Commentaire 63 – commentaires et rétroaction

Honourable Diane Finley

Commissioners:

This submission is a personal one, based on my lived experience. Before I offer my analysis and recommendations though, please let me present my credentials and perspectives.

I was elected MP for Haldimand-Norfolk in 2004. I had the privilege to be re-elected in 2006 and at that time was made a Minister of the Crown in the new government and a Member of the Privy Council with its sworn attestations. I retain both that honour and its responsibilities in perpetuity.

My riding is one of small towns and farmland. Historically the residents of the Six Nations and the Mississaugas of New Credit Reserves have been a welcome part of our communities, especially Caledonia and Hagersville. Everyone played sports, attended school and church together, shared in local festivals and events, and shopped in the same stores. It was a healthy atmosphere.

On February 28, 2006, people purporting to represent the Six Nations took occupation of a new, almost- completed residential development in the southwest corner of the town of Caledonia. They were monitored, but not removed by local law enforcement. Thus began what has been called "The Caledonia Crisis," which has been described as one of the longest, bitterest, most expensive land occupations in Canadian history

For months tensions were exceptionally high in the area, with frequent street and road closures that prevented normal traffic, business and day-to-day life for the town's residents. Violence erupted often, culminating in the June destruction of a power source that left communities as far as 50km away without electricity for a week.

Intimidation tactics were deployed on all sides, and a siege mentality prevailed.

The occupiers claimed that the land was theirs dating back to the early 1800s; the residents of the community claimed rights to their deeded properties.

Negotiations to find a resolution between the federal and provincial governments and the many diverse representatives of the occupiers were patently unsuccessful.

Eventually the Provincial government expropriated the land from the developers and allowed the occupiers to remain.

Tensions calmed somewhat after almost two years, and the previous integrated community life resumed to a fair degree.

Unfortunately though, there have been frequent smaller incidents since then, as recently as September 2020, when another land development site was occupied and roads were once again blockaded or destroyed. Every time that something like this happens, the old tensions flare up between the communities, and the risk of physical violence and harm grows.

The Act under which your Commission operates says that in the assignment of boundaries

• the commission shall consider the following in determining reasonable electoral district boundaries:
1. the community of interest or community of identity in or the historical pattern of an electoral district in the province ...

Commissioners, I ask you to recognize that although there has been an amicable sharing of community interest and identity in the past, for the last 16 years that relationship between the residents of Haldimand County and those saying that they represent the Six Nations has been tenuous or, at its best, intermittent. There is no reason to believe that another "Caledonia Crisis" will not occur again.

The job of a Member of Parliament is to represent, protect and promote the best interests of one's constituents. If these communities were to be united into one riding, it would be impracticable, even impossible, for their MP to duly and concurrently represent both sides of these issues because of the total contrast in their positions and interests. In other words, the MP would be unable to do his or her job, and, more importantly, some portion of the residents of the various communities would be without the representation that they all equally deserve.

I therefore submit that the current proposal of combining Caledonia with the Six Nations Reserve in one riding would conflict with your mandate of "determining reasonable electoral district boundaries," and I respectfully request that you make the appropriate revisions in your final recommendations.

Thank you for your consideration.

The Honourable Diane Finley, PC