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Attawapiskat fight over third-party control heads to court The Canadian Press Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, whose finances are now controlled by a federally appointed third-party manager, filed a court injunction Tuesday to give control of the community's finances back to Chief Theresa Spence and her council while the decision to put the community under third-party management is under judicial review.
The results of review, which is looking at the legitimacy of the government's decision to impose an outside financial manager, are expected on April 24 and the community wants to regain control of their books in the interim.
"We feel that (Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan) made decisions in haste," said Grand Chief Stan Louttit, who has stood beside Spence throughout the dispute. "And we feel that the decision made to impose the third-party manager was wrong, legally and morally."
"There was no justifiable reason to bring in a third-party manager," said Charlie Angus, the NDP MP for the area, after Spence asked for the judicial review on Dec. 15, 2011.
"A third-party manager is brought in to communities basically as a punishment battalion - it destroys the ability of a community to do any response in an adequate way. This is an emergency . . . and the third-party manager is interfering, I think, with a process that could have been solved very easily. The community is well within their rights to go to court."
The images from the community show people living in makeshift tents and shacks without heat as temperatures drop to -40 Celsius. At least 90 people have resorted to living in two construction workers' portables equipped with only two washrooms and four showers.
Others are using buckets as washroom facilities and sleep in fear of fire because of wood-burning stoves in their homes.
In a sworn affidavit which accompanies Tuesday's court documents, Spence likens the imposition of an outside manager to her community's experience of the residential school system, in which aboriginal children were taken from their families by the government.
Alberta redirects $1M in cash seized from crooks to help communities battle gangs The Canadian Press EDMONTON - The Alberta government is redirecting $1 million to helping communities battle gang violence.
Premier Alison Redford says the one-time grants are aimed at programs in schools and community centres that can keep kids from losing themselves in gangs.
The province says young people in rural areas and aboriginal communities are most at risk.
The money will come from Alberta's civil forfeiture office.
The office seizes and sells property acquired through criminal means.
Justice Minister Verlyn Olson says local initiatives are the best way to bring about an overall reduction in gang crime.
Saskatchewan band votes to accept $21M for land that flooded in '40s The Canadian Press SAKIMAY, Sask. - Members of a Saskatchewan Indian band have voted to accept a $21-million settlement for land that was flooded in the 1940s.
Chief Lynn Acoose of the Sakimay First Nation says 307 of 328 ballots cast in Monday's referendum were in favour.
A deal was reached earlier this month after years of talks between the Sakimay, the federal government and the province.
The claim was over a water control structure built on Crooked Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley east of Regina.
The Indian Claims Commission ruled in 1998 that there was no proper authorization to build the structure or to flood reserve land.
The land remains under water to this day.
Acoose says about $2 million of the total settlement will go toward paying each person from the Sakimay First Nation $1,000. There are about 470 band members.
The remaining $19 million is to be invested in a bank-managed trust.
"We'll be drawing four per cent of our trust annually in revenue," she explained Tuesday. "It's going to be used for things such as language retention, recreation, culture and elder use support."
The settlement also allows some land to be added to the reserve to make up for what was lost.
Sports Headlines
Police come together and particpate at Six Nations Memorial Hockey Tournament
By Neil Becker
Sports Writer
Though not everyone got
a trophy, everyone who
participated in the Six Nations
Memorial Hockey
Tournament went home as
a winner.
Officers from all across
Southern Ontario donned
their hockey gear at the
Paris arena on January 27th
where they not only competed
for the Six Nations
Memorial Trophy but also
took some time to pay tribute
to a certain three officers
who are no longer
around.
“I really didn’t think this
would grow,” Six Nations
officer Derrick Anderson
who began this tournament
seven years ago said.
“The money we make
through the food, entry fee
and prizes go towards the
three families, local communities
and literacy programs.”
Anderson, who played a
huge role in the SN Red
Wings winning the B Finals,
first organized this yearly
event to remember the first
of these three officers who
unfortunately passed away.
“I just thought at the time
that it would be a get together
where a couple of
guys would get together
and have fun while raising
some money,” Anderson
said.
Following the games players
got the opportunity to
socialize over food and
drinks while wondering if
their names will be called
during the various draws.
Showing their true dedication
the four teams spent
practically the entire day at
the arena as the tournament
kicked off at approximately
9 a.m. and lasted
until about 4 p.m.
Besides for hockey and socializing
there was also a
moment of silence to remember
the lives of Roger
Smith, Terry Martin and
Adam Bernie.
Lack of offense proves costly during Midget Rep Hawks playoff run
By Neil Becker
Sports Writer
According to Six Nations
Midget Rep Hawks coach
Chandon Hill defensive
breakdowns and a lack of
offense proved to be their
downfall against St. George.
These two teams who split
their two game season series
faced off at the Gaylord
Powless Arena on January
28th with plenty at stake as
Six Nations were trying to
fight off elimination in what
was a best of five playoff
series.
The Hawks who on this
night dished out lots of
punishing hits came within
five minutes of celebrating
a 2-1 Game 4 victory. Instead
they experienced
frustration as St. George
tied things up to force overtime.
”We had a couple of defensive
breakdowns and we
left someone wide open for
the tying goal,” Hill said.
After nothing was settled
in overtime the game went
down as a tie and they met
once again the next day
only this time in St. George.
Though they allowed only
one goal the Midget Reps
couldn’t get their offense
on track as they saw their
season end courtesy of a 1-
0 St. George win.
“We just couldn’t get
enough shots or scoring
chances,” Hill said. “Overall
we showed lots of improvement
and should have won
this series.”
With so much on the line
both teams played an airtight
defensive first period.
Led by some stellar goaltending
from Austin Hill
the Midget Reps were able
to kill off a couple of penalties.
Still despite the positives
Six Nations found
themselves trailing 1-0
after a period.
After effectively killing off
a two man penalty the
Midget Reps jumpstarted
their offence as Mitch
Green who had quite a few
impressive rushes scored
their first goal.
Blaine Laforme fills in as Midget LL coach and earns a win against Delhi
By Neil Becker
Sports Writer
Blaine LaForme was quick
to downplay the challenges
that come with stepping in
as a substitute coach.
LaForme, who coaches the
Six Nations Minor Reps
found himself behind the
Midget LL bench on January
28th for what was a suspenseful
3-2 win against
Delhi.
Coming into the weekend
Laforme eagerly accepted
the challenge of stepping in
as a fill in for regular coach
Rob Davis who couldn’t
make it.
“I’ve watched them and I
know a lot of the guys,”
Laforme said. “It’s my second
or third time coaching
them so it’s not a big deal. I
just talk to them and make
them feel comfortable.”
Unfortunately for all
Hawks fans in attendance
they saw their team right
away get behind the eight
ball as Delhi scored less than
a minute into play.
Following that goal Six
Nations goaltender Chris
Henhawk was stellar as he
turned aside countless Delhi
scoring opportunities.
Meanwhile the Hawks had
their fare share of chances as
well in what was a wide
open first period filled with
some good clean solid body
checks.
After killing off a couple of
penalties late in the first Six
Nations was finally made to
pay as Delhi doubled their
lead with only 13 seconds
remaining in the opening
period.
When asked what the
Midget LL might need to
work on going forward
Laforme didn’t even hesitate
before replying “discipline.”
Local News Headlines
McHale arrested after “racists” signs posted on poles By Lynda Powless
Editor
CALEDONIA-Protester
Gary McHale was arrested
by OPP last Friday after two
signs were mounted on
utility poles adjacent to
Kanonhstaton, unceded Six
Nations lands adjacent to
Caledonia and reclaimed by
Six Nations in 2006.
The signs on white placards
said “No Jews Allowed by
order of McGuinty” and
“No whites allowed.”
The signs were posted by
McHale and a supporter but
quickly taken down by OPP
who told McHale the signs
would not stay up.
During the verbal fray
McHale engaged in shouting
matches with a crowd of
Six Nations people and others.
Tom Keefer, a human
rights activist from Guelph
told McHale “it is common
decency that we are not
going to allow people to put
up racist signs in a public
place. You stepped too far.”
Keefer said the signs were
“racist and unacceptable.”
The crowd yelled the signs
were racist. “Why are you
putting up racists signs?You
can’t put up that sign,”
Keefer yelled. “You can’t
have that here take that
down. Take that racist sign
off. It is racist. Take down
your racist sign,” Keefer
told McHale.
OPP took down the sign
to cheers from the crowd of
about 50 people.
Spring budget will reflect importance of First Nation issues
OTTAWA-Prime Minister
Stephen Harper headed into
talks with First Nations leaders
last week with plans for incremental
change.
He spent the day chatting
with leaders and listening in
on workshops.
And at the end of the day he
got what he came for.
An economically focused First
Nations agenda that is expected
to be reflected in the
spring federal budget.
That budget is expected to reflect
three specific aims of
Prime Minister Stephen
Harper’s government.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister
John Duncan said that includes
a pledge to move forward with
recommendations on education
reform, a working group
on federal funding for aboriginal
reserves and a task force on
economic development.
Duncan said he feels he and
the chief of the Assembly of
First Nations are on the same
page.
``We do have our shared priorities,
we have an important
partnership,’’ he said Wednesday.
``We are obviously motivated
by economic development and
a jobs agenda and we think
that is consistent with the national
direction as well, so I
would anticipate that the
budget will be a very good
exercise.’’
National Chief Shawn Atleo
said last week’s Crown-First
Nations meeting “was an important
step in renewing the
relationship with the Crown.”
In an interview with Turtle Island
News he said the result of
the meeting was that at the
end of the day Prime Minister
Harper issued a statement
“signalling a willingness to
work with us.
He said the Prime Minister has
pledged to work with First Nations
over new fiscal arrangements.
He said the comprehensive
claims process has not kept
pace with changes in common
law, or the United Nations
Declaration.
“The only way forward is to
remove the government from
being judge and jury” said
Atleo. He said First Nations
have to play a “role in designing
a more fair process based
on recognition of our rights
not extinguishments.”
He said he hoped to see work
in education reflected in the
coming budget.
Federal
inmate
caught
on Six
Nations (TORONTO-The Repeat
Offender Parole Enforcement
(ROPE) Squad has arrested
a federal offender
wanted on a Canada Wide
Warrant for Breach of Parole.
Nicholas Hill, 25, was arrested
Tuesday at Six Nations
at about 1:00 pm by
members of the Six Nations
Police Service.
His arrest was as a result
of investigative
leads and was not as a
result of information resulting
from media reports.
The ROPE Squad would like
to thank the media for their
assistance in publicizing
the information regarding
this offender.
Robbers
hit again Six Nations Police are investigating the report of an Armed Robbery Tuesday, January 24, at about 6:30 pm, at the Pine Ridge Gas Bar on 2nd Line Road.Investigators
determined that a green Dodge Pick Up Truck pulled into the business. A male got out of the truck, approached the employee and demanded the money in the till.
The male was armed with a knife. The employee turned over an undisclosed amount of cash to the suspect. The man then got back into the truck and drove away
heading eastbound on 2nd Line Road. A second male was seen sitting on the passenger side of the truck. The suspect is described as 5'7 - 5'9, thick build, dark
skin, dark brown hair. He was wearing a black Carhart coat.The second male who was seen sitting in the truck was only described as male, wearing a white hoodie.
Editorial
Relics of who we were
need to be saved
It isn’t very often that any community gets a chance to take
a step back in history and look history in the face as it unfolds.
Unfortunately one of those rare glimpses may be lost to the
community if Six Nations Band Council does not step up to
protect what ever is left at pre-contact sites along the Grand
River at the Chiefwood bridge.
The site, according to the band’ s own archeological report
is a “treasure trove” rich in Iroquoian history.
And it is being bulldozed away while we drive by .
Elected Chief Bill Montour and his council are anxious to
get the community a new water treatment plant. So anxious
they even took out a multi million dollar loan to make up
the cost difference when INAC refused to fully fund the $41
million plant.
Now with a shovel in the ground they didn’t bother to tell
the community that test digs found remains of possible settlements
right here in Ohsweken.
The band kept the secret and we can see why.
The archeological finds lay directly in the path of the new
pipe line heading down to the river.
Who knows what may have been there. And as Hazel Hill
tells us this isn’t an Indiana Jones movie where skeletal remains
may be found intact. But signs of their lifestyles certainly
would have been.
But the community wasn’t given a chance to hear about it.
In fact the community wasn’t even told there were artifacts
found or where they ended up going.
This didn’t come down to an issue of weighing the community’s
need for a water treatment plant verses history. Of
course a new plant is needed. But this community had an
opportunity to have the best of both and they weren’t told.
They weren’t given an option.
Those test digs took place in 2009 and had the band council
been forward thinking digs could have taken place and been
finished before the piping went in.
Imagine how exciting that could have been.
Six Nations children able to participate in actual digs perhaps
taking it on as a career. Community members watching
history unfold right here at home.
And the right thing being done to respect the ancestors.
Not the easy thing, or the most expeditious thing. But the
right thing.
Band council has a slim chance of righting the wrong it has
allowed to take place by trying to rescue anything that might
be left of the remains of our people’s lives. It is simply the
right thing to do.
United Nations Declaration
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Please speak out! Within weeks, the United Nations General Assembly must make a decision on the long awaited and urgently needed UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Either the international community will move ahead with final adoption as has been urged by Indigenous peoples and their supporters worldwide, or adoption of the Declaration will once again be delayed due to the demands of a small, yet vocal group of states.
Please take this opportunity to support the Declaration.
More than 14,000 individuals and organizations have already signed a global petition hosted by Amnesty International Canada in support of the Declaration.
If you haven't already done so, please add your name and encourage many others to do so.
The petition, in English, Spanish, French and Russian is online at:
Peter Penashue, MP - Labrador Video Gallery Innu Response View Here
Supreme Court of Canada
Appeal Judgments
ABORIGINAL LAW: TAX DETAILS HERE
Band council may have bulldozed artifact treasures
By Lynda Powless and Stephanie Dearing
Writers
Band council may have bulldozed artifact treasures
Some of the artifacts and
remnants of earlier Iroquoian
inhabitants of the
flood plains along the Grand
at Chiefswood bridge can
still be saved, if Six Nations
Band Council calls in archeologists
to rescue the site.
Six Nations Band Council
appears to have stepped up
its efforts to bulldoze
through the archeologically
rich Six Nations artifact site
on the Grand River adjacent
to the Chiefswood Bridge
after concerns were raised
last week over destroying
the site.
In a rush to construct Six
Nations new water plantlines
to the river, topsoil has
been removed that may
hold archeological treasures,
dating back to, two
settlement sites in the Middle
Archaic Period (circa
4,500 years before the present)
and another to the
Princess Point Complex
(circa A.D. 600 to 1000).”
Six Nations band council’s
own 2009 archeology report
describes the area as a
“very significant archeological
site.”
The report was undertaken
by Timmins Martelle Heritage
Consultants at the request
of the band council in
2009. It found the area to
be a site “of at least two
pre- contact native occupations.”
Test sites found not only
arrowheads and chert but
beads, pipe and pottery
fragments, right in the area
where the band plans to put
its water intake for the new
plant.
The report recommends a
Stage Four assessment be
undertaken before any construction
on the new water
plant’s intake and low lift
station starts on the site or
that the “very significant”
site be marked for protection
from development.
But band council has not
implemented either of the
recommendations.
The construction came
under fire last week when
Haudenosaunne Development
Institute (HDI) director
Hazel Hill saw the work
and asked workers to stop
bulldozing saying there was
concern about protecting
archeological sites.
Hill was surprised at the
work taking place. “I didn’t
realize they would be building
on the area. We know
it’s an old village site.”
Hill had been requesting
the band council’s archeology
report for more than a
year but Band council refused
to release the document.
Despite the archeology report,
Elected Chief Bill Montour
says there was no
village in the flats.
“No there is no village. We
had an intensive study and
there were artifacts found in
the south west corner,” he
said.
He said villages and graveyards
are ‘usually on a hill
away from the river and
they don’t put villages in a
flood plain.”
He said the main village in
the area was the Middleport
site where a huge excavation
took place several years
ago and the artifacts are
now on display at the
Woodland Cultural Centre.
He said ground penetrating
radar was used on the flats.
“Clint (King environment
officer) didn’t find any such
site.”
But archeologist Holly
Martell says the Grand River
banks are rich with artifacts.
“The river was up to the
first break 12,000 years ago
then receded, so the flood
plain was the area people
liked to settle in. It would
flood periodically not all the
time.”
She said there are sites all
up and down the Grand
river on flood plains.
“These sites are very common
and were all in flood
plains. There was another
one at Cayuga bridge area
last summer. This is all well
documented. If you are
working anywhere along the
banks of the Grand River
your likely to find something.
The Davisville sites
are on flood plains as well.”
She said there are burials in
flood plains in other parts of
the Grand River.
G.R.E. takes first battle in tobacco war with “Big Five”
By Lynda Powless
Editor
Grand River Enterprises has
“Big Tobacco” on the run.
The major First Nations
owned company has won
what may be the first in a series
of law suits launched by
"Big Tobacco”.
The five major tobacco companies
are " attempting to
draw G.R.E., and a number of
other First Nations manufacturers,
into major health-care
related suits launched
against the Big 5 by B.C.,.
New Brunswick and Ontario.
“It is a major victory for us,”
said Chantell Montour of
Inch, Hammond Professional
Corporation of Hamilton.
New Brunswick sued the Big
Five tobacco companies
based on their market share.
“ The court ruled the legislation
doesn’t support their
claim. The claim is based on
their market share so there
was no basis for the claim,”
she said.
A New Brunswick court justice
has rejected the third
party claim launched by the
five major corporations, including
Imperial Tobacco,
Philip Morris, Altria Group,
Rothmans and Benson &
Hedges after a hearing in January.
The five were seeking to
draw First Nations tobacco
manufacturers into a multi
billion dollar health care suit
launched by the Province of
New Brunswick against the
five major tobacco companies..
Ontario is seeking $50 billion
in a similar lawsuit
against the major five corporations.
That suit seeks damages
for health-care related
costs resulting from what
Ontario says are tobacco related
illnesses.
And recently the Supreme
Court of Canada upheld
British Columbia’s right to
sue the Big Five in a similar
health related suit.
The five corporations
claimed First Nation manufacturers
should also be liable
and attempted to draw
them and the federal government
into the suits.
But a New Brunswick judge
said no.
New Brunswick Justice
Thomas E. Cyr, struck out
the third party claim January
17th saying the suit would
have “no reasonable chance
of success.”
Justice Cyr said New
Brunswick’s suit, against the
Big Five Tobacco companies,
is “limited to the recovery of
the costs of health care benefits
caused or contributed
to by the tobacco-related
wrongs of the named defendants.”
Grand River Enterprises,
Gestion ADL Senc., a general
partnership carrying on business
as Tabac ADL., and
Abenaki Enterprises were not
named in the province’s suit,
the court said in its ruling.
In addition to striking the
action the court has ordered
costs amounting to $2,000
each to Grand River Enterprises
and the Province of
New Brunswick.
G.R.E. lawyer Chantell Montour
said the claim against
G.R.E. was a third party relief.
“We requested it be
struck. It made no sense. It
was not a proper claim for
them to bring.”
In B.C. the Supreme Court
ruled the federal government
out of the third party action
because it is not a manufacturer
in B.C.
In New Brunswick, the
court ruled First Nations out.
The federal government argued
why it should be excluded
Tuesday.
“The provinces sued for their
market share. Their market
share didn’t have anything to
do with G.R.E. It was unique
to their company,” said
Montour.
They have 30 days to appeal.
AANDC says hiring is on track for Six Nations elementary schools
By Stephanie Dearing Writer
The hiring process for Six
Nations teachers, aides and
principals is on track said a
spokesperson from
Aboriginal Affairs and
Northern Development
Canada (AANDC).
AANDC spokesperson Peter
Sero was responding to
charges leveled by Six Nations
member Claudine Van-
E v e r y - A l b e r t .
VanEvery-Albert told a local
newspaper under the authority
of the new Special
Advisor on education, James
Cutfeet teachers were hired
late for the school year, were
not paid for five weeks, and
interviews for new principals
did not happen until November
2011.
Peter Sero contradicted
those claims, writing in an
email the Six Nations 2011-
2012 school year began with
“the basic complement of
teachers in place.”
Sero said 15 new teachers
and teaching aides were
hired “at the beginning of
the school year.” They did
go without pay for five
weeks, Sero confirmed.
But Sero wrote this is normal
for “external new hires.”
Sero said new hires “can
generally expect to receive
their first regular pay cheque
within four to six weeks.”
Two new teachers were also
hired for the Quinte Mohawk
School, said Sero.
James Cutfeet is directly responsible
for school in Six
Nations and Tyendinaga.
Sero also said interviews for
principals were “completed
on time and as required by
the department in November
2011.”
Claudine VanEvery-Albert
had been one of few candidates
who was vying for the
then-vacant position of Superintendent
of Education.
The search for a new superintendent
was abruptly
ended by AANDC in the late
summer of 2011 after it was
decided to appoint Cutfeet,
who was at the time the Director
of Education, giving
him the newly created position
of Special Advisor,
which includes the responsibilities
that would normally
be fulfilled by a Superintendent
of Education.
Barry and Cheryl Hill are Brant Farm Family of 2011
by Stephanie Dearing
Writer
Barry and Cheryl Hill are Brant Farm Family of 2011
With a chuckle, Barry Hill
said his major agricultural
accomplishment is surviving.
But the Six Nations farmer
isn’t joking.
He’s gone from being a
weekend gardener to running
a 2,000 acre cash crop enterprise.
This Saturday he and his
wife Cheryl will be recognized
as Brant Farm Family of
2011 by the Brant Federation
of Agriculture, for Barry’s 18
years of experimentation, innovation
and community
work.
It is the first time a Six Nations
farm family has been
chosen for the award.
Barry became a full-time
farmer, after retiring from his
job as Strategic Manager of
Ontario Hydro in 1993,
“I always tell people this
whole farm was the result of
gardening gone mad,” he
said.
It started as a summer
hobby planting a “massive
garden” at his Fourth Line
home.
He got bored of vegetables
by the 1980s and began
small scale cash crop experimentation.
Barry came from a farming
family. His father, J. William
Hill, ran a mixed operation
(livestock and crops).
“My job was the chickens
and to run the milk separator,”
said Barry.
With the change in farming
to industrial operations small
farms could not keep up.
. For Six Nations farmers, the
situation was compounded
by the lack of capital available.
As a result, many Six Nations
farmers sought other
work. “Dad got a part time
job at band council, and after
three or four years there, he
got a job at Indian Affairs in
Brantford.”
Barry holds a Masters Degree
in Mechanical Engineering,
and in automation
controls.
He went to work for Ontario
Hydro in Mississauga but always
wanted to farm and finally
did with early retirement
in 1993.
He took agricultural courses
through the University of
Guelph.
He attributes his late (first)
wife with the golden rule
that got him to where he is
today. “The rule was, you’re
not using our money to farm
with. So the farm had to pay
its own way,” he said.
“That’s a good rule because
people have met their grief
by not sticking to that type
of thing.”
Farming and adversity have
always gone hand-in-hand,
and Barry has seen his share
of hardship as a farmer.
“There have been swings in
crop prices, and swings in
the weather. There have
been some really dark moments
as with any farm enterprise,”
he said. “You try
to work your way through it
and not lose what you’ve
built up because it can turn
on a dime.”
“There were times I
ploughed all night, in a
snowstorm with a snowmobile
suit on,” Barry said.
“Not everybody knows this
stuff. But when you’re a
part-time farmer, you have to
work all night sometimes
and then go to work the next
day.”
When he first “got serious”
about cash cropping in
1993, Barry said it was hard
to find any land in Six Nations
to rent “because 90
percent of the land was
rented to non-Indians.”
Most of those rentals were
handled by the Six Nations
Lands and Membership office,
but the rental process
back then, he said, were
cloaked in mystery.
“We didn’t know who had
it. They came, planted, and
disappeared,” Barry said.
So he organized a group of
Six Nations farmers who
pushed Six Nations band
council to “open up the tendering”
for the rental of lands
“and develop a standard
form of lease.”
They achieved their goal.
Police identify one of two killed
in fatal fire on New Credit First
Nation
Elaine Laforme
Provincial police have identified one of two people killed in
a fire at Mississauga of New Credit last week.
Police say one of the bodies found in a burned-out home
on Jan. 22 was that of 48-year-old Elaine LaForme who lived
in the home.
The second victim was a man
and DNA tests are underway to
identify him. He is believed to
have been a Six Nations man.
Glenn Owen Hill, 60, of
Ohsweken, has been charged
with two counts of first degree
murder in connection with the
fire. Police and the Ontario fire
marshal are continuing to investigate
the cause of the fire.
Fire broke out at a one story bungalow n the Mississauga
New Credit Reserve Sunday night.
The fire was spotted by a Haldimand County Ontario
Provincial Police office on patrol at Mississauga and Tuscarora
Roads at about 7:55 p.m.
Haldimand County Fire Department was immediately dispatched
and attended the scene to extinguish the fire. Six
Nations fire department provided assistance.
Once the fire was extinguished, two deceased persons
where located within the home.
Protesters have to stand trial
BRANTFORD- Two Six Nations
men charged in 2008
and 2009 in connection
with protests at city construction
sites will face trial.
Justice Ken Lenz rejected a
defence argument requesting
a stay of proceedings.
But he did amend a 1,500
metre limit imposed on the
two men to 100 metres
around construction sites in
the city
Justice Lenz denied the application
Monday in Ontario
Court.
“Dick” Richard Hill, 63,
faces charges of disobeying
a court order and mischief
to the lawful use or enjoyment
of property.
Eugene Johns, 48, is
charged with intimidation,
as well as mischief to the
lawful use or enjoyment of
property.
Both men had been released
in 2008 and 2009,
on undertakings.
Defence lawyer Sarah Dover
had argued the releases,
which included demands
the two stay 1,500 metres
from development protest
sites, infringed on her
clients' rights to freedom of
expression and freedom of
assembly.
But Lenz said the objections
to the 1,500-metre
limit could have been addressed
the day after their
releases. He said they simply
had to appear before a
justice of the peace or judge
to have the condition
amended or stricken..
Lenz said the court was
concerned Dover's stay application
was "more about
political statements."
During arguments last year
court was told by defense
witness former city councillor
James Calnan, that incamera
discussions were
held in 2008 in the presence
of senior police and fire department
officials while the
city discussed ways to limit
disruptions at sites.
The implication was that
police and city hall had conspired
to stifle protests.
Lenz said Calnan voted
both for the court injunction
and the city bylaw relating
to protest sites.
Lenz said police had legitimate
concern for riot control
and keeping citizens
away from working construction
sites .
"I'm not going to conclude
there was a conspiracy between
city hall and the police
to thwart protests,"
Lenz said.
The judge said the 1,500-
metre limit imposed on the
two men did not interfere
with their rights.
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