"Burtch lands farming dispute sparks band claim to lands"

Six Nations Elected Chief Ava Hill, just seven months in office, may be driving a deeper wedge between her council and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council (HCCC) with claims the Burtch Tract lands should be returned to the elected band council.

But Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton says nothing could be further from the truth.

Mohawk Chief MacNaughton was lead negotiator for the Six Nations at the land rights table.

"We (HCCC) negotiated them back under the same conditions that they left in 1784, not in fee simple, not to the band council. It is Haudenosaunee lands and we may have to call on our people to stand up for it if it becomes necessary."

HCCC HDI director Hazel Hill said "During the negotiations Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton was successful in negotiating the return of the Burtch lands back to Six Nations."

Hill, in a bizarre election twist, sent a letter to Brant riding candidates in the June 12 Ontario election appealing for help in having the Burtch lands transferred to the band council and claimed "interference" by the provincial government in a farming dispute.

The letter, obtained by the Turtle Island News says the lands were to be returned to Six Nations as part of the agreement reached at the land rights negotiating table during the 2006 land dispute over the former Douglas Creek Estates.

Her June 6th letter says (David) Petersen (Ontario negotiator) offered Six Nations lands at Burtch, Townsend and South Cayuga in exchange for the blockades to be taken down, and they were.

Hill wrote "The Burtch lands are Six Nations lands and the provincial government recognizes that, However, five years later, the Provincial Government has still not returned the Burtch lands to Six Nations. When we question them on it, they say, we will return it to the Six Nations community."

She writes "It is our position that the only body that they can return it to, legally, is the Six Nations Elected Council. Yet they refuse to move ahead with the transfer."

She says for the past five years the SNEC has authorized the Six Nations Farmers Association (SNFA) to farm the Burtch lands, "with no objection from the provincial government.

"Ontario is now saying that they do not want anyone to farm the lands this year. They have placed barricades at the entrances to the land (at Burtch and Cockshutt roads) so we can no longer enter it."

Hill says they met with the Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs saying the SNFA should be allowed to farm the Burtch lands and she says they requested reimbursement to the farmers for expenses they have incurred.

She says they were told the ministry is "sticking with their position that no one be allowed to farm the Burtch lands this year."

She said they also said they cannot transfer the lands until the land has been tested to ensure it meets agricultural standards.

She wrote "The Six Nations Farmers have assured us that they have done soil testing and it is meeting the standards for what they are growing."

She said the ministry said "they cannot even consider our request while they are in election limbo."

She wrote "This Provincial Government needs to comply with the Supreme Court of Canada's Isaac vs. Davey which clearly states that the Six Nations Elected Council is the only legal governing body at Six Nations and to transfer that land immediately.

"By not moving ahead with the land transfer, this Government continues to promote and sanction division in the Six Nations community and to have continued interference in our ability to move forward economically," she wrote. She ends her letter with the "we maintain our posi­tion that the SNF will farm the Burtch lands this year.

Hill did not return Turtle Island News calls or provide the letter to Six Nations only newspaper.