The Ontario government is transferring title of the site of a former jail in Brant County to Six Nations, aiming to fulfil a commitment it made in 2006 during the raucous days of the Caledonia land claims dispute.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer said Wednesday the government will transfer ownership of the land that once housed the Burtch Correctional Centre to a corporation being set up by the Six Nations-elected band council.

He hopes it will involve members of the traditional and hereditary government, which has complained about the way it has been treated by the province, and that it might lead to movement on other disputes such as the former Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia.

Aaron Detlor, a lawyer for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, said the land is already in the hands of the confederacy and has been added to its registry system. He said the chiefs will have to consider the province's offer to become part of the corporation before responding, but believed if they did take part the chiefs would be "surrendering the rights the Haudenosaunee have in that land."