BACK IN 1622, Peter Minuit arrived in what then was called New

Amsterdam with other new Dutch colonists, built 30 houses and bought Manhattan Island, from the island's Indians for trinkets worth $24.

Although few would deny that the Indians got the short end of the stick, we haven't heard of any campaign to return the land to the descendants of its original owners, or to award them compensation based on current land values.

More than 200 years later, a band of Six Nations Indians agreed to sell a 40acre tract near Caledonia that was apparently used as a right-of-way for presentday Highway 6. We haven't seen the terms of the deal but suspect they were little different from those employed for Manhattan.

The difference is that a group of Six Nations Mohawks who claim the land was stolen have staged a two-month-long occupation of a partially-built subdivision at the site and barricaded the highway.

Last week, after talks between representatives of the traditional Mohawk Longhouse government and federal and provincial officials had apparently broken off, Ontario Provincial Police officers staged a pre-dawn raid aimed at ending the blockade.

Thankfully, there was no repetition of the bloodshed in 1995 when native protester Dudley George was shot during an occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park that's still under way.

However, the officers, who said they said they moved in because they feared for public safety, did arrest 16 of the native activists, who were charged with mischief and assaulting police. Three officers were injured in the raid, including one who needed stitches in his head after being hit with a bag of rocks.

Earlier in the week, the subdivision developers had threatened to sue the OPP for failing to evict the protesters after an Ontario Superior Court judge had ruled the occupation illegal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government was "watching all of these things closely. We obviously prefer

to have peaceful resolutions, but we gather there has been some attempt at that and the situation is quite complex on the ground."

Well aware of the political impact Ipperwash had on the Conservative government of Mike Harris, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty has denied knowing beforehand of the police action, which he said came "completely independent of me, my office and my government."

Concerns that the situation could escalate had Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse appealing for all parties to remain calm and urging "continued efforts to work toward a peaceful, negotiated resolution."

In a news release, Chief Toulouse said Six Nations Chief David General, "while appreciative of the support of the other First Nations communities in Canada, is appealing for supporters not to travel down to the Caledonia site, as the situation is at a crisis stage."

The situation took a dramatic turn later in the week when other Mohawks staged a "sympathy" blockade of the CNR's main Toronto-Montreal line at Marysville, halting all movement of CN freights and VIA Rail passenger trains.

Clearly, such demonstrations raise a lot of difficult questions, among them whether aboriginal protests should be treated differently from other types of demonstrations when they involve trespassing on private property and/or forms of violence.

As we see it, there is a lot to be said in favour of all Canadians being treated equally, no matter how poorly the ancestors of some of us were treated.

This issue is by no means restricted to our aboriginals - far from it.

Another example of the problem surfaced afresh in recent days with suggestions by Mr. Harper that his government is prepared to apologize, and perhaps provide compensation, for the notorious head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants who played such an important role in building the Canadian Pacific Railway more than 120 years ago. Few, if any, of the Chinese who actually

paid the head tax are still alive, and while we have no problem with the government apologizing for our ancestors' racism, we don't see why today's taxpayers should be required to fork out compensation to the immigrants' descendants.

A somewhat similar problem exists when it comes to dealing with the abuse suffered years ago by the Indian children in the now-defunct residential schools system and by the orphans in Newfoundland's notorious Mount Cashel orphanage. That the victims deserve compensation is undeniable, but the difficult question remains, whether those required to compensate should include the members of entire Christian denominations, virtually all of whom no doubt knew nothing of the abuse and many of whom weren't even alive when it happened.

One thing that's abundantly clear is that even 10 years after the Ipperwash tragedy no one has even proposed something as simple as a deal with the native protesters that would see the park reopened, with appropriate recognition of the historic burial ground and a prominent role for the natives in the once popular park's administration.

As for the Caledonia situation, it's just as abundantly clear that the developers are for once innocent pawns, and what's needed is a process for resolving the dispute fairly.

It's surely ironic that the Mohawk barricades have been erected at a time when Ontario has its first aboriginal lieutenant governor in James K. Bartleman.

We have no doubt whatsoever that Mr. Bartleman and his ancestors have been victims of racism, but neither have we any doubt that he would not support protest actions that involve violence or illegality.

And when we think of it, perhaps our Lieutenant-Governor might be the one person who could best fill the role of mediator/arbitrator in the Caledonia land dispute.

At least, it might be an idea worth pursuing.