The Dominion - Jon Thompson

Showdown in the Far North

Martin Lukacs — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:44:43 +0000

First Nations oppose Ontario's Far North Act, some environmental orgs support it

KENORA, ONTARIO—Following the third reading of the Far North Act, the Chiefs of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) in Northern Ontario have vowed to “unanimously oppose the introduction of Bill 191 into law, and will continue to do so by any means necessary.” NAN represents First Nations that are signatories to Treaties 5 and 9, covering two-thirds of the land mass of Ontario.

The Far North Act, provincial Bill 191, is said to have been designed to protect at least 50 per cent of this territory north of the 51st parallel, and to arrange for First Nations to lead land use plans. While the government and environmentalists insist the land use plans would be constructed, led and finalized by the First Nations, NAN's leadership believes the Minister of Natural Resources will have the final say in development, overriding treaty rights.

As the 225,000 square kilometre space is set aside, First Nations expressed concern that they would be ceding territory outside of the protected land use area to development.

Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals passed the bill in a 46 to 26 vote on September 23, despite opposition from not only First Nations, the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democratic Party but seemingly unanimous opposition from those who live and do business in the North, including the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, the adjacent Treaty Three Grand Council, the Ontario Prospectors Association, the Ontario Forestry Industries Association and the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce.

“It is a disappointing day for all of us who spent tireless hours opposing Bill 191 as our opposition was obviously ignored,” said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatawabin. “As we have stated time and time again, NAN First Nations and Tribal Councils do not and will not recognize this legislation on our homelands. We will continue to uphold our Aboriginal and treaty rights and jurisdiction over our land. The real fight is just beginning.”

From the government’s corner, the intention with the bill has always been straightforward: to establish a clear set of rules in order to develop the Ring Of Fire, an estimated 72-megatonne chromite deposit located 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, Michael Gravelle, has called it “the largest economic development opportunity in Northern Ontario in a century.” More than 30,000 mining claims have been staked in the area in the past seven years alone.

A week before the passage of the Far North Act, the “unanimous” voice of Treaty 9 opposition to the bill was split when the two closest First Nations to the Ring of Fire, Marten Falls and Webequie First Nation, broke rank and signed Letters of Intent with Minister Gravelle. These Letters of Intent are the precursors to Memorandums of Understanding regarding land use planning. Marten Falls First Nation Chief Eli Moonias and Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse were promised skills training and finances to develop land use plans that address hunting and trapping sustainability.

“Whether the Far North plan gets moved forward, we’re still going to be using our land use plan,” Wabase said. “The main purpose of us signing with the government is to work with the government on our issues and that includes land use plans.”

A week after the act was passed, McGuinty was in Thunder Bay, announcing Christine Kaszycki as the Coordinator of the Ring of Fire. The Ontario Prospectors Association endorsed Kaszycki, who has been a leader of the revamped Mining Act and is former Assistant Deputy Minister in the the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. However, NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy responded angrily to her appointment.

“We should have been a part of the selection of the person to fill this critical position,” Beardy said. "We are disturbed that the Premier can express his willingness to create a true partnership and yet leaves us out of this critical process. We need to ensure that our objectives and our plans for anything in our territory are adequately represented."

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) president Monte Hummel was one of the architects of the bill and has taken offense to opposition allegations that the act is neocolonial.

According to Hummel, the 50 per cent figure in the Far North Act was born from the seed of the 2003 Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. The environmental movement wanted a place at the table but to get it, they needed to have a quantifiable demand. To meet that end, the University of Central Florida’s Reed Noss was brought in and produced the 50 per cent protection estimate to maintain biodiversity in the Boreal Forest. It was then adopted by the US-based Pew Foundation, which spends $2 million annually funding most of the widely recognized environmental organizations in North America, including the WWF.

“Pew has not called the tune but they’ve said, 'If you want to be funded by the Pew Foundation, you have to come forward with a plan and proposals that make sense, that provide for industrial interests, First Nations, environmentalists and governments, and are going to produce something,’” Hummel said.

The four-cornered model of bringing industry, First Nations, environmentalists and government to the table emerged from the conservation framework and became the basis for the Far North Act. The willingness to accept industrial development puts environmentalists at the table and in exchange they have a guarantee that 50 per cent of the Far North will go untouched.

“In the old view, you’d always get outgunned by big government,” Hummel recalled. “Over the years, we’ve gotten a lot stronger. Now, the game isn’t sitting on the margins and complaining. Now you engage. You move to the centre. Rather than letting all these mega-organizations make decisions, you go to the centre and be part of that process.”

But regardless of the bill’s controls from the beginning to the end of the land use planning, NAN believes the philosophy behind it overrides treaty rights to land ownership and so are vowing to fight its implementation. With First Nations being brought into a process in which industrial interests are assured, they are in no position to maintain exclusive stewardship over the land.

With NAN having rejected the development framework, Hummel warned they would be pushed back to the sidelines.

“You’d better think about the state you’re going to be in if this bill gets rescinded. You’re going to be in a de facto development run by development interests, possibly under a Conservative government which doesn’t have a history of championing First Nations issues and being twisted around by government departments with no planning framework or final say in land use plans," Hummel said.

"I can’t imagine this act being rescinded is going to leave [NAN Grand Chief] Stan Beardy or his communities in a better position. I appreciate they don’t agree with me and it’s their opinion that really counts but the stakes are very high and my caution based on 40 years experience is, before you kill this, you want to think long and hard about what’s going to replace it.”

Jon Thompson is an award-winning journalist and author in Northwestern Ontario. Jon's reckless, freelance adventuring pseudonym is selling his book at www.tommyjonsson.ca.

NAN protest

Blockade in Grassy Narrows over Policing Concerns

Tim McSorley — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:46:08 +0000

Slow response times, alleged intimidation lead residents to call for new peacekeeper services

Disillusioned with the service of Treaty Three Police Service, a group of demonstrators blockaded the road to Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows) First Nation on Tuesday afternoon.

“There are a lot of complaints from the community members about how the police do their service around the community. There’s really slow response time,” said Chrissy Swain, who was one of the leaders of the community's logging blockade that began in 2002. “Some calls they don’t even respond to. There are complaints about intimidation and the way they handle situations when they do answer calls. I guess it’s mainly safety issues for our community.”

Swain began a dialogue with the police two years ago to address how police respond to calls from the community over 60 kilometres from the Northwestern Ontario city of Kenora. Swain said she has seen no progress.

“Treaty Three says there’s not enough funding. They don’t have enough police officers—stuff like that. There’s always something and nothing’s being done,” she said. “It’s getting pretty sickening just sitting back, waiting for something to happen.”

Councillor Randy Turtle said sometimes it can take up to half a day for the police to respond to an emergency call. He has been in discussions with Treaty Three Police regarding the issue as recently as two weeks ago.

“I have spoken to the sergeant before and the chief of police before and told him we’re not happy with the response time and the service we’re getting for our community. The explanation has always been that there’s a lack of manpower to adequately serve our community. Hopefully with this, we’re hoping that the federal government will give us more money so we can have the manpower to have more police in the community so we can have service for our people.”

Councillor Darryl Fobister expressed interest in seeing a unit stationed in the community.

“Apparently, they don’t want to stay in our community and that’s kind of odd,” he said. “It would be nice if we had officers that got to know the people and we got to know them as well so that there’s less of a chance of anything really violent happening because it’s more of a one-to-one basis.”

Ultimately, Swain is proposing a volunteer force of peacekeepers to respond to safety concerns in the community.

“The bigger picture is I want to see our own people taking care of our own people as peacekeepers so we can enforce our own laws,” she said, adding Treaty Three doesn’t enforce traditional laws or community bylaws.

Last year, a Safety Committee was established in Asubpeeschoseewagong, which councillors on the site of the blockade felt could complement a police presence as its mandate grows.

Blockade leaders are meeting with Treaty Three Police Deputy Chief Louie Napish Wednesday to hand over concerns they have compiled.

Originally printed in the Kenora Daily Miner and News. Jon Thompson is an award-winning journalist and author based in Northwestern Ontario.

Blockade about police in Grassy Narrows

Platinex Prevented from Landing on First Nation

dru — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:08:08 +0000

Boat, canoe block float planes from landing on KI traditional territory

KENORA—A boat and a canoe outside of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation prevented a plane from landing on Nemeigusabins Lake, the First Nation’s traditional territory. The plane was transporting Platinex mining employees with the aim of conducting mineral surveys on KI land.

“They were told they weren’t welcome to come here,” said Coun. Samuel McKay. “We have been consistent because we don’t have anything to discuss with Platinex. Our discussion is with the province and the province keeps saying: ‘Talk to KI.’”

The majority of the community watched as the plane circled and was held in the air. Between the shores and the band office, McKay said everyone who was able to come and support the chief and council did so.

“I think we’re doing good today,” McKay said in spite of a band release suggesting pending legal charges are to be laid against members of the community. “I think the community is happy because regardless of what other issues come into play, we accomplished what we wanted to do. We wanted to prevent Platinex from coming onto our territory and we achieved that.”

The First Nation’s leaders were arrested in September of 2007 for not allowing the junior mining company’s staff to pass through the community’s airport. The incident was heralded as the catalyst for rewriting Ontario’s Mining Act after their incarceration made them known as the KI-6.

Through the Mining Act’s revision, KI has been vocal in declaring a moratorium on mining development on its traditional land, although the First Nation has pointed out the province has not respected the wishes of the band, nor has it adequately consulted the First Nation on its development interests.

In a release on Platinex’s behalf, the company maintained it is the responsibility of the provincial government to uphold its license to drill on the property. President and CEO Jim Trusler said the company has “stayed on the sidelines” for almost a year and a half waiting for consultations between the province and the First Nation to reach a consensus. Trusler charged the province with not having engaged in the consultations as no resolution was reached.

“Clearly, Premier McGuinty and his officials either don’t care about this issue or simply decided to hide their heads in the sand, hoping Platinex and KI would go away. This is not the kind of leadership one would expect from the Premier of Ontario,” he said.

Committing to “behaving in a responsible manner during this extremely sensitive time,” Trusler called upon the premier to see to the issue personally to “resolve the situation once and for all.”

The Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, Michael Gravelle rejected Chief Donny Morris’ claim McGuinty had not responded to a request for meetings. Gravelle claimed McGuinty had requested to hold meetings between the company and the First Nation. Moreover, he added his ministry had advised Platinex against taking Wednesday’s actions.

“I can’t see how the kind of confrontation that took place yesterday can be beneficial to anyone, certainly not Platinex,” Gravelle said. “We think there is an approach that can be taken that can be far more positive.”

Earlier this week, KI chief and council met with diamond giant De Beers in what the company and the First Nation both described as positive meetings with intention to meet further. McKay said the company respected the moratorium on development in a way the province and Platinex did not and that discussions “of a future working relationship” took place.

Gravelle too was supportive of the De Beers approach.

“This is a company that recognizes how important it is to develop relationships with First Nations before they go it,” he explained, citing the success of the company in negotiating for a diamond project in Attawapiskat. “They didn’t move forward before they had an impact agreement with the First Nation.”

Originally published in the Kenora Daily Miner & News.

Jon Thompson is a reporter at the Kenora Daily Miner & News.

Canoe Race

KI Scenery

The Land Provides What Mining Can't

dawn — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:14:21 +0000

KI leaders take their complaints to the United Nations

KITCHENUHMAYKOOSIB, ONTARIO–When Ontario imprisoned six of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation's leaders in March, Canada turned its back. In response, the Northwestern Ontarian First Nation, fighting to keep mining exploration off of their traditional land, is going over Canada’s head.

The community has made formal accusations of treaty violations and human rights charges against Canada for standing by while Ontario jailed Chief Donny Morris and his council for contempt when they stopped Platinex corporation workers at their airport. The case will be presented to the United Nations in February.

Morris doesn’t oppose development, but has strong objections to the Ministry of Natural Resources collecting specimens, and field helicopters buzzing above the countless lakes surrounding KI, in explicit contravention of the wishes of the community. He questions whether the industry has learned anything from his incarceration and the public outcry that allowed for his release.

“We didn’t go through this exercise, going to jail, for another company to test us again,” he said. “We’re not trying to block it, we’re trying to be a part of it. Give us that responsibility ourselves. We’ll work with any corporation, but let us make that choice. We don’t want bureaucrats in Toronto who have never been up here making decisions on our behalf.”

In the thick of the province’s consultations that promise to overhaul the 135-year-old Mining Act, which currently allows for open staking on Crown land, there has been no correspondence from Ontario. In fact, Morris asked to photocopy the 15-page First Nations consultation briefing released by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines because he had never read it.

Minister Michael Gravelle would deny those claims in a later interview.

****

Morris is leaving town at six in the morning for three days at a hunting festival. The caribou are nearly gone, but the moose, deer, migratory birds, fish and other animals can still sustain a population where a can of soup costs $5 at the grocery store.

The water levels are rising, the weather is changing, and he has a difficult time explaining how he once saw seals on a paddle to Ontario’s shores of Hudson Bay.

Times are changing. When he became Chief, he never imagined how, in the middle of nowhere, he could be engaged in this kind of work. After two referenda opposed mining exploration, he had no choice but to go to jail.

“If it’s a different road they want, I’ll gladly take it, but I have to take the mandate of the community, eh?”

“When we were in jail, we went to the UN International Treaty Council,” he explains. “This is global now and that’s the route we decided to take. Not what you see across Canada, blockades and tires burning. That’s not the route to take in this day and age. It’s education.”

When Canada didn’t come to their aid in pressuring Ontario to release them, the KI-6 (the six jailed indigenous leaders) applied for funding to pay legal fees and were turned down. Defining Ontario as a successor state to Canada, Morris feels they were entitled to that defence by treaty right.

“I want to meet the Queen because we’re the Queen’s subjects. That’s the road I want to take. I want to tell the Queen that things aren’t going that well with what you promised us. We’re not doing that well with Ontario. Canada is sitting on the sidelines.”

Having gained international notoriety throughout the ordeal, Morris has been invited to Guatemala to share stories with indigenous peoples there and he hopes to address the United Nations when their concerns air this winter. These trips will depend on whether or he is able to obtain a passport, which has been declined twice.

Why Resist?

While the media roar surrounding KI has concentrated on the black and white questions of development – pro- and anti-mining, jobs and environment – the reasons for resistance have been silenced.

Samuel McKay is a band councilor and the spokesperson on the Platinex issue. McKay is one of a few who are reviving traditional spirituality and culture in the largely Christian community. His ideology on development reflects the balance needed to survive in this remote and ruthless climate. He wants development to be led by his people and the reason for this quickly becomes clear.

There is a barren flagpole overlooking a plaque in view of the lake where the 1929 treaty was signed. The treaty commissioner’s subsequent report read: “In view of the ...fact that the pushing back of the frontier is inevitable due to the spectacular interest and activity in the mining industry with its concomitant development, it was found necessary to extinguish the rights of those Indians resident north of the line AB.”

Walking out onto the peninsula, McKay slices the air with his forearms, revealing the checkerboard of ownership of their land, split before the treaty was signed between territory reclaimed from the church, plots owned by Bell Canada, Northern Stores, and regional carrier Bearskin Airlines. Some drums of waste are neatly gathered on the only private property around. Others are seemingly randomly placed throughout the tall grass leading into the woods and out into open water.

A creek runs to the lake from the former site of a float-plane refueling station where McKay worked as a teenager. He recalls fuel seeping into the ground and accuses the company of holding the lease on the land in order not to have to clean up the waste.

He says he has evidence that the Ministry of Natural Resources was dumping 45 gallon drums with PCBs and proof that it affected the community’s water supply. Environment Canada abandoned a weather station until they were pressured by the community to remove what they had left behind.

“We literally had to fight them to get them to clean up the land, and that’s Environment Canada!” he said. “That has been our experience with development. You wonder why this is the situation we’re in?”

The federal riding of Kenora, in which KI’s traditional territory falls, was identified in a 2006 federal report as having over 11,000 contaminated sites, the highest in the country. Morris’ own trap line crosses the Sherman Lake Mine site, a 400-foot-deep excavation abandoned without cleanup decades ago.

Their community members aren’t new to the mining life or to the boom and bust cycles of the economy it creates. Many of their families flew to Pickle Lake to work in the uranium-mining town that has been nearly abandoned after outliving the excavation. Many of those men continue to die from diseases commonly associated with mining.

When Platinex first came to the table, they were intent on having an open pit mine. To do so, they would have to drain two lakes that claw against these shores. As the community still relies on sustenance fishing, the payoff would have to be substantial to offset the damage to the community's ability to subsist.

He compares their situation with the Saugeen First Nation, who sold part of their land to a pulp and paper company 90 years ago. Today, their water is contaminated, there is no wild game, and no forest. The only way their people can survive, he explains, is through education and employment. Despite the dizzying scenes of past industrial ventures, whose removal costs would be substantial judging by the cost of flying a can of soup into KI, he insists that they are still in a position where their survival is best served by the land.

“We’re making the stand because we still have the water, the forest, the land, the fish and the animals. There are people in this community who live off of the land year around. Right now, we value this more than the minerals under the ground. We know that the mining industry is a boom and bust industry. It’s good for 30 years at the most... we want to use this for as long as possible.”

In the midst of KI’s struggle, AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine signed a Memorandum of Understanding that all First Nations were ready to go into business with industry. For McKay, it justified what he sees as trespassing without consent on their traditional land and undercut their right to self-determination. For now, the untouched wilderness surrounding the region’s ten partnered communities bears the fruit of their survival, and the negotiations with Platinex are off.

There are plans for development in KI, but the leadership insists that it be their priorities on their terms. In the next 20 years, they’re looking to eliminate the fuel generating station that powers their community in favour of hydroelectric generation. Ready to partner with any industry under conditions that achieve balance, the potential benefits must outweigh the costs.

“Really, we should thank Platinex for bringing this to the forefront,” McKay laughs. “It was going to have to happen eventually.”

Jon Thompson is a journalist, author, and media activist in Northwestern Ontario.

KI Solidarity March

Five of the KI6

Consultation Not Consent

hillarybain — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:44:16 +0000

The first interview with KI political prisoner Cecilia Begg

Cecilia Begg is the Head Councillor of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation. She is the lone female in what has come to be known as the KI6, a group of six KI community leaders who blockaded a mining company from its licensed operations on their traditional territory in Northwestern Ontario. In March, the community leaders were sentenced to six months for contempt of court.

On April 2, journalist Jon Thompson spoke with Begg at the prison in Kenora, Ontario. During her first interview since her incarceration, Begg spoke about the road that led her arrest, the reasons she is fighting the development, and the path that she hopes will emerge from her imprisonment.

Jon Thompson: The land entitlement claim that KI filed back in 2000 had been licensed to junior mining company Platinex. Did that claim have anything to do with the fact that the government licensed a mining operation on the traditional territory of your people?

Cecilia Begg: We're still trying to get the Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE). That was one of the things we asked for. A solution has to accommodate [the government] revoking the license to Platinex.

How do you feel it would affect your community if the Platinex mine were to go ahead?

From the way things are, it would be a drastic change for our community. It would endanger the animals, our tradition and the culture of our people.

On September 24th, 2007, Platinex company employees were met at the KI airport by members of the community. They then charged you and the others with contempt, which you did not defend in court. What really happened that day?

They [Platinex Employees] came into town and they were going to set up an office in the community and then fly into the site. They were there to do what they called archeological studies. We had been saying no all along and they came anyway.

They were met outside the plane and told they weren't welcome in the community; that we were adamant about fighting for our land. They finally left later in the day. I left that morning for a meeting down south but I was in the party that blockaded their entry to our land.

You're a mother, a grandmother, and a great grandmother. A lot of the mobilization around your political struggle has related to your being a woman. Can you explain the connection?

Three years ago, I decided that if it came to doing a jail sentence to defend our land, I would. I could have got out of it. When we were first sentenced, I met with [Nishinawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief] Stan Beardy and [Assembly of First Nations National Chief] Phil Fontaine. They were concerned that I was the only female serving a jail term and that maybe their lawyers could work towards an appeal process. But since I'm the only female, I felt the importance to go through with it and I wanted to stand by my original decision until such time as we get a positive answer to what we're asking for.

In our culture, it's important to show respect to the females. They are the ones who are mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, elders. You go on with things in that process. We're doing this on behalf of the ladies back home. They play an important role.

The women of Nishinawbe Aski Nation's Women's Council are fasting today to raise attention to your story. They're saying that in jailing you and the other imprisoned leaders, the Ontario government is creating heroes. How do you feel about that?

I don't know. My being in jail fighting for what I believe is ours…our rights, our land, for future generations. It's not about me, it's about the people back home. I appreciate their support…and the support from all over.

I want people back home to know that I'm doing alright. I have the support and prayers of many. In our culture it's encouraged to put the creator ahead of everything. That's what I believe in.

Did you see the demonstration marching by the jail last Saturday for you?

The glass is real thick upstairs so we couldn't get a clear view but we could hear the drumming and we could see the colours and that there were many people. That meant a lot to me, especially seeing so many people from back home who were able to join the rally.

One of the concerns from John Cutfeet [who negotiated on behalf of KI] was that the 2006 court ruling required the government to consult First Nations before companies could begin operations. In his words to me last summer, "First Nations gained the right to sit at the table, but they don't have the right to leave the table." To him, that wasn't legitimate consultation. What needs to be included in the consultation process that is not included now?

To go back to square one and ensure the proper steps are taken this time. There has to be changes. We have to be properly notified if there are even surveys going on. That has to happen before anything happens. The camps up North, there are signs of the land being staked. Land is being surveyed over the summer and winter with no consultation. Our treaty rights have to be respected.

In an interview with Aboriginal People's Television News, new provincial Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant said the government is working to overturn the decision that put you in prison, and that the crown had never asked for imprisonment. What does that support mean to you and what do you think is going to happen?

I'm not sure. I've been talking with people from back home and what the minister is passing on is not entirely true. They say he lied about the number of times he has been there. Once, he made a press release prior to coming to our community saying that we're coming to some sort of an agreement. We hadn't reached any sort of agreement with him. That didn't sit well with us.

What do you think is going to happen at the end of your sentence?

I'm just taking it a day at a time, trying to get as much information as I can from back home. It's a long process, trying to get information. I haven't been able to speak with the other men [imprisoned in Thunder Bay] until today. We're encouraging each other by knowing we're doing fine. That's all we can do.

Is there any chance that there could be any sort of agreement with the company?

At the moment, the answer is still no. We haven't changed. It will be up to the future generations and future leaders to allow or not allow development. We're not for or against development but there's too much at stake and we have to get our community ready for that. It will be up to the future generation and we can't foresee what they will need. We're keeping the land for them.

Five of the KI6