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Ontario Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield and her staff met with the team of Keewaytinook Okimakanak during her northern tour.

From the covering letter of the briefing package presented to the minister ...

All of the work of the First Nations outlined in this briefing was achieved through partnerships with the First Nations, the private sector and various orders of government including Ontario.  This work, however, is threatened by the unilateral decisions of the Ontario Government without proper consultation with the First Nations in Ontario’s far north.

There are many issues that we need to discuss.  The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that all governments in Canada have a Duty to Consult First Nations before changing any policy that impacts on them or their traditional lands.  Yet, the Ministry of Natural Resources has moved ahead with the Far North Act (2009) without adequate consultation with First Nation communities who live, work and raise their families in their traditional lands.  The expressed goal of this Act is to permanently protect at least 225,000 square kilometres of the Far North.  The First Nations which Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) serves have plans to build all season roads, an electrical and telecommunication grid in our traditional lands to their members. 

The First Nations want to connect each other with fibre optic cables in order to strengthen the Kuhkenah Network, the largest First Nations managed broadband network in Canada which support telemedicine, digital education and other applications in Ontario’s far north.  The First Nations want to build hydro transmission lands in order that they can replace “dirty” technology such as diesel generation with “clean” power.  By connecting to the provincial hydro grid, First Nations will be able to contribute to the growing energy needs of the rest of the province in addition to producing clean power for their own communities.  All of these initiatives are being undermined by the Far North Act. (2009)

Like the Far North Act (2009), the decision to reclassify the status of the polar bear was done without meaningful consultation with Fort Severn First Nation or any of the other First Nations which share their traditional lands with the polar bear.  Fort Severn, one of the founding members of KO, has conducted a community polar bear research project with the assistance of researchers from KORI, KO’s research wing and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.  Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice invited former Fort Severn Chief David Matthews to take a seat at the national round table on the protection of polar bears in Winnipeg (January 16, 2009), the only First Nation representative during the dialogue. 

The reclassification of the polar bear will eliminate subsistence hunting by the hunters of Fort Severn and other First Nations in the region (Toronto Star: August 13, 2009), however, it will not stop the needless deaths of polar bears which are killed by researchers who tag these animals in the region.  In Nunavut, the Inuit have passed legislation which includes best practices for researchers who tag polar bears while the Dene have forbidden researchers from tagging polar bears as a means to support the polar bear population.  In Ontario, no such protections are in place to protect the polar bear from faulty tagging practices of researchers.  Community members have found carcasses of polar bears killed during failed tagging processes but are unable to determine an exact number.  Does the MNR keep records of these numbers and will you commit to sharing these numbers with Fort Severn?

Nevertheless, the reclassification of the polar bear will have a devastating impact on the livelihood of crafters of Fort Severn.  This is not merely an economic development issue.  The reclassification of the polar bear will mean that traditional skills, handed down by generations of Fort Severn community members, will be lost and forgotten.

We need to work cooperatively in order to avoid the misunderstanding created by efforts ot modernize the Mining Act and the development of a UNESCO Heritage Site in Northwestern Ontario.   It is not enough to alert First Nations in the far north about decisions made in the south prior to the public announcement.  Meaningful consultation and engagement must take place on a government to government basis between First Nations and the Ontario Government must take place from the very beginning of the policy development process.

The Ontario Government has been a critical partner of Keewaytinook Okimakanak and the First Nations which we serve in the development and construction of the largest First Nations owned and managed broadband network and its applications which is improving access to heath care through KO Telemedicine and digital education such as the Keewaytinook Internet High School (KiHS) and NED.ca to name only a few.  There is so much more we could do together if we build strong meaningful partnerships based on meaningful consultation and engagement based on the principals of Duty to Consult as outlined by the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Keewaytinook Okimakanak has been successful because we have built solid partnerships with the private and public sectors.  These partnerships have been built upon mutual respect and a common desire to provide First Nations communities with the tools that they need to build strong and healthy communities where people can live, work and raise families.  We have had strong partnerships with Ontario and we want to see those grow stronger but that depends on your government.