Municipal elections are set to take place in the areas surrounding Six Nations on Oct. 24. Many Six Nations members live off-reserve in these municipalities, such as Brantford and Caledonia.

In July, the Brantford city council put forth a resolution asking the provincial and federal governments to settle outstanding Six Nations land claims.

CKRZ has reached out to the Brantford mayoral candidates for a comment on the relationship with Six Nations and the outstanding land claims.

The four mayoral candidates running for the upcoming municipal election in Brantford are incumbent Kevin Davis, John Turmel, Ryan Smith and Dave Wrobel. At the time of this report, two of the four Brantford mayoral candidatures had responded.

John Turmel’s email response said, “once I reprogram the Bank of Canada to restrict its computers to a pure service charge and abolish the interest charge, the Feds will have enough money to pay a fair settlement owed. While they remain in debt, you can't collect.”

Incumbent Kevin Davis sent a link to his campaign website page that discusses aspects of building relationships with Indigenous communities.

In addition, Davis provided an emailed statement on the outstanding Six Nations land claims.

“It has put municipalities, such as Brantford, in a difficult position. We don’t have the legal responsibility nor the authority to resolve the land claims. However, we are often in the position of dealing with the consequences of the unsettled claims. And we do it without much support and guidance from the provincial and federal governments."

"The fact that is has been left unresolved is unhealthy for the entire region. It creates a lot of tension and uncertainty along the river from Dunnville to Kitchener,” the statement continued.

CKRZ will provide further comments from other candidates if they respond ahead of the election.

Listen to the report by David Moses for CKRZ FM below: