TORONTO - Aboriginal Affairs Minister Chris Bentley isn't ruling out the handover of disputed land that's been the site of a long-running aboriginal occupation in Caledonia, Ont., to the Six Nations.
"No decisions have been made with respect to the land," Bentley told the legislature Monday.
"We continue to work very, very hard as a province, trying to bring everybody to the table and look forward to an ever more energetic federal government to help resolve a 200-year-old land claim."
Bentley, who is also Ontario's attorney general, played down the possibility that he's considering handing over the former housing development, which is held in trust by the province but still occupied by Six Nations protesters.
But when asked twice outside the chamber if he would rule out a handover, Bentley remained tight-lipped.
His silence proves that a handover is still on the table, said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak.
"This is going to reward lawbreaking, it's going to reward an illegal occupation and it sends a complete wrong signal on how to deal with this situation," he said.
Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said she felt the government was leaning towards handing over the former Douglas Creek Estates to the Six Nations during a meeting with Bentley last Friday.
"That was my impression," she said. "That's how I took it."
During the meeting, Bentley "made it quite clear that if our communities are to move forward, we must learn to work together," she said.
"And he made that very, very clear."
The simmering four-year land dispute, which has erupted in violent clashes between protesters and local residents in the town south of Hamilton, has cost taxpayers $64.3 million so far.
That doesn't include about $16 million the province paid for the land, which was seized and occupied by protesters from the nearby Six Nations reserve on Feb. 28, 2006.
The government has said protesters can remain there while all sides negotiate a resolution to the land claim.
Instead of punting the responsibility to Ottawa, Bentley should speed up the process of verifying land claims in Ontario, said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.
"For the attorney general to whine about the federal government just boggles the mind," he said.
"It's been provincial taxpayers' money that's been invested in this conflict, it's been provincial politicians who've purported to have been there addressing it, and it's the province that has the capacity to end this incredible standoff and restore some level of peace to Caledonia and the area around it."
The federal government kicked in $26.4 million to reimburse the province for the cost of purchasing the residential subdivision, which was then under construction. The money included $10.6 million to offset policing costs.
The total cost also excludes a recent out-of-court settlement between the Ontario government and a Caledonia couple.
Dana Chatwell and Dave Brown sued the government and Ontario Provincial Police for $7 million for abandoning them to the lawlessness that surrounded the land claim site adjacent to their home.
The conflict in Caledonia has become a political embarrassment for the governing Liberals, who promised to improve government relations with aboriginals after the fatal shooting of native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995.
The controversy has even reached the office of Ontario's top cop, who's been accused of bias in favour of native protesters and allowing local residents to be harassed.
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino was also accused of trying to influence municipal officials in connection with the ongoing occupation, but the private charge was withdrawn earlier this month.
Activist Gary McHale, who brought the private charge against Fantino and has led a number of rallies decrying what he calls two-tier justice in Caledonia, has vowed to take the matter to a higher court.
The private charge stemmed from a 2007 email Fantino sent which told municipal officials that they'd be billed if officers were injured during protests over the occupation.
