BURTCH — Kris Hill may have harvested the tobacco and bean crops planted at the former Burtch Correctional Institute lands, according to a local source.
Hill was served an injunction by Six Nations Elected Council to keep her off the Burtch lands but now the fields are empty and there hasn’t been an official explanation for the community.
The conflict over land usage sprang up when the Ontario government returned the land to the Elected Band Council instead of the traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council of the Grand River, as was promised during the 2006 conflict in Caledonia.
In the confusion, Kris Hill planted using what she said was a new lease provided her by the HCCC. However, that argument did not hold up and the Ontario Courts upheld the injunction.
It remains unclear who harvested what for whom and what is to become of the profits from the sale of the crops, mainly tobacco, since the Elected Council is not speaking on the issue.
The Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI), however, responded to our questions regarding the fate of the crops.
“The extent of involvement the HDI have with the Burtch Land is to oversee the lease on behalf of the HCCC,” responded HDI Director Hazel Hill. “Neither HDI or the HCCC have any involvement or interest in the crop itself.”
That apparently is the responsibility of Kris Hill herself and the HDI could shed no further light on the question.
Kris Hill did not respond in time for press.
