"Burtch Land Rights Dispute Widens"

Saying two white people are leading the Confederacy Chiefs, the Six Nations Farmers Association (SNFA) called on Elected Council to "squash" the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI).

The bitter words came near the conclusion of a discussion at Elected Council's meeting of the Committee of the Whole on May 13, following an hour of largely fruitless discussion. Elected Chief William Montour said he had invited the farmers to the Committee of the Whole because he wanted to understand what was going on at Burtch.

When the Farmers Association refused to sign a lease with HDI to farm the Burtch lands this year - land they have been working for the past five years - HDI shut down the clean-up of contaminated soil at Burtch. HDI stopped the clean-up at Burtch on May 6 because the farmers have been working the soil.

Last year the Farmers Association refused to pay rent to HDI, saying they did not know how HDI gave the money to the community. Instead, the farmers gave $15,000 to 15 community organizations last fall, something they say they intend to do again.

HDI and Elected Council already have their own jurisdictional contest of sorts, each claiming Ontario will return Burtch to them.

Not surprisingly, the farmers could not explain why HDI had stopped the clean-up of Burtch. Sub-contractor Dan Elliott, who has been working at Burtch since last year hauling soil in and out of the site, was out of the loop too. "They just told us that we couldn't continue work."

"There was a safety concern with respect to farmers undertaking discing operations near workers who were tree planting," said HDI lawyer and board director Aaron Detlor when reached later. "The second issue was liability issues. If something happens to the farmers, they don't have permission to be there. They don't the Confederacy Chiefs authority to be there."

"Who are the legal land owners," asked Elected Councillor Darryl Hill (District Five). "Hdi doesn't own the land. They're trying to force a lease agreement for land they don't even own."

Detlor said HDI has the authority to lease the land under "an agreement with the Province of Ontario. They agreed to return the title of the land to the Chiefs as it was held in the 1780s ... as you are aware, there was no band council in the 1780s." Detlor said the "Chiefs have instructed HDI to ensure that the land is taken care of properly and to the benefit of all Six Nations people and not just a few particular farmers."

Detlor went a step further, and said the Burtch lands had already been returned to the Confederacy Council because the land had never been surrendered in the first place. "We're going to say it's under ours [jurisdiction]. I think the province does recognize it's under the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs jurisdiction because they signed the agreement, they signed the letter."

The farmers say they have written permission from the Confederacy Chiefs to farm at Burtch, but things twisted when they refused to sign HDI's lease. "We wouldn't for the simple reason that the farmers don't recognize HDI," SNFA president Ralph Sowden told the Committee.

"We have received authority from the Confederacy Chiefs Council to undertake the work that we are doing," said Detlor. "We have a full, transparent approach. We report every month to the Chiefs. We have a weekly meeting with the Chiefs to apprise them of our recommendations and to receive instructions from the Chiefs."

Despite the impasse, which farmer Jesse Porter partially blamed on both Elected and Confederacy Councils, the farmers have planted nearly 300 acres at Burtch already this year.

"Both councils are sitting back and waiting for the day [when Burtch is returned] before they start reacting," Jesse Porter told the Committee. "That shouldn't be. Both councils should go to the community and say, 'this is how we could do this, what's your suggestion?' Instead you're letting the people come at odds about this."

When the Committee talked about getting the remediation work restarted, they realized they they did not know what role Elected Council had in the clean-up of Burtch, and the council employees present at the meeting had no knowledge of the matter.

Elected Council "didn't participate in the discussions involving the remediation," said Detlor. He said HDI is trying to keep the land from coming under the control of the federal government.

"If you can get that job started up, the whole community would see you're taking leadership," said farmer Art Porter.