Police raid against Six Nations land defenders may be imminent, Haudenosaunee Chiefs support land back reoccupation
Photo: On August 18, Real Peoples Media posted this photo of an Ontario Provincial Police armoured vehicle parked in Caledonia near 1492 Land Back Lane.
Written by: Brent Patterson
Six Nations land defenders began a re-occupation of their territory on July 19 to uphold their right to free, prior and informed consent and in opposition to the construction of the McKenzie Meadows housing development near Caledonia, Ontario.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) raided the site on August 5 and arrested 9 land defenders, but the re-occupation – named 1492 Land Back Lane – has continued.
On August 7, an Ontario Supreme Court judge issued two more injunctions and extended a third injunction against the land defenders.
The police have not indicated that when these injunctions will be enforced, but on August 18 APTN reported: “Police cruisers pass by [1492 Land Back Lane] as peace officers amass in Caledonia and nearby Hamilton.”
And on August 18 at 5 pm ET, Real Peoples Media posted this photo on Twitter of an OPP armoured vehicle (see above) in Caledonia prompting concerns that it will be used in a police action against the defenders.
APTN has explained: “The people at the camp maintain the land on which McKenzie Meadows sits was never collectively ceded by the Haudenosaunee.”
Numerous legal experts and researchers have also repeatedly pointed to the biased, ahistorical and colonial nature of court injunctions.
But OPP Constable Rodney Leclair says: “The OPP have no role to play in the underlying issues of land disputes and is not in a position to solve them.”
As such, they remain poised to enforce the court injunctions.
Now the customary leaders of the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse, also known as Iroquois or Six Nations) have stated: “The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council is opposed to this [housing] development and as the holder of collective rights for the Haudenosaunee people has not granted any type of consent which would allow this development to proceed.”
The Council is made up of Chiefs from each of the Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora — that form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
The Chiefs have thanked the land defenders who they say are “taking peaceful steps to protect and save the land for our future generations, who will have nowhere to live and prosper if the settler population continues to unlawfully encroach upon our lands.”
Early this morning, land defender Skyler Williams posted on Facebook: “Police presence is at an all-time high. The cops have said repeatedly that their only concern is the roads. But trust for them is not one that I give lightly.”
A legal defence fund has been established for the peaceful resistance at 1492 Land Back Lane. It says: “We urge you to donate what you can to assist us in our legal fund to support Land Defenders facing current charges and any future charges that may result from the numerous injunctions against us in this particular issue.”
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