They're not throwing in the towel yet on resolving Six Nations land claims through negotiations between the native band, Canada and Ontario.
Federal negotiator Ron Doering is to hold informal talks with Six Nations representatives this month to try and find a way to breath new life into talks which collapsed last fall over the issue of a mediator. This follows a few meetings he held in the winter with appointees from the Six Nations elected-band council and the hereditary government, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
He was to meet with members of the Confederacy tomorrow, but the meeting was cancelled due to a death. It has tentatively been rescheduled to July 29.
"These are purely exploratory talks as to how we might create a (negotiating) table that is more effective than the one we no longer have," said Doering yesterday.
Asked if he had any ideas, he replied, "I'm pretty open to suggestions."
He said, however, Ottawa remains uninterested in having a mediator and he continues to be disappointed a $26 million offer made to resolve a Dunnville-area land claim -- the flooding of Six Nations land along the Grand River in 1829 to create the first Welland Canal -- "hasn't received the consideration I still think it deserved. If they don't want to talk about that, I'm interested in hearing about what they do want to talk about."
Negotiations began May 2006 after band members occupied the Douglas Creek Estates housing project in Caledonia, claiming it was being built on unsurrendered land. That issue was put on the back burner and other land claims were brought forward. The talks ended in September 2009 following what Doering called a "difficult" meeting over the mediator issue.
The band council has since announced it will be the lead in any talks, but the Confederacy disputes that.
Former Tory cabinet minister Barbara McDougall is no longer part of the federal team and Doering said a couple of other team members have left for new tasks with Indian Affairs.