"Signs of the times"

Community rally banners spell out support for changes to Six Nations governance

by Paul Baswick

OHSWEKEN - A parade of brightly coloured placards swept across the front lawn of the Band Administration Building Thursday morning, as over 100 community members joined in a rally to voice concerns over recent band council decisions and to promote changes to the local system of governance.

The rally, which began at 11 a.m. with a winding street procession down Fourth Line Road and Chiefswood Roads, converged outside the band council offices, where a lockout spurred by the dismissal of Six Nations Director of Operations Cynthia Jamieson took place just two days before.

While the lockout of the Band Administration Building lasted less than a day, reaction to Jamieson's dismissal maintained its strong momentum among the gathered community members, as evidenced in the many signs created and carried by rally participants.

"Cynthia Jamieson for Chief" - "Kick out Council! Honesty is the best policy" - "Do us Justice: Resign" - "Six Nations Population: 13, 1 Chief, 12 councillors." - While the subjects of the signs often changed from one placard to the next, their collective message, that of a need for change in Six Nations governance, was uniform.

Dave General, who followed Alva Lickers in addressing the rally outside the council offices, said that the purpose of the rally was to help community members encourage each other to bring about positive change within the community.

"It is now time for you to take all of your anger and your frustration and channel it into

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something that is positive and constructive, because I don't want to be here next spring or next fall doing exactly the same thing," said General, who addressed the crowd from the top of a picnic table on the Band Administration Building lawn.

"You try to get (council) impeached. You try to get them to have a vote of non­-confidence, to resign - it doesn't work. Let's focus our energy at each other. Let's get interested. Let's let them know we're watching them. We don't need just need one Director of Operations watching them ­- we all have to watch them."

General specifically addressed community issues which preceded Jamieson's dismissal that still demand resolution on Six Nations, including the expenditure of Casino Rama Dollars without community consent, land claim disputes, and the lasting legacy of the failed Grand River Mills project.

All of these issues, contended General, can be traced to a larger, fundamental problem within the community.

"The common denominator in all of this is the current administration," said General.

"Let's make this message very thorough. It's not just about the releasing and employment of the band council. It's not just about Rama money. It's not just about GRM. It's about how (council) regards this whole territory."

In a bid to help change band council's perception of Six Nations while invoking constructive action, General informed those at the rally of a request he had sent to council to attend a community meeting at the Social Services Building on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. General added that Roberta Jamieson, former Ontario Ombudsman, had already agreed to chair the meeting.

"She has proposed that representatives from the community and the band council sit down and set a very specific so that it doesn't get diluted in anger and accusation," said General, who suggested that following a tighter format may result in more getting done at the meeting.

"It (should stick) to the point, and when we leave that meeting, we leave with something constructive."

General, when contacted by the Teka Tuesday night, said that while next Thursday's meeting is still on, the format may not be as originally planned.

General said he will meet with Roberta Jamieson and Band Chief Wellington Staats today to discuss their participation and the format of Thursday's meeting, but that no one from council has so far confirmed they will attend.

"We may not be able to proceed with the format that we had talked about for the next meeting, with three or four councillors present, Roberta Jamieson, and community representatives," said General.

"Even if it doesn't quite happen as planned, the meeting will go on."

"If General is unable to secure a commitment by council to attend this Thursday's meeting, he says, he, Staats and Jamieson will lay the groundwork for another upcoming meeting which would follow the preferred format.

"It could be a week or two before that meeting happens now," said General.

"We've waited this long, though, and another week or two wouldn't be too long to hold off."