Dear Editor:
Several recent Advertiser letters reveal ignorance of the April 2021 moratorium on development along the Haldimand Tract that includes Elora and Fergus and banks of the Grand down to Lake Erie.
The website protectthetract.com/moratorium gives the historic background and current details. What it does not yet include is the recent historic and precedent-setting Supreme Court decision in BC.
Justice Emily Burke said the province’s power to take up lands is not infinite and “must be exercised in a way that upholds the promises and protections in the treaty.” Resource industries and developers across Canada know this changes the law as currently practiced. So do local Indigenous peoples.
Mark Hill, Chief, Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council, has stated, “We reiterate and acknowledge the call for the moratorium. We also need to keep in mind we have a major land claims case coming before the court in 2022 and it would not be responsible to allow continued development in an uncertain legal environment.”
It is irresponsible for Aaron Ciancone and Pearle Hospitality to continue the destruction, development and sale of condominiums in this same uncertain legal environment that now supports treaty rights.
Local universities in the region marked Oct. 25 as the anniversary of the tract and support the moratorium. For more information and to add your name to the growing list of supporters check the website or email info@ProtectTheTract.com.
Eimear O’Neill,
Fergus