To the Editors,
I would like to start by saying protests are part of the foundation of the democratic system. Unfortunately, it can and usually does cause disruption. Some more than others.
I understand to a degree how the McKenzie Meadows protest started. As with most problems, in my opinion, this protest started by a lack of communication. The communication problem involves three parties: the federal government, Six Nations Council, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs. From everything I have read or heard, at no time have these three parties sat down and talked. Without these parties sitting down and discussing how to move forward, what is happening at McKenzie Meadows will just be repeated over and over again. And Skyler Williams had stated at the beginning of this protest, he believes this needs to happen as well.
So, if the communities want to start to find a resolution to McKenzie Meadows, people need to send letters and/or maybe have sit-ins, should go to MPs Carolyn Bennett and Marc Miller’s offices, and have protests at the Six Nations Council’s meeting and at Confederacy Chiefs’ houses. Maybe if enough pressure is brought on these groups, maybe something positive can happen.
Now, as my mother always told me, “Aggression is always met with aggression.” As Haldimand County Council goes to the courts for injunctions against 1492 Land Back Lane, and spokesperson, Skyler Williams, the protesters are pushing back.
I know the frustration the Haldimand Council and the community is feeling. There is still no permanent solution to Douglas Creek; just a quiet standoff. They want to try to use the courts and the OPP to make the protesters move on. The problem with this is that Indigenous people (Idle No More) are clearly showing they will not be pushed. Just look at the recently resolved Wet’suwet’en territory dispute. Just look at the reaction to the latest court injunctions.
I don’t know if it is too late but maybe Mayor Hewitt and Skyler Williams can sit down and come to some kind of agreement and bring the protest back to McKenzie Meadows and open the other three roads. Open up Caledonia and Haldimand County.
What also really needs to happen is for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs and Six Nations Council to get together and create a single voice to speak for all the Indigenous people on Six Nations. And here I ask the Clan Mothers to step up and help. The Clan Mothers are the ones who give people the right to be their representatives or spokesperson on behalf of their clans. It is called “Standing them Up”. They can also “Stand them Down”. It is the clan mothers who decide who speaks for them. So, I am asking them to help find a way forward and work on a positive future.
Patrick Cook,
Hagersville
