In 1824 when construction began on the Welland Canal, the Welland Canal Company guaranteed landholders, including the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy, compensation for any lands that were flooded, as well as compensation for homes and other structures on the land that were destroyed due to the construction of the Canal. While many individual non-native landholders were compensated for flooded and/or damaged land, the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy were not. In 1843, when ownership of the Welland Canal was transferred to the Province of Canada (now Ontario), the Province of Canada created a provinsion for continuing to resolve compensation claims. Yet, despite repeated attempts by the Haudenosaunee Six Nations over the pst 120 years from then to now, they have not received compensation for the flooded lands.       In 1988, the Haudenosaunee Six Nations filed claim number 6 (of 29 claims filed before the 1995 litigation). The Canadian government acknowledged that the Haudenosaunee Six Nations were owed compensation for this claim in 1994, and offfered a settlement of $3 million, which was rejected. Thirteen years later, during negotiations brought about by the Haudenosaunee Six Nations occupation of lands in Caledonia, the Canadian government upped its settlement offer to $26 million. Despite the substantial increase in Canada's offer (which federal negotiators publicly stated were non-negotiable), Haudenosaunee Six Nations negotiators expressed frustration with the Canadian government's failure to describe, explain, or justify the calculations used to arrive at that figure. The Haudenosaunee Six Nations assert that Canada is not negotiating but dictating the settlement, and that $500 million is a more reasonable minimum estimate of what is owed for compensation in flooded land and damaged/destroyed improvements to the land. As of March 2010, two parties are still at a standstill on the issue. More information coming soon...