The mayor of Haldimand County says a roadblock set up a couple of weeks ago by Indigenous protesters in Caledonia is an internal Six Nations dispute that has left his residents hanging in the balance.
Ken Hewitt is criticizing the protesters and the OPP alike, and believes many Six Nations members, as well as the town residents, oppose the roadblock on Argyle Street South, a main Caledonia thoroughfare.
Hewitt says the OPP is setting a bad precedent by allowing the protest to continue because it’s a dispute between two bodies of Six Nations — the Band Council and the hereditary government known as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Both are seeking control of an area known as the Burtch Lands near Brantford, which is nowhere near Caledonia.
The roadblock is a replay of an intense and bigger blockade and standoff at the same spot in 2006 over land claims.
LISTEN: Haldimand Mayor Ken Hewitt joins the Bill Kelly Show
Hewitt says “there are even times when there are no protesters on site, just the steel barricade across the road.”
He says residents want to know if there are no protesters around, why doesn’t the OPP just remove the barricade.
The mayor says “patience is gone and enough is enough.”
“The OPP needs to balance their duties between protecting the public and applying the law,” he adds “And that is what they haven’t done.”
Hewitt says he expects area business owners, who are losing money because of the blockade, to eventually file suit.
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