Brantford, Ont., and Six Nations take step to share development benefits, improve relationship: mayor

Paul Forsyth · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 21, 2026 1:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 24

An agreement between the City of Brantford and Six Nations of the Grand River could result in the neighbouring Haudenosaunee community sharing in economic benefits from the development of lands on the city's edge, and will help the communities rebuild trust and respect, says the Ontario city's mayor.

The two parties announced Aug. 18 that Mayor Kevin Davis and Sherri-Lyn Hill, elected chief of Six Nations, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to the "boundary lands," nestled by Brantford's existing urban area.

The MOU establishes a "framework for collaboration and shared prosperity" related to the development of the 3,060 hectares of land transferred from Brant County to the city in 2016 to accommodate future residential, employment and economic growth.

The agreement will give Six Nations a say in how the land is developed and a share in the financial benefits collected from a levy on projects such as new homes. The levy's details will be set out in the final agreement between the two parties.

Davis, a lawyer, pointed to how Six Nations has been waiting more than 30 years for a lawsuit to be heard in court that it filed against the province and federal government related to land sovereignty in the area. It is seeking compensation for lands that were once set aside for Six Nations under the Haldimand Proclamation that the elected council argues were improperly surrendered, or not surrendered at all. The trial is finally set to begin in October.

"I think it's a national shame," Davis said of the protracted delays.

Mayor says improved relationship will ease uncertainty

Under the Haldimand Proclamation, the Haudenosaunee people were granted a tract of land 10 kilometres wide on each side of the entire length of the Grand River, in exchange for their support of the British in the American Revolution of the late 1700s. Since then, developments and in some cases entire cities — such as Brantford and Cambridge — have been built on those lands.

Davis said the decades-long wait to have the lawsuit settled created simmering tensions between Six Nations and neighbouring municipalities, rattling developers and investors.

"Our city is soon going to be at the stage where we have very little land left for development," he told CBC News.

Davis said his council wanted to reset the city's relationship with Six Nations, and has taken steps such as a profit-sharing agreement on a new sports and entertainment centre, opening up long-term care space for seniors displaced by a flood at a Six Nations long-term care home, and, since 2016, including Six Nations on plans for servicing and developing the boundary lands.

That servicing could cost as much as $1 billion for land that could accommodate growth in Brantford for the next 30 to 40 years, and become home to 40,000 people and 20,000 jobs, said Davis.

"We're probably two to four years away from seeing building actually taking place on those lands."

The MOU also envisions the new levy on developments going toward a new Six Nations Community Prosperity Fund.

"It's not intended to resolve their outstanding claims," said Davis. "This is a way of us demonstrating respect.

"We're trying to create a relationship with Six Nations that's vastly improved over what it was, so they see us as being good neighbours and allies."

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, made up of traditional Haudenosaunee leaders, said they won't accept "a framework that reduces our relationship to these lands to an 'interest.'"

"Prosperity cannot be defined simply by financial participation in development. True prosperity requires that the land, the waters, the people and those faces yet to come are considered in every decision," the chiefs' council said in a statement on Friday.

Six Nations hears concerns from community

Brantford and Six Nations said the province will likely need to approve any plan to impose the new levy.

But Davis said his city's development charges on new homes, meant to pay for growth-related costs such as additional ambulances and roads, are a fraction of what they are in many cities in the Greater Toronto Area. 

Hill, the elected chief, said in the Aug. 18 news release that the MOU is all about building "strong, respectful and beneficial relationships" while recognizing Six Nations' longstanding connection.

After the announcement of the MOU, the Six Nations elected council said it has "heard the concerns" raised by community members that the MOU could come at some kind of price.

In a media release on Thursday, the elected council said the MOU doesn't sell, surrender or transfer any Six Nations lands, rights or interests. The council also stressed the MOU is not a final agreement.

"The MOU is a starting point," it said. "It puts in writing that Six Nations and the City of Brantford intend to continue discussions and identify matters that need to be worked through."

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Before any formal agreement is signed, community consultation will take place, the council said.

The MOU document notes that the city and Six Nations agree that nothing in the MOU or the future agreement "shall be construed to take away from the Aboriginal, treaty, constitutional or other rights" of Six Nations.

Chiefs council say it can't accept agreement claims

In a lengthy statement, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council said it wasn't provided the MOU and "therefore cannot accept the claims about what the agreement establishes."

The council said the land is unsurrendered and that there needs to be consent for them to be developed, and anything short of that "will render development of these lands unlawful."

"We expect governments and municipalities to engage with the Haudenosaunee on the basis of mutual respect, responsibility and nation-to-nation relations, and to recognize that development cannot proceed by treating our jurisdiction as an issue to be managed through municipal planning processes."

It said the elected council has no authority to represent or speak on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and any agreement between the elected council and the City of Brantford can't be represented as an agreement with the confederacy.