"Attempt to Develop Johnson Tract Stopped"

Grand Valley Trails is the friendly name given by developers for another segment of the Johnson Tract targeted for a new Brookfield Homes housing development located at the end of Henry Street in Brantford, near Highway 403.

The construction site is zoned as belonging to the County of Brant. But veteran Six Nations activist and land protector Dick Hill thinks otherwise and told the heavy equipment operators, who had begun stripping the topsoil off the fertile farmlands this past weekend, to get out.

Another Six Nations land protector, Gene Johns, first went to the location on Saturday when he noticed the work being done to inform the workers they would be wise in stopping since the land is still Six Nations land and is still Six Nations land and is under a validated land claim.

He then left, but the work continued. That is when Hill got involved to underscore Johns' words. This time they stopped and one piece of their heavy equipment was removed from the site almost immediately.

Hill returned Sunday to oversee the rest of the excavating equipment being removed. OPP officers were at the scene, but there was no incident, except that the workers were ordered by police to wash down the Blossom Ave roadway, which had become covered in mud by the removal of the equipment.

"That site is going to be monitored closely," says Hill. "If we lose the Johnson Tract, we'll lose it all."

Covering 7,000 acres, the Johnson Tract is one of the largest land rights claims in and around Brantford and is one of 28 existing claims filed by Six Nations and validated by the Canadian government.

According to government documentation collected by Six Nations land researcher Phil Monture and his staff, the history of this parcel of land is traceable in Canada's own records.

By Order-in-Council of October 4, 1843, the Crown acknowledged that the lands which comprised the Johnson's Settlement Tract, some 7,000 acres and other lands including the Eagles Nest Tract, (Eagle Place) the Oxbow Tract (former Bow Park Farms) and the Martin Settlement (Cainsville), were reserved out of the lands purportedly to be surrendered for disposition to the Crown under the January 18, 1841 document.

Six Nations had indicated their consent that these lands would be let on short term, renewable leases for the perpetual care and maintenance of the people of Six Nations. Nevertheless, the Crown subsequently sold these lands and all of the proceeds from the sales were not paid to Six Nations. Six Nations has never consented to an absolute surrender of these lands.

In or about 1843, the Crown reserved specific lands for Six Nations and as of 1995 the Six Nations Reserve consists of approximately 45,482,951 acres, being only a small portion of the lands said to be reserved for Six Nations.

There is no lawful surrender from Six Nation to the Crown for the sale of any portion of the lands reserved for Six Nations.

Six Nations was deprived of continual rental revenues by the Crown's sale of the lands in the Johnson Settlement. Six Nations did not receive full and fair compensation for the lands sold.

The Crown has not shown that all the purported sums paid were credited to the Six Nations Trust Fund Accounts.

There is also concern over the safety of the Fairchilds Creek, a cold water stream which meanders through the area and eventually makes its way to the Grand River just ahead of the Six Nations water treatment intake.