It's hardly a wonder that today First Nations peoples are fighting to keep or re-appropriate their lands. As past treaties were signed to outline reserve borders and Crown lands to be held for Native use, white settlers were moving inside these boundaries and taking over land granted to First Nations communities. In addition, many of the payments for lands made to Native peoples were made in the form of shoddy goods or simply not delivered.
Here's the background of a current land claims dispute underway in Ontario which has, according to some estimates, cost the provincial government more than $55 million as of last October.
From CBC.ca files...
Six Nations natives and developer Henco Industries are involved in a land dispute over a 40-hectare tract near Hamilton, Ont. Here is a history of the land in question:
1784: For its loyalty to the British Crown during the American Revolution, the Six Nations is allowed to "take possession of and settle" a strip of land nearly 20 kilometres wide along the Grand River, from its source to Lake Erie, totaling about 385,000 hectares.
Henco Industries now says the so-called "Haldimand Grant" (named after the commander of the British forces) was merely a licence to occupy the lands, with legal title remaining with the Crown. Six Nations dispute that claim.
1792: Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe reduces land grant to the Six Nations to 111,000 hectares.
1796: Six Nations grants its chief, Joseph Brant, the power of attorney to sell off some of the land and invest the proceeds. The Crown opposes the sales but eventually concedes.
1835: The Crown approaches Six Nations about developing Plank Road (now Highway 6) and the surrounding area. Six Nations agrees to lease half a mile of land on each side for road, but does not surrender the land. Lt.-Gov. John Colborne agrees to the lease but his successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, does not. After 1845, despite the protests of Six Nations, Plank Road and surrounding lands would be sold to third parties.
1840: The government recommends that a reserve of 8,000 hectares be established on the south side of the Grand River and the rest sold or leased.
Jan. 18, 1841: Six Nations council agrees to surrender for sale all lands outside those set aside for a reserve, on the agreement the government would sell the land and invest the money for them. A faction of Six Nations petition against the surrender, saying the chiefs were deceived and intimidated. (My note: According to historian and land claims expert, Aruthur Ray, "The legality of the Bond Head-Saugeen Treaty was ... in question at this time. Sir Francis claimed that the Saugeen River Ojibwa had willingly given up their land, even though only four of their people had signed the agreement and they lacked the authority to do so. The general superintendent of Wesleyan Missions, Joseph Stinson, reported that the lieutenant-governor 'endeavoured to persuade them, and even threatened them, by telling them that he could not keep the white people from taking possession of their land, that they (the Indians) had no right to it only as hunting grounds...")
Six Nations would challenge that claim in a 1995 lawsuit and it is part of the basis for the current protest.
June 1843: A petition to the Crown said Six Nations needed a 22,000-hectare reserve and wanted to keep and lease a tier of lots on each side of Plank Road and several other tracts of land in the Haldimand area.
Dec. 18, 1844: A document signed by 47 Six Nations chiefs appears to authorize sale of land to build Plank Road.
May 15, 1848:The land where the current development, Douglas Creek Estates, now sits is sold to George Marlot Ryckman for 57 pounds and 10 shillings and a Crown deed is issued to him.
1850: The Crown passes a proclamation setting out extent of reserve lands, about 19,000 hectares agreed to by the Six Nations chiefs.
1924: Under the Indian Act, the Canadian government establishes an elected government on the reserve.
1992: Henco Industries Ltd. purchases a company that owned 40 hectares of what it would later call the Douglas Creek Estates lands.
1995: The Six Nations sue the federal and provincial governments over the land. The developer calls it "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."
July 2005: The subdivision plan for Douglas Creek Estates is registered with title to the property guaranteed by the province of Ontario.
Feb. 28, 2006: A group of Six Nations members takes over the housing project, erecting tents, a teepee and a wooden building.
June 23, 2006: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the province will pay $12.3 million to Henco Industries to buy out their investment in disputed land in Caledonia. The government will also compensate Henco Industries for the loss of future profits, an amount McGuinty said "remains the subject of ongoing negotiations."
June 16, 2006: The Ontario government buys out the land developers caught in the middle of the land-claims dispute in Caledonia... The McGuinty government also announces that it will offer $1 million — in addition to the already proposed $700,000 — to compensate Caledonia-area businesses hurt by road blockades set up by the Six Nations protesters the previous month.
May 3, 2007: The Ontario government has agreed to consider bringing in a mediator to help resolve an ongoing aboriginal occupation after a group of Caledonia residents frustrated with the pace of negotiations rallied at Queen's Park Wednesday.
» RELATED: Timeline of recent events
CBC Sources: Canadian Press, Hamilton Spectator, Henco Industries Ltd., Six Nations Lands & Resources
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