A Six Nations body overseeing development along the Grand River says the province must file an application and pay a $7,000 fee to move forward with Haldimand's official plan. 

The plan has been awaiting provincial approval for nearly two years, said Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer. 

Aaron Detlor, a spokesperson for the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, says the organization met with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in December. 

"We advised them that they were going to need our consent and we were going to have to take time to review the plan and be given the resources to do so," he said. 

The HDI was set up last year to regulate development along the Haldimand Tract, 10 kilometres on either side of the Grand River.

The province has repeatedly rejected the authority of the organization to charge fees, a position it reiterated yesterday. 

When asked if it plans to file an application and pay the fee, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs spokesperson Janis Tomkinson said in an e-mail: "The rules that are applicable are the laws of Ontario ... Only municipal and provincial fees are applicable and that's it."

Detlor said the application fee would allow the HDI to hire a planner and properly review the plan.

Trainer said that, although there is a duty to consult Six Nations about developments along the river, that "doesn't give them veto power." 

The news comes on the heels of Detlor's announcement the HDI has received about $70,000 in application fees from developers.

He will not reveal the names of those who have paid, citing confidentiality agreements. 

Several developers contacted by The Spectator said they have not paid fees. One company, Windrush Energy, has confirmed it paid a fee around August 2007. 

Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, an assistant professor of Aboriginal Studies at the University of Toronto, said that what's happening at Six Nations could have broader implications. Other communities are watching "and they're going to say, 'Look, we can do the same kind of thing.' " 

Asked if the province is concerned the fees could set a precedent, Tomkinson said that, if any recent precedent has been set, it was at Ipperwash and the government is influenced by the recommendations in the resulting report. 

According to Detlor, the HDI development fee will not be just one payment. It will be ongoing in most instances and could be charged annually or monthly.John Kragten, a developer of the Stirling Woods subdivision that suffered a work stoppage after Six Nations protesters occupied the site last year, criticized a continuous fee. 

"It's not something that we're going to pay the initial fee on and certainly would never pay an ongoing fee of any kind. Period," he said. 

Kragten also doubted the amount the HDI said it has received, saying he was in touch with major developers along the river who say they have not paid anything.

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