TORONTO -- It's Ottawa's fault that a Six Nations confederacy is warning of "grave consequences" this summer if Ontario continues talking with other groups about access to disputed land in Caledonia, Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid said Friday.

"I think that the responsibility for any consequence rests with the federal government, who is refusing to get to the table right now and solve that land claim," Duguid told reporters. "That's really the crux of the challenge."

The land claim centres on what was going to be a housing development called Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia, which was occupied by a small group of Six Nations protesters in 2006. The Ontario government bought the land for $16 million to try to defuse the situation, but tensions have remained high in the community.

The province will do all it can to restore harmony in the area, such as meeting with the elected chief of the Six Nations, to discuss restricting access to the Douglas Creek Estates, but only Ottawa can deal with the land claim at the heart of the problem, added Duguid.

"The single most significant way that we can move beyond these challenges is for the federal government to get back to the bargaining table and settle that federal land claim," he said. "That's really the reason for the discontent, and the uncertainty that creates in the community."

A statement from federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney's office completely ignored the land claim dispute and instead called on the Ontario government to make sure police protect people in Caledonia.

"We hope that the Ontario government ensures that the Ontario Provincial Police protects the property of law-abiding residents of Caledonia," Blaney's spokesman, Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, said in an email.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs council declined to attend a private meeting Wednesday with Duguid, Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer, Six Nations elected Chief Ava Hill and Haldimand county Mayor Ken Hewitt, and it warned the province not to talk with "third parties" again about the situation.

The Confederacy issued a statement Thursday saying it was "deeply concerned for grave consequences that could erupt over the ensuing summer months" if the provincial government doesn't return to direct talks, and claimed title of the land.

"The land is now under the sole jurisdiction of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council," said the statement issued by the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

"The council is always open to discussions in relation to Haudenosaunee uses of the land, and would encourage the province of Ontario to return to the communications protocol process that was established in good faith, with now Premier (Kathleen) Wynne, to advance those discussions."

Duguid said the Ontario government remains the owner of the Douglas Creek Estate lands, not the Confederacy.

"The province purchased the land and the province retains title to the land," he said.

The statement from the Confederacy also said the province knows that the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that elected band councils do not have the ability in Canadian law to represent the collective rights of First Nations people in land rights cases.

But Duguid said the province would meet again next week with local officials to discuss ways of easing tensions in the community, and would again extend an invitation to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to attend.

"We want to work with everyone to find solutions there," he said. "It's about having harmony in that community and it's about ensuring that we get as little opportunity for those that want to exacerbate those hostilities."

The confederacy is made up of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras.