Six Nations is being offered $5 million for a housing development project on unceded lands in Brantford on Birkett Lane and Erie Ave.
Two community meetings are being held this week, with another one being held this Thursday, at the Six Nations Community Hall seeking input on the proposed compensation deal for 1,276 units of residential housing.
Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council said it would use the $5 million as a donation toward building a new hospice on the reserve.
Four developers have partnered to build the housing development: Cachet Homes, Kingwood Homes, LIV Communities, and Multani Homes.
The Consultation and Accommodation Process (CAP) team, an arm of Six Nations Lands and Resources, says it recommends the $5 million offer be used for a new hospice.
The CAP team and SNGREC say they’ve been working with the developers to come to an agreement that recognizes developers should accommodate Six Nations for structures built on treaty lands.
The proposed development, named Riverwalk, is a planned residential neighbourhood with townhouses and single-detached homes. The planned subdivision is a stone’s throw away from the Grand River. About 40 acres of land will be cleared to make way for the subdivision. The development could eventually house over 3,000 new residents.
Kingwood Homes has been vying to develop the land since the early 2000s. The development sits on a floodplain and would include a 13-acre public park.
The City of Brantford says a flood risk remains and developers would have to provide a comprehensive stormwater management plan to the city and the Grand River Conservation Authority prior to development.
The land is also near the former Mohawk Institute Residential School, now the Woodland Cultural Centre. Six Nations has requested that no development take place until the Six Nations’ Survivors Secretariat, made up of former students of the Mohawk Institute, give final clearance.
The subject lands were also part of a memorandum of understanding in 2013 when a partnership agreement between Guswenta Holdings and the Mohawks of the Grand River was signed. The MOU outlines the land to be conveyed in trust to the Mohawks of the Grand River as repatriated Haldimand lands.
