Ontario has agreed to comply with a judge's ruling that all negotiations cease on a land-claims dispute at a construction site near Caledonia, but plans to fight the decision with an appeal.

In a news conference Wednesday, Attorney General Michael Bryant said his office will be seeking a stay on Justice David Marshall's order Tuesday for all parties to stop talks until the rule of order is restored.

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant announced Wednesday that his office will be seeking a stay on Justice David Marshall's order to freeze all negotiations.
(CBC)

"We will argue that the Superior Court did not have jurisdiction to put a halt to the negotiations," said Bryant. "In the meantime, it is business as usual. The police will continue to independently enforce the law."

A stay on the order could take days, or even weeks. Until a decision is rendered on the stay request, the province has agreed to obey the judge's ruling. Typically, an appeal could take up to six months.

Bryant's announcement comes a day after First Nations protesters erected a new barricade at a housing construction site near Hamilton after Marshall released his ruling.

Protesters and hundreds of Caledonia residents faced each other Tuesday night in a tense standoff that was dispersed by police early Wednesday. There was no violence, but both groups hurled insults at each other.

Judge's jurisdiction to be challenged

The original court injunction in March ordering protesters to leave the construction site came at the request of then owner Henco Industries and is no longer considered valid, since the province purchased the land for $12.3 million in June.

However, in the latest in a series of court sessions, Marshall called for the attorney general to assume responsibility for the prosecution of contempt-of-court charges stemming from protesters failing to obey that injunction.

During the news conference, Bryant said the province will be advising the court of appeal on the current situation, including information on the 26 people facing contempt charges.

Bryant said the province also plans to argue the rule of law has been upheld by police who have acted independently to keep the peace in the area.

A spokesperson for Six Nations approved of the attorney general's decision to appeal, saying it shows the government supports continuing negotiations.

Meanwhile, Ken Hewitt of the Caledonia Citizens Alliance, a group representing Caledonia residents, said the move was expected, but called it a "blame game," saying nothing is actually getting solved.

"It's frustrating because it does slow the process down," said Hewitt.

Ruling 'extraordinarily unhelpful'

Some worry tensions could boil over, resulting in further violence.

Former Ontario premier David Peterson, who is working as a provincial negotiator in the dispute, said his greatest fear is that the situation escalates into something similar to what happened in Oka, Que., or Ipperwash, Ont., two native land-claims conflicts that resulted in death.

He called Marshall's ruling "extraordinarily unhelpful."

"This is very fragile and very complex and it doesn't need any more amateurs trying to make this worse," Peterson said. "There's no one truth here, there're many truths. All I know is we have to settle this before someone gets hurt."

Peterson said the longer the conflict continues, the higher the chance that it could explode into violence.