Good Morning from Grand River.

It's been a few days since Justice Marshall made his ruling that the contempt of court orders must be upheld, and that negotiations were to stop until the people and the barricades have been removed from the site. Obviously that created quite a stir within the Six Nations as well as within the town of caledonia. Tuesday night became a night of venting when residents of caledonia came down and gathered within about 40' of the main entrance of the reclamation site. the people had gathered at the fire earlier in the evening and concensus had been reached that until such time as the Crowns representatives had officially stated that the talks were off, that we were going to continue toward the August 23rd date that had previously been set aside for talks to continue.

It should be noted also, that all of the side table meetings that had been scheduled at this point were cancelled until further notice. the people felt that for security and safety reasons, that the main entrance into the site should somehow be blocked or at least restricted in order to protect the people. the hydro tower that had been removed on july 11th was once again brought into the front entrance, and we believe that the caledonia people who were expecting roads to be blocked again, thought this action was an indication of that. It was at that point that they came rushing toward the site. the opp had to form their human line again between the caledonia mob, and the six nations people. there was alot of racial comments being tossed around, and stones being thrown toward six nations, and at one point, a fire hydrant hose had been turned toward the caledonia mob to cool things down.

a unity flag was taken down by a young woman from caledonia and when the opp tried to stop her, she slapped the opp officer and was taken into custody. we have no confirmation if any charges were laid, but we were however informed that the individual who sprayed the people with the hydrant hose would be being charged. Go figure eh! I think for the most part, that is what is most frustrating. We've had over 50 charges laid against our people to date. While caledonia people are crying that nothing is being done about the so called terrorism, how many of the caledoina people have been charged with the racial violence and terroristic acts of hatred that have been displayed toward six nations and have been caught on tape by news cameras as well as witenessed by the opp, have resulted in charges against those individuals. our count is zero!

By 1:30 a.m. things had quieted down and pretty well all of the caledonia people had gone home. since then, it has been relatively quiet again, and the people on the site have stepped up the security to ensure that none of our neighbouring residents will be able to incite the violence that they have continually been trying to do. The Caledonia Citizens Alliance (CCA) had previously indicated that their rallies were going to commence again because if the opp and the government wasn't going to remove us from the site, then they would. it is really sad that no matter how often we try to remind caledonia and the rest of the world that this is NOT a Six Nations vs. Caledonia problem but in FACT is a matter between Six Nations and the Crown; a small group of cca have continually tried to fan the flames of racism, in order to create a situation of violence that in their minds, will justify an action by the opp or other forces to come in and remove us from the site.

so far, greater minds of PEACE have prevailed and while small incidents have been created, our security and the people have been able to prevent the anticipated escalation of violence. On Wednesday, the Attorney Generals office of Ontario announced that it would be appealing Justice Marshalls decision, and the federal and provincial representatives of the crown have supported this action so that the peaceful negotiations can continue. The tentative date for this as I said, is August 23rd and on that date, the crowns representatives and our representatives are to have all of their documentation available and ready to begin. Finally!!!! Lets get the proof on the table! We know what we have, now show us what you've got.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. The Youth Camp is going to begin next week for a 15 day period at which time there will be teachings on areas such as i) wampum identification and history, ii) storytelling from the Creation Story and Great Law iii) History: where we came from & migration to Grand River iv) knowing your clan and roles and responsibilites v) self discipline techniques vi) men's roles vii) women's roles viii) human and legal rights as well as Peace Power and Righteousness. We will also be working within the arts of lacrosse, dingball, rattle and drum making, soapstone carving, painting and drawing, beading, making mocassins and sewing. All of these areas were the areas in which the youth and shown an interest in. Funding the program is being supported by the elected band council.

For today, that is about it as far as an update. We just wanted to ensure the many many supporters that we have out there, that our position has not changed, and we are maintaining our peaceful presence on the land. If there are any further developments with respect to the appeal, or on the land, I will get it out to you as soon as I can. Nya Weh!

In Peace, Light and Love,
Hazel