HAMILTON–The taxpayer bill for the simmering land dispute with Six Nations protesters in Caledonia is $64.3 million and counting.

The running tab, according to Ontario's Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, does not include $15.8 million the province paid for the former Douglas Creek Estates, which was seized and occupied on Feb. 28, 2006 by protesters from the nearby Six Nations reserve.

Ottawa kicked in $26.4 million to reimburse Queen's Park for the cost of purchasing the residential subdivision that was then under construction. The money included $10.6 million to offset extraordinary policing costs.

The tab also does not include the recent out-of-court settlement between the Ontario government and a Caledonia couple, Dana Chatwell and Dave Brown, who were suing the province and OPP for $7 million for abandoning them to the lawlessness that surrounded the disputed 27-hectare site adjacent to their home.

The terms of the settlement remain confidential and were reached without admission of liability by the government and OPP.

The couple's Argyle St. South home, which plummeted in value from an estimated $400,000 to between $50,000 and $75,000, will now be owned by the province.

Half a dozen related lawsuits have yet to be heard, including a proposed Caledonia class-action suit that is awaiting a decision on certification from a Superior Court judge.

Hamilton lawyer John Findlay, who represents the Caledonia class-action claimants, said it's premature to estimate claims. But he said the claims of contractors, including those who were building the Douglas Creek Estates, were larger than expected and are approaching $1 million.

Rick Monture, acting director of McMaster University's Indigenous Studies program, said he thinks his perspective on the money spent by the province to manage the native protest in Caledonia is probably shared by people of the town and all Ontarians.

"Yes, these costs are exorbitant and unnecessary," he said. "I think people on both sides of the issue are mystified and troubled by the fact that nothing (in terms of land-claim negotiations) has been resolved or even any progress made.

"We are all equally frustrated by the government."

He said federal and provincial negotiators "need to take some responsibility and have the political will to take care of these things."

Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said the province continues to veto commercial and residential development proposals in Caledonia for fear another native protest will erupt. She said economic growth has also been hampered by the government's refusal to extend the town's southern urban boundary on Argyle St. South beyond the 6th line.

Conservative Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett said while he is pleased that Chatwell and Brown have been compensated for what they endured over the course of the occupation, he and many others in the county were disappointed the case ended so abruptly halfway through the testimony. They wanted to hear the other side of the story, he said, about how the government and OPP would defend the hands-off approach taken to policing the native protest.

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In November, Barrett complained about a Freedom of Information request that revealed the Ontario Realty Corporation had paid $26,178 since 2006 to provide protesters who continue to reside in the one remaining house on the occupied land with free gas, hydro and water.

Barrett said the economic cost of land claim disputes in Haldimand-Norfolk and Brantford have been "almost incalculable."