INFORMATION: 
Reclamation Info, Six Nations Solidarity, or CKRZ
Driving Directions from 71 Main Street W, Hamilton, ON to Argyle Street S, Caledonia, ON
6N Benefit Concert, Casbah, July 6, 2006
The July 6 "6N" benefit concert raised over $1,000 to support the Six Nations struggle in Caledonia.
The concert was a public gesture of support, one of the few public solidarity actions in Hamilton since the land re-claiming began, and a way to financially support the dedicated work of Six Nations' activists seeking justice and recognition of their rights as a people.
From the moment singer/guitarist Kim Koren stepped onto the Casbah stage until Mark LaForme's band closed the place five hours later, the hundreds in attendance were treated to some of the finest music in the city.
Between Koren and LaForme, performers Katie Caron, Linda Duemo, The Ray Materick Band, Harrison Kennedy, Martyn Verral, Raphael Keelan, Tim Gibbons, Jack Pedlar, and Bob Lanois and others filled the Casbah with music as they loaned their considerable talents to support the land claims struggle just a few minutes down highway 6.
Wes Elliot and Hazel Hill spoke to the audience about the ongoing struggle they face in holding their ground in the face of adversity and deeply ingrained racism. Elliot, while thanking people for showing their support, went further and invited supporters to come to the site and see for themselves what is going on. An info table set up at the club had a wealth of information available for free, including backgrounders delving into the historical roots of the Six Nations Confederacy and the current land claim.
Thanks go out to many people for making it happen, especially Mike Hampson who did the brunt of the work bringing the line-up of performers together, and to Brodie and the staff at the Casbah who supported the event from the start to finish. The all-volunteer effort included the talents of Keisha Quinn who designed the poster, Sandy and Mike for putting us in contact with Mark LaForme (himself a member of the Mississauga of the New Credit band), Cheryl Walker for setting up the info-table, Al Loft and Julie Gordon for initial enthusiasm for the idea and Al for helping MC the event. Thanks go out to Ric Taylor at VIEW and other media like CHML, CFMU, the Hamilton Spectator, and CKRZ for advance publicity; of course the performers and finally, the people of the Six Nations for their courageous stand.
The concert subsequently generated some letters to the editor in the local daily (for and against) and the evening created an opportunity to open up lines of communication between aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups in the area. Support came from as far away as Calgary Alberta, Kanehsatake and Las Vegas, Nevada.
For more information about the land-re-claiming please visit www.reclamationinfo.com/, sisis.nativeweb.org/actionalert/#updates, www.ckrz.com/, or take up the sincere offer to visit the site.
Let us be the generation that supports justice for aboriginal people
all ages
Production 666
Hamilton Action for Social Change
905-525-9140 ext. 26026 or hamiltonaction@gmail.com for more.
Peace Rally in support of Ogwehoweh (Six Nation) land action
11:00 a.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006
Directions: from Hamilton - take Upper James/Highway 6 to Caledonia, go straight through town over the bridge, just past the big Canadian Tire on your right you will see the protest flags.
Please bring good spirits, a canned food donation or a blanket that is no longer needed or firewood.
The message is Peace so Peace Signs are also welcome!
Plank Road Tract part of land dispute
The Hamilton Spectator, (Mar 28, 2006)Land at stake: A tract of open land west of Argyle Street and south of the town of Caledonia that is being developed as Douglas Street Estates. There are 71 housing lots in the first phase of the subdivision. There are 10 houses in various stages of construction, including six that have been sold.
Protesters say that land, known as the Plank Road Tract, is part of the much larger Haldimand Deed, granted by the Crown to Six Nations in 1784 in recognition of their support of the British Crown during the American War of Independence. The deed included land stretching six miles on either side of the Grand River, from Lake Erie to Dundalk (midway between Owen Sound and Fergus), about 210 kilometres.
That initial 950,000 acres was later downgraded by Lieutenant-Governor John Simcoe in 1795 to 275,000 acres. The Haldimand Tract now ends near present-day Elora in Nicol Township.
The developers: Don and John Henning, of Henco Industries, have invested about $6 million in the project and say they have a clear title to the land.
They say they followed every step of the planning process, including notifying the Six Nations elected band council, and nobody objected during the three years that it took to bring the project to this stage. They have appealed to the federal government to intervene, saying they are being held hostage by a "splinter group" of protesters and Ottawa.
Ottawa: The Ministry of Indian Affairs and Northern Development initially took a hands-off approach, describing the protest as a local dispute. Last week, however, the minister sent an independent mediator on a fact-finding mission to the protest site.
History of the claim: The Plank Road Tract was registered as a land claim in 1987. The claim is based on the argument that the land is part of the Haldimand Tract. The Six Nations band council, in its submissions to Ottawa, claimed the reserve was never properly compensated for land sold to non-natives and land that was taken to build the Hamilton to Port Dover Plank Road (now Highway 6).
The protesters: The group says the land is part of Six Nations territory and was never to be sold to non-natives. They charge Douglas Creek Estates is being built on stolen land. They say the dispute has to be settled on a nation-to-nation basis with Ottawa or through some international court.
Six Nations Band Council: The elected council is opposed to the protest, but has included the Plank Road Tract as one of 29 land claims registered with Ottawa.
It is trying to fast track two of the least contentious claims - not Plank Road -- through a new procedure called the exploratory process.
To date, only one claim out of the 29 has been settled. In 1985, band members voted to accept $610,000 to settle a dispute with Canadian National Railway over 80 acres on the eastern border of the reserve.
The hereditary chiefs: Yesterday, the chiefs said it's time the federal government launched land rights discussions with Six Nations, but that a delegate with a stronger mandate is needed.
The clan mothers: The clan mothers are part of the Six Nations Confederacy governance system. Based on a matrilineal tradition, there is one clan mother in each clan, who chooses her successor among her descendants and picks the Confederacy chiefs.
Start of protest: The protesters first held an information picket at Douglas Creek on Oct. 25, 2005. Protesters point out the Six Nations reserve now covers less than 5 per cent of the original tract of six miles each side of the Grand River from the mouth to the source.
plegall@thespec.com
905-526-3385