff. Later that night, about 500 residents confront police and native protesters at the blockade.

Some in the crowd head toward the barricade, but about 100 police officers keep them away. Some of the demonstrators smash a police vehicle. One person is arrested.

» CBC STORY: Caledonia standoff enters 57th day after angry rally ends in arrest

April 23, 2006
CBC News reports that the barricades around the Caledonia construction site will remain in place for at least two more weeks.

Protesters allow local residents to cross the barricades to attend services at Caledonia Baptist Church.

» CBC STORY: Native barricades to remain for 2 weeks in Caledonia

April 22, 2006
After 18 hours of talks, representatives from the Six Nations and the federal and Ontario governments sign an agreement to talk about setting the land claim issues behind the Caledonia occupation. Within two weeks, the three parties will each appoint a "principal representative" to negotiate.

Protesters and OPP and RCMP officers remain in place around the barricades.

» CBC STORY: Natives, governments to continue talks over Caledonia occupation

April 21, 2006
Overnight, about 50 protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve light bonfires beside the CN tracks on their territory in eastern Ontario, near Belleville. CN freight trains are blocked and Via Rail announces that trains from Toronto to Kingston will be replaced with shuttle buses.

Friday morning, negotiators for the Six Nations and the federal and Ontario governments begin talks to settle the land claim issues behind the Caledonia occupation.

Sam George, whose brother Dudley was killed by an OPP sniper during a stand-off at Ipperwash Provincial Park, calls for calm and urges authorities to treat the protesters fairly.

In the afternoon, CN announces it has obtained an injunction from an Ontario court ordering protesters to remove the blockage from its rail lines.

» CBC STORY: Trains halted as standoff continues in Caledonia

April 20, 2006
Around 4:30 a.m. EDT, Ontario Provincial Police officers conduct a raid on the protesters occupying the housing project, arresting 16 people.

Protesters say police were armed with M16 rifles, tear gas, pepper spray and Tasers, and subdued a number of people with shocks from the Tasers and pepper-spray. A spokeswoman for the protesters said one female protester was "beaten by five OPP officers." OPP would later deny that excessive force was used.

Hours later, protesters return to the site numbering in the hundreds by 9 a.m. Protesters use piles of burning tires and a dump truck to block the road into the development. They climb on vehicles and wave Mohawk flags. Police helicopters roared overhead.

Police hold a news conference and say they conducted the raid because an "escalation of activity" posed a risk to public safety, but didn't provide any further details.

A group of Quebec Mohawks raise a banner and Mohawk flags on a bridge near Montreal in support of the occupation in Caledonia. The demonstration disrupts traffic for about a half hour.

As the night falls, a busload of supporters from other Ontario reserves arrives on the site. Four members of the Hells Angels arrive and speak with native protesters.

» CBC STORY: Tensions grow as native protesters return to Ontario site

April 19, 2006
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the land dispute will be settled in a "peaceful manner."

April 4, 2006
A rally of 500 people, including people who bought homes in the development, gathers in Caledonia to demand an end to the stand off.

March 28, 2006
The court order is changed such that protesters will face criminal contempt as well as civil contempt if they don't leave the site.

March 22, 2006
Native protesters continue their occupation of the Caledonia construction site as the court-imposed deadline passes.

» CBC STORY: Native occupiers stay at Ontario site as deadline passes

March 17, 2006
Protesters are given until March 22 to leave the construction site.

March 10, 2006
Developer Henco Industries obtains an injunction ordering protesters off the site.

Feb. 28, 2006
A small group of Six Nations protesters from the Grand River Territory reserve move onto the Caledonia construction site, erecting tents, a teepee and a wooden building.

Oct. 26, 2005
Six Nations Chief David General writes to Henco Industries, warning of the dangers of developing the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision on native land.

» RELATED: History of the Caledonia land dispute

Thunder Fox 12:08 PM

Both Work Together GREAT!