Kingston Mohawk Support Network

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Add your name to the petition at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoplicensingplunder/index.html

2. Put a link to the petition on your organization’s website.

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We, the undersigned, are writing to urge the Province of Ontario to end its complicity in the theft and plunder of First Nations land. Specifically, we ask that the Province stop providing licenses for resource extraction from lands currently in the Federal land claims negotiation process.

Recent proposed changes to the Federal Specific Claims land claim process have been proposed and may expedite negotiations on some claims. The large majority however, will not qualify for the “fast track.” While claims languish for years and even decades at Federal negotiating tables, Provincial licenses continue to be issued for the very land and resources that are being talked about.

In 1995, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte near Belleville, Ontario filed a specific claim for land known as the Culbertson Land Tract. In 2003, the Federal Government acknowledged that the Culbertson Tract had never been surrendered and was in fact Mohawk Land. It was not until late 2006 that negotiations for the return of these lands to Mohawk use and control began in earnest. Despite acknowledgment by the Federal Government that the Mohawks are the rightful owners of the Culbertson Tract lands, the Ontario Ministry of the Natural Resources continues to issue a provincial license to an Ontario company called Thurlow Aggregates. The license allows Thurlow to operate a quarry and the removal of 100,000 tons of gravel annually – or roughly 300 truckloads a month.

Although the Mohawks have repeatedly attempted to have the quarry license revoked while negotiations are underway, the Province continues to maintain that it has no jurisdiction to consider the fact that the Aggregate is on land currently under Specific Claim negotiations.

Conveniently, the Federal government maintains that it cannot deal with ongoing resource extraction because licensing is a provincial issue.

The positioning of the Feds and Province on the Culbertson Tract Aggregate is emblematic of a deceitful and shameful game of “hot potato” played over First Nations land and resources year after year all over Ontario and indeed the country.

If a homeowner suffered a home break-in and robbery, we would not expect him to allow the rest of his belongings to be removed, while, for the next 10 years or so, the value of the items already stolen were determined. Why then are such scenarios permitted when it comes to the Land Claims process?

Not only does it indicate bad faith in land claims negotiations, it is a needless instigator of conflict and confrontation. When negotiations allow such basic unfairness to continue, it can come as no surprise when First Nations people create physical impediments to halt resource extraction, as the Tyendinaga Mohawks have done through their ongoing occupation of the Culbertson Tract Aggregate.

We implore the Provincial Government to revoke the quarry license on the Culbertson Land Tract and thereby commit to negotiating land claims issues in good faith and to honest governance for all Ontarians.

We also strongly encourage the Federal and Provincial Governments to engage in meaningful dialogue to end the exploitation of First Nation lands and resources. We are aggrieved to say that the status quo appears to be a twenty-first century perpetuation of a dismal history of policy that has done great injury to First Nations people and communities.

Signed:

Sara Abraham, University of Toronto

Naomi Adelson, Associate Professor, York University

Maude Barlow

Harald Bauder, Associate Professor in Geography, University of Guelph

Angad Bhalla

Professor Meyer Brownstone, Emeritus University of Toronto, Emeritus, Oxfam Canada

Professor Kari Dehli, OISE

Wendy DesMoulin-DeMerchant, Canadian Metis Council, Division for Nova Scotia

Anthony Hall, University of Lethbridge

Buzz Hargrove, President, Canadian Auto Workers Union

Dr. Teresa Holmes, York University

Kahentinetha Horn, MNN, Mohawk Nation

Hanna Kawas, Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver

Naomi Klein

Alex Latta, Department of Global Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University

Wayne Lessard, B.A., LLB, Corporation of the City of Windsor

Avi Lewis

Dr. Andrea Medovarski, York University

Paul Moist, National President, CUPE Ottawa

Professor Liisa L. North, York University

Dr. Peter Nyers

John Opia Paraguanex Montanez, United Confederation of Taino People

Claudette Paul, Office Manager, Roach, Schwartz & Associates

Dr. Alja Pirosok, York University

Dr. Sherene Razack, OISE

Judy Rebick, Chair, Gindin Centre for Social Justice, Ryerson University

Joanna Santa Barbara, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Professor Donna Schatz, York University

Dr. Aparna Sundar, Ryerson University

Dr. John Simoulidis, York University

George Sorger, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, McMaster University

Alissa Trotz, University of Toronto

Dr. Mark Thomas, Department of Sociology, York University

Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Assistant Professor in Native Studies,
University of Toronto

Professor Walter Whiteley, York University

Dr. Cynthia Wright

Native leaders call for more protests
TheStar.com – News

`We should have this annually until we’re satisfied,’ New Brunswick chief says of national day of action

July 11, 2007
Alison Auld
Canadian Press

HALIFAX–Several Canadian aboriginal leaders called yesterday for a repeat of the National Day of Action, saying the event that snarled traffic and disrupted rail service helped elevate their concerns across the country.

In Halifax for the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting, native chiefs said the largely peaceful protests made Canadians take notice of issues that have plagued their communities for decades – outstanding land claims, rampant poverty and the often abysmal living conditions on reserves.

“I think we should have this annually until we’re satisfied,” Chief Susan Levi-Peters of New Brunswick’s Elsipogtog First Nation told hundreds of delegates. “If we stop talking now, then everything will stop. We need to keep talking.”

First Nations groups and their supporters, both militant and moderate, marked the national day of action on June 29 with marches, blockades, information sessions and newspaper ads.

A rogue group of Mohawk protesters, led by Shawn Brant, set up barricades near the town of Deseronto in eastern Ontario, prompting major rail and road disruptions, including one on Highway 401, the country’s busiest highway.

Some chiefs in Halifax suggested there could be regular protests that could take on a more aggressive tone if the federal government fails to resolve long-standing grievances that leaders said are leaving their communities in desperation.

Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation in southern Manitoba said if little is done to restore hope to aboriginal communities, the country could face a barrage of protests.

“What Shawn Brant did is nothing compared to what is going to happen in the future if we can’t give our people hope for the future,” he said.

Nelson said rates of unemployment that climb as high as 90 per cent in some communities, and poverty levels that compare to those in developing countries, could push natives to take more drastic actions.

The key fight, he said, should be to settle land-claim disputes that have left bands tied up in courts or negotiations to acquire territory they say is rightfully theirs.

Assembly Chief Phil Fontaine said leaders will discuss the fallout from the national day of action throughout the three-day meeting and decide whether they should hold more.

Fontaine insisted that more Canadians now support aboriginals in their fights with government, citing a recent poll that suggested 77 per cent of people are on side with First Nations issues.

Fontaine also attributed Ottawa’s recent decision to reform the land-claims process, which came just weeks before the day of action, to pressure linked to the June 29 events.

But since then, he said, there has been no action on several issues, including the UN declaration on indigenous peoples, the Kelowna Accord or a funding cap.

“The situation is urgent. These are crisis situations,” he said.

The Whig-Standard
Jordan Press
Monday, July 09, 2007 – 00:00

Local News – A retired minister, John Hudson moved from Kingston to the Sharbot Lake area 15 years ago.

He moved for the scenery, the environment and the quiet, but all that could change and yesterday, he was preaching against a plan that would see uranium mined near his home.

Marching along Highway 7, Hudson said he’s worried about the environmental impacts from the proposed operation.

“I’m right down the river and I see enough crap coming down our river,” said Hudson, 70. “The bottom line is I don’t want a uranium mine at my back door.”

And neither did the estimated 300 people who marched along with Hudson, area residents and Sharbot Lake and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations members.

“We were hoping for 100,” said Doreen Davis, chief of the Sharbot Lake Algonquin First Nation. “I am just honoured and humbled that the people are here to support us.

Davis said everyone wants to see a full moratorium on mining the substance and the demonstration was designed to get the attention of upper levels of government.

“And if not, we’ll do this again,” she said. “We’ll continue until somebody listens.”

Yesterday’s march went from the intersection of highways 7 and 509 west to Highway 38. Along the way, the band of demonstrators grew as more people appeared on the road and joined the march.

Waving flags, chanting, singing, drumming and holding signs, the march had a simple message summed up on many of the homemade signs they carried and the T-shirts they wore: “No uranium mining.”

Provincial police closed off that section of the highway and re-routed traffic through the area for the one-hour march that police described as “extremely peaceful.”

Harold Perry, honorary chief of the Sharbot Lake Algonquin First Nation, said there is an obligation to fight the proposed mining operation.

“We can’t afford to have this kind of stuff going on,” he said. “I don’t want my daughter and the next generations to grow up with a thing like that.”

Mining uranium causes long-term environmental and health effects because of its radioactivity, said Joan Kuyek, national co-ordinator for MiningWatch Canada.

“In this case, the local communities are saying they don’t want it, the Algonquins are saying they want it and we support that,” Kuyek said.

A group of Algonquins have been at the entrance to the proposed mining site. The occupation is now into its second week.

Along with Algonquins have come area residents who oppose the project. Some have brought themselves, others food and supplies.

Frontenac Ventures Corporation has staked 400 claims over about 8,000 hectares in North and Central Frontenac. The land is a mix of private and Crown land, the latter being the subject of negotiations between the Algonquins and provincial government.

Frank Morrison is one of those people who found out the company has a stake on his property. He marched yesterday and said residents needed to back the Algonquins because it was the area’s lone hope.

Under provincial law, the land on native reserves isn’t available for mineral collection.

“The land claim is going to save us and if it wasn’t for that, we might as well pack up and go home,” he said.

Just like the march, the number of people taking up the cause is increasing, Morrison said.

“It’s just growing exponentially,” he said. “That’s what happens when people finally find out what’s going on here.”

“This,” he said looking up and down the mass of marchers, “is more symbolic than anything else.”

Hudson said he was concerned about the way the proposal was being handled with people such as Morrison simply being told the company had a right to mine their property.

“It will be interesting to see what the position of our provincial government will be,” he said.

Any hint of problems from mining uranium could cause damage to the area’s economy, said Norman Guntensperger, a councillor from Central Frontenac. Mining uranium could damage the area’s hope to attract more tourists and needed to be stopped, he said.

“We want to get the word out. I see this as the beginning of a long fight,” he said.

jpress@thewhig.com