NAN Chief Beardy requests help from United Nations to protect First Nations' traditional lands
The following two articles highlight the importance of the land for the people of KI ...
Hampton visits, NAN Chief calls for help from UN
Web Posted: 3/28/2008 6:21:58 PM
NDP leader Howard Hampton was in the city Friday visiting Chief Donny Morris and the other Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug band members in an effort to urge the Ontario government to provide some assistance.
Meanwhile there is word that First Nation leaders are looking for a national level of support to help with what they are now calling a nation-to-nation issue.
Hampton says the McGuinty government needs to amend the mining act by setting out environmental protection, revenue sharing, along with the requirement for companies to consult and accommodate First nation communities.
Meantime, NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy says the issue that started off with civil contempt now has nationwide implications which has prompted him along with other chiefs to ask for help from the United Nations.
National Chief Phil Fontaine is expected back in Thunder Bay next week, to give direction on the issue at the Ontario Chiefs meeting. A rally is also expected to be held in Kenora on Saturday in support of the only female leader in jail Cecilia Begg.
Begg was transferred from the Thunder Bay District Jail on Friday to the Kenora jail.
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Remote Native community's leaders jailed for interfering with drilling on their land
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD
It would be easy to draw facile comparisons between the ongoing native stand-off in Caledonia and what is happening in an Ojibwa-Cree community 380 km north of Thunder Bay.
Easy -- but wrong.
With a population of about 1,300, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) has been embroiled in years of bitter legal wrangling with a mining exploration company over a plan to drill for platinum on traditional KI lands.
When representatives from Platinex arrived to drill in 2006, KI (formerly known as Big Trout Lake) refused to let them on their land.
Here's the big difference between Caledonia and KI. First, the residents of this remote community are peaceful. In Caledonia, the developers had clear title to the property -- or thought they had when they started building. And Douglas Creek Estates is not a traditional native hunting ground.
Residents of KI fear this intrusion. Until the recent boom in mining, first nations have been pretty well the sole residents of these isolated regions. They see themselves as stewards of the land.
In something of a David and Goliath showdown, in 2006, Platinex sued KI -- a fly-in community -- for $10 billion for interfering with the exploration process after they were turned away. It was a preposterous amount of money for a beleaguered outpost like KI.
According to an independent legal assessment of the case, there is a discrepancy about what happened. In an e-mail on aboriginal legal issues, Aug. 16, 2006, Scott Kerwin of Borden Ladner Gervais said this:
"Platinex alleged that the protest by the KI First Nation was hostile and threatening, and involved the seizure of equipment and the plowing of an airstrip. The KI First Nation alleged that the protest was peaceful and involved elderly members and children. Members of the OPP were present."
The court held that the "unilateral" actions of Platinex in continuing the exploration were "disrespectful" of KI.
The court ordered a five-month halt to exploration and ordered the company, KI and the province to sit down and talk.
Long story short, on Sept. 24 of last year, after a drawn-out attempt to consult, Platinex ignored KI's letters that they were not welcome and flew into KI. After a lengthy "dialogue" at the airstrip, they decided to leave.
On Oct. 25, KI threw in the towel, saying it could no longer afford the legal battle, but they continued to publicly oppose the drilling process.
CONTEMPT OF COURT
On March 16, a court in Thunder Bay found six members of the band -- including Chief Donny Morris, the deputy chief and several band councillors -- in contempt of court and ordered them to jail for six months.
That seems an astonishingly harsh judgment for a group that has been largely gentle in their claims. While the government doesn't direct the courts, this doesn't seem a very auspicious start to what the McGuinty government has said will be a "new relationship" with first nations.
KI is in New Democratic Leader Howard Hampton's Kenora-Rainy River riding. He's outraged by the jail sentence, slamming the McGuinty government for granting a mining permit without fulfilling constitutional requirements to consult with first nations.
"It's that failure to meet their constitutional obligation that has resulted in a confrontation between the first nation and the mining community and resulted eventually in the jailing of first nations leaders," Hampton said in a recent interview.
Platinex lawyer Neal Smitheman says the company has gone beyond its requirements to meet KI demands.
"Platinex has done absolutely everything -- more than any other exploration company that I am aware of -- in terms of acting reasonably under the circumstances," he said. The company agreed to pre-screening areas to be drilled to ensure there was no impact on sacred burial sites or places of cultural significance.
DEMAND FOR CASH
The only response from KI to a court-ordered request for consultation was a demand for a cash payment of $1 million, he said. He points out this is Crown land.
"For a small exploration company, that is just not available," he said.
It doesn't have to be this way. There are some good examples of mining companies working with first nations to everyone's benefit. De Beers, the massive diamond multinational, is doing just that in Attawapiskat.
The people of KI are not hooligans. Land is everything to them -- and they have lived there for generations. Surely there is some middle ground here -- for everyone.
You can call Christina Blizzard at (416) 325-3971 or e-mail at christina.blizzard@tor.sunpub.com