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From the TBay Chronicle Journal

First Nation leaders ready to go to jail to stop miners

By JULIO GOMES - December 7, 2007 

The chief and other councillors of a remote Northern Ontario native community are prepared to go to jail for disobeying a court order that allows exploratory drilling on what they consider traditional lands.

At a Superior Court hearing Friday, counsel for Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) said his clients accept they were in contempt of Justice Patrick Smith's order giving Platinex Inc. the green light for the first phase of drilling and archeological pre-screening activity in the Big Trout Lake area.

When asked how a confrontation could be avoided, Christopher Reid replied he didn't have an answer.

"Their answer at this point is they're prepared to go to jail," he added.

Friday's hearing followed a full day of closed-door meetings Thursday between representatives of KI, Platinex and the provincial government.

However, nothing was resolved and the contempt hearing went ahead.

Smith did rule that KI was in contempt of his Oct. 25 order, which was intended to allow the Toronto-area junior mining company to proceed with drilling 24 holes, each five centimetres in diameter.

The drill sites are clustered on a 20-kilometre line on the south side of Big Trout Lake.

The community of KI is located about 40 kilometres away.

Despite Smith's finding, no one was taken into custody Friday. A formal hearing will be held in January regarding sanctions. However, Reid and KI officials have said that fines are meaningless because the band is on the verge of bankruptcy as the result of hefty legal fees dealing with the Platinex matter, including a $10-billion lawsuit.

"With fines, the community can't afford it, I can't afford it," Chief Donny Morris told court. "I'm willing to go to jail."

Reid added that Morris and several others are prepared to go to be imprisoned, and others will volunteer to be incarcerated on a rotating basis.

That still leaves the problem of how the drilling will proceed.

Reid said if Platinex and its crews show up at the sites, they will be met by protests from KI members as well as residents of other native communities.

While things could "spiral out of control," Reid reiterated that KI wasn't looking for a confrontation.

"My understanding is they're completely committed to non-violent resistance," he said.

Platinex's counsel, Neil Smitheman, termed it a "thinly veiled threat of violence" designed to thwart any attempt to get work going on the properties.

"How can Platinex possibly under these scenarios place a drill crew in the area without armed guards?" he asked.

Earlier, Smitheman had fumed that Reid, KI's new lawyer, had suggested that several years of consultation and lengthy hearings before Smith had  resulted in a something KI members now say they didn't want.

"Today we're hearing it wasn't communicated properly," Smitheman said.

"Someone has to answer for this huge, colossal waste of time and money."

Later though, Morris plainly stated the community's stance and why they've resisted the arrival of drill crews.

"I stand by the fact the land we're on now is ours," Morris told Smith. "We just don't want to see development on that area.

"I hope Platinex will be happy I'm in jail, so they'll go away too."

Smitheman was floored by that declaration.

"You could've knocked me over with a feather when Chief Morris said that," he stated in an interview at the close of proceedings.

"I'm at sea," he added, raising his arms as if in defeat.

Asked if he remains confident a resolution is possible with KI, he wasn't encouraging.

"I'm less confident than I've ever been. I'm pessimistic and I feel despair about the whole thing."

Outside court, Reid confirmed that KI is opposed to drilling and wants no further dialogue with Platinex. However, the band wants discussions with the Crown on how to manage and develop resources on the land that they have called home.