The fight over mineral exploration on traditional Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) lands is threatening to erupt into direct action. God’s Lake Resources said it will ignore an eviction notice issued by KI, but community leaders promise not to back down.
The junior mining exploration company was issued the eviction notice Sept. 29 after hunters from KI discovered an exploration camp on the north shore of Sherman Lake.
Thunder Bay, October 11, 2011 – Matawa First Nations Chiefs are joining the growing number of voices calling on Premier McGuinty to honour the promise made to KI to establish a joint panel to resolve long-standing issues related to mineral exploration on their homelands. In 2009, just before the KI Chief and Council were jailed for opposing Platinex, the McGuinty Government promised to create a joint panel to resolve mining and mineral exploration issues with KI.
Big Trout Lake, Ontario: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug [KI] is calling on Ontario to honour a promise made by the McGuinty government in 2008 and create a joint panel to resolve longstanding issues regarding mining exploration on their homelands.
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug has decided not to allow De Beers to conduct mineral exploration on its traditional lands.
KI Chief Donny Morris and council said in a Dec. 6 letter to De Beers that they “have to make it clear that we will not and cannot consent to any mineral exploration in our traditional territory at this stage.” The letter was copied to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the United Nations.
Remote reserve squares off against Toronto-based Platinex over land claims north of Thunder Bay
Winnipeg— In purely physical terms, it was a duel between a Beaver floatplane and a small aluminum skiff.
But the symbolic heft of the brief standoff on Nemeigusabins Lake last Wednesday was far greater.
In the boat sat a lone man, Donny Morris, chief of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, a fly-in community 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay that has vowed to stop a mining company drilling f
Big Trout Lake, Ontario: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug [KI] is calling on Ontario to honour a promise made by the McGuinty government in 2008 and create a joint panel to resolve longstanding issues regarding mining exploration on their homelands.
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug has decided not to allow De Beers to conduct mineral exploration on its traditional lands.
KI Chief Donny Morris and council said in a Dec. 6 letter to De Beers that they “have to make it clear that we will not and cannot consent to any mineral exploration in our traditional territory at this stage.” The letter was copied to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the United Nations.
Remote reserve squares off against Toronto-based Platinex over land claims north of Thunder Bay
Winnipeg— In purely physical terms, it was a duel between a Beaver floatplane and a small aluminum skiff.
But the symbolic heft of the brief standoff on Nemeigusabins Lake last Wednesday was far greater.
In the boat sat a lone man, Donny Morris, chief of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, a fly-in community 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay that has vowed to stop a mining company drilling f
ᑭᐦᒋᓇᒣᑯᐦᓯᑊ ᐃᓂᓂᐧᐊᐠ - Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation / Big Trout Lake
Our community is located 580 km north of Thunder Bay, accessible by air or winter roads. Our community speaks Anihshininiimowin or Oji-Cree. Our traditional way of life is very much alive. We can hunt, fish, trap, and live off the land. Our ancestors protected these rights for us when they adhered to Treaty 9 with the British Crown in 1929-1930. Their intent was to protect our way of life, our independence, and traditions, for as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow. Our Elders, who carry the knowledge bequeathed to us by our ancestors, are very clear that we never surrendered title to our lands in signing this treaty. This interpretation was imposed by the government later. Our understanding is that the treaty is about cohabitation and sharing the land.
This has not stopped government from interfering in our community's affairs, first by imposing the Indian Act and reserve system on us, breaking up the communities which used to be one big community into different reserves,and granting mining explorarion licenses on our land without our consent.
Recently, Platinex, a mining company, has been claiming prospecting rights to our land, and has tried to conduct exploration, although we have never consented to this activity. This mine, if opened, would destroy the waters we fish in and live on. As such, it is a fundamental violation of our Indigenous and treaty rights. Our chief and five councillors went to jail in 2008 to defend these rights, and to prevent mining exploration and development from taking place on our land.
