Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint/First_Nations_demand_action_from_McGuinty_government.html
First Nations
demand action from
McGuinty government
(The
following article is from
the July 1-31,
2007
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
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On June 25,
members of the Grassy
Narrows and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations, with help
from Rainforest Action Network and Christian Peacemaker Teams, erected
a 30-foot painted teepee reading "Native Rights Now" in Queen's Park
across from the Ontario Legislature. The communities and their allies
are calling on Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to honour moratoria
declared by Grassy Narrows and KI prohibiting industrial activity
without consent in their traditional territories in Ontario's
threatened boreal forest.
For the last
decade, Grassy
Narrows leaders have repeatedly called on Weyerhaeuser Corporation,
Abitibi Consolidated and all levels of government to halt logging and
procurement from their traditional lands without consent. Provincially
licensed clear-cut logging is a violation of their right to hunt,
trap
and fish, as guaranteed in Treaty 3 of 1873. In December 2002, the
Grassy Narrows community began the longest running peaceful Native road
blockade in Canadian history to halt the degradation of their land and
culture.
In February
2006, KI found a
drilling company operating on behalf of Aurora, Ontario-based Platinex
Inc. on their traditional territory without consent. The community held
a peaceful protest, and the drilling crew eventually pulled out.
Platinex then filed a 10 billion dollar lawsuit and filed for an
injunction to remove community members from its drilling
operations.
KI had issued a moratorium on all activities until their treaty land
entitlement and the Crown duty to consult and accommodate were met. The
province continued to grant Platinex drilling permits even though the
company had failed to meet the Supreme Court requirement that it
consult with First Peoples prior to commencing industrial operations on
Indigenous lands. KI's position is that the McGuinty government acted
illegally by failing to meet Supreme Court standards of consultation
and by not dealing seriously with the outstanding land claims.
For more information, visit www.FreeGrassy.org.