"Confederacy calls on Ontario Premier Wynne to 'rebuild the trust'"

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs are calling for a meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne after a meeting with Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer last Tuesday sparked a heated stalemate.

In a press statement released Friday the Haudenosaunne Chiefs and clanmothers said they were "disappointed in the direction Ontario appears to be taking, in refusing to renew the two year old Communications Protocol between the Confederacy and Ontario."

Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) director Hazel E. Hill said in the statement that Minister Zimmer indicated at the August 12th meeting "he might be prepared to renew the protocol if the Confederacy took part in the talks with the county and band council, and only if the discussions 'resulted in a positive outcome.'" The HDI is the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) planning department.

She said "The protocol was a good faith attempt to build a relationship between the HCCC and Ontario, and now it appears Ontario was simply using the Communications Protocol as a means to exercise control over the Haudenosaunee and when it became apparent Ontario could not exercise the control that it desired, that Ontario would simply withdraw from the process."

Confederacy Chiefs are calling on Wynne to "help restore the "fair and honest" communication process, established during her tenure as the former Ontario Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council."

Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs said in an email statement Tuesday "Ontario believes safety and security are the central focus for DCE issues. Ontario is engaged in multi-party discussions to find long-term, sustainable solutions with regards to the DCE land.

"Minister Zimmer personally traveled to Six Nations out of respect for the HCCC Chiefs and Clan Mothers and to convey Ontario's invitation.

"We continue to encourage the HCCC to join our multi-party discussions to find long-term, sustainable solutions with regards to the DCE lands.

"Only the settlement of the Six Nations' land claim will provide a resolution to the issues at DCE.

"Ontario continues to call on the federal government to return to the negotiation table." Officials from Premier Wynne's office did not return Turtle Island News calls for comment.

Ontario has also been holding individual meetings with both the Six Nations Band Council and Haldimand County's Mayor and selected Six Nations community members.

The Confederacy and Ontario signed the Communications Protocol two years ago providing a format for the two to hold discussions. That expired in June and Ontario has been reluctant to renew it.

It is the first in a series of established processes for the Ontario government, as part of the Crown, in how Ontario and the Haudenosaunee will relate to each other, with its basis in the Two Row Wampum, the Confederacy release said. Ontario did not have a Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs until June of 2007.