Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says municipalities and developers along the Grand River should not pay development fees to the Six Nations' Haudenosaunee Development Institute.

McGuinty says the organization has no legal right to charge the fees, but opposition critics still want the premier to promise to take the Six Nations to court if it continues to argue for the payments.

Land adjacent to the Grand River in an area shown on this map is at the centre of a controversy over development fees.
(Haudenosaunee Development Institute)

At issue is a letter sent by the Haudenosaunee to municipalities and developers along the Grand River, from Lake Erie to Grey County, asserting aboriginal title over much of the land adjacent to the river, as well as demanding a say in future developments and a share of development fees. 

On Wednesday, McGuinty told reporters the province doesn't "recognize development fees being charged by anybody except municipalities." 

The premier wants the current land-claims issue to be settled with the Six Nations, which has been involved in a land dispute in the town of Caledonia for two years.

In its letter to municipalities, Six Nations is reminding them of the massive land grant of 1784 that gave the Confederacy rights to 10 kilometres of land on either side of the river.
 
But both the NDP and the Conservatives say the government isn't handling the situation properly.

NDP house leader Peter Kormos says the current approach has failed to resolve anything, and "the premier is leaving the developers and the landowners out to dry."     

Conservative critic Peter Shurman says the government should take the Haudenosaunee Development Institute to court.

"The fees should be stopped and they should go to court to stop them — the rule of law applies," he said.

The government has so far ruled out more legal action.

Later this month, the institute plans to send out flyers, and start radio and newspaper ads asserting jurisdiction.