Statement by Six Nations Confederacy Council

 

We are saddened and disappointed at the police action that has taken place in Caledonia. We believed we were within reach of a peaceful resolution of the situation.

The protests are the result of the people’s frustration over the lack of attention on respect being given to Six Nations land rights. The frustration is legitimate. The protests are symptoms, not causes.

Both the federal and provincial governments have told us that the protests are not the source of their willingness to negotiate with us about the causes of the problems: issues of rights and claims, government and access to resources. We will be meeting with their representatives on Friday. We hope the commitments we have received were the result of a genuine desire to resolve the underlying issues, and not only a reaction to the protest. We sincerely hope the commitments were real, and that we can move forward to resolve the underlying issues.

We do not control the protesters. We have influence over them, but that influence depends on our ability to convince them that serious attention is being paid on to the causes of the protests.

We knew that the police would act on their own timetable and as they judged fit. We had no illusions about that. We had hoped that we could have achieved a negotiated solution before any police action took place. Now restoring peace is even more urgent in its aftermath.