It looks like the City will be able to meet the October deadline for dredging Chedoke Creek after an agreement was reached this week with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) who represent hereditary chiefs. The work was to have been completed last year but was halted when HDI members picketed the site in boats, claiming they had jurisdiction over the area and hadn’t been consulted. This came after the city had reached agreements with three elected first nations bands in the region, including Six Nations of the Grand. The Six Nations band even issued a communique urging municipalities to not do business with the HDI, as they did were not authorized to represent the bands.
An agreement by the city to pay HDI up to $50,000 seemed to turn things around. HDI will have a monitor on site but have promised not to obstruct the work. The city has agreed to drop its request for a court injunction once the work is completed.
The Ministry of the Environment had slapped the city with a hard completion date of August 31, but after negotiations extended the deadline to October 31.
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