Found at: https://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 Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
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.
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