page_title: Grand River land dispute
section_title: Douglas Creek Estates (Kanonhstaton)
hierarchical_section_title: Grand River land dispute / Douglas Creek Estates (Kanonhstaton)
context_page_description: The Grand River land dispute, also known as the Caledonia land dispute, is an ongoing dispute over Aboriginal title and land rights between the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Government of Canada. The dispute has been the subject of many formal land claims since the 1970s, and several instances of direct action in the form of protests, blockades, and occupations. The dispute focuses on land along the length of the Grand River that was granted to Indigenous allies of the British Crown in the eighteenth century to make up for territorial losses suffered during the American Revolutionary War and as a result of the Treaty of Paris.
  The dispute came to wide attention in Canada in 2006 when the Six Nations formally reactivated litigation against Canada and Ontario initially brought in 1995. Protesters from the Six Nations of the Grand River began a demonstration to raise awareness about First Nation land claims in Ontario, Canada, highlighting their claim to a parcel of land in Caledonia, Ontario, a community within the single-tier municipality of Haldimand County, roughly 20 kilometres southwest of Hamilton.
context_section_description: In 1992, Henco Industries Ltd. purchased 40 hectares (99 acres) of land for what it would later call the Douglas Creek Estates. The proposed subdivision was set to be located southeast of Caledonia, between Argyle Street South, 6th Line, the CN rail line, and the houses along Thistlemoor Drive.:192 That land was part of an existing land claim submitted by the Six Nations Elected Council; the claim had been closed by 1995. In March of that year, the Six Nations sued the federal and provincial governments in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice over the developers' purchase of the land. At the time, the developer called the lawsuit "an accounting claim" for "all assets which were not received but ought to have been received, managed or held by the Crown for the benefit of the Six Nations." The trial is scheduled to start in October 2022.
  Regarding their right to purchase the land, Henco argued that the Six Nations had surrendered their rights to the land in 1841 and Henco had purchased it from the Government of Canada. The Six Nations, however, maintained that their title to the land was never relinquished, as their chiefs protested the 1841 surrender and sent a petition to the government arguing against the terms.
  In July 2005, the subdivision plan for Douglas Creek Estates was registered, with title to the property guaranteed by the province of Ontario.
  Starting in February 2006, community members from Six Nations occupied the site of the proposed development, which they named Kanonhstaton, "the protected place" in the Mohawk language. Direct action on the part of protesters over the years included blockade of roads and rail lines, damage to a power station resulting in an area blackout and more than $1 million in repairs, and low levels of violence from both sides, as well as isolated, more serious attacks. The government halted negotiations at times because of public danger from protesters' actions, such as blocking public roads.
  As protests continued, on June 12, 2006, more than 400 area residents and businesses filed a class-action suit against the Government of Ontario for its "failure to protect them adequately". This was settled in July 2011, with the government paying CA$20 million to class members. By the end of 2011, several criminal cases related to assaults had been prosecuted.
  During the continuing dispute, on June 16, 2006, the Government of Ontario announced it had bought the disputed tract from the developer and would hold it in trust until negotiations settled the claim.
caption: An occupied house on the Douglas Creek Estates.
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